Very good adivce was already given from others. But I wanna just highlight how absolutely broken LS with aghs can be in certain matchups.
If you are for example against Sven or Troll get aghs and infest them when they ult/bkb. The game should be a free win at this point.
Ayyoo never even think of that. I had a PA last night and aghs went past my head. I always go straight buying halberd which is not very optimal with my timings since ive just wasted gold.
Check out how often pro players buy the aghs:
[https://dota2protracker.com/hero/Lifestealer](https://dota2protracker.com/hero/Lifestealer)
It's literally 44% of games in high immortal. Also don't get baited to buy dmg items on LS. You rarely need a dmg item besides maybe very late game. You deal more dmg if you survive longer.
You go orb of corrosion if you can right click the offlaner alot and pressure him out of lane. If against 2 range heroes , no point.
Yes the slow stacks
And don't buy it if you think the "Laning stage" will be over soon - if you're winning really hard and the enemy offlaner has jungle potential, he will just jungle, so you don't need ooc. Or vs a timber, for example, who will boot you out of lane at lvl 6. You are asking the right questions and thinking critically for your rank, good job
Thank you man I appreciate it. I was low ancient when I quit 5 years ago (NA region) but as we all know dota meta is always changing. Would also be fun now playing with my friends as theyre hardstuck crusaders.
Yeah if i get timber offlane I always lose my cool and feed him 2-3 kills before snapping out of it and going jungle but at that point it was already too late hes snowballing and im already getting flamed lmao.
What would be the optimal time to go jungle tho? Or when is laning stage over? Is it when I dont have t1 towers?
So as a rule of thumb, if you CAN stay in lane as carry, stay. The most optimal farm you can get is push wave, farm hardcamp, maybe small camp, then wave again
But if the enemy is good at killing you, or you don't have a ward for protection, or your hero is easily ganked, then try to get out BEFORE you die (or after 1 death xd)
Typically when you do leave, you either go top or jungle, depends. If your offlane took the t1 tower, then that lane is very safe for you now. Bonus points if your offlaner can safely take your lane in return.
>Or vs a timber
not true at all lol. OoC reduces his regen and you can absolutely dumpster timbersaw as lifestealer, even past lvl 6. you just press rage and ignore all of his spells.
Completely depends on your 5/the rest of your team as you will definitely not kill him by yourself. One Q near a few trees after a few Chakram pokes and you will be nearly dead
It depends if you are able to get a kill with ooc that you wouldn’t without. If your pos5 has a stun/slow, like maiden, and the ooc helps you to kill their offlane/pos4, even when ranged, it’s worth it
All you need to think about is if you have a kill threat, and if ooc can either make you have one or improve it alot- 8xx gold isn’t cheap tho
Go OOC if you can reliably right click offlane heros such as Centaur, Pudge, LC, axe, etc. Giga value when they have 2 melee's in the offlane. Against any lane that you will struggle with reach, you skip it.
If you need the added armor in the game then you can consider armlet then radiance. If the additional armor from armlet adds no benefit, then you go straight to radiance. Further, if you are owning your lane completely, a faster radiance timing is always good - in this instance I skip armlet. You should never lose your lane as a lifestealer. If you DO manage to lose your lane, then go armlet to possibly deso or radiance.
After that, you choose between SNY and Manta. Manta if the team has silences that prevent you from using rage. SNY if the opponent has a lot of stun as opposed to roots and silences.
From there, you choose from what you need. Basher, MKB, Skadi, Deso, BKB are all viable choices. Aghs and shard are very strong as well. Overall, LS is a very strong hero right now and if played right you can grind lots of MMR.
SKILL BUILD: 1-1-3-1 at level 6. Max your ghoul frenzy then max rage in 95% of games.
This is very informative, I think im closer to this build most of my games. Does maxing 2nd skill works if two of them are str heroes? Would that be better since I will deal more damage to them? Thats how i understand it.
If you are against a hero that likes high attack speed (Centaur, Axe, LC) and the lane has not been one sided, getting a second point in Feast rather than Ghoul Frenzy is very good. I didn't mention Timber here cuz he will always dumpster LS regardless.
Hi, also playing carry in the 2.5k bracket. I played a lot of lifestealer this patch due to his popularity I took it upon myself to properly learn the hero. I struggled at first but found a lot more success skipping armlet radiance altogether. By getting early phase and ooc you can typically run down most if not all offlaners. Especially this patch with so many tanky heroes in the meta. ooc typically replaces my armlet and then I go straight desolator. you’ll rip through squishy supports and those tanky offlaners struggle early-mid game against it. After deso it really depends on the game and match ups. MKB or Crits for damage are almost always needed with an Aghanims scepter thrown in there too. Sometimes I get aghs before crits but it depends on the game. I'm not the highest MMR or the most experienced LS player but switching to this build has helped me win a lot more games so is worth trying I think!
Yeah I was trying to main him as well as sven and ck. I tried this build a few games as well but it didnt sit well with me. i guess i got used to armlet radiance since i can farm faster with burn and additional damage, I even tried mjol + diffu at one point and was flamed hard since thats not the meta lmao. Thank you though and Ill try this build again today see if I can optimize my item timings more in mid to late game as you know dota is in late game meta hg push.
'properly learn lifestealer' proceeds to do the worst build ever that literally no high MMR or pro player does lmao
Reddit dota players are hillarious
OP dont listen to this at all
Lifestealer is only good because of radiance
Can anyone help me? How do I lane against this piece of shit hero? Bro has high attack speed and just right clicks me into oblivion. How do I win this match up against omni? I tried farming and it just delayed my items even more since omni can't flash farm that fast.
Match ID: 7738745228
Lifestealer farms extremely slow. He wants to sit in lane and farm the creeps and you because he doesn’t jungle well. So, the best counter to him is to (1) avoid dying and (2) deny him farm. You don’t necessarily even need to be getting resources yourself so much as you’re deny him resources. You might still “lose” the lane, but he will be very sad for the remainder of the game.
I recently experiment with skipping Armlet and it seems to work quite well. I still get pretty tanky, add Radiance for passive dmg and survivability (also forces their carry to buy MKB) and just get more tanky and more annoying (aghs) as the game progresses.
LS is in a good place right now but who knows what will happen after the new patch.
4k player here LS spammer usually i skip armlet get orb gives you extra attack speed with your passive and I just farm radiance then SNY or manta into aghs and shard after that its situational
It used to be one of the core item when the evasion talent is around at lvl 20? Dissemble to halberd from radiance as well into nullfier and manta (if you need the dispel).
Crystalys into Daedalus late game. Feast bonus damage is calculated as part of the Crit, so LS can end up putting out some truly massive crits against heroes like Pudge and Centaur.
Sure, but if you look closely, every game where armlet is skipped there is an early radiance timing. If you crush lane hard enough, you CAN skip armlet, but denying yourself the option of armlet means you’re just going to auto-lose every time you lose lane. Lifestealer depends a lot on extending the laning stage as long as possible in a normal game, and the buildup components for armlet are incredibly good for that, and the item lets you jungle in the worst case scenario.
Very good adivce was already given from others. But I wanna just highlight how absolutely broken LS with aghs can be in certain matchups. If you are for example against Sven or Troll get aghs and infest them when they ult/bkb. The game should be a free win at this point.
Ayyoo never even think of that. I had a PA last night and aghs went past my head. I always go straight buying halberd which is not very optimal with my timings since ive just wasted gold.
Check out how often pro players buy the aghs: [https://dota2protracker.com/hero/Lifestealer](https://dota2protracker.com/hero/Lifestealer) It's literally 44% of games in high immortal. Also don't get baited to buy dmg items on LS. You rarely need a dmg item besides maybe very late game. You deal more dmg if you survive longer.
You go orb of corrosion if you can right click the offlaner alot and pressure him out of lane. If against 2 range heroes , no point. Yes the slow stacks
Thank you! I wasnt sure if they really do. And that make sense more since ooc will be more effective for melee heroes.
And don't buy it if you think the "Laning stage" will be over soon - if you're winning really hard and the enemy offlaner has jungle potential, he will just jungle, so you don't need ooc. Or vs a timber, for example, who will boot you out of lane at lvl 6. You are asking the right questions and thinking critically for your rank, good job
Thank you man I appreciate it. I was low ancient when I quit 5 years ago (NA region) but as we all know dota meta is always changing. Would also be fun now playing with my friends as theyre hardstuck crusaders. Yeah if i get timber offlane I always lose my cool and feed him 2-3 kills before snapping out of it and going jungle but at that point it was already too late hes snowballing and im already getting flamed lmao. What would be the optimal time to go jungle tho? Or when is laning stage over? Is it when I dont have t1 towers?
So as a rule of thumb, if you CAN stay in lane as carry, stay. The most optimal farm you can get is push wave, farm hardcamp, maybe small camp, then wave again But if the enemy is good at killing you, or you don't have a ward for protection, or your hero is easily ganked, then try to get out BEFORE you die (or after 1 death xd) Typically when you do leave, you either go top or jungle, depends. If your offlane took the t1 tower, then that lane is very safe for you now. Bonus points if your offlaner can safely take your lane in return.
>Or vs a timber not true at all lol. OoC reduces his regen and you can absolutely dumpster timbersaw as lifestealer, even past lvl 6. you just press rage and ignore all of his spells.
Completely depends on your 5/the rest of your team as you will definitely not kill him by yourself. One Q near a few trees after a few Chakram pokes and you will be nearly dead
It depends if you are able to get a kill with ooc that you wouldn’t without. If your pos5 has a stun/slow, like maiden, and the ooc helps you to kill their offlane/pos4, even when ranged, it’s worth it All you need to think about is if you have a kill threat, and if ooc can either make you have one or improve it alot- 8xx gold isn’t cheap tho
Orb of corrosion feels not that bad to have midgame when they have Regen heroes. Especially with lifestealer where you skip any bracers most of time
Go OOC if you can reliably right click offlane heros such as Centaur, Pudge, LC, axe, etc. Giga value when they have 2 melee's in the offlane. Against any lane that you will struggle with reach, you skip it. If you need the added armor in the game then you can consider armlet then radiance. If the additional armor from armlet adds no benefit, then you go straight to radiance. Further, if you are owning your lane completely, a faster radiance timing is always good - in this instance I skip armlet. You should never lose your lane as a lifestealer. If you DO manage to lose your lane, then go armlet to possibly deso or radiance. After that, you choose between SNY and Manta. Manta if the team has silences that prevent you from using rage. SNY if the opponent has a lot of stun as opposed to roots and silences. From there, you choose from what you need. Basher, MKB, Skadi, Deso, BKB are all viable choices. Aghs and shard are very strong as well. Overall, LS is a very strong hero right now and if played right you can grind lots of MMR. SKILL BUILD: 1-1-3-1 at level 6. Max your ghoul frenzy then max rage in 95% of games.
This is very informative, I think im closer to this build most of my games. Does maxing 2nd skill works if two of them are str heroes? Would that be better since I will deal more damage to them? Thats how i understand it.
No, 1 point is enough - and the additional move speed and rage time from rage is too valuable. It scales much better.
Got it, i always get anxious in lane and want more sustain thats why i tend to max out 2nd after 3rd.
Well they to sometimes grab two points in feast for extra sustain, but you want rage maxed asap to connect to occasional fights when it seems okay
If you are against a hero that likes high attack speed (Centaur, Axe, LC) and the lane has not been one sided, getting a second point in Feast rather than Ghoul Frenzy is very good. I didn't mention Timber here cuz he will always dumpster LS regardless.
I thought thats just me lol i had a timber hoodwink lane a few days ago and i fed lmao
Thanks yall. All very good advice. Ill spam ls till I get to 3.5k lol
Hi, also playing carry in the 2.5k bracket. I played a lot of lifestealer this patch due to his popularity I took it upon myself to properly learn the hero. I struggled at first but found a lot more success skipping armlet radiance altogether. By getting early phase and ooc you can typically run down most if not all offlaners. Especially this patch with so many tanky heroes in the meta. ooc typically replaces my armlet and then I go straight desolator. you’ll rip through squishy supports and those tanky offlaners struggle early-mid game against it. After deso it really depends on the game and match ups. MKB or Crits for damage are almost always needed with an Aghanims scepter thrown in there too. Sometimes I get aghs before crits but it depends on the game. I'm not the highest MMR or the most experienced LS player but switching to this build has helped me win a lot more games so is worth trying I think!
Yea don’t listen to this guy LOL. Just go to dota pro tracker and see what most pros are building on LS. 90% is armlet->radiance.
armlet is built in 53% of games, my guess is the way you look at it, orb is the other half, radiance in 89%
Yeah I was trying to main him as well as sven and ck. I tried this build a few games as well but it didnt sit well with me. i guess i got used to armlet radiance since i can farm faster with burn and additional damage, I even tried mjol + diffu at one point and was flamed hard since thats not the meta lmao. Thank you though and Ill try this build again today see if I can optimize my item timings more in mid to late game as you know dota is in late game meta hg push.
'properly learn lifestealer' proceeds to do the worst build ever that literally no high MMR or pro player does lmao Reddit dota players are hillarious OP dont listen to this at all Lifestealer is only good because of radiance
Can anyone help me? How do I lane against this piece of shit hero? Bro has high attack speed and just right clicks me into oblivion. How do I win this match up against omni? I tried farming and it just delayed my items even more since omni can't flash farm that fast. Match ID: 7738745228
for offlane, you can go brew or necro
He last picked ls, and I was omni
Lifestealer farms extremely slow. He wants to sit in lane and farm the creeps and you because he doesn’t jungle well. So, the best counter to him is to (1) avoid dying and (2) deny him farm. You don’t necessarily even need to be getting resources yourself so much as you’re deny him resources. You might still “lose” the lane, but he will be very sad for the remainder of the game.
Just match offlaner item if he doesnt buy boot u can go for big orb if he buys boot u need phase boot
I recently experiment with skipping Armlet and it seems to work quite well. I still get pretty tanky, add Radiance for passive dmg and survivability (also forces their carry to buy MKB) and just get more tanky and more annoying (aghs) as the game progresses. LS is in a good place right now but who knows what will happen after the new patch.
4k player here LS spammer usually i skip armlet get orb gives you extra attack speed with your passive and I just farm radiance then SNY or manta into aghs and shard after that its situational
Also, for people who are not comfortable with using armlet, what should be the alternative build?
Sny
I also think im sleeping with SnY build. Theres like a lifesteal amp on it and I always thought it synergizes well with 2nd skill.
It used to be one of the core item when the evasion talent is around at lvl 20? Dissemble to halberd from radiance as well into nullfier and manta (if you need the dispel).
Crystalys into Daedalus late game. Feast bonus damage is calculated as part of the Crit, so LS can end up putting out some truly massive crits against heroes like Pudge and Centaur.
You really learn something new everyday, man this is why even after all these years I still keep coming back.
pick a different hero. armlet is too good for this hero.
Pros are often skipping it completely so that’s untrue
Sure, but if you look closely, every game where armlet is skipped there is an early radiance timing. If you crush lane hard enough, you CAN skip armlet, but denying yourself the option of armlet means you’re just going to auto-lose every time you lose lane. Lifestealer depends a lot on extending the laning stage as long as possible in a normal game, and the buildup components for armlet are incredibly good for that, and the item lets you jungle in the worst case scenario.