Dota 2: Nyx Assassin – The Ultimate Guide to the Most Broken Support Hero

Today, the Blix team will discuss a support hero that can dramatically change the outcome of a game and effectively take down enemy units at any stage: Nyx Assassin. This hero is not only easy to master but also incredibly effective, especially in solo play. Let’s explore how to maximize the potential of this hero and secure victories in our games.

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Why Should You Play as Nyx Assassin?

Dota 2 hero: Nyx

Nyx is a hero who frustrates many players, particularly his enemy. His ultimate abilities enable him to eliminate targets from anywhere on the map, and his passive damage proc is exceptionally high. He is ideal for players looking to adopt an aggressive playstyle as a Seaport hero without needing advanced mechanics. Nyx poses a significant challenge for heroes with high mana costs and low mobility, such as Medusa or Storm Spirit.

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Abilities

Dota 2: Nyx Stats

Impale

Dota 2: Nyx Impale

• Ability: Point Target
• Affects: Enemy Units
• Damage Type: Magical
• Pierces Spell Immunity: No
• Dispellable: Only Strong Dispels
• Stun Duration: 1,1 / 1,4 / 1,7 / 2
• Impale Damage: 100 / 160 / 220 / 280
• Cooldown: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12
• Manacost: 100 / 110 / 120 / 130

1. The spikes travel at a speed of 1600.
2. With the travel distance and radius, Impale can hit units up to 890 range away.
3. Hit units are knocked up 350 range for the initial 0.5 seconds of the stun.
4. While in the air, other units may pass below and hit airborne units.

Mind Flare

Dota 2: Nyx Mind Flare

• Ability: Unit Target
• Affects: Enemy Units
• Damage Type: Magical
• Pierces Spell Immunity: No
• Max Mana As Damage: 20% / 25% / 30% / 35%
• Bonus Damage: 25%
• Cooldown: 13 / 11 / 9 / 7
• Manacost: 100 / 105 / 110 / 115

1. Places a damage counter on all heroes upon learning the ability, including Nyx itself.
2. The damage counter resets once the ability is cast.
3. The damage counter accumulates all damage instances from all damage types the target received within the last 15 seconds

Spiked Carapace

Dota 2: Nyx Spiked Carapace

• Ability: No Target
• Pierces Spell Immunity: No
• Dispellable: No
• Reflect Duration: 2
• Stun Duration: 0,4 / 0,8 / 1,2 / 1,6
• Damage Reflected: 125%
• Cooldown: 23 / 18 / 13 / 8
• Manacost: 40 / 40 / 40 / 40

1. Interrupts Nyx Assassin’s channeling abilities upon cast.
2. Can be cast without breaking the invisibility of Vendetta, but not other invisibility sources.
3. Successive casts do not stack but refresh its duration.
4. Returns one instance of the same damage type as received to the source.
5. Spiked Carapace first applies the debuff, then the reflected damage.

Vendetta

Dota 2: Nyx Vendetta

• Ability: No Target
• Damage Type: Pure
• Pierces Spell Immunity: Yes
• Dispellable: No
• Duration: 60
• Movement Speed: 16% / 18% / 20%
• Bonus Damage: 300 / 400 / 500
• Break Duration: 0
• Cooldown: 80 / 70 / 60
• Manacost: 180 / 240 / 300

1. Does not interrupt Nyx Assassin’s channeling abilities upon cast.
2. The attack out of Vendetta has True Strike.
3. The bonus damage is applied as spell damage in a separate damage instance, it is affected by spell damage amplification and works with spell lifesteal.
4. The invisibility is lost upon reaching the attack point, or the cast point of abilities or items.

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Aghanim’s Shard and Aghanim’s Scepter

Aghanim’s Shard

Dota 2: Nyx Vendetta

Dota 2: Nyx Aghanim’s Shard

Aghanim’s Scepter

Burrow

Dota 2: Nyx Burrow

• Ability: No Target
• Dispellable: No
• Max Hp Regen: 1%
• Max Mana Regen: 1%
• Burrow Damage Reduction: 40%
• Burrow Bonus Cast Range: 500
• Burrow Bonus Cooldown Reduction: 25%
• Burrow Spiked Carapace Range: 400

Dota 2: Nyx Aghanim’s Scepter Ability

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Facet Details

Dota 2 Nyx Facet Details

The Blix team suggests choosing Facet Scuttle for the current meta, as it significantly enhances your hero’s mobility. This increased mobility allows for unexpected attacks on enemies and better survival in difficult situations.

Dota 2 Nyx Facet Stats

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Talents

Dota 2 Nyx Talents Stats

1. At level 10, select the +40 Vendetta Damage talent. This will help us secure single kills more easily. 
2. At level 15, choose the -3s Mind Flare Cooldown talent, allowing us to use our second ability more frequently. 
3. At level 20, opt for the +100 Impale Damage talent, which will enable us to deal even more damage. 
4. Finally, at level 25, we will choose the 600 Mind Flare Radius talent. This will allow us to use our second ability from a significant distance.

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Skill Build

Dota 2 Nyx Skill Build Stats

Dota 2 Nyx Skill Build

When playing Nyx, we should prioritize Impale and Mind Flare. At level 4, we should enhance Spiked Carapace for additional control.

1. Impale (1) — The main ability, maximum priority.
2. Mana Burn (2) — It inflicts damage based on the target’s intelligence, making it effective against heroes with high mana.
3. Spiked Carapace (3) — Learned at 4th level for damage defense and additional control.
4. Vendetta (Ultimate) — This is a required selection at Level 6.

Correct sequence: 1 > 2 > 1 > 3 > 1 > Ultimate Ability > 1.

If you laning against heroes with powerful AoE abilities like Zeus or Lina, consider learning Spiked Carapace early to effectively deflect their damage.

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Early Game

Starting Items

Dota 2 Nyx Starting Items

Your initial inventory should be suitable for a support role:

• Blood Grenade — This is an essential item that will help you succeed on the lane.
• Tango — To restore your resources.
• Sentry Ward — To block enemy neutral camp or deward ours.
• Additionally: Magic Stick, Wind Lace, or items for stats like a Circlet, Faerie Fire, or Iron Branch.

The main goal is to ensure your hero can maintain their position and control the map effectively. For instance, if you’re up against heroes with active abilities like Bristleback, using items such as a Magic Stick can be an excellent choice to gain additional resources while in the lane.

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Fundamental Principles of the Game

Early Game Items

Dota 2 Nyx Early Game Items

Laning Stage

• Block the enemy’s small camp to unlock your medium camp. 
• Control the lotuses, which regenerate every 3 minutes, along with experience runes that appear every 7 minutes. Collecting lotuses provides you and your bark with additional resources, while experience runes help you reach important levels more quickly. 
• Stay aware of your teammates and assist them with kills using your abilities.

Middle Stage of the Game

Mid Game Items

Dota 2 Nyx Mid Game Items

Goals in the Game After the Laning Stage

1. Ultimate Usage: Target enemy supports or vulnerable core heroes. For example, you can catch enemies off guard when they are farming in the jungle.
2. Lane Pushing: Farm dangerous lanes while your ultimate is on cooldown. This not only assists your team but also provides you with gold and experience.
3. Map Control: Purchase and place deep wards. These will help you monitor enemy heroes’ movements, which is particularly important for using Vendetta effectively.

Late Stage of the Game

Late Game Items

Dota 2 Nyx Late Game Items

How to Use Abilities Effectively

1. Deal damage with Vendetta.
2. Use Impale to control.
3. Use Dagon (if you bought it).
4. Use Mind Flayer to deal damage.

Important: Mind Flayer deals damage based on the enemy’s intelligence and the attacks you used prior, lasting for 15 seconds. To maximize your damage, use it at the end of your roll. For instance, the damage will be significantly higher if you’ve executed several attacks beforehand and activated Dagon.

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Item Build

Dota 2 hero: Nyx

Final Item Build

Dota 2 Nyx Final Item Build

Nyx Assassin is a versatile hero, but there are several key items to buy:

1. Dagon — It is the primary item for eliminating targets. It is better to purchase Shard first rather than upgrade Dagon right away.
2. Aghanim’s Shard — Applies Break effect on the target.
3. Ethereal Blade — It enables you to inflict more damage and extends the range of your abilities.
4. Blink Dagger — Increases mobility and allows you to initiate fights.

Additionally: Force Staff, Lotus Orb, and Pipe of Insight depend on the game situation. For instance, if your enemies are focused on magic damage, Pipe of Insight is an excellent choice for your team.

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Counterpicks: How to Play Against Them

Nyx Assassin may struggle against heroes with high mobility or the ability to quickly eliminate him.

• Storm Spirit, Puck, and Anti-Mage are heroes that can easily dodge Nyx’s abilities. Using Orchid Malevolence or a quick Dagon can provide an extra damage against them.
• Slardar and Bounty Hunter are heroes that can easily reveal your Vendetta. Against them, use Lotus Orb or Aeon Disk to survive.

Placing Sentry wards on time can complicate things for your Nyx. Constantly move and change routes to activate your ultimate ability.

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Team Interaction

To maximize the effectiveness of playing Nyx Assassin, it is important to consider the synergy with allies. Here are some examples:

• Strong Combinations: Nyx pairs effectively with heroes that have powerful AoE (Area of Effect) abilities, such as Invoker’s Cataclysm, Magnus’s Reverse Polarity, and Enigma’s Black Hole.
• Creating Space: Utilize your ultimate abilities to distract enemies and create space for your carry to farm. For instance, you can lure enemies into a trap where your allies are already positioned and ready to engage.

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Survival Tips

To avoid unnecessary deaths:

• Position Yourself Wisely: Stay in the back lane before the fight begins and wait for the right opportunity to engage.
• Use Defensive Items: Equip items like Lotus Orb and Aeon Disk to enhance your survivability once you enter the fight.
• Spiked Carapace: Activate Spiked Carapace while taking AoE damage to disrupt your enemies’ spell-casting and reflect damage back at them.

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Tips and Tricks

Dota 2 hero: Nyx

1. Your Nyx Sense innate allows you to get true sight of any fogged or invisible enemy heroes standing near you.
2. Nyx gets the luxury of easy positioning thanks to Vendetta to make multi hero Impales simpler. Vendetta one hero and then roughly target the Impale on another hero. Since you’re in such close range to your first target, you will most likely nyx them both with the Impale.
3. You can instanyx any non-ancient creep that has mana with Mind Flare for some quick experience and gold.
4. If you see an enemy with a Lotus Orb on, you can activate Spiked Carapace and then cast Mind Flare on them. They’ll reflect the Mind Flare and then instantly get stunned by the Carapace because they damaged you.
5. Spiked Carapace blocks an entire damage instance, so Blink Dagger and regen won’t be broken if the Carapace reflects the damage source.
6. If you’re playing against a Bloodseeker and you get Ruptured when you have Blink Dagger, you can activate Spiked Carapace and Blink so the entire ~1200 range Rupture damage instance nyxes onto BS.
7. Spiked Carapace will instantly come out after banishes and nyx enemies from damage sources like Eul’s Cyclone or Outworld Destroyer’s Astral Imprisonment.
8. You can nyx yourself into Vendetta while you’re channeling a TP (like all other invis spells).
9. Vendetta is a great spell to kill couriers with. Try setting up observer wards to catch courier paths so you can snipe them.

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Counters

Dota 2 Nyx Art

1. Be aware of your damage sources. Nyx can Carapace stun you off of things like Radiance burn or any DoT you put on him. You can toggle Radiance while TPing.
2. Be wary of using Lotus Orbs when against Nyx. He can target you with Mind Flare and have Carapace pre-casted to stun you when you least expect it.
3. Resist the urge to retaliate whenever he blows his full combo on you. Nyxes almost always Carapace as soon as they finish their sequence. Just walk away. Be the bigger person. Don’t stun/kill yourself.
4. Try to bait out Carapace by casting and canceling spells with long and obvious animations or even canceling attack animations.
5. Keep your eyes on the scoreboard in the first 10 minutes of the game to see when Nyx hits level 6. Most Nyxes will leave the map as soon as they have access to Vendetta, so get some sentries ready.

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Conclusion

Nyx Assassin is an ideal hero for an aggressive support who can make a significant impact even without many items. By playing Nyx, you can frustrate your enemies while actively aiding your team in achieving victory. The key is to analyze the situation, select the right targets, and maintain map control. Good luck in Dota 2! We also recommend visiting the Reddit thread for more Dota 2 content.