DotA Hero Strategy Guide: Rotund'jere, Necrolyte

Slain for sins of heresy by men who declared themselves holy, death only gifted Rotund'jere with an immense wrath for the living, that he can express by sending evil spirits at his foes. Taking pleasure and growing more powerful every time a living thing dies by his hands, each step of his reeks of death, and his very presence makes living things rot and wither. Now a master of torture and pain, the Necrolyte mercilessly slays any weaklings who might cross his path, always with a nasty smile on his dead face.

One of the few heroes which does not have Strength as his/her Primary Attribute but can be built as a tank.

Pros

+One of the most broken ultimates in the game
+Phenomenal Supporter with his heal
+Great early, middle, and late gamer
+Great Range
+Solid Lane Controller/Soloist

Cons

-Poor Movespeed
-Average HP

Stats

Strength 16 + 2.0
Agility 15 + 1.7
Intelligence 22 + 2.5

Attack Range of 600
Movement Speed of 290

Abilities

Death Pulse

The Necrolyte releases a wave of death from the core of his being, dealing damage to enemies and healing allies.

Level 1 - 75 damage/50 heal.
Level 2 - 125 damage/75 heal.
Level 3 - 200 damage/100 heal.
Level 4 - 275 damage/130 heal.

Cooldown: 8/7/6/5 seconds.

Level 1: 125 mana, 8 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 145 mana, 7 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 165 mana, 6 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 185 mana, 5 sec cooldown.

Comment: Necrolyte's bread and butter. This is one of the best non ultimate skills in the game, and has a multitude of uses. It has an incredible 5 second cooldown at level 4, with unbelievable benefits. It can be spammed every 5 seconds during pushes to keep your team at nearly full health, harass and finish off enemy heroes, or knock out a wave of creeps for a healthy supply of gold.

Diffusion Aura

A 450 range aura that makes the might of an enemy leak out in the presence of Rotund'jere.

Level 1 - 9% damage reduction.
Level 2 - 18% damage reduction.
Level 3 - 27% damage reduction.
Level 4 - 36% damage reduction.

Passive

Comment: This is a rather mediocre skill. It gives nice benefits, but has a rather small AoE and doesn't make the enemies feel a lot of pain until late game, so naturally this skill is left until then.

Sadist

Reveling in death and pain, the Necrolyte regains mana for killing units.

Level 1 - 12 mana per unit.
Level 2 - 24 mana per unit.
Level 3 - 36 mana per unit.
Level 4 - 48 mana per unit.

Passive

Comment: Words cannot describe my love for this skill. I used to get in arguments all the time with my friends back when Stats/Pulse reigned supreme, and my love for this skill only increases. The really great thing about this skill is that you gain mana from denying as well. A good lane controller can establish complete dominance by throwing death pulses around, healing yourself and dealing significant damage to your enemy, and then grab all the mana you used back from last hitting, netting yourself more HP, a better position in your lane, and more gold. This skill makes you the farming king, which is why I have opted to write this guide for a carry Necrolyte.

[R]eaper's Scythe

Brings a target to full realization of its own mortality, dealing damage based on how much life the target is missing. Stuns for 1.5 seconds.

Level 1 - .4 damage per life missing.
Level 2 - .6 damage per life missing.
Level 3 - .9 damage per life missing.

Cooldown: 100/85/70

Level 1: 175 mana, 100 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 340 mana, 85 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 500 mana, 70 sec cooldown.

Comment: One of the best ultimates in the game. At level 3, you will kill heroes at 40% of their total HP with this skill. As such, in a 1v1 situation, you need only deal 60% of an opponents life to be the victor. This skill destroys tanks and just laughs at agility and intelligence heroes with a meager health pool. Another very notable feature of this skill is the 1.5 second stun. Most people ignore it, since 80% of the time this skill will be the last hit on a hero. However, the stun can buy your allies enough time to catch up to a hero, or you can stun a would be assassin and flee!

Skill Build

Level 1 - Death Pulse
Level 2 - Sadist
Level 3 - Death Pulse
Level 4 - Sadist
Level 5 - Death Pulse
Level 6 - Reaper's Scythe
Level 7 - Death Pulse
Level 8 - Sadist
Level 9 - Sadist
Level 10 - Stats
Level 11 - Reaper's Scythe
Level 12 - Stats
Level 13 - Stats
Level 14 - Stats
Level 15 - Stats
Level 16 - Reaper's Scythe
Level 17 - Stats/Diffusion Aura
Level 18 - Stats/Diffusion Aura
Level 19 - Stats/Diffusion Aura
Level 20 - Stats/Diffusion Aura
Level 21 - Stats
Level 22 - Diffusion Aura/Stats
Level 23 - Diffusion Aura/Stats
Level 24 - Diffusion Aura/Stats
Level 25 - Diffusion Aura/Stats

Explanation:

Death Pulse at 1/3/5/7 because it is your staple nuke skill that allows you to do pretty much everything you do.

Diffusion Aura at 17-20 or 22-25 because it becomes effective towards late game, and stats are very helpful on Necrolyte and scale better on him than Diffusion Aura until late game.

Sadist at 2/4/8/9 to boost up your mana to keep yourself in good shape while you lane and farm.

Reaper's Scythe at 6/11/16 because it is an amazing ultimate with great benefits every time you skill it.

Stats at 10/12-15/17-20 as Necrolyte loves every attribute (even the agility!)

Item Build

This section will probably draw a lot of controversy, so let me stress one last time that this is for a carry Necrolyte. I am aware items like Necrobook/Mek/Guinsoo is the way people play in high level matches. However, this guide is for an alternative way to play Necrolyte, that is also highly rewarding in its own regard, and packs the potential to be much more devastating than your standard portable fountain Necrolyte.

Starting Items:

These give nice benefits to damage, HP, and int to let you perform better in the lane, nothing new there. Please note you can get double gauntlet/mantles if you prefer to make two of a stat item.

Core Items:

This build gives you a massive amount of mana and armor. The armor synergizes incredibly well with your 5 second cooldown heal, as you take little damage from physical attacks and constantly replenish your hit points. This build makes Necrolyte an INCREDIBLY effective ganker. Just hop on in with an ally, Pulse, then slow, pulse again and ulti. Shiva's Guard is perfect on Necrolyte. The slow synergizes really well with Pulse, allowing you to get two pulses off and let your ally DPS/Nuke them to death with you. Shiva's also enhances your farming ability, clearing creep waves in seconds when paired with Death Pulse.

Items Afterwards:

Boots of Travel fix your move speed problem and allow you complete map control, and the ability to farm like a madman. Skadi gives you everything you want. HP, damage, mana, attack speed, and the almighty frost orb (which isn't an orb). Skadi makes you an absolute monster. You begin dealing about 170 a hit, which isn't massive for a carry, BUT pair that with your death pulse, shiva slow, skadi slow, and the allies that will be traveling with by the time you farm this, and you are a monster that cannot be stopped. You will almost never get to so late game that you'll end up with the Guinsoo, but should the game run 70+ minutes nab a Guinsoo to shut down the opposing carry.

Final Items Will Look Like:


Optional Items:

Necrolyte has great last hitting ability and can farm a fast midas, which greatly enhances his DPS, as he's lacking in the attack speed department, and it will help you beef up to your skadi faster than ever.

An item frequently seen on alternative builds of Carry Necrolyte, this item will give you massive DPS.

This item is a very attractive alternative to Guinsoo that will turn into a beast. Silence, huge damage and attack speed paired with your slow will wipe enemies out. Also, as a sposter suggested that I add, the damage amplification synergizes with your ultimate quite well.

Assault Cuirass is a nice team oriented item to give you more DPS and support harder than ever!

Rejected Items:

Aghanim's Scepter: At level 16 it makes so your enemies will die at 45% instead of 40%. Spending 6k for that when you could have Skadi is foolish.

Dagon: I see lots of people buy this on Necrolyte, please don't do it.

How To Play

Keep in mind this play style will be be centered around farming, rather than supporting, so this guide will not use the traditional Necrolyte support style.

Early Game:

Buy a circlet, Gauntlets of Strength, Mantle of Intelligence, and a set of tangos. Head off to whichever lane you like, solo or in a dual lane. Since you're aiming to carry, solo is preferred (Necrolyte makes an astounding solo anyways), but you can also perform very well in a dual lane, since your heal is better the more people around, and you can help an ally lane. Last hit and deny anything you can to boost up your Sadist regeneration. Once you find yourself at full mana, have your ally walk up to the creep line and bust out a Pulse. This will net a creep kill or two, heal yourself and your ally, as well as damaging your opponent's (they'll learn to go back after you do this a time or two, when that happens be aggressive and stand by their creep line, or just nab some creep kills while you heal). Ganking is great once you get to level 6, but if you're creeping to your heart's content don't feel guilty about staying in your lane and farming (as long as your allies are doing fine in their lanes).

Middle Game:

Same as before, but leaving your lane once it gets pushed to gank. Toward the end of middle game farm farm farm farm farm farm. And I mean farm. Do this using the Pulse Power Push (Next Section). It will leave you with monstrous amounts of gold, and your opponents will start to fear you.

Late Game:

Push, while farming as much as possible in between. In team fights, just DPS the enemy while spamming Pulse the second it comes off of cooldown to maximize your team's health. Generally, use Reaper's Scythe on either the carry, or the tank, but if the battle is heavily in your favor you can use it as liberally as you like.

Pulse Power Pushing

Pulse Power Pushing is a simple farming method that will keep your lanes pushed and your gold and HP up! When the two creep waves collide, stand in between the range and melee creeps. Hit the range creep once, wait for a melee creep to get beneath 275 HP and use pulse. You'll net 2-3 creep kills immediately. After that, last hit the other few melee creeps. What this will do is: Get you every kill in the wave, increase your HP (Pulse being used), increase your mana (Sadist will regenerate more than you spent as long as you last hitted the remaining melee creeps), and give you large amounts of gold at an alarming rate. The abillity to farm is taken to a whole new level with Shiva's Guard, allowing you to instagib all the ranged creeps (who line up next to each other) with Death Pulse and Shiva. This will be how you farm your items so efficiently. This basic strategy makes Necrolyte such an outstanding farmer it's the reason why I choose to play him as a carry. (Note that the CS in that picture is of host's, not mine, Macs always show the host's CS)

Best Friends

Fellow Healers

These heroes make it virtually impossible to kill heroes in your lane unless they 3-4 man gank your lane, which should be easy enough to spot and back off.

Huskar and Terrorblade

They ult, you ult, GG one hero down.

Pugna

Decrepify makes your ultimate deal an ungodly amount of damage.

Generic Disablers

They buy you time to Pulse a couple times and whack on the enemy so your ult can snag the kill without doubt at the end.

Worst Enemies

Generic Disablers

Unspecific to Necrolyte himself, chain disables rape every hero dota, grab a lane mate should you face them.

Pugna

Netherward makes it painful for you to do much of anything.

Storm Spirit

Have fun with his barrier.