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Heroes of Newerth The Dark Lady Guide

By ToRtUr3 - 24th May 2011 - 17:57 PM

The Dark Lady is a very powerful hero throughout the game, due in large part to her incredible farming capacity and two extremely powerful steroid skills. If she manages to get farmed she can break the game like no other Hero and is able to turn seemingly lost games around. Combine that with a unique multi-purpose ultimate and the stage is set for you to cause humiliation amongst your enemies.


The Dark Lady


1. Skills Descriptions



Dark Blades
IPB Image

Type: Activation
Range: Self
Mana Cost: 75/85/95/105
Cooldown: 22/18/14/10

Applies Dark Blades to self for 3/4/5/6 seconds.

Dark Blades Effects
50/60/70/80% Base Damage.
Attacks silence target for 2.5 seconds.

Usage

This is what makes a farmed Lady one of the scariest sights of the late game. When maxed, a whopping +80% base damage is nothing to sniff it and the silence built in gives The Dark Lady the ability to gank as well as carry. If the Lady finds someone and silences them they're almost-certainly dead unless their team can help them, particularly if she has allies nearby. Dark Blades has other advantages: it can be cast without any cast time, and it can also be cast while moving, saving precious seconds. The mana cost is also rather cheap for this skill and the cooldown is very lenient. Compare this skill to Hammerstorm's ultimate; both boost base damage by a metric ton, but Brute Strength takes until level 16 to surpass Dark Blades. Given that it is effective throughout the game and amps up your damage massively, to say nothing of being equivalent to many heroes's ultimates, it should come as know surprise to learn that this will be your primary steroid skill for carrying with.
Taint Soul
IPB Image

Type: Magic
Range: 800/900/1000/1100
Mana Cost: 35
Cooldown: 12 Seconds

Deals 60/90/120/150 magic damage and applies Taint Soul.

Taint Soul Effects
Reduces movement speed by 60% initially, recovering full speed over 2/3/4/5 seconds.

Usage

Not even among the ranks of mini nukes, taint soul's damage is almost as pointless as the 20 damage dealt by Andromeda's Aurora. The reason why you skill this skill is for the ridiculous slow that you will inflict with it. With a low Cooldown, cheap mana cost and quick cast time, this spell is great for slowing down the people you are going to try kill, usually in combination with Dark Blades and Charging Strikes. Another use is to abuse its cheap mana cost and use it to last hit creeps and harass heroes, however do not spam the spell! Despite its cheapness, never forget your own limited mana pool. Also, harassment is only recommended on agility or intelligence heroes, as they have low health pools and feel the damage more. Remember, ALWAYS leave yourself mana for charging strikes. This will be explained later.

Charging Strikes
IPB Image

Type: Magic
Range: 600 / 700 / 800 / 900
Radius: 200
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 21 / 17 / 13 / 9 Seconds

Charges toward target location, dealing one attack to each enemy that passes within radius of self. Each consecutive attack during the charge will deal 15% less damage than the previous.

When the charge completes, applies Zeal to self for 6 seconds.

Zeal Effects
+30/45/60/75 Attack Speed

Usage

If Dark Blades is not the best skill on The Dark Lady, this is. Charging Strikes is one of the most versatile skills in the game. With it Lady can initiate (not recommended but possible), gank, escape ganks and chase. She auto attacks when she attacks those while charging forward. Not only is this a great way to apply damage quickly and get behind, it also works while Dark Blades are activated, so everyone in a line while being charged will be silenced and on the receiving end of serious boosted damage. This skill is a great way to finish off heroes who stray too far as the attack speed synergizes well with Dark Blades, allowing you to attack more with the damage boost. An essential skill early game and useful throughout the course of a match.

Cover of Darkness
IPB Image

Type: Magic
Range: 99,999
Radius: 1000
Cast Time: 0.8 Seconds
Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 120 Seconds

Applies Darkness to targets in radius for 4/6/8 seconds.

Darkness Effects
5%/10%/15% Movement Slow
Shrinks vision radius to 400.
Unlinks shared vision with allies.

Usage

One of the most unique spells in Heroes of Newerth, this skill is useful like few other. However, its usefulness really depends on the enemy team. If you are taking on a team of 5 pubbies, then the ultimate will be devastating, as usually pubbies can not co-ordinate a skilled defense when they cannot even see what's going on. However, players who are together and who know what they are doing will turtle up and hold out until their sight returns. While it lacks the direct damage of Eruption or Shockwave, Darkness is nonetheless a great ultimate. Without vision, the enemy team cannot react well to ganks, nor can they position themselves properly in a team fight. The slow will help chase as well as take advantage of the enemy frantically trying to re-organize themselves to stay with allies. While this skill is powerful alone, its potential is magnified greatly when coupled with a Magmus/Behemoth/Kraken ultimate. This ability is also quite cheap and thus can be used at almost any point without having to worry too much about your mana pool for helping your team ganks or team fights when you are across the map. Its global range is another significant asset: you can intervene in any fight, even when you are not yourself present.

2. Skill Build and Usage

  1. Taint Soul
  2. Charging Strikes
  3. Dark Blades
  4. Charging Strikes
  5. Charging Strikes
  6. Cover of Darkness
  7. Charging Strikes (maxed)
  8. Dark Blades
  9. Dark Blades
  10. Dark Blades (maxed)
  11. Cover of Darkness
  12. Taint Soul
  13. Taint Soul
  14. Taint Soul
  15. Stats
  16. Cover of Darkness
The only reason why you should get Taint Soul as first ability is to last hit creeps better or last hit two creeps simultaneously. It's a spammable spell with low mana cost. You can even use it to harass the enemy if your last hitting powers are confident and you have a decent babysitter at hand. Charging Strikes will be the main focus skill early on because the enemy won't want you to free farm, so this escape ability is essential for you. I also like to put a skill point into Dark Blades early on because it could happen that your babysitter is doing such a good job, that you might be able to score a kill with a Dark Blades + Charging Strikes combo. If you want to be a helpful team player, you'll get the Ulti at level 6 for gank support. Let's not lie: The Dark Lady is pretty useless without items, so she needs to farm. While she farms she obviously won't be ganking much and thus your team plays 4v5 to cover your farm. The least you can do is throw a Cover of Darkness above the enemy to actually help your allies somewhat while you farm. Later on it will become an essential key to victory, although its effectiveness is somewhat nullified if the enemy make intelligent use of wards.

3. Item Build


3.1 To Start With:


1x Health Potion
1x Runes of the Blight
2x Duck Boots
2x Minor Totems

Loggers Hatchet (Outpost)
Iron Shield (Outpost)
Lifetube (Outpost)

Hungry Spirit (situational)

The aim of these starting items is simple: last hitting and lane regeneration. Obviously, no decent team is going to let you free farm and last hit as much as you want and will harass. So with runes and the health potion, you should be able to stay in lane for a long time. With the hatchet and duck boots, you should be able to last hit better, which is what matters. Getting your Hatchet from the Outpost lets you get your Iron Shield earlier, further reducing the enemy's ability to harass you. Once you have an Iron Shield, go directly for a Lifetube which you will build into a Runed Axe. Once you have the Lifetube, you won't need many regeneration items to stay in the lane. If the lane is being harassed way too much, get a Hungry Spirit and try getting some farm in the jungle.

3.2 Core Items


Runed Axe (Important!)
Ghost Marchers or Steamboots (set to strength)
Whispering Helm
Shrunken Head

Now, while many other heroes have a wide choice of items to get as core, The Dark Lady only has one focus and that is a Runed Axe. The Runed Axe is the first big item you go for (sometimes even before boots) because it makes her farm way more effective than most other carries. Once you have a Runed Axe you can one-shot creep waves and take out 3x Ancient stacks in no time. Besides, the enemy will be forced to their knees. Although the Runed Axe is a pretty expensive item, it should usually be farmed before the 20 minute mark. If you fall back on farm you could go for a Alchemist Bones and try to get back, but if you can't get that Runed Axe, the enemy has already managed to significant suppress your farm. Lifesteal works on Charging Strikes which can easily heal you up 30% in a single creep wave, and is also very effective if you go in against many enemies. While The Dark Lady is really powerful, she is also really squishy, therefore a Shrunken Head is a must on her. Want to survive the battle without getting stunned or disabled? Shrunken Head is your only way to solve that problem. Once she has all those core items (which can be easily farmed with a Runed Axe), she becomes an unstoppable force.

You can go either Steamboots or Ghost Marchers, it really depends on whether you want to survive team battles longer or chase down enemy heroes more easily. The difference between Steamboots and Ghost Marchers on her is significant. Steamboots ups her attack speed and survivability in team fights, while also not being very mobile, which usually means that a Geometer's Bane comes in handy later on, while Ghost Marchers are a great choice if you are going to chase enemies a lot or if you get ganked a lot and need to be quicker in the lanes once you take out a creep wave. Ghost Marchers also make you squishier in team fights, and you'll do slightly less damage in fights where you use your Dark Blades and Charging Strikes. It's safe to say that you will need some kind of other tanky item along with a pair of Ghost Marchers.

3.3 Situational Luxury Items


After having all your core items, The Dark Lady has a pretty wide choice of items that she can get. My favorite luxury items on her are Symbol of Rage and Charged Hammer. Why, you ask?

Symbol of Rage

Activate Symbol of Rage, smash through a wave of creeps or enemies with Charging Strikes and see your health going from 10% to 100%. Not only that, but it goes a long way towards making you less squishy.

Charged Hammer

The proc of Charged Hammer works with Charging Strikes and thus can deal out a ton of damage in only one strike. Not only that but once your Shrunken Head is gone, you can apply it to yourself and enemies will hopefully be dissuaded from attacking you.

Wingbow and/or Daemonic Breastplate

If the enemy team is packed with auto-attackers such as carries that deal out lots and lots of physical damage, Daemonic Breastplate and Wingbow are items you can and should go for. Both of them make you less attractive as a target for those carries and Daemonic also provides a handy boost to other Heroes on your team that deal physical damage.

Geometer's Bane

Geometer's Bane is a good choice if you feel you aren't mobile enough or the enemy has some sort of randomly attacking ability heroes such as Corrupted Disciple's Ultimate.

Savage Mace

Savage Mace is another great item on The Dark Lady, especially when it gets to late game and one of the enemy's carries builds a Wingbow or has some other type of Evasion like a Zephyr. Besides that, the mini mini-stun helps Dark Lady chase better and break channeling spells.

4. Hero Specific Strategies and Techniques


The Dark Lady is a pretty simple carry hero once you get into her abilities. Basically all she does is farm up her core items and then go completely nuts with Charging Strikes and Dark Blades.

4.1 Last-hitting in the Lane


The start of a game is probably the most critical and decisive moment for The Dark Lady. If you don't get enough farm during the laning phase, chances are that your Runed Axe will come way too late into the game. So what you do is simple: You use your Taint Soul ability to safely last hit from the distance if your enemy doesn't like your face. If you have a good babysitter you can even up your farm by using auto-attacks and Taint Soul simultaneously to get two last hits at the same time. It's all about timing and how well you know the damage output of level 1 Taint Soul. Once you have your Hatchet (which should go pretty quick), there's not much stopping from The Dark Lady running in and grabbing the last hits on those creep waves. If you still fall back, get a Hungry Spirit and take advantage of jungle creeps + Charging Strikes to farm safely.

4.2 Charge and Destroy


So you have your Runed Axe before the 20 minute mark and you want MOAR? Your way is marked clearly now. The solution is simple: You go onto a pushed lane and wait for the creep wave to come at you. Of course you won't wait for your creep wave to be there too as they might ruin 1-2 of your last hits. Get there before them, turn on Dark Blades and charge through them with Charging Strikes (also works on catapults) + maybe 1-2 more auto-attacks to kill that complete wave. After killing 1 or 2 waves you might want to go back into the jungle or take another lane since it's too risky to continue taking a creep wave at the enemy tower.

4.3 Team Fight Attendance


Once you've got your core items, it's time to actually help at team fights. Cover of Darkness is a very valuable ultimate, especially if you have revelation wards and someone that knows how to coordinate your ultimate with them, just in case the enemy team is smart and places wards for sight. Once you use Cover of Darkness, you turn on your Dark Blades and charge into one single target or through many with Charging Strikes. Usually it's better to charge through many and still reach the enemy of choice for a higher damage output. Key heroes like a Behemoth should be your first choice as Dark Blades will silence him and he'll be dead before the silence wears off if you focus on him. If their initiation hero is dead, they are pretty much in a hopeless situation and will start to split up. If you haven't used Taint Soul yet, use it now to chase down those scared enemies and kill them before they get safe. Always watch your mana pool, otherwise you'll see yourself getting killed if you miscalculated and can't use the Charging Strikes anymore to get away out of a fight.

4.4 R.I.P. Kongor


What to do if the enemy is dead or busy? Farm a lane for creep waves or kill ancients? I have a better idea. Take out Kongor solo. When you have all your core items, it should be no problem to get Kongor. If one of your allies has a Tablet of Command, ask him to make you jump into Kongor on Hellbourne side. That way you can get in there without the enemy taking notice if they have wards up. Of course they'll suspect you being farming somewhere, but if they see 3-4 of your allies on the map, Kongor will be their last thought. So, how to kill Kongor? Keep using Dark Blades and Charging Strikes on him and he shouldn't last long. If you feel like you are losing to him, go to the ancients, heal up with your life steal and go back in as soon as possible.

4.5 Bitchlady Goes Nuts!


The game goes well and you have a GPM of over 500 because of your mad Runed Axe farming. You should now have items such as Symbol of Rage and Charged Hammer in your inventory. Once you have those items, it's basically impossible to stop a good Dark Lady from smashing faces with it. You can almost score Annihilations solo by now and outcarry even the scariest carry in a game. If you feel like you are in trouble, activate the Symbol of Rage and use Charging Strikes to heal yourself from zero to hero (hrhr). Basically only a few heroes can stop Dark Lady at late game, such as Chronos or Predator. You could also be nasty and backdoor the enemy. The Dark Lady is among the fastest and most effective of all carries at solo back-dooring the enemy. A combination of her luxury items + Cover of Darkness and Charging strikes with Dark Blades basically takes out a barracks before the enemy even knows what happened. So as you see, all a Dark Lady needs is her Runed Axe. You'll easily double, triple or even quadruple your GPM after you have that item.

5. Replays and Videos






6. Changelog


May 24, 2011 First release