Nevermore Premium Guide

Table of Contents

1. Hero Overview
2. Skill Descriptions
3. Skill Build
4. Item Build
   • My Core Item Build
   • My Recommended Items After Core Build
   • "Choose your own Item Build"
   • "Choose your own Item Build" - Explanations
5. Gameplay walkthrough
   • Early Game (Levels 1-9)
   • Effective use of Bottle
   • Mid Game (Levels 10-16)
   • Late Game (Levels 17-25)
6. Good Allies to have
7. Bad Enemies to face
8. Mini Guide to Shadowraze
9. Replays
10. Conclusion
11. Credits
12. Q&A

1. Hero Overview

A demon of the burning legion so abhorred that he makes the skin of even his fellow demons crawl, Nevermore is a creature of the shadows that consumes the souls of those around him. When the Shadow Fiend comes forth to battle, he augments his power with the souls he has consumed, bearing down on his enemies with spiritually enhanced attacks and powerful spiritual blasts. The Shadow Fiend is a terrifying opponent whom few have survived, and those who have perished under his tyranny have faced the most despicable fate of all.

Starting HP: 435 
Starting Mana: 234 
Attack Range: 500 
Base Movespeed: 300 
Starting Base Damage: 35-41 
Starting Armor: 1.8 

Strength: 15 +2.0 
Agility: 20 +2.4 
Intelligence: 18 +2.0 
Overall stat gain per level: +6.4 


Advanced Data 

Acquisition Range: 800 
Cast Point: 0.67 
Cast Backswing: 0.40 
Damage Point: 0.50 
Attack Backswing: 0.54 
Projectile speed: 1200 
Base Attack Time: 1.7 seconds

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Great harassing, killing and farming nukes.
• Pretty good damage early game with Necromastery.
• Low cooldown, big AoE ultimate.
• Can farm, push and clear creeps very quickly.
• Late game DPS machine.

Cons

• Susceptible to nukers.
• Low Starting HP and Mana.
• Item Dependant.
• Low base damage.

2. Skill Descriptions

Quote:

Shadowraze    Gives the Shadow Fiend the power to desecrate regions in front of him at varying distances.  Level 1 - 75 damage  Level 2 - 150 damage  Level 3 - 225 damage  Level 4 - 300 damage  Cooldown: 10 seconds.  Mana cost: 75 - all levels.

Shadowraze was previously a pretty bad skill. Usually, people left it until levels 22-25 to skill it and most didn't even know how to use it properly. It was buffed recently with extra AoE and lowered mana cost, propelling this skill from a mediocre, hard to aim nuke, into Nevermore's staple killing, farming and harassing nuke. 

The first raze "Z" blasts and area 200 units in front of Nevermore, while the second raze "X" 450 units in front of Nevermore and the third raze "C" blasts and area 700 units in front of Nevermore. Each raze has a 275 AoE. 

Quote:

Necromastery    Whenever the Shadow Fiend kills a target, he stores the unfortunate soul inside of him. For each stored soul he gains 2 bonus damage until his own death releases half of them from bondage.  Level 1 - 16 damage limit.  Level 2 - 30 damage limit.  Level 3 - 46 damage limit.  Level 4 - 60 damage limit.  Passive

If Shadowraze is the staple of Nevermore's skills, then Necromastery is definitely the glue. It binds all of his skills together. Basically, every creep or hero you kill, Nevermore gets +2 damage, up to the cap for each level. If you die, you lose half your bonus damage/stored souls. 

This skill is what makes Nevermore's early game last hitting among the best, despite his pitiful base damage. Once you get a roll on, the extra damage (and cash) keeps flowing in, giving him a free relic by level 8 in my build. The amount of souls stored is also related to how much damage your ultimate does. 

Quote:

Presence of the Dark Lord    The presence of such a horrible creature terrifies nearby enemies, reducing their armor.  Level 1 - 1 armor reduction.  Level 2 - 2 armor reduction.  Level 3 - 3 armor reduction.  Level 4 - 4 armor reduction.  Passive

This passive is a simple armour reduction aura. Boring yes, but is quite useful to have when combined with other armour debuffs, whether they be from items or other heroes. It has an AoE of 900. 

Quote:

Requiem of Souls    Summons evil spirits around you dealing damage to units in the area. Number of spirits is related to the number of souls stored and the movement/damage reduction is related to the distance from the Shadow Fiend. Lowers movement speed and damage of nearby units. The closer the units are the greater the effect.  Level 1: 80 damage, 150 mana, 120 sec cooldown.  Level 2: 120 damage, 175 mana, 110 sec cooldown.  Level 3: 160 damage, 200 mana, 100 sec cooldown.

Nevermore's Ultimate is somewhat of a mixed bag. On one hand it is has a big AoE and the potential to deal some impressive damage in at close range, while on the other hand it is very slow to cast, 100% dependant on Necromastery and deals quite unimpressive damage at the edges of the AoE. 

The mechanics of the skill are quite easy to understand once you learn it. When Nevermore stores souls through Necromastery they serve to create "lines" in his ultimate. A line is the stored souls being released in one direction damaging all units in its path. 

For every 2 souls stored, one extra line is created in a different direction. The directions of the lines are spaced evenly in a circle around Nevermore and continue outwards. At the maximum souls stored, 15 lines are created by Requiem. Each line of souls deal 80/120/160 damage and all enemies get slowed for 15%/20%/25% movespeed and decreased attack damage by 15/20/25%. 

3. Skill Build

1. Necromastery 
2. Shadowraze 
3. Shadowraze 
4. Necromastery 
5. Shadowraze 
6. Necromastery 
7. Shadowraze 
8. Necromastery 
9. Stats 
10. Requiem of Souls 
11. Requiem of Souls 
12. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord 
13. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord 
14. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord 
15. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord 
16. Requiem of Souls 
17. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats 
18. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats 
19. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats 
20. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats
21-25. Stats

Explanation for Skill Build.

Why max Shadowraze first? 

Since Shadowraze was buffed, the skill is now extremely effective early game to harass, kill and farm. Maxing it first will net the most benefit from its good damage and cheap mana cost. Don't take it on level 1 though, as the mana cost is high for poor damage and Necromastery needs to be taken. 

To further explain it, Shadowraze is your nuke. It's common practice to max your nukes asap, Even when you have skills like Necromastery. Shadowraze IS your lane control: your farming, your harassing and your killing, it only makes sense to max it asap. It also takes time to fill up your souls from Necromastery. There is no point skilling another level of it if you haven't/can't max it, while on the other hand, it wont hamper you much if you sit on the maximum of the previous level of Necromastery for 2 minutes while you get another levelup. From levels 1-3 Nevermore's base damage is pitiful, hence he needs level 2 Shadowraze to harass and actually fill up the level 1 souls. (Once you have bottle, spam away.)

Why max Necromastery so quickly? 

Taken on level one as you shouldn't be using your level 1 nuke. The +16 damage maximum will help with your last hitting until you take the next level of it at 4. Maxing it by level 8 means you will have the damage equivalent of a FREE RELIC soon after. Leaving this skill to later would make absolutely no sense, as passing up on such great damage early game is ludicrous and your ultimate is dependant on this skill. 

When should I take Presence of the Dark Lord? 

Presence of the Dark Lord can be taken at two different stages. If you are surviving well and have team mates with other armour debuffs, or you are planning to buy Stygian Desolator, take this skill from levels 12-15. However if you find yourself being killed too easily, have no intentions of getting Desolator and have no allies with armour debuffs, take this skill from levels 17-20, as the stats will help you out immensely. 

Why not take Requiem of Souls at 6? 

As stated earlier, Requiem of Souls is 100% dependant on the souls stored by Necromastery. By this stage you will only have Necromastery at level 2 which is a maximum of 15 souls. The damage created by this skill at this stage would be minimal at best. Not using it this early will also save more mana for Shadowraze, which would do more damage anyway. 

Could I take some early Stats instead? 

Many older Nevermore builds suggest taking stats over Shadowraze. Since Shadowraze is actually good now, I don't recommend skipping it at all for stats. As stated above skipping Necromastery would be insane, so that leaves no room for early stats. My item build attempts to make up for this. 

4. Item Build(s)

In this section I'm going to try something a little different. I've composed a suggested item build of my own containing a core build and the items following. This build is one of many, but it has been the build I've used the most and have found to be very effective. Following that, I've composed a "Choose your own Item Build" section, outlining the many other possible builds for Nevermore. Follow the step by step walkthrough of composing your own Item build, but make sure you read all of the explanations first so you know what items to get for which situations. 

My Core Item Build

Item order 

1. Full Bottle (700) 
2. Two Circlets (370) 
3. Boots of Speed (500) 
4. Kelen's Dagger of Escape (2150) 
5. Finish the two Bracers (650) 

Total cost: 4370 gold. 

Explanation

This core build focus' around Nevermore being a soloer and an early game nuker with Shadowraze. 

Full Bottle is a very underrated item in my opinion. It is great on Nevermore for the sustained HP and Mana regen. There is much more to it than just refilling it at the fountain and using the three charges, it can carry useful runes for you for two minutes, which in turn refills if for you, it can also be used mid-battle to heal and restore mana and is often the difference between dying and killing. This is all explained in greater detail later in the "Effective use of Bottle" section. 

The Circlets and Bracers are to make up the lack of stats you have early game. Most other Nevermore builds go for stats early, but in mine the Bracers make up for that. They are cheap and effective at what they aim to do and will help you survive, as well as adding small amounts of damage and mana. Boots are kind of obvious, so I wont need much explanation there, +50 MS is invaluable. 

Kelen's Dagger of Escape is the major item in my core build. It's such an effective and flexible item, providing you with the early escape tool you need, while later on allowing you to position your Ultimate better as well as chasing down heroes. I choose Dagger over Lothar's mainly because Dagger can be used for much more than just positioning you're ultimate like Lothar's is. It can be used to Blink over terrain for better escaping, it can be used to chase and kill heroes that otherwise you wouldn't have been able to, it means you wont be able to be hooked or swapped effectively, as you can just blink out straight away. Also, it does not have an easy and cheap counter like Lothar's with true sight.

My Recommended Items After Core Build

Item order 

6. Point Booster (1200) 
7. Ultimate Orb (2300) 
8. Ultimate Orb (2300) 
9. Eye of Skadi Recipe Scroll (1250) 
10. Broadsword (1200) 
11. Blades of Attack (650) 
12. Crystalys Recipe Scroll (500) 
13. Demon Edge (2600) 
14. Buriza-do Kyanon Recipe Scroll (1250) 
15. Planeswalker's Cloak (650) 
16. Helm of Iron Will (950) 
17. Two Rings of Regeneration (750) OR Ring of Health (875) 

Total cost: 15,650 gold 

Explanation

This build is tailored for most games when you find yourself farming well and you feel the game will last around one hour or longer. 

Your main survivability item should always be taken first as you will need to actually be able to survive before thinking about your main damage item(s). The reason for this, is that you will already have +60 damage from Necromastery, giving you all the damage you need for the early part of the game so you can focus on improving your weakness, Survivability. 

While Eye of Skadi is terribly expensive, Nevermore can farm it very quickly with the use of Shadowraze. The stats are great and you benefit from all of them. The strength adds HP which you sorely need, the Agility adds damage and IAS which doesn't hurt and the Intel adds Mana, something else which you can put to use with Shadowraze. The slow from frost attack is also extremely beneficial when chasing heroes, since the only natural slow you have is from your ultimate. 

Buriza-do Kyanon is the damage item of choice in this build. Buriza is usually a poor choice as a first item, as the critical strike damage will be quite low and wont proc too often. However, since we're taking Buriza quite late in this build after Skadi, Nevermore will already have great damage and good IAS, making the critical strike damage quite high and will proc very often. Taking the item around the 1 hour mark is when this item will really shine, probably the best choice for late game DPS on our black emo fiend. 

Hood of Defiance is a good late game item, giving 30% spell resistance to better tank spells and AoE damagers. This will help minimize the amount of damage you take in big team fights and reduce the amount of fountain trips you should have to take. However, if you're facing a ton of nukers, you may want to invest in this as early as you need.


If you're wondering what boots you should upgrade to, read the explanations below and apply them to this build. An early Boots of Travel is also an option if you want to farm the whole map and leave nothing for your allies .

Choose your own Adventure Item Build!

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 787x610.

With the use of this table, there are upwards of 250 possible item combinations. This should give you some idea and appreciation of why I can't cover every single build in this guide and why I'm sure, not everyone will be pleased with my one build.

"Choose your own Item Build" - Explanations (Read - Long)

Core Build

For most of the core build explanation, see above. For the optional change, see below.

 
Lothar's Edge(3800)

Well I guess I'm going to need a pretty good explanation of why I didn't use Lothar's in my build, since many people will see it as Blasphemy. I've stated a few reasons above that outline my general opinion of Lothar's and I'll state them again here. 

Lothar's imo isn't worth it's price, it is easily countered and Dagger is 100x more versatile. The ward nerf may improve Lothar's durability for escapes in odd places, but you'll mostly be using it to set up Requiem in team fights. These often occur near towers, which give true sight and important areas like Roshan, which will often be warded. If they enemy team is pushing they'll ward up before doing so if they're above pub level. On top of that, if they have necronomicon summons then they can see you no matter where you are fighting on the map.

Of course, if you're playing games where players don't mass ward and don't buy Necronomicons then Lothar's is still a pretty good item choice. The WW-1-hit-kill abuse is decent against players who don't move around constantly and the damage and agility from the item can't hurt. Feel free to substitute it into your build instead of blink dagger if this is you.

Which "Tanking" Item Should I Buy

Eye of Skadi(7050) Vs Heart of Tarrasque (5500) Vs Satanic(6150)

Eye of Skadi

Pros: You benefit from all the stats. It boosts HP, Mana, IAS, Damage and Armour. The slow really helps you and your team chase heroes. Frost attack "stacks" with most other orbs on ranged heroes.
Cons: It's the most expensive of the three. 

When should I get this? Skadi would be good in almost all situations that you're able to farm it reasonably quickly. Good for when you're team needs another slow and when you find yourself chasing a lot. It's a great well rounded item for offensive and defensive needs.

Heart of Tarrasque

Pros: It's the cheapest of the three. Provides close to 1000 HP as well as 11 hp/sec regen. Arguably the best purely survival item around. 
Cons: Doesn't have any nifty side effects like the other two. 

When should I get this? Heart would be a good choice in situations, when you're facing a lot of focus fire in team fights. When you're team lacks tanking capabilities. It's a defensive tanking item. Also good combined with Manta Style and Radiance.

Satanic

Pros: Lifesteal is useful , which is "stackable" with Frost attack(Skadi). Adds the same STR as Skadi and also adds 5 armour. 
Cons: Lifesteal wont save you if you're constantly disabled. Doesn't add anywhere near as many overall stats as Heart and Skadi. Doesn't benefit your teammates like Skadi would.

When should I get this? Satanic would be a good choice if you're not facing a lot of disablers. When you can continuously attack with a high damage output lifesteal will allow you to heal while attacking and the activatable ability would allow you to 1v1 even the most insane DPSers. It's an offensive tanking item.

Vanguard(2275)

Vanguard is a cheap stepping stone for a survivability item. It adds 250 HP, 4hp regen per second and 65% chance to block 35 damage and is easily formed. I would recommend this item if you're having a really tough early game and are unable to farm for anything else. It wont suffice for late game survivability, so you'll still need one of the three Main items, but it will allow you to get back on your feet and surviving long enough to aim for bigger items.

Hood of Defiance(2375)

See My item build explanation for why/when to get Hood of Defiance.

Good But not Great

Linkin's Sphere (5500)

Linkin's Sphere is not really a bad item, it's just that there are so many better ones. It's often compared to Heart, as they cost the same amount of gold and in that situation it fails as a survivability item. On the other hand if you prefer the (shoddy) spell block and want some extra agility and intelligence, then Linkin's Sphere is still a decent choice. Take the perseverance early, then upgrading to Linkin's once you're core build is finished.

 
Sange and Yasha(5100)

Sange and Yasha is a pretty bad item for the amount of money it costs. It is only good in terms of being easily farmable and giving decent benefits along the way. The only time you should substitute S&Y into your build is if you are having serious trouble farming more than 1000 gold at a time without dying or you really, really want +10% MS. Other than that, you should steer clear of this one. 

Situational Items

 
Black King Bar (3800)

Black King Bar is bought for the activatable Avatar ability. If you find yourself facing many stunners, disablers or mass AoE damagers, then I recommend rushing BKB straight after your core item build. If you're not facing these types of enemies then you don't really need BKB. 

 
Diffusal Blade (3000) / Manta Style (5500)

Diffusal is a great item to take when you're facing a Warlock or Sven and no one else on you're team is buying it. Purge instantly kills Infernals which give 100/150/200 gold and removes God's Strength (Counter two ultimates completely), it's also great for chasing down escaping heroes. It upgrades into Manta Style, giving some more HP and the Image ability, which gives you about an 80% damage boost for the duration of the images. Other than that I wouldn't recommend it, as going for a pure DPS or survivability item is more beneficial. Note: Your images don't gain any extra damage from Necromastery.

Boots Upgrade

 
Travels(2700) VS Treads(1530) + Scrolls of Town Portal(135 each)

Let the great debate begin. The old Travels vs Treads has been discussed, debated and argued about all over the world for years. The difference between everyone else and my guide, is that I'm going to LET YOU CHOOSE! Yes, you heard right! 

After playing so many games with Nevermore, I've found both options to be viable and had success with either. If you are going for the cheaper builds, Treads is a good cheap option to boost your MS and IAS. Just be sure to always have one or two Scrolls of Town Portal with you. While if you can afford BoT, definitely get it when you buy Skadi, as the slow and your superior MS will help you chase a lot better. 

BoT also allows you to travel around the map to any allied unit, allowing you to free farm in open lanes, help your allies when they're getting ganked, it also allows you to teleport back to the fountain when in danger or when you need to buy items without having to buy TPs every time. While Town Portals allow you to travel to buildings only, granting the building you're teleporting to 99999 armour. 

Which Damage Item Should I Buy?

Buriza-do Kyanon(6200) Vs MKB(5400) Vs Radiance(5325) Vs Desolator(4420)

Buriza-do Kyanon

Pros: 2.2x Critical Strike. Builds up great, with the use of Crystalys. Gets better as the game goes on and you obtain more damage (Bigger criticals).
Cons: Most expensive of the damage items. Is weak at early stages.

When should I get this? Buriza is an item that gets better as the game goes on. The criticals will deal higher damage and proc more often as you acquire more damage and IAS. I would recommend getting this in games that you feel are going to last over an hour and you are going to be you're team's only DPSer, as that late in the game is when this item really shines. 

Monkey King Bar

Pros: Mini-stun with 100 bonus damage. High chance of Mini-stun occurring. Small IAS boost. 
Cons: Build up is made of two of the worst Damage-per-gold items in the game. Most expensive recipe cost of the four.

When should I get this? Monkey King Bar is a better DPS item than Buriza at Mid levels. The Mini-stun procs more often than criticals and deals a set damage. The IAS is welcome as well. I would recommend getting this in games when you're team needs good damage output from you at earlier levels. Mainly when you're team is pushing hard to win asap. The mini-stun is also good for disrupting teleports and channeling spells.

Radiance

Pros: SPARKLES!!! = 35 damage per second in 500 AoE. Good for farming, chasing and in team fights. Small evasion. 
Cons: Hard to farm relic for some. Sparkles draw focus fire on occasions. Weakest damage on actual attacks.

When should I get this? I would recommend getting Radiance only when you're team has no other capable Radiance buyer. This item is more suited to heroes who can get in the front lines of the fight so Immolation can deal good damage to all the enemy heroes. Unfortunately to do that the Radiance holder will most likely sustain large amounts of damage and possibly die. It helps you to farm very well and chasing with Immolation will help you net kills. If you get this item, make sure you tank up well.

Stygian Desolator

Pros: Very good Damage-Per-Gold. Cheapest of the four by a long way. Corruption orb increases damage even further and stacks with your own aura.
Cons: Corruption takes up your orb and doesn't "stack" with any others. Weakens as the game progresses and the enemies obtain more armour.

When should I get this? Desolator is very cheap and deals great damage. The Corruption orb reduces the armour of target you're attacking by 6. This stacks with you're aura which reduces their armour by another 4. I would recommend getting this item in games that you can rush this item very quickly (Before you're tanking item if you're not having any trouble surviving). It is also great when you have allies that also have armour debuffs as they will mostly all stack and it's good to get with Cuirass as well. The only downsides are Corruption does not allow dual orbs and becomes weaker as the game goes on and enemies obtain more armour.

Good But not Great

Maelstrom(3360) / Mjollner(6760)

Maelstrom and Mjollner are both pretty good items on the right heroes. The problem is Nevermore is not really the right hero for these. For best use, they require a very high IAS, something which Nevermore doesn't have naturally. The main reason I don't like Mjollner, is because it uses Eaglehorn, which is a really, really bad value item in terms of gold-per-benefit. They would still work if you happened to choose them, Mjollner gives good damage to agil heroes, and it's activatable ability can be used when you're in the middle of a fight and Chain Lightning "stacks" in a sense, with Skadi's slow.

Luxury Extras

 
The Butterfly(6350)

The Butterfly is another situational item. I would class this as a luxury item to be gotten after your core build and item paths. It gives a nice damage and IAS boost and the extra evasion will help against heroes who rely on physical attacks and/or any hero with a bash ability. I haven't included it into my build, because if you have farmed 3400 for Eaglehorn, you may as well go for 400 more and get Relic. Eaglehorn is such a bad value item and it really doesn't benefit you until the recipe is formed, definitely not something you want out of your main item. 

 
Assault Cuirass(6320)

If no one else on your team is getting one, Assault Cuirass would be a good late game alternative. It adds good armour, nice IAS boost and some good auras for your allies. The amour debuff also stacks with your own aura and Desolator which will make for a good damage boost. 

Hyperstone(2300)

Hyperstone is a cheap and easy way of boosting your IAS, which in turn boosts your DPS. It upgrades into Cuirass if you wish, but on it's on it's still a nice late game extra for Nevermore. I wouldn't recommend getting Hyperstone earlier, as you'll need the survivability and damage items before thinking about IAS.

Items Not Recommended

 
Mask of Madness(1950)

Mask of Madness is a terrible item, let alone on a fragile hero such as Nevermore. Every time you buy Mask of Madness on Nevermore, 3 puppies die. Please, THINK OF THE PUPPIES! 

 
Bashers(3220)

Ranged hero with bashers is silly. The amount of times I've seen this in pubs... It makes me want to cry. A serious waste of money. 

 
Mekansm(2434)

I've seen other guides telling you to get Mekansm on Nevermore. Please, it's not 6.32 anymore, don't get Mekansm on Nevermore. Save your mana for Shadowraze and get blink dagger for cheaper. 

 
Divine Rapier(7800)

Dr.Aegis used to be a great late game build for Nevermore. Since Aegis' removal, Divine Rapier is way too big of a gamble. Unless you have 17 Aegis' from Roshan or are playing against total noobs, don't get Rapier.

5. Gameplay Walkthrough

Early Game (Levels 1-9)

To start off with, if the game is -AR you will be able to buy bottle before you leave the base, otherwise if it's any other type of mode you wont have enough for it. It is absolutely vital that someone on your team buys a chicken and shares it with you. If no one is willing, then you'll have to begrudgingly fork out for one yourself. This is important so you can get your bottle ASAP without having to make a fountain trip.

Head out to a solo lane, Mid works well, but any lane will do really. (Note: If you solo top or bottom, you can buy bottle from the new Secret Shops, so a chicken wont be necessary.) Soloing is definitely beneficial for you, as you will have free reign over the last hits to maximize the souls stored by Necromastery as quickly as possible. If you're in a higher level game, your team will let you solo, but if you're not you may have to fight with your allied Naix who wants to solo as well. If you end up having to be in a dual lane, don't flame and get upset, work with your teammate to cause serious pain on the enemy with your nukes combined with anything he may have at his disposal.

Lane Controlling

Your lane control ability will be lacking for the first few levels. Nevermore's base damage is quite low and Shadowraze is weak at level one. You should have bottle rather quickly, after a few minutes, buy it and get the chicken to bring it out to you. Once you get to level 3 and have the second level of Shadowraze, start using the 700 range raze "C", to harass your lane opponent. 

Once you start building up your souls, your damage will be getting better, making it easier for you to last hit and deny, it's also a good idea to harass your opponent with your normal attacks when you have around 20 souls stored as you will have pretty decent damage by that stage. Shadowraze will be your main lane controlling tool though. At level 4 it's possible to double and possibly triple nuke your opponent for severe damage, causing them to retreat out of farming range giving you an easier time farming. (If you want to learn more about Shadowraze and how to use it properly, read the section entitled "Mini Guide to Shadowraze")

Farming

Farming should be your main priority for this stage of the game. Your base damage is weak to begin with, but you can also use Shadowraze to last hit any creeps you may have missed otherwise, it only costs 75 mana. Your attack animation and projectile speed are pretty good, if you need practice, play in single player or against AI until you get used to his animation.

Your last hitting should become exponentially easier as you build up souls from Necromastery, so use it to your advantage. The only time you should leave your lane is to get a rune to refresh your bottle, other than that stay in your lane and farm.

Killing

You shouldn't be too focused on killing any heroes at this stage. If you need it, call an ally to come and gank your lane opponent, but don't leave your lane with the purpose of going to kill someone, you're not a ganking hero and you shouldn't be trying to do so.

Be aggressive in harassing your lane opponent, but don't be suicidal. You have bottle to heal and restore your mana, so use Shadowraze at your leisure, but don't do silly things such as tower diving.

Dual Lane

You wont always get the solo in every game. Sometimes you'll have to play in a dual or tri lane. In these cases you'll just have to make the most of the situation. You can still farm and harass well, but you'll have to be play a bit conservative if you're facing two stunners or nukers since you're so fragile.

You could also think about netting some kills with you're lane partner(s) if he has some disables, allowing you to double and possible triple nuke with Shadowraze.

5. Gameplay Walkthrough cont.

Effective use of Bottle

A lot of people don't use bottle very often. Ever since chicken could buy bottle full, it's becoming more popular, but is still very underrated. There's more to bottle than just filling it at the fountain and using the three charges when you need mana. I've composed a series of screenshots to show you some effective uses of bottle.

Refilling in the River (Rune Whoring)

Runes spawn in the river either at the top near the cove or at the bottom just out in front of Roshan. They spawn every two minutes (e.g 2,4,6,8,10 etc). When you go to fill your bottle with a rune, check the ingame clock and wait until it's close to one of the rune spawn times so you don't waste a trip. You can also double up on some runes if you're lucky, by picking up a rune more than 5 seconds before a new one is due to spawn and if you're lucky enough it will spawn at the same spot you are.

The following screens show how to magically fill your bottle in the river.

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Note: Since 6.44, Refilling Bottle with Runes now only fills it 2/3 rather than filling it completely.

Healing Mid Battle

Mid battle healing is something exclusive to bottle. No other item has the ability to heal you in the midst of battle like bottle (not counting cheese) or set up so many opportunities. Healing 200 hp and 100 mana over 3 seconds may sound small, but imagine having that when you are low hp after a battle and Zeus is about to use Wrath, or you've just copped a full AoE combo in the face, move back for a few seconds and are fully healed ready to fight again. Below is a series of screens showing just one of the many situations bottle can save your life and even set up kills.

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Healing at the Fountain Quicker

Well I'm going to assume you don't need a screenshot for this. Healing at the fountain quicker with bottle is an effective way to speed up your healing and reduce the time spent at the fountain. Basically just spam your bottle at the fountain while you're healing, effectively doubling the rate at when you replenish your HP and Mana to it's maximum. Once you're done spamming the bottle and you're on full HP, don't forget to refill it.

Mid Game (Levels 10-16)

If you've farmed reasonably well in the early part of the game, you should be close if not finished your core item build before 30 minutes have passed and already be saving for your next big item. Decide on which item path you want to take reasonably quickly, buying the items you need as soon as you have the money for them. Saving up with no purpose is an easy way to lose lots of money when you die.

Farming

You'll have a lot more mana around now to spam Shadowraze, so make the most of it's potential to clear out creep waves fast. You still have bottle to replenish your HP and mana, so tanking and nuking creeps and neutrals will make you quick cash. Whatever happens, don't ever stop trying to farm. If you're team is pushing, farm on the way. If you're heading back to the fountain to buy something or heal, spank some neutrals on the way. Ensuring your bankrole keeps ticking over is the most important thing you need to think of. Of course don't miss team fights or pushes, but use your intelligence to teleport around to massive creep waves and other farming opportunities.

Killing

You can start thinking about using Requiem of Souls at this stage. You should have full souls by now, and a well placed Requiem can not only deal a lot of damage, but the slow can buy you some time to get the finishing blows in. Don't hesitate to call in a team mate with disables to help you out if you're attempting a gank, Shadowraze still deals decent amounts of damage at this stage, so keep on nuking. Blink dagger will help you chase down escapees as well, but remember not to get yourself into suicidal situations.

Team Battles

If you're team is pushing, then chances are you will encounter a big team battle. You should never initiate the combat stay behind your allies until the commencement of the fight. Your combat initiator should hopefully have an AoE disable so wait until they use it, blink in and cast your ultimate in the best position you can get to. Your team should then try to protect you so you can deal out as much damage as possible. If you find yourself being focus fired, blink out as quick as possible and hang around any of your team with a Mekansm or heal skill. Once the main battle has taken place it is then your job to chase down any escaping heroes nuking them with Shadowraze.

What should I do After I die?

Dying hinders Nevermore more than most other heroes due to the fact that he loses half of his stored souls every time. How you go about refilling them can be a tough choice. Do you farm and ignore everything else? Do you join in pushes if they're being conducted, or should your team defer it for you to farm?

Well really those situations would be left up to you and your team's judgment. But as a general outline, the earlier in the game it is, the more important it is for you to be a max souls. As the game goes on you will find it increasingly easy to refill the souls and the loss of 30 damage does not hinder you as much. Also, for the purpose of using your ultimate, you should enter pushes with max souls.

Filling the souls can be done quickly through the killing of Kobold, Troll, Wolf or Gnoll neutrals creeps. These can be killed quite quickly and will give you between 3 and 5 souls for each camp killed. Killing normal creeps is just as easy with Shadowraze, but you'll need to make sure your be safe from a gank.

Late Game (Levels 17-25)

Late game is time for Nevermore to turn from a Blinking nuker to a stand and deliver DPSer. Shadowraze will have lost it's effectiveness against heroes, so just use that for creeping at this stage. When fighting heroes your normal attack will deal a lot more damage if you've followed any of the builds I've posted.

Farming

Lategame your farming will also be considered pushing and defending. There will be massive creep waves pushing towards your base, which you can defend and clear out in a Shadowraze combo and a few hits. Push the creep waves out as quick and as far as you can with Shadowraze before TPing to another lane with either a scroll or BoT. Don't hang around in one lane too long as that is just screaming to get ganked, especially if you go past the river. You can farm neutrals and ancients without any trouble, so make the most of the gold they give.

Team Battles

With team fights you should follow pretty much the same strategy as above. Don't initiate, use your ulti once you AoE disables have gone off and attack anything left standing. You should be in the front lines for most of this part to get off as much damage as you can. Don't be afraid to take a bit of fire if you have Heart or Skadi, but still be a bit careful once you're under 50% HP. Hopefully your team has a good mix of healers, AoE and damagers to heal and help you out, as a last resort blink dagger is your escape tool.

Miscellaneous

This misc section is just to inform you of the various other things you can do late game with a DPS hero. Things such as Roshaning, backdooring and split lane pushing.

Roshaning is simple. Organise your team to meet near Roshan when the enemy heroes are either all in their own base defending or stalling. You being the main DPS hero should deal a good amount of damage to Roshan and kill him quickly. Hopefully your team will allow you to take the Aegis and possibly even the cheese.

Backdooring is controversial. It's banned in many leagues and tournaments with nitpicky rules and regulations. I'm not here to judge whether it's right or wrong, good or bad, strategy or cheap... all I'm saying here is you have the capacity to do it if it is your style. You have blink for escape, high DPS to take down towers quickly, both vital things if you plan to do this. If you can't or wont backdoor due to rules of the game or your own morals then that's fine as well.

Split lane pushing is a strategic plan. You'll need your four teammates pushing one lane hopefully distracting the 5 enemy heroes, while you quietly push another lane. Hopefully your team being one man down will hold their own in the fight they will engage in, leaving you to quickly take down a base tower or rax untouched. As soon as you get that tower or rax quickly go and help your team get the upper hand in the other lane, or retreat if they were defeated.

6. Good Allies to have

AoE Stunners 

AoE stunners are good lane partners for you if happen to be in a dual or tri lane. They can stun multiple targets setting up for you to double nuke with Shadowraze. They can also save you from ganks and enemies attempting to chain combos on you in lane situations.


Combat Initiators 

Combat initiators are generally heroes with big AoE disables. Some exceptions come in the likes of Netherswap and Hook, but the AoE types are the ones that benefit you the most. Requiem of Souls has a 1 second cast time, meaning when these heroes either blink in or run in and cast their big disable, it gives you time to blink in, position your ultimate and cast it for maximum effect. After that you can pewpew with Shadowraze at anything still moving.


Ganking Support 

Ganking heroes will make your life in the solo lane a whole lot happier. Good gank support will see your allied ganker trying to help you kill your lane opponent three, four or maybe five times before level 10. These heroes generally have a good stun or slow and possibly some nukes as well. If their ganks are successful, it allows you to gain a level and farming advantage over the opposition.


Healers and Support

Healers are great team mates no matter who you are. They can save you little emo behind in so many different situations with their heals and support skills. Good support and healers are generally the difference between winning and losing, keeping you and your team alive when otherwise you would have died.

7. Bad Enemies to face

Chain Nukers 

Chain nukers are definitely tough to face with Nevermore. He has low hp, average STR gain and no real escape tool. If you find yourself getting nuked to hell, you may want to invest in a Hood of Defiance earlier than stated in my item builds. If you're facing them in a lane, get your bottle as well as some tangos and play conservatively healing off all their nuking while you focus on farming as much as possible.


Chain Disablers

Chain disables are the only thing worse than chaining nukes. If you have blink dagger, you can escape nukers, but disables are a whole other story. If you're facing three or more stunners and a Guinsoo or two, you'll find a BKB most useful. 10 seconds of Avatar is enough time for you to get your ulti off, 3 Shadowrazes and deal out some good damage, all while not being disabled. In a lane early game, double or triple stuns will usually mean death, the best you can do is play conservative and call in a friend.


Mass AoE Disablers

Just like these heroes are your best ally, they are also your worst enemy. They can completely break up any combo plans you might have had and will definitely gain the upper hand for their team if they catch your team in their disables. Your best bet is to hang back until they unleash their skills then blink in for your action.

8. Mini Guide to Shadowraze

Shadowraze can be a tough skill to learn and use effectively. In this section I will attempt to show you some methods of using Shadowraze effectively. It's your multipurpose nuke used for farming, harassing and killing. There's 3 buttons, Z, X and C, each control a different length Shadowraze. Z is the shortest one, at 200 range, X is the middle range one at 450 range and C is the long range one at 700 range. Each one has 275 AoE, 75 mana cost and 10 second cool down on all levels.

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How do I aim Shadowraze?

Aiming Shadowraze is simple to learn, but quite difficult to master. Basically, the razes shoot in the direction you're facing, at the distance of whichever button you pressed(z,x,c). In this series of screens I will try and show you the basics of aiming Shadowraze to harass heroes in a Lane situation. The same style can be used to nuke creeps as well. 

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Harassing with Shadowraze

Shadowraze is a great harassing nuke. It has good range in it's longest form and the ability to double nuke is just icing on the cake. It has a low cooldown and cheap mana cost that is begging to be abused. In these screens it shows the effectiveness of Shadowraze harassing, causing two of the best harassers in the game to retreat from me! Rinse and repeat the process as much as you can for best results.

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Farming with Shadowraze

Farming with cheap AoE nukes is a godsend to item dependant heroes like Nevermore. Early game you can use it to last hit creeps that you otherwise couldn't have got to. Mid game once your mana supply is sufficient, you can double nuke creep waves to instantly kill most of the creeps, while finishing off any still standing. This screen shows an early game example of me using Shadowraze to finish off a few low HP creeps that I was nowhere near getting, before they got denied.

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Killing with Shadowraze

Shadowraze is a great killing tool for the first half of the game. You can potentially triple nuke a hero causing 900 damage before spell resistance. With the help of a stunner or disabler, you can get into perfect position to pull it off. This series of screens shows a one such situation where a stunner helped me position a triple Shadownuke kill.

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by impotence.aura dotaportal.com