I replaced the old Assassin's Speed/Passive build. It was fun, but getting kills is more fun. The build plays pretty much the same way, only with spine attack. The is key in finding those 1 v 1s to drop in on unexpectedly and finish the job. All of the protips still apply. You're not gonna have endless mana and you're not gonna be an unkillable tank. You're not gonna be the fastest DG (possibly) until higher levels But you will have burst damage, and a crazy swap GG move. Use it wisely.
Level 1: Spine Attack I
Level 2: Demon Speed I
Level 3: Warp Strike I
Level 4: Spine Attack II
Level 5: Shadow Swap I
Level 6: Warp Strike II
Level 7: Spine Attack III
Level 8: Warp Strike III
Level 9: Save
Level 10: Spine Attack IV + Shadow Swap II
Level 11: Warp Strike IV
Level 12: Demon Speed II
Level 13: Demon Speed III
Level 14: Save
Level 15: Shadow Swap III + Deadly Warp
Level 16-20: Elusiveness to Assassin's Speed and a point wherever
Starting items: Scaled Helm + Scalemail
Favor Item: Blood of the Fallen.
Alternatives: Essence of Magic (only need Vlemish, replace plenor with an hp/armor item- like Duelist Cuirass, get banded and scalemail off the break)
Staff of Renewal
Item Order:
Banded Armor
Vlemish Faceguard
Unbreakable boots
Nimoth Chestguard (Sell Scalemail)
Plenor Battlecrown (Sell Scaled Helm)
Hauberk of Life (Sell Banded)
Narmoth's Ring (Sell Hauberk)
After Giants unelss you're raking in kills:
Hungarlings Crown (Sell Vlemish)
Groffling Warplate (Sell Nimoth)
Consumables:
Teleport Scrolls
Sigil
Flag Lock
At the start you've got Blood, some armor, and a bit of mana regen. A nice mix, but you should still be careful. Scare DGs off or soften them with a few ranged spine attacks. Then Warp strike in and push with some auto attack. Experience will tell you when you have the upper hand and can be the aggressor. As always Unbreakable Boots are amazing so try to get those soon. After then initial shop, you should always have a port on you, and once DGs start to hit level 6-7 you should always have a sigil as well.
When you play DA you want to crunch numbers really quick. Mainly, how much mana you have left, how much damage a warp/spine attack would do, and how much HP your opponent has so you can determine the best way to kill. Sometimes casting warp strike and spine immediately scare the prey off. It may be best when you have the upperhand to Warp strike in, do some auto attack, then when they try to flee, hit them with spine attack. Or, if you have the mana, a brutal Swap/Warp/Spine combo.
Also, the DA (much like erebus with bat swarm) excels at 2 v 1 ganking by Warp striking in, Naturally, after you warp strike in for a 2 v 1, you should expect them to retreat, and so be ready to pull off a quick shadow swap followed by an instant warp strike. Then try to auto-attack/warp strike them down until low enough to finish with a spine attack. It is ideal to have superior speed as you will often need to cover some ground to start auto-attacking after a warp strike. I prefer to at least put 1 point into Demon Speed early to assist with this. Later on, build up speed even more after Warp Strike and Spine attack are maxed.
Things to keep in mind:
-Farm the squishiest DG. I know this is gonna sound obvi, but be aware of how much HP the DGs on the field have. Demigods like Reg and TB are pretty obvious choices, but depending on the player, sometimes they're not the squishiest. I've seen terrible beast players with 3k hp while reg has 4.5k+. I know it's evil, but if you're in a PUG situation it never hurts to peep the stats of everyone beforehand and secretly decide that you're going to make the worst player's life miserable. That's how you play like the pros! If you farm a horrible teammate enough you can overpower the stronger ones. Key for DA victory.
-Remember that Shadow Swap can be an escape/saving move. If an ally is getting dangerously close to dying, move to where you want the opponent to be, and then shadow swap him out thus saving your ally.
-Likewise, if you're getting flanked from multiple angles, Shadow Swap with the enemy who is in the best position to make an escape. You often need to think fast as shadow swap is useless when they are both on top of you.
-Use warp strike to cover ground faster. Use it to cap flags faster by targeting grunts on top of the flag. Use it to retreat by targeting enemy creeps or towers behind you when you've pushed too far.
-Try to maximize the range of shadow swaps (without missing the swap of course). This takes a little practice so you don't miss the swap, but run backwards or to your allies slightly right before a swap. This gives your allies more time to get into a better position while renewing cooldowns for a second round of beatdown.
-Don't Shadow Swap for no reason. I feel kind of stupid having to mention this, but I've seen so many bad DAs run up to me and open with a Shadow Swap. Why? I have no idea. They just wasted mana and a cooldown on a good spell. If you're going to Shadow Swap, make sure it serves a purpose like prolonging a retreat or pulling Demigods into mines or your allies or behind towers.
-Be quick with Shadow Swaps to counter things such as Robust Healing Pots and Portals.
R.I.P. old build.
Credits to this Build:
Shred_Demon (who uses a very similar build)
Naur (ditto)
Anyone else who's sucked it up and played DA enough
