Abilities, roles and builds with an explanation for every purchase.
HERO GAME PLANI sustain early engagements with Decay and place Tombstone where enemies struggle to remove it quickly.
Shambling into battle, Undying forces enemies to decide whether to flee his wrath or be torn apart by it. He drains strength from his foes, and summons a horde of clawing undead. When he finally becomes a hulking flesh golem, his enemies may already be overwhelmed.
My recommendation is a starting point. We choose another position together with the team and for its needs.
Help the lane, provide vision and keep the ally alive first; expensive upgrades follow the necessary team purchases.
My resource is the team's space: I hold the lane and build for initiation or team protection.
This is an editorial starting plan based on hero mechanics. It is not presented as a match I have already tested or a popularity ranking.
Here is my initial plan: I do my role's job first, then choose the items the team needs. I adapt the order and expensive purchases to the opponent.
Provide mana for laning and regular ability use.
Provides early team sustain when there is not yet enough gold for Greaves.
Strengthens the hero’s healing plan and provides another source of restoration when needed.
Combine mana and health sustain for the team; useful in prolonged fights together.
Unlocks or upgrades Tombstone. The exact effects are shown below in the abilities section.
Pipe of Insight ↗Provides team protection against substantial magical damage.
Glimmer Cape ↗Adds a protective tool and hides the chosen ally; invisibility does not replace escaping detection.
Lotus Orb ↗Lets me remove an eligible negative effect and complicates the opponent's targeted focus.
I do not assign one ‘correct’ minute to every purchase. I look at my gold, the next fight and the problem: am I missing mana, target access, control or protection? If an expensive slot will arrive too late, I get a useful answer earlier.
Original Valve icons and descriptions. Cooldowns and mana are shown by level from the data snapshot; talents and upgrades can change the values.
Damages enemy heroes in the selected area and transfers a portion of their strength to the ability’s owner. Damage to creeps is multiplied by 2.
Damages enemy heroes in the selected area and transfers a portion of their strength to the ability’s owner. Damage to creeps is multiplied by 2.
Increases strength steal.
Undying rips health away from all nearby units and uses it to heal an ally, or damage an enemy. Soul Rip can also be used to heal Tombstone.
Raises a tombstone at the selected point that periodically summons zombies beside each enemy in the area.
Summons a tombstone at the target point. Zombies will frequently spawn next to every enemy unit in the area around the Tombstone, and attack them. Zombies have the Deathlust ability, which causes their attacks to slow the target, and if the target reaches below a certain amount of health, increases the attack and movement speed of the zombie.
Tombstone can be cast on an allied hero to bunker inside of the tombstone. Heroes that enter the Tombstone cannot leave for 2 seconds nor can they re-enter after leaving. If the tombstone is destroyed with a hero inside, that hero gets stunned for 2 seconds.
Undying transforms into a horrifying flesh golem. While in this state, he gains a percentage increase to strength, bonus movement speed, and causes attacks to slow, apply damage amplification, and spawn Tombstone zombies.
These abilities are not necessarily available at the same time. I check the condition beside the name: innate ability, another form or an Aghanim purchase.
When Undying dies he will instantly respawn in the fountain. Begins the game on cooldown. Cannot be refreshed.
When Undying dies he will instantly respawn in the fountain. Begins the game on cooldown. Cannot be refreshed.
These are fields from the official source. The hero's final values in the client account for attributes and other active mechanics.
Items, slang and real episodes help connect abilities with what happens in a match.
