The Heroes in Dota 2 - An Introductory Guide for Necrophos

Introduction

There are many amazing heroes in Dota 2 that are just awesome to play with. Some of them can only fill-in one position, whereas others have the ability to play in different roles, which is a little bit more fun.

With that said, let’s take a look at one hero who can be played at nearly any position, apart from hard support. Necrophos is one of the worst heroes that you can face in your pub games. Not only is he incredibly hard to deal with, but he also does tons of damage, which makes surviving against him a very hard thing to do.

Let’s see what do we need to know about the abilities and items that you have to get on Necrophos. Also, we will take a look at which heroes have the power to make his life just a little bit harder.
 

Basic information about Necrophos

Necro is an intelligence ranged hero that has the power to win games thanks to his amazing ultimate. Although he definitely shines the most when he is played as a core, there are situations where Necro can be picked as a position four support.

Apart from that, he works wonders when he is combined with other heroes in the offlane. If you play a lot of pub games, there is a high chance that you will eventually face a Necrophos + Undying/Venomancer/Viper, etc. Needless to say, this is a huge pain to deal with.

Now that we’ve cleared this out, let’s take a look at what do we need to know about the abilities of this awesome hero:

• Death Pulse is a spell that has a very short cooldown, which means that it can be used multiple times. Each time you use it, Necro releases a pulse that heals him and his allies’ target while also doing damage to all enemy targets. This is a great way to farm, so definitely try to max it as soon as possible. Even though it doesn’t go through BKB, it is still a great spell to have.
• Ghost Shroud is a very interesting and unique spell that allows Necro to become immune to physical damage. Even though this might not seem useful in the beginning, it is actually an amazing spell later on, especially if there are a lot of physical damage dealers. After all, Necro is not really the tankiest hero in Dota 2.
  
  However, there is a tradeoff - Ghost Shroud increases the magical damage you take during the duration. In addition, you also can’t attack but instead, you slow down all enemies that are near you.
  
  There are many cool combinations that you can with this spell. For example, you can often see Necro players purchasing a Magic Wand and wait until they get 20 stacks. Once ready, simply use your Ghost Shroud and then the wand and you will be healed by a lot more. After all, this amazing spell increases the magical effects on you.
• Heartstopper aura is the spell that makes laning against Necrophos a nightmare. This ability basically does damage every single second, depending on the HP of the heroes that are around Necro. The more HP the have, the more damage it does.

In addition to that, whenever Necrophos kills a hero or a creep, he gains a stack that allows him to regenerate HP and mana. Currently, you can get up to 6 stacks, which should be enough to get a pretty decent HP/MP regeneration from this skill.

Also, there is a talent that allows Necro to do even more damage to this skill. That’s why this hero is often considered to be one of the biggest counters to all high-HP heroes.

• Last, but definitely not least, we have Reaper’s Scythe, an ability that can turn the course of a team fight. When used, it does damage depending on the amount of HP that’s missing from the target. So, if a target has below 50% HP and your ult is level 3, chances are that you will kill him.
  
  What’s more, if the unit dies from this spell, he will have an additional 35 seconds added to his respawn time. Although this might seem broken, there were times where a hero couldn’t use buyback when he was killed by Reaper’s Scythe, so 35 seconds extra doesn’t seem all that bad.
  

Items and Counters

Necrophos is one of the most diverse heroes when it comes down to item choices. There are so many items builds out there, so it’s very hard to just point at one and tell that it’s the best.

In general, the items you get will heavily depend on what position you are. For example, offlane Necro players tend to usually get team-based items such as Pipe of Insight, Shiva’s Guard, etc. On the other hand, the carry Necro usually goes for Radiance, Aghanim’s  Scepter, Blink Dagger, and more.

You can also play either as a spell-damage “beast” using Dagon 5 or as a physical damage dealer thanks to the amazing talents that you can choose from. In the end, it all comes down to personal choices.

In terms of counters, not every hero has what it takes to lane against Necrophos. However, those that do can make his life a living hell. Here are a couple of names that every Necro player needs to be aware of:

• Zeus deals massive amounts of Magical Damage, which is why he is often picked as a counter to Necro. The same goes for Skywarth Mage and Tinker.
• In terms of the physical damage dealers, one of the worst heroes to play against as a Necro is Juggernaut. He can easily kill you with his first skill and even if you survive, he has an ultimate that he can use afterward.