| Demon Hunter | |
|---|---|
| |
| Race: | Night Elf |
| Class: | Agility |
| Type: | Tank / Farmer |
| Strength: | 18 (+2.5 per level) |
| Agility: | 19 (+1.5 per level) |
| Intelligence: | 15 (+2.1 per level) |
Cunning Hero, adept at maneuvering through battles. Can learn Immolation, Evasion, Mana Burn, and Metamorphosis. Attacks land units.
Spells[]
Mana Burn[]
Sends a bolt of negative energy that burns a target enemy unit's mana. Burned mana combusts, dealing damage to the target equal to the amount of mana burned. Each level increases the mana drained and the damage dealt. Mana Burn always costs 60 mana.
| Level | Mana DMG | Cooldown | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 80 mana drained | 7 | 350 |
| 2 | 150 mana drained | 6 | 400 |
| 3 | 225 mana drained | 5 | 450 |
| 4 | 300 mana drained | 5 | 500 |
| 5 | 375 mana drained | 4 | 550 |
| 6 | 625 mana drained | 3.5 | 700 |
Immolation[]
Engulfs the hero in flames, causing damage to nearby enemy land units, but drains mana until deactivated. Each level increases the damage done per second and the area of effect. Immolation costs 50 mana to turn on, and more mana every second to keep active.
| Level | DMG/second | Mana/Second | Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 dps | 10 mana per second | 160 AoE |
| 2 | 35 dps | 10 mana per second | 180 AoE |
| 3 | 55 dps | 10 mana per second | 200 AoE |
| 4 | 75 dps | 10 mana per second | 220 AoE |
| 5 | 95 dps | 10 mana per second | 240 AoE |
| 6 | 160 dps | 20 mana per second | 260 AoE |
Evasion[]
Gives a percent chance to avoid attacks. Evasion bonus increases with each level. Evasion does not stack with items, and only works with physical attacks.
| Level | Dodge % |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10% |
| 2 | 20% |
| 3 | 30% |
| 4 | 40% |
| 5 | 50% |
| 6 | 60% |
Metamorphosis[]
Metamorphosis gives your hero boosted stats with ranged splash Chaos attacks. Hit points, damage, and splash radius increase with level. Note that the Demon Hunter's bounty jumps up to 500 while in Meta form.
| Level | Extra HP | Cooldown | Duration | Mana Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +750 HP | 240 | 60 seconds | 150 |
| 2 | +1250 HP | 150 | 65 seconds | 150 |
| 3 | +1750 HP | 110 | 45 seconds | 300 |
Strategy[]
The Demon Hunter is a relatively weak tanking hero who generally farms his gold by camping in the middle with Immolation. It is universally accepted to max out Immolation and Metamorphosis, but strategies differ with regard to Evasion and Mana Burn. The general belief is thus; Max Evasion when using the Demon Hunter as a tanking hero, but max Mana Burn when using the Demon Hunter as an annoying hero who prevents other heroes from casting spells.
DH has very low health in early fights, but his immolation requires that he be in melee range of footmen in order to be effective. Strong hero control is highly important to stay in competition and not have to catch up at a later point. Key items that can help DH stay in the middle against footmen are Bezerker's mask 300g), Belt of Strength (350g), and Medallion of Glim (350g). The mask is especially important because it negates a lot of footmen's low damage and the medallion helps increase regen while next to the center. Once enemy teams get Tier 2 units, sell the mask because it is not as effective any longer and should no longer be needed once Evasion has been skilled up to level 2 or 3.
Another important item for early and mid game is the Vampiric Potion (200g) which adds 10 damage and 35% leech life for 20 seconds and has 3 charges (for 1 minute total). Use this item with Metamorphosis in order to stay in the fight without having to worry about health. Because of the increased bouty, DH usually becomes a primary target after transforming, but the potion can be used for the entire duration of the ultimate and earn back its worth in 1 charge.
Once DH has reached level 13, Immolation can help farm from units quickly and Evasion makes normal attacks miss for 50% of the time which makes saving for an Ultimate Claw (3500g) very easy. After obtaining the claw and get to level 16, DH can destroy entire armies in seconds with Metamorphosis' high splash range. If there are many disablers on one team, use a invulnerability potion (250g) and gain 10 seconds of uninterruptible farming.
Another item that's often used is Axe of Slaying, which makes the Demon Hunter's metamorphasis even more deadly. Usually with an axe or two plus claw of ultimate devastation and a potion of invunerability, you can just go straight for the base kill of any building that's below tier 3.
When used effectively, the DH is the most lucrative hero in the game, and the fastest farmer.
With Creeps[]
The Creeps are ensential for Demon Hunter's success. The creeps that are often used with demon hunter are K-rose, Ohboy and Chunsang.
K-rose: gives the Demon Hunter invisibility, which allows it to go farm in a base well undetected from the middle. Due to the length of invisibility at lower levels, there's isn't really time for DH to recharge mana at the middle without being detected.
Ohboy: very useful at recharging mana of the DH and also counter the Rod of Envy. When you see an opposing team hero carries a rod, make a image of your DH and run towards that hero's base. You could even turn metamorphasis on first, invisibile with k-rose, go farm a base with no Rod of Envy, and send an image of your DH in metamorphasis to the base that has a Rod of Envy. When people see a DH in meta coming into their base, they tend to panick and rod you without thinking.
Chunsang: Chunsang is not as useful on DH's farming anymore, due to the shortened duration of Spirit Link. Once the duration Spirit Link becomes long enough to be useful, your DH would probably be at level 16 already, which you can just farm fine without Spirit Link. However, if you are on defensive position and your DH's level isn't high enough yet, a spirit link can still be great help.
With Other Heroes[]
The Demon Hunter is a tanking hero who is weak early. While he can survive by himself, he is much aided by a healer like the Paladin or the Shadow Hunter. Because of his low survivability at early levels, an AOE hero such as Archmage or Bloodmage is necessary for DH to stay in the competition until he can skill up enough to be an overwhelming threat. Jaood is also a great ally as a level 6 Bloodlust makes a Metamorphosized Demon Hunter 4 times more deadly.
Countering the Demon Hunter[]
The biggest strategy for countering the Demon Hunter is to stop him early and out of endgame. He has to be kept out of the middle early. Since he is heavily dependent on mana, suffocating his supply can stifle his Immolation. Because of his low health at early levels, use attack spells on him to keep him running for health and away from using Immolation on units. If he does farm gold, level, and item up, he is almost impossible to defeat. Stuns like Stormbolt, Hex, and Entangle help during Metamorphosis, as well as Banish keep him from attacking your army for a short time. If there are no stuns available, use a rod of envy (2250g) on DH and basekill him, as with most hero-stacking strategies, he will have a low tier base.