Some Tips to plays Nyx Assassin | Dota 2 Tips and Tricks

Nyx Assassin is a non-farm dependent ganker with a skillshot who is countered by casual sentry wards and stuns/slows. Typically played in the 3 or 4 farm position, Nyx Assassin can fit into any lane composition.

Great counter INT heroes

A great all game counter to squishy INT supports and an in-lane counter to mana dependent carries (Outworld Devourer, Invoker), Nyx Assassin is most feared when not seen on the map due to his early-mid game Vendetta skill that sets up his devastating single target combo.

A 3 position Nyx Assassin typically solos a lane by himself and begin rotating at level 6 and should not be considered a carry who needs to farm endlessly. If a support (4 position), Nyx Assassin will usually be under leveled and under farmed for much of the game and is therefore careful to expose himself in fights since his right clicks are pitifully weak.

Regardless of farm priority, Nyx Assassin only needs Arcane Boots as a core item

He is one of the few heroes were a Dagon is typically built as it helps his combo to ensure pickoffs into mid-late game. That said, Dagon is typically a poor choice when playing support as the recipe can remain disappointingly out of reach for long periods of time.

More important than Dagon is Blink Dagger

Which is the only way for Nyx Assassin to make an impact in team fights where enemy sentry wards are dropped. This is typical in mmr games near and above 3k. In this scenario, Nyx Assassin either initiates himself (hard to do) or waits for an initiation from a teammate (more successful in chaos) by: blinking in, stunning multiple enemies, Vendetta attacking, Mana Burning and finally using Spiked Carapace to hopefully walk away alive and re-engage as appropriate.

If completely flush with gold and somehow carrying the game, an Ethreal Blade is Nyx Assassin's preferred luxury item to maximize his combo damage

Ethereal Blade should not be considered on a support Nyx Assassin as Observer Ward, Smoke, Mekansm, Pipe of Insight, Urn of Shadows, Force Staff, Vladmir's Offering, etc are all significantly more important for the entirety of the game.

• Typical 3 position item order: Arcane Boots, Dagon, Blink Dagger, Dagon(2-5), Ethereal Blade
• Typical 4 position item order: Observer Ward/Smoke, Arcane Boots, Blink Dagger, impactful support items
• Situational items to consider: Mekansm, Pipe of Insight, Drum of Endurance, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Blade Mail, Urn of Shadows, Scythe of Vyse, Black King Bar

Nyx Assassin has huge issues with mana early on

At 6 Vendetta costs about half your mana pool and it can really screw up ganks if you can't cast everything. For this reason, I'd consider a Bottle and mana boots pretty core on him, and especially if you're going Dagon, it might be worth picking up the null talisman early. Nyx Assassin can benefit a lot from runes as well, so Bottle is really good for him.

Nyx Assassin is a lot about mobility

If you can rely on your team mates Blink Dagger or Force Staff are good items to get on him to help you get where you need to be for those 3 or 4 man Impales. This means that you're sacrificing Vendetta damage though, so you need follow up stuns and follow up damage if you're going this route. As I said, if you're confident about your team mates, Blink Dagger is reasonable. If not, Dagon is probably a better way to go mid game.

You can Vendetta while you're channelling TP

That makes it a lot easier to keep your mana up while using Vendetta. Just Vendetta as you're leaving and you can regen all your mana back. Level 1 Vendetta is pretty weak to be honest, you can't really roam with it because it's so short lasting and costs so much mana. You really have to be using it with a target in mind. At level 2 and 3 you should have enough mana from items to sustain it a bit better and its uptime is improved a lot - at level 3 you can be in Vendetta indefinitely.

Nyx Assassin is best played in the offlane or mid

He used to be run as a support but I personally think he needs too much levels and farm to be efficient at it. He has a reasonably high base HP regen, so this combined with his Spiked Carapace makes it a lot easier for you to get exp and gold compared to many other offlaners.

The build depends on the situation

I usually get a value point in Spiked Carapace then max Impale and Mana Burn first. If you're getting beat round a lot, then maxing Spiked Carapace might be a good idea because of the cooldown. Don't underestimate  Spiked Carapace, it's easily one of the best spells in the game if you've got the reflexes and the timing for it. Just be careful because people will know what it does and they'll be trying to bait it out so they can kill you.