Do you want to learn how to play Nyx Assassin in Dota 2 like the pros?
The best assassin from the zealot scarabs, Nyx Assassin, is an agile hero whose arsenal has insane kill potential. Spells that can shut down any carry and tend to work against many heroes make Nyx Assasin extremely useful. Though his pick rate has declined, learning How to Play Nyx Assassin in Dota 2 is a shortcut to winning MMR.
Played most as an extremely mobile and annoying roamer, he possesses multiple disables and sources of damage. Extremely strong in the midgame, Nyx Assasin’s power spike threatens supports and cores alike. This is due to his high burst damage and ways to lock enemies down in one spot.
Unlike many lane supports or roamers, Nyx Assasin is comparatively tanky, which helps him transition into a semi-tank later on. In the midgame, when most do not have BKBs, his spells become extremely hard to counter. Initiating and ganking are his key traits and are why one should master How to Play Nyx Assassin in Dota 2.
Nyx Assassin usually fares well against heroes he can effectively use his abilities against. These heroes include Enchantress and Dragon Knight, who Nyx can break with his Ultimate. In contrast, Nyx works well with heroes who can build on his stuns or combo with him. These heroes include Mirana, Invoker, and Legion Commander.
Nyx Assasin’s Abilities
Using Impale allows rocks to emerge from the ground, launching enemies it hits up into the air. Consequently, falling down stuns enemies while dealing magic damage to them. A maximum stun duration of 2.6 seconds is enough time for his teammates to bring down the enemy potentially. Moreover, a small mana cost makes it efficient in the long run.
Mana Burn does exactly as it suggests. Using this on a hostile allows him to eliminate part of their mana. Additionally, it burns mana as a multiple of the enemy target’s intelligence, making it devastating for intelligence heroes. Moreover, this ability deals with magic damage equal to the amount of mana it burns from the target.
With Spiked Carapace, Nyx Assasin can reflect the damage he receives from each target once. Apart from just damaging them, he also stuns the target unit for a maximum of 2.4 seconds. This becomes extremely lethal for heroes with AoE, damage per second, or for heroes who build items like Radiance.
Nyx Assasin’s ultimate ability; Vendetta, is perhaps one of the best ganking abilities in the entire game. This is because it not only deals pure damage but also makes Nyx Assasin invisible for an insane sixty seconds. The movespeed bonus and the bonus attack damage of 600 upon exiting invisibility make it overpowering for a roamer.
How to Utilize his Abilities
As Impale is a ground-targeted spell instead of being unit-targeted, being quite close and practicing it helps a lot. With it being the primary disable of Nyx Assasin, it is ideally the spell he maxes first. Apart from this, it also does not get blocked by Linken’s Sphere or Lotus Orb, making it a great and reliable stun.
Along with Impale, it is great to put levels in Mana Burn initially because of its scalability in the early to late game. Using this spell to mainly trade with supports in lane is quite important as Nyx Assasin has low attack damage. Besides this, one should focus on using this spell at the start of team fights to hinder the effectiveness of spellcasters.
Moving on to Spiked Carapace, which is one of, if not the best stun to combat any hero with AoE damage. Even for Battle Fury builders, standing near them with Spiked Carapace allows one to execute a reliable stun. As it also does not break the Vendetta’s invisibility, hiding in plain sight to set up kills is very beneficial.
With Vendetta, Nyx Assasin can also pass through units making it much more effective in maneuvering through the map. Using the combination of Vendetta, Impale, and Mana Burn often brings down heroes. As it is instantaneous, it is also a viable escape considering the enemy team has minimal detection.
It is very important to note, however, that Impale does indeed break his invisibility. This becomes an important thing to consider against mobile heroes like Anti-Mage, who can blink out upon revealing oneself. Vendetta also does not interrupt channeling, so Meteor Hammer and Teleportation Scrolls are of use while invisible.
Item Build
In the laning stage, Nyx Assasin should optimally buy items that aid his cores in the lane. In this current meta, supports buy many regens consisting of Tangos, Clarity, Enchanted Mangoes, and Healing Salves. Getting Boots of Speed as soon as possible is crucial to have the ability to position oneself correctly.
As the early game rolls around, Nyx can diverge greatly in the items he builds depending on the present game. Meteor Hammer is one of the few items many Nyx Assasin players build to get more farm and a reliable stun. This is because, with the level 10 talent, Nyx gets a stun duration of 2.8 seconds for his Impale.
As a result, Meteor Hammer’s 2.5-second channel duration becomes a viable option to get an extremely long-lasting stun. An almost four-second stun duration in the right circumstances is enough to kill any core, no matter their tanking capabilities. Apart from this, using the item to supplement his limited farm potential is an excellent idea.
As the mid and late-game progress, Blink Dagger is an excellent option to enhance mobility. Apart from this, it also helps Nyx Assasin reposition himself to land a good set of stuns. Blink Dagger also becomes helpful in stopping key initiations from enemy cores by correctly timing the Spiked Carapace and Blink combination.
Many more items can help him in improving his burst potential. Items in this category include Ethereal Blade and Dagon, which have a lot of magical damage. Apart from this, increasing lockdown through items like Scythe of Vyse and Aghanim’s Sceptre helps to keep enemies under control. Aghanim’s Sceptre is also an essential defensive tool.
Laning Stage and Gameplay
As the text above states, Nyx Assasin is an exceptional hero at finding and executing kill opportunities. He does this exceptionally well due to his immense potential to gank and move around the map. In the lane, Nyx Assasin is timid before he gets levels and can only hope to trade equally with supports.
Level six is a major power spike for Nyx Assasin, and as soon as he gets it, he should gank. As Vendetta’s bonus damage is overwhelming to deal with at such an early stage, he should gank whenever possible. Considering his loss of impact when enemy cores have BKBs, he should aim to never have his ultimate spell off cooldown.
In team fights, there are two methods with which Nyx Assasin can completely dominate a fight. The first is using his Vendetta to hide and wait for support to show up, whom he can promptly kill off. Secondly, he can use his Spiked Carapace to easily cancel many active AoE abilities and eliminate enemy team fight potential.
Nyx is incredibly overpowered when played with the right mindset and correct draft. Learning how to control his Impale and when to use Spiked Carapace can make the hardest game an easy win. These exact reasons make knowing How to Play Nyx Assassin in Dota 2 crucial and why pros abuse this hero.
