Dark Lady - Queen of Pain

[Murs]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNIcons/HeroIcons/Darklady.jpg

Dark Lady Guide

Skill List

Dark Blades
-Increases base damage temporarily, also gives her attacks the ability to silence enemies (sort of like an orb).

Taint Soul
-Silences temporarily, does damage, reduces enemy ms.

Charging Strike
-Blink and does damage to all units you pass through.

Cover of Darkness
-Removes shared vision from enemy heroes and reduces ms slightly, vision significantly.

Skill build
Charging Strike
Taint Soul
Taint Soul
Dark Blades
Taint Soul
Cover of Darkness
Taint Soul
Charging Strike
Charging Strike
Charging Strike
Cover of Darkness
Dark Blades
Dark Blades
Dark blades
Stats
Cover of Darkness
Stats...

If you are in a solo lane consider leveling dark blades before level 4 for the extra damage boost, it helps last hitting significantly.

Role of Dark Lady
She is a ganker. Her abilities allow her to silence multiple enemies and do some decent damage early-midgame vs her enemies. Don't be fooled by the fact that she is an agility melee hero.

Some things to remember.
You are going to want to be the one intiating, since you are the silencer, slower, and blink machine.

The one level of dark blades at level 4 can be utilized with charging strike to silence all enemies you charge through.

Cover of Darkness is both a defensive and an offensive ability. Use it to foil enemy ganks, gank enemies, turn the tide of teamfights. It is a very strong ability.

Item build for Dark Lady
Because she is an agility melee hero, yet is a caster unit, she is very unique and as such can be built a number of different ways. This is the build that i use.

At start

2 Pretender Crowns a Healing Potion and Runes of the Blight
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/item1pretendercrown.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/accessories/item1pretendercrown.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/item12runesofblight.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/Item1HealingPotion.jpg

Later on
Bottle
Wards
Marchers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/bottle.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/supplies/wardofsight.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Relics/item11Marchers.jpg

Midgame
2x Talisman or 2x Bracelet, or one of each
Post Haste or Steam Boots
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item6fortifiedbracelet.jpg
or
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/talismanofexile.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/posthaste.jpg
or
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Initiation/item7steamboots.jpg

Lategame

Hellflower
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/snagg3r/HoNItems/Supportive/hellflower.jpg

Justification of item build
Due to the fact that you are a melee hero, with poor int and str, it's reasonable to get some regen early with runes and healing pot.

Despite the fact that she is an agility hero she needs hp and mana early-midgame, this depends on the game primarily. The bottle and talisman should cover her mana issues, or if she really needs hp she can get bracelets.

Post Haste vs Steam Boots
This is really how well you are farming, ganking. If you have the money, post haste boots are a great idea, but in most cases you will be going steam boots. I recommend going steam boots in the attribute that you didn't pump points into earlier on (int if you went bracelets and str if you went talismans).

Hellflower
Due to charging strike, Taint, and Dark Blades, she can silence and damage the other team pretty well. However this item improves her dps, solves her mana problems once and for all, and lets her silence another enemy as well and increase the damage done to that enemy. This is a great item on her.

Alternative build

Farm/Carry Dark Lady

Skill build is a little different, you are going to want leap maxed earlier, although you still want the nuke.
Skill build
1 Charging Strike
2 Mark of Darkness
3 Mark
4 Charging Strike
5 Mark
6 Cover of Darkness
7 Charging Strike
8 Mark
9 Charging Strike
10 Stats/Dark Blades
11 Stats/Dark Blades
12 Stats/Dark Blades
13 Stats/Dark Blades
14 Stats
15 Cover of Darkness
16 Cover of Darkness
Stats onward

Item build
Same as the other build at start
2x Pretenders crown
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion

Midgame
2x Soulscream Ring(Wraith Bands)
1x Steam Boots (Treads) (Str)
1x Apprentice's Robe (Robe of the Magi)

Later on
Nullfire Blade (Diffusal)
Abyssal Skull (Vlads)

Extravagent Items for farmers to consider getting after Nullfire Blade
Hack&Slash (Sange&Yasha)
Hellflower (Orchid)
Runed Axe (Bfury)
Frostwolf's Skull (Skadi)
Shrunken Head (BKB)

FAQ

omfg noob why do u skip cover at 11? noob l2p dark lady.
With this build, it's built towards a more lategame-oriented dark lady and her mana pool is far from sufficient to support 2 points in cover before level 15/16.

why no runed axe? WOW l2p DL ROFL.
I mentioned runed axe as an additional luxury item you might consider getting for her after nullfire blade. It's a decent item on her but nullfire/abyssal is easier to farm and help her with more than just farming.

lol str steam boots, noob?
She really needs the hp bonus early-midgame for farming/surviving/ganking.

[Impeeched]

Nice guide, thanks.

[VovkaPutin]

I have to agree 100% on hellflower, another reason its amazing is that it boosts the gain in dmg from dark blades. This does however waste the silence you get from them.

[Justin]

Nice guide.

[Murs]

I have to agree 100% on hellflower, another reason its amazing is that it boosts the gain in dmg from dark blades. This does however waste the silence you get from them.

you're crazy dude, you won't be able to silence all of them with blades with teamfights even if you charge striked a few of them and farmed a retarded item like bfury.

hellflower is great in any situation, more silence is not a waste, just use it intelligently.

[Netukka]

Funny thing you mentioned bfury as the retarded item, because thanks to Charging Strikes mechanics, I find Runed Axe to be one of the most needed items on him.

Hero eats a ¤()=#/ ton of mana : Z

[Inconmon]

you should change the name of the thread
queen of pain is misleading, as the real QoP of dota is a completely different hero

[Wihl]

Funny thing you mentioned bfury as the retarded item, because thanks to Charging Strikes mechanics, I find Runed Axe to be one of the most needed items on him.

Hero eats a ¤()=#/ ton of mana : Z
Oh god, that actually works?

[Netukka]

Yup...Just test it on a wave of creeps. The damage goes through the roof.

[Murs]

Funny thing you mentioned bfury as the retarded item, because thanks to Charging Strikes mechanics, I find Runed Axe to be one of the most needed items on him.

Hero eats a ¤()=#/ ton of mana : Z

dark lady is not a lategame hero, aside from her %dmg shadow orb none of her skills scale into lategame. she should be ganking, not farming ridiculous items like bfury.

[Hiro]

dark lady is not a lategame hero

lol.

[Impeeched]

dark lady is not a lategame hero, aside from her %dmg shadow orb none of her skills scale into lategame. she should be ganking, not farming ridiculous items like bfury
I dunno man..I've seen her use darkness falls, pounce, and her annoying silence blades to completely annihalate players with TWO runed axes.

[Murs]

k, go play her lategame, even when there's 20 other heroes that scale better lategame :/

go 2 bfuries too, i could care less

[Netukka]

So an activable skill which gives MORE +dmg than a dd rune and silences, combined with an aoe blink strike and a snare is not late game scalable? I'd say its pretty damn ¤#/()=/()= scalable. Not that she is a bad ganker either, but she is insane late game with enough items as well.

[Murs]

she has **** for hp, especially if you go glorify's pro 2 bfury strat.

you will get ripped apart.

[Netukka]

Whats wrong with her hp? Its very much the same the same as pretty much any agi hero ingame (Except Madman) with 18 (+2.0). Its not low at all, its almost identical to all others.

And I have no idea about 2 bfury strat, if I was farming like hell I'd go for Frostwolf (Skadi) after Runed Axe/Steamboots/possible lifesteal. Has it all really, because she can actually use the massive amounts of health/mana it provides as well.

[SyKot]

She can do good all game. That ulti.. argh!

[avnos]

thanks for the ideas with her, the hellflower build was great.

[Supremacy]

Runed Axe just seems good on her since it significantly improves your damage, lets you aoe silence with dark blades, and causes retarded amounts of damage with charge. Just like any agility based carry, you're a glass cannon... Let your team take the hits or disable while you run around and decimate people.

[Netukka]

Actually, I THINK that if you have runed axe cleave + dark blades on and the cleave hits opponents heroes, the silence effect animation symbol thingie shows up on top of their head but doesn't actually silence. Haven't played her in a while so I can't say for sure but I think its a bug. Doesn't do the same on creeps.

[Tafelpoot]

is going for manaburn a bad idea? you have 6 sec to silence, and after that they're out of mana? it gives +6 int too ..

[kiramon]

I tend to go Skadi (Frostwulf Skull) on her... but only because...

1. People running away from her tend to stay away :(
2. She sucks at mana
3. She sucks at health
4. People run away
5. She hits everybody with it when she charges? :o


:rolleyes:
It's getting there that's the problem, though.

[DiKSoH]

it's soo nice guide :)

[BLUEPOWERVAN]

god. no offense, but dark lady is a huge carry. treads, 2x battle fury + dominator helm for lifesteal is gg to the enemy team.

1x battle fury and treads will kill a whole creep wave in a single charge +1-2 hits, making the second battle fury super quick.

2x battle fury will deal an unbelievable amount of damage to clustered enemy heroes with dark blades on.

[Lethe]

god. no offense, but dark lady is a huge carry. treads, 2x battle fury + dominator helm for lifesteal is gg to the enemy team.

1x battle fury and treads will kill a whole creep wave in a single charge +1-2 hits, making the second battle fury super quick.

2x battle fury will deal an unbelievable amount of damage to clustered enemy heroes with dark blades on.

It's funny because whenever I see people posting "carry" builds there is always one fundamental flaw.

They somehow always neglect hp/str items.

Coincidence? I think not.

[Doud1]

Oh gosh, 2 BattleFury.
That is quite.. amusing.

[Mudkipz1]

Dark Lady...
Isn't as viable as people think.

[BLUEPOWERVAN]

It's funny because whenever I see people posting "carry" builds there is always one fundamental flaw.

They somehow always neglect hp/str items.

Coincidence? I think not.

I get str treads and 3 nulls/wraiths/bracers... then bf and then dominator. sell a bracer for second battle fury. hardly neglects hp/survivability... I didn't post a whole guide obviously...

anyway, about double battle fury... the only reason I'm so high on this build and DL in general is because I recently played a game where it was 5v4 against to start, and 5v3 against after 7-8 minutes.... I won't lie, they were shitties, but I was still 2-6 mid game, with only treads 2x wraiths 1x null talisman and lifetube... my partners were doing great with zeus and es, holding off their pushes -- they told me just go farm in the forest and stay out of fights entirely. Well, I did generally, and 20 minutes later I was 17-6 and we had won, with the items I described above.

[Murs]

this double bfury build keeps coming up, thanks for the laughs guys.

[Grotesco]

im sorry, but AWFUL GUIDE!
Hellflower damage does not count as base damage, Runed Axe damage does not count as base damage.... so they wont get the % increase given by the first skill.
The only valid point is that she really needs a lot of mana, which in my opinion is a major flaw in the hero design. She is the only agility hero in the game right now with 4 mana skills, no passive.
The best iten for this lady has to be Nullfire blade, which is cheap to make, gives you mana, agility (its damage gets increased by your first skill), and Purge.
Truth be said, she needs a remake.

[Murs]

thx for the kind words grotesco.

wraith bands, treads to diffusal is another build i've seen work effectively on dark lady.
i was planning on updating the guide sometime to list some other guides that i think work well on her, however your build makes for a far different way to play the lady.

in addition it does nothing to solve her mana problems aside from the slight intelligence gain, or her hp problems.

[BLUEPOWERVAN]

laughs is :

"If you are in a solo lane consider leveling dark blades before level 4 for the extra damage boost, it helps last hitting significantly."

Yeah, as solo, why not use most of your mana so you can last hit slightly better for 6 whole seconds? How many creeps do you expect to last hit in that 6 seconds? Why not save it to use the very expensive blink DL has, or use it on the taint soul you're pumping all your early points in to?

[Lethe]

Tbh I find all of u funny and laugh worthy

[Mudkipz1]

Dark Lady is garb.

[willtsay]

2 bfury ARE WAY TO GO. no actually it IS. runed axe is rediculously easy to farm, one of the most cost effective items in the game, rivaling shield crusher. sure start off with a couple bracers or w.e then go grab ur sustainer, finish fury, then neutral till you have the second fury NP. deso after this imo :P get boots whenever.

DL is a ganker/chaser with good lategame capabilities. wards are a REALLY good option to help her fufill her role, although you probably want your Glacius to be the ward Biatch, basically all she really do early game is cast her taint soul thing and cast ult xP, really shouldnt be getting into the fray early game.

Cleave off runed axe seriously is not bad at all, if its the same as dota, the damage doesnt get reduced any further, so one would do much more damage against a hero throuigh indirect attack depending on the amount of armor they have. better build than hellflower anyway, more lane staying ability comparable regen.

as said in one of the previous posts -> nullfire blade. Makes her an even better ganker, definitely a good item to consider and synergizes with darkblades better.

So im guessing -> bracers boots, nullfire, runed axe, runed axe, if charges are gone shield crusher is OK, wingbow for the most benefit from dark blades or w.e

don't really see why people bash runed axe so hard, for 4350 gold you get 65 damage, cleave, and regen. all of which makes dark lady happy. compare to diffusals.. 3.3k for 22 extra dmg/ias + 15 damage off mana burn (20x.75) and purge which is well worth the cost i think the 22 extra damage stat wise amounts to an extra.. 50? damage if im not mistaken and a small supplement to her mana pool. wait now this makes it look good....

NULLFIRE = CORE , but grab a sustainer while laning, and finish it up with runed axe, if you happen to be rich i guess wingbow o__o

[_M_M_]

My point of view:

The items build of this guide is clearly for a ganker profile, as it is stated, and works very fine. However, I'm not surprised that Murs says that she's crap late game as with those items she is just garbage if her opponents could farm decently.

Dark Lady, from my own experience, is a very efficient initiator, assuming that she can farm for a while early-mid game... Which might be very hard as she can easily be denied early-mid game against the wrong opponents.


However, if you plan to build her as a viable carry, getting Runed Axe is a must have. Waves can be annihilated in no times, meaning getting HellFlower asap. Adding on that NullBlades, and you have an excellent hit n run chaser, who can neutralize 2 or 3 heroes for a while, assuming that she actually has a team to work with.

[Murs]

updated for the farmers and flamers

[Tr1cKSt3R]

SHE HAS A SILENCE K THX. vg treads MoM.
For those of you who are dota-retarded thats helm of the black legion, steamboots, and parasite or w/e.

[willtsay]

updated for the farmers and flamers

add in getting pers for the "farm" build :) GG regen for lane staying+more castage of spellz

its not really farm , its more of a gank oriented build :P that allows for a better transition into carrying the team as the game changes from the more gank oriented phase into a more push oriented phase :P

str steams aren't really needed for survivability as tainted soul cast range is quite long, her pseudo blink should get you out of sticky spots (tainted soul/cover of darkness is all you probably should be doing b4 getting nullfire)

[BLUEPOWERVAN]

sigh, you should get lvl 1 dark blades still =[

[willtsay]

true this :)

imo she doesnt really need Hack/Slash if she got Nullfire , taint, dash in smack smack purge smack smack + team smack should be enough, although i guess the str/agi are very nice. slightly redundant tho so maybe one could get eitehr null or the Hackslash.

runed axe isnt much of a luxury either its only 1.05k more expensive, half of it you can get at the secret shop :P

oh also maybe add wingbow as luxury? benefits darkblades the most out of any item i think nice added effect of giving evasion

[Bahamut]

anyways, rune axe > hell flower.

[sexwithazn]

Cover of darkness needs to be nerfed badly. It lasts too long and forces the opponents to cluster together (get raped by blinking crowd control such as behemoth) or everyone dies alone. Way too imbalanced for competitive team play.

[_M_M_]

I just read the updated guide. I don't see the point at getting Runed Axe late game, after NullBlades and Abyssal Skull. The point of Runed Axe is that it allows farming to be way more efficient, and thus, getting it asap is a priority for a farming build: early-mid game being the ideal.

[Murs]

you don't get runed axe for the farming bonus, you get it for the aoe silence.

that's why it's a luxury item.

[Hellfyre]

Also it should be noted that her rush is not a blink, because you can't use it to jump up and down ledges. She has to be able to run through or path through the objects in order to do the rush. So technically it isn't really a blink.

It's a poormans blink. Lazy. ¦3

[NerdRocket]

you kinda need stat items on her as her str and int gain are lacking. I do like phase boots on her to chase people down :D. Havent tried the abyssal skull nullfire build yet only runed axe and HoD

[ZuLLu1]

nice one

[Kyrasis]

you don't get runed axe for the farming bonus, you get it for the aoe silence.

that's why it's a luxury item.

So, do people you hit with the splash actually get silenced? If so there might be an argument for runed axe on her.

If not, nullfire after 2 bracelets and strength steamboots seems to work just fine, though against good people you'll definitely want to get a shrunken head after a mid-level damage item (like Slash or Nullfire). You only do crazy damage for 6 seconds, and as an agi melee hero it's nice to be magic immune for all of those 6 seconds.

Maybe it's just me, but the hero I think she is most similar to is Sven (I forget the HoN equivalent's name).

EDIT: I really need to play her more, since I haven't gotten the chance to try out parasite or a wingbow.

[fulgorestyle]

So, do people you hit with the splash actually get silenced? If so there might be an argument for runed axe on her.



aoe silence on auto attack via cleave.. that's game breaking

.....................

[Svedberg]

Pretty sure everybody agree on more hp & mp (in other words, str & int).

My 2 cents:
Nullfire/diffusal is the sheit.
Abyssal/vlads for some leach lifesteal :)

[StealthFire]

so few here see her ulti as gamebreaking :/ I guess only about 2 posters in this thread have actually played any competitive at all.

[Murs]

so few here see her ulti as gamebreaking :/ I guess only about 2 posters in this thread have actually played any competitive at all.

zeus>cover of darkness

although it is a very useful skill in virtually every ingame scenario

[Lethe]

How does zeus counter cover of darkness? His ult gives him one second of vision compared to the 7/10.5/14 sec duration of CoD. Even in a unrealistic scenerio where the other team is bunched up and zeus chains with bolt 2 seconds of vision isn't a counter to up to 14 secs of unlinked vision and vision radius shrink.

[NerdRocket]

14 seconds of no vision is def game breaking but she needs to be tweeked have her other skills buffed and her ult nerfed

[Kyrasis]

so few here see her ulti as gamebreaking :/ I guess only about 2 posters in this thread have actually played any competitive at all.

Sure it's game breaking once you play games with a high average skill level (heck, it would be good even in a TDA). But right now every game in HoN is more like a pub than anything. People tend to complain about things and call them overpowered if it's used well against them, and the fact of the matter is that most teams simply aren't making good use of it. Don't worry though, it's only a matter of time...

[Grotesco]

Anyone tryed Charged hammer?
Because you can get sick lightning strikes when you charge...

[R1C3]

2 bfuries.. is it necessary?

[bloodmonkey]

i have the same question as kyrasis.. does bfury actually make here auto attacks aoe silence w/ dark blades? if so it would be a really good item, otherwise not so much. anyone have a difinitive answer on this?

[Darkstrand]

lol str steam boots, noob?

[Tyrando]

she has **** for hp, especially if you go glorify's pro 2 bfury strat.

you will get ripped apart.

You forget she can blind all enemy heroes, duh.

Low hp. high dmg, long lasting blind, ye it works out well in her favour.

[willtsay]

well to kyr and bloodmonkey charging strike for sure does, as she does actually attack the things she passes through. not sure how darkblades is coded x-x, but if its coded anything like shield breaker, then no. needs testing DX
but runed axe is definitely gotten for farming bonuses along mana to spare. 5 hp regen + cleave + charging strike = fast jungling, especially if you stack camps >:) runed axe or even charged lightning thing synergizes verryy nicely with chargin strikes tho as you do one attack each to everything you pass thru its basically giving you over the max attack speed in that one pass -> makes those proccing items very nice to use you could even think of it as swiftblades ult where ppl get runed axes to cleave their team off , but with less cd and unlimited targets so long as you pass thru them.

id prolly opt for 1 rund axe then whatever mjollnir is called as the procs dont get the damage fall off from the charging strike, and if you are really rich get a shield breaker -> whatever u pass through gets that buff >:)
so items you defintely want are mjol runed axe and Burize -> cleave + crit =team QQ. with 5 targets or mroe your definitely gonna score a crit and some lightning procs xP

[Murs]

well to kyr and bloodmonkey charging strike for sure does, as she does actually attack the things she passes through. not sure how darkblades is coded x-x, but if its coded anything like shield breaker, then no. needs testing DX
but runed axe is definitely gotten for farming bonuses along mana to spare. 5 hp regen + cleave + charging strike = fast jungling, especially if you stack camps >:) runed axe or even charged lightning thing synergizes verryy nicely with chargin strikes tho as you do one attack each to everything you pass thru its basically giving you over the max attack speed in that one pass -> makes those proccing items very nice to use you could even think of it as swiftblades ult where ppl get runed axes to cleave their team off , but with less cd and unlimited targets so long as you pass thru them.

id prolly opt for 1 rund axe then whatever mjollnir is called as the procs dont get the damage fall off from the charging strike, and if you are really rich get a shield breaker -> whatever u pass through gets that buff >:)
so items you defintely want are mjol runed axe and Burize -> cleave + crit =team QQ. with 5 targets or mroe your definitely gonna score a crit and some lightning procs xP


why don't you write a dark lady guide?

[willtsay]

don't have the time to. gotta study for college entrance tests and the like

[bloodmonkey]

one other thing i have been thinking about for DL is a lothars if you plan on being a ganker, or is it just plain overkill?

[Lemmings1]

im sorry, but AWFUL GUIDE!
Hellflower damage does not count as base damage, Runed Axe damage does not count as base damage.... so they wont get the % increase given by the first skill.
The only valid point is that she really needs a lot of mana, which in my opinion is a major flaw in the hero design. She is the only agility hero in the game right now with 4 mana skills, no passive.
The best iten for this lady has to be Nullfire blade, which is cheap to make, gives you mana, agility (its damage gets increased by your first skill), and Purge.
Truth be said, she needs a remake.


Agreed. I'd love to play her, but she isn't a viable hero.

A quick fix that might work:

Taint Soul: 10/14/18/24% slow to target when attacked. Passive self aura.

[Grmn]

haha you guys have no clue how to play dark lady. shes one of the best carries in the game for utility and straight up damage/farming.

[Lethe]

haha you guys have no clue how to play dark lady. shes one of the best carries in the game for utility and straight up damage/farming.

Ok? Instead of throwing in useless critique try teaching the forumers.

[NerdRocket]

one of my friends did some crazy **** and got null 2 runed axes shieldbreaker and mask of madness and we won with 1 set of rax up lul -.-

[Lemmings1]

haha you guys have no clue how to play dark lady. shes one of the best carries in the game for utility and straight up damage/farming.

She is fine in pub play, but in competitive she is lacking.

[Sinvarien]

First off sorry if I use dota names instead of HoN, I haven't got all the new names down.

I have played Darklady 3 times, first time I botched it hard, but it was a hard lane against a decent pebbles(tiny) and dazzle(demented shaman?), and my lane partner was a Moon Queen.

I feel she plays somewhat like PoTM, QoP and Lanaya. She is an incredible ganker, requires you to manage your mana like crazy. She is a ganker who can also backup carry do to being an agi with a good stat gain.

Her Ult is just amazing if used correctly, perhaps a little overpowered in competitive play, just like many of the other great initiators, warlock, tide, es, enigma etc...

Question, if you drop a new observer ward after she casts her ult does it give vision? if not would being able to do that give a way to counter her ult that lets it stay balanced? Just a thought

I like the idea of orchid I am going to try it out. I have heard diffusal(hellfire blade?) mentioned a couple of times for ganking, and I had the crazy idea that maybe dagon would be fun to try. Both require more management of the runes/bottle and mana.

Any response or criticism would be appreciated, I am fairly new to posting on forums.

[DvorakQ]

I'd like to chime in that she's one of the best backdoorers in the game. Played against a group of friends last night. It was very lame since we were playing decently (for a group of pubs), pushing/killing at a decent pace.

We were pushing midlane 2nd tower. We had good local vision with slither(venomancer) and his poison wards, Tempest(enigma) with his summons out at good tactical point and had warded the legion forest so we could try and counter their killer blink/aoe team (Legionaire(axe), Defiler(Krobelus), Behemoth(earthshaker) and Torturer(Leshrac tomented). The enemy darklady ulted. Our team drew back, and spread out quite warily. No one cried for help on team chat... After the ult lifted, we were greeted with the ruins of our top lane. They had managed to down two towers top lane and were working on our raxes.

[Lee_K]

i played against someone who made this hero a carry and with darkblades at lv25 she was doing 550 damage each swing.

[Bali1]

i played against someone who made this hero a carry and with darkblades at lv25 she was doing 550 damage each swing.

lol good times

^^

[ChukNorris]

Wrong itens build...
Runed axe = silence AOE... perfect item for this hero!!!
Put this item on your itens build....

[Korpus]

Dark blades increases your base damage, just like Sven's (Hammerstorms) ultimate. Meaning, you shouldn't get items with straight up +damage since it doesn't increase with the use of dark blades. Agility is the way to go.

[Milkhater]

Just my two cents - played a game against DL earlier, her ult always ruined our pushes - but we had Valk on our team, and as soon as DL ulted, so did Valk. At worst, we had one person dead before they could get stealthed, but more often than not, we could stay clumped as a team in a position relatively close to where we were before the ult. I'm not sure if Valk ult lasts 9 or 11 seconds, but it's a large chunk of that 14 seconds of DL ult. Solid counter imo. Good luck if Valk + DL are on the same team.

[DeathThunder]

Do I really have to see another thread to know what the skills do? Is it so hard to include them?

im sorry, but AWFUL GUIDE!
Hellflower damage does not count as base damage, Runed Axe damage does not count as base damage.... so they wont get the % increase given by the first skill.
The only valid point is that she really needs a lot of mana, which in my opinion is a major flaw in the hero design. She is the only agility hero in the game right now with 4 mana skills, no passive.
The best iten for this lady has to be Nullfire blade, which is cheap to make, gives you mana, agility (its damage gets increased by your first skill), and Purge.
Truth be said, she needs a remake.

Valk has 4

[Drolix]

I played with he only once , and she has a terrible attack speed. I suggest getting it boosted to give her great damage output with the 1st skill.

I can suggest as early/cheap item a MoM, or max agi items , but for sure the bf is not doing that job..

[JHoLLa]

i dont like this guide. i prefer to build a linkens on dark lady with bfury. and always phase boots, never should anyone get treads on any hero. phase boots or bot.

[Bonburner]

Just curious ... has anybody ever gotten refresher on TDL? The effectiveness would be pretty funny ... Cover of Darkness - Dark Blades - Charging Strike - Taint Soul - refresh skills - Charging Strike - Taint Soul - wait until Dark Blades/Cover of Darkness is down and do it again!

[LegoPirate]

the manapool you would need to pull that off would be more then most intel heros could handle, much less an agi carry

[RogerDodger]

Just curious ... has anybody ever gotten refresher on TDL? The effectiveness would be pretty funny ... Cover of Darkness - Dark Blades - Charging Strike - Taint Soul - refresh skills - Charging Strike - Taint Soul - wait until Dark Blades/Cover of Darkness is down and do it again!
GL Getting the mana for that :p

[Murs]

hey do you guys want me to update this for the latest version? she definitely has to be built better in patched hon.

[Netukka]

I love getting Runed Axe/Thunderclaw on dark lady. It pretty much instantly clears creep waves/deals massive damage to enemies if theres a bunch of them. Feels like a mini behemoth shockwave with a 9 second cooldown.

[sneakysob]

Should change name, since Wretched Hag is obviously the Queen of Pain.

:cool:

[TurpinoS]

Hellflower looks nice on paper, the problem I see with it is well, how she is paper.

She is a good ganker, but dont say she cant carry. She has a really damn nice Agility gain, an okay str gain and a sick late game skill (dark blades).

With that said, you need to find an item that helps her into these domains.

1. Being less papery early game.
2. Gank
3. Get some damage (though agility for dark blades)
4. Have a larger manapool.

The first thought is obviously nullfire, gets damage, helps gank, and gives bit of mana, but I definately find that Skadi (Frostwulf Skull) works wonder on her. You lose the silence from hellflower but you win, a bigger Health pool, a decent mana pool, some damage through agility and a nice slow for ganks. Everything that you can wish for imo.

The build-up is sure annoying, but I build her like a carry that helps ganks. Meaning. Rice rice rice mainly, but support ganks when needed.

Pair that with 2 bfurys and gg
(Had to do it for the luls)

[Murs]

Hellflower looks nice on paper, the problem I see with it is well, how she is paper.

She is a good ganker, but dont say she cant carry. She has a really damn nice Agility gain, an okay str gain and a sick late game skill (dark blades).

With that said, you need to find an item that helps her into these domains.

1. Being less papery early game.
2. Gank
3. Get some damage (though agility for dark blades)
4. Have a larger manapool.

The first thought is obviously nullfire, gets damage, helps gank, and gives bit of mana, but I definately find that Skadi (Frostwulf Skull) works wonder on her. You lose the silence from hellflower but you win, a bigger Health pool, a decent mana pool, some damage through agility and a nice slow for ganks. Everything that you can wish for imo.

The build-up is sure annoying, but I build her like a carry that helps ganks. Meaning. Rice rice rice mainly, but support ganks when needed.

Pair that with 2 bfurys and gg
(Had to do it for the luls)

linkens vlads would be much better imo

[XReaperX]

I wish people would use HoN terms... there are plenty of people here that never played dota and have no clue how to read replies. Linkens? vlads?

[Zethos]

Hmm... Never went for hell flower, usually went for nullfire -> shield breaker/abysmal (when I do play her I get abysmal then shield breaker) -> flayer. With boots before/during nullfire build up. Those 1k crits always make me happy...

Also she's a late game hero (imo) as she can't do crap early game, and her mid game is just moderate...

[Lacken]

2x Runed Axe(1x Runed Axe with Riftshards/Flayer), 1x Abyssal Skull, 1x Wingbow, 1x Enhanced Marchers and 1x Warpcleft

This makes Dark Lady INSANE! can take out all 5 in a few secs :p