Dota 2: Ultimate Guide for Lifestealer – Carry with the Highest Win Rate

Lifestealer is currently one of the strongest carry heroes in the patch, primarily due to his exceptional flexibility and powerful vampirism. He boasts the highest victory percentage among carry heroes in the safe lane, with a rate of 54.36%. The Blix team has put together a comprehensive guide to analyze primary builds for Lifestealer, select suitable talents, and provide gameplay tips for this hero.

Dota 2 hero: Lifestealer

The General Concept of a Hero

Lifestealer is a versatile carry who can effectively combat tanks, eliminate supports, and endure prolonged fights. The main advantages of this hero include:

• Attack and movement speed: passive abilities and items allow you to move quickly and deal damage.
• Huge lifesteal: Open Wounds now affects both attacks and spells, making it useful for magical heroes on a team.
• Flexibility in teamfights: Thanks to Rage and Infest, Lifestealer can endure the most challenging situations. Facet Unfettered offers a viable alternative to standard Rage. While Unfettered may not always be beneficial, it is a solid option in certain scenarios.

Hero Stats

Lifestealer: Hero Stats

• Attack: 41-47
• Armor: 4.2
• Movement Speed: 320
• Base Attack Time: 1.7
• Attack Speed: 119
• Attack Range: 150

Key Abilities and Prioritization

Feast 

Dota 2: Lifestealer Feast Icon

Feast – (Innate Ability): Lifestealer’s attacks deal damage and provide heal for a percentage of his target’s max health. Allows Lifestealer to attack allied creeps at 75% health. Lifestealer gains permanent max HP whenever he kills a creep or hero.

• Ability: Passive
• Damage Type: Physical
• Pierces Spell Immunity: Yes
• Dispellable: No
• Max Health Life Steal: 1,5% / 2% / 2,5% / 3%
• Max Health Damage: 1,5% / 2% / 2,5% / 3%
• Max HP Per Hero Kill: 15
• Max HP per Creep Kill: 1
• Permanent Max HP: 0
  

• Always heal for the full amount per instance, regardless of how much damage the target actually receives (before reductions).
• Therefore, the healing value is not affected by the following:

Damage-negating sources (e.g. Refraction icon Refraction).

Damage block sources.

Incoming Damage Manipulation Incoming damage manipulation on the affected target.

• Does not heal from attacking ward-type units, Roshan icon Roshan, buildings and ally units.
• Feast first self-heals, then apply its attack damage.

Rage

Dota 2: Lifestealer Rage Icon

Rage: Launch into a maddened rage, becoming Debuff Immune and increasing magic resistance.

• Ability: No Target
• Dispellable: No
• Duration: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
• Magic Resistance: 80%
• Status Resistance: 0%
• Cooldown: 20 / 19 / 18 / 17
• Manacost: 80 / 100 / 120 / 140

• Interrupts Lifestealer’s channeling abilities upon cast.
• Upon cast, Rage first applies the debuff immunity, then the basic dispel.
• Stacks multiplicatively with other Magic Resistance magic resistance sources

Open Wounds

Dota 2: Lifestealer Open Wounds Icon

Lifestealer rends an enemy unit, slowing the victim’s movement speed and allowing all allies to regain health for a percentage of the damage they deal to that unit. All damage dealt will steal life, including damage from spells. The victim recovers movement speed over the duration

• Ability: Unit Target
• Affects: Enemy Units
• Pierces Spell Immunity: No
• Dispellable: Yes
• Duration: 7
• Life Steal: 20% / 30% / 40% / 50%
• Max Slow: 35% / 40% / 45% / 50%
• Cooldown: 30 / 25 / 20 / 15
• Manacost: 75

Ghoul Frenzy

Dota 2: Lifestealer Ghoul Frenzy Icon

Ghoul Frenzy passively grants Lifestealer Movement and Attack Speed.

• Ability: Passive
• Affects: Enemy Units
• Pierces Spell Immunity: No
• Dispellable: Yes
• Bonus Move Speed: 2% / 4% / 6% / 8%
• Bonus Attack Speed: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90

Infest

Dota 2: Lifestealer Infest Icon

Lifestealer infests the body of a target unit, becoming undetectable, and healing for a portion of his max hitpoints every second while inside.

• Damage Radius: 700
• Damage: 150 / 275 / 400
• Movement Speed: 15% / 20% / 25%
• Health Bonus: 400 / 800 / 1200
• Self Max HP Regen: 3% / 4% / 5%
• Enemy Duration: 0
• Attack Rate: 0
• Cooldown: 80 / 65 / 50
• Manacost: 100 / 125 / 150

• Applies a basic dispel and disjoints projectiles upon cast.
• During Infest, all of Lifestealer’s abilities are hidden, while Infest is replaced by the Consume icon Consume sub-ability.
• The ability’s cooldown starts upon leaving the infested unit, not upon cast.

To maximize pressure on enemy heroes, it’s recommended to pump 1-1-3 at the start.

Lifestealer Skill Build

Aghanim’s Scepter and  Aghanim’s Shard

Aghanim’s Shard

Dota 2: Lifestealer Infest Icon

Infest explosion applies a 50% duration Open Wounds to enemies in the damage radius.

Aghanim’s Scepter

Dota 2: Lifestealer Infest Icon

Increases cast range and reduces cooldown to 20s. Infest may target enemy heroes for a short duration, disarming them and attacking them from the inside while increasing Lifestealer’s regeneration rate.

Talents

Lifestealer Talents Stats

• Level 10: Choose between increased movement speed or enhanced ultimate damage. Increased damage is advantageous for an aggressive playstyle, while enhanced speed improves mobility. 
• Level 15: Boost attack speed.
• Level 20: Gain additional lifesteal.  
• Level 2: Select either a 1% increase to Feast for added damage or a boost to Rage for improved survivability.

Item Build

Starting Items

Lifestealer Starting Items

These starter items are effective for most matches. However, if you face heroes that frequently use their abilities, such as Zeus, Bristleback, or Batrider, consider including a Magic Stick in your starting purchase.

Early Game Items

Lifestealer Early Game Items

In the early stages of the game, these items will suffice. Now, you need to purchase Radiance as soon as possible.

Mid Game Items

Lifestealer MidGame Items

These items greatly enhance your character’s ability to survive.

Late Game Items

Lifestealer Late Game Items

Daedalus and Abyssal Blade will enable you to inflict significant damage in battles.

Situational Items

Lifestealer Situational Items

• Heaven’s Halberd: against heroes with high physical damage (Sniper, Troll Warlord).
• Linken’s Sphere: If enemies have powerful target spells such as Doom or Duel.
• Monkey King Bar will be effective against Phantom Assassin and Windranger.
• Silver Edge can be beneficial when facing opponents with significant passive abilities, such as Spectre.
• Manta Style is an excellent alternative to Sange and Yasha, especially when you need to remove the Silence effect.

Game Tips

1. In the laning phase, use Open Wounds to apply pressure and secure kills, especially when paired with a controlling support hero. 
2. During mid-game, your peak strength is achieved with items like Radiance, Sange, and Yasha. Engage in fights, but remember to farm for essential items as well.
3. In the late game, prioritize your attack targets carefully. Focus on taking down the enemy’s support heroes or key core heroes to maximize your impact.

Advanced Tips

How to play against difficult enemies

• To counter kite heroes like Medusa or Necrophos, it is essential to collect items that help maintain your target focus. For instance, using Diffusal Blade will effectively burn Medusa’s mana, while a Nullifier can neutralize Ghost Scepter on supports.
• Use Infest to ambush key heroes, particularly those that depend on positioning, such as Sniper or Drow Ranger.

Synergy with Allies

Lifestealer synergizes well with heroes that provide crowd control, such as Magnus, Tidehunter, or Dark Seer. These heroes enable you to maximize your damage in team fights.

• Heroes with high mobility, like Spirit Breaker or Storm Spirit, enhance the potential of Infest, allowing you to appear unexpectedly in battle.
• Supports with healing abilities, such as Dazzle or Oracle, make Lifestealer nearly unkillable in prolonged battles.

Recommendations for Beginners

Dota 2 hero: Lifestealer

• Practice using Rage effectively. Utilize it not only for attacks but also to evade control, particularly during Lion’s attack.
• Be strategic with Infest. While it’s useful for restoring health, it can also be a powerful tool for launching sudden attacks or saving allies in critical moments.
• Pay attention to your positioning. Avoid getting overly focused on chasing tanks. Instead, concentrate on targeting supports, as they can greatly influence the outcome of the fight.

Conclusion

Dota 2 player: Dyrachyo

Lifestealer is a versatile and powerful hero capable of adapting to various situations. By choosing the right build, talents, and game strategies, you can maximize your hero’s potential. The Blix team recommends experimenting with different play styles and adjusting to the evolving meta to stay one step ahead of your opponents. Additionally, we suggest checking out the games of professional player DyrachYO, known for his outstanding performance with this hero. Here is a link to his Dotabuff profile. We also recommend visiting the Reddit thread for more Dota 2 content. Good luck on the battlefield!