BALANAR GUIDE (by Doom Scythe)

• Tittle: Bringing The Best Out of Balanar
• Author: Doom Scythe

>> Read more...

Balanar is a very versatile hero. It can act as a tank, a ganker, a chaser, a dpser or as a carry. Depending on your team's requirements, you can fulfill any one of these roles without much problems with Balanar. More than often in my experience, Balanar is usually the backup carry of the team, and is usually either a tank or a dpser. What Balanar is not, unfortunately, is a disabler or a supporter. He is pretty much a soloist hero in a team game.

Advantages:

• Good stats growth
• High armour (highest for Strength heroes, discounting skill from Dragon Knight)
• Versatile hero that can fulfill multiple roles
• A potential carry to own the game
• Has a slowing mechanism (Void)
• Has an escape mechanism (insane run speed at night)
• Highest vision at night (1800 range)

Disadvantages:

• No disables
• Sucks during the day
• Lousy farming ability
• Lowest vision at night (1200 range)

Skills

 Void

Creates a damaging void. If cast at night, slows the target for 4 seconds. If cast at day, slows the target for 2 seconds.

• 1. Mana 80 / Cooldown 8 / Duration 4 (night), 2 (day) / Deals 90 damage
• 2. Mana 90 / Cooldown 8 / Duration 4 (night), 2 (day) / Deals 160 damage
• 3. Mana 100 / Cooldown 8 / Duration 4 (night), 2 (day) / Deals 255 damage
• 4. Mana 110 / Cooldown 8 / Duration 4 (night), 2 (day) / Deals 335 damage

• Damage type: magic
• Slows attack speed by 35% and movement speed by 50%.
• Does full damage during the daytime but only slows for 2 seconds.
• Void contains a ministun which procs at the beginning of its cast cancelling the target's channeling spell.

This is Balanar's minor signature skill. It is a very powerful nuke with a decent amount of slow. It also has a ministun to come with it. This skill serves many functions:

• Initiating a gank
• Wrapping up a chase
• Helping allies to escape from chasing heroes
• Forcing enemies to go back to fountain early game
• Cancelling channeling spells

 Crippling Fear

In the night, the Night Stalker can cause intense fear in enemy units, causing them to miss attacks and be unable to cast spells. This has reduced effect during the day.

• 1. Mana 90 / Cooldown 12 / Duration 5 seconds at nighttime / Miss on 40% of attacks
• 2. Mana 90 / Cooldown 12 / Duration 6 seconds at nighttime / Miss on 40% of attacks
• 3. Mana 90 / Cooldown 12 / Duration 7 seconds at nighttime / Miss on 40% of attacks
• 4. Mana 90 / Cooldown 12 / Duration 8 seconds at nighttime / Miss on 40% of attacks

• Causes 10% miss and silences for 3 seconds at all levels during daytime.

This is Balanar's lesser known skill. It causes a target to misses it's attack, but the real gem of this skill is its 3 seconds silence. Use this kill to:

• Stop channeling spells (including cancelling teleports)
• Silence enemies to help allies escape
• Break the permastun of certain heroes such as Faceless Void or Troll
• Silence the enemy's support that tries to keep you off your target

 Hunter in the Night

The Night Stalker is at home at night. He attacks and moves more swiftly.

• 1. 20% movement speed, 45% attack speed
• 2. 25% movement speed, 55% attack speed
• 3. 30% movement speed, 65% attack speed
• 4. 35% movement speed, 75% attack speed

Ahhh, the skill that everyone fears, for it turns Balanar into a mega uber pervert, stalking all female (and male) heroes at night. No need for further description from me I believe.

 Darkness

Creates a period of darkness for the Night Stalker to thrive in.

• 1. Mana 0 / Cooldown 180 / Duration 25 seconds / Turns day into night
• 2. Mana 0 / Cooldown 150 / Duration 50 seconds / Turns day into night
• 3. Mana 0 / Cooldown 120 / Duration 80 seconds / Turns day into night

• This skill pauses the current time, so if it's cast at night it prolongs it.
• With Aghanim's Scepter the Night Stalker will get unobstructed vision at night, meaning that trees and terrain will not block his vision.
• In contrast to how Aghanim's Scepter works with other heroes, this improvement does not have anything to do with his ultimate (Darkness), but instead is active all the time.

Balanar's major signature move. Stops the flow of time and creates a period of darkness for Balanar to be gay. This skill basically make all the first 3 skills of Balanar to be fully functional for the duration of Darkness.

Skill Build

Balanar's skill build is pretty much standard, with just some minor variation to meet situational demands.

• Level 1 Void
• Level 2 Hunter in the Night/Crippling Fear
• Level 3 Void
• Level 4 Hunter in the Night
• Level 5 Void
• Level 6 Hunter in the Night/Darkness
• Level 7 Void
• Level 8 Hunter in the Night
• Level 9 Hunter in the Night/Crippling Fear
• Level 10 Hunter in the Night/Darkness
• Level 11 Darkness
• Level 12 Crippling Fear
• Level 13 Crippling Fear
• Level 14 Crippling Fear
• Level 15 Attribute Bones
• Level 16 Darkness
• Level 17 - 25 Attribute Bones

The key to skill distribution is this:

• Whenever possible, maximize Void first
• Crippling Fear is taken early IF you need the silence against disablers such as Sven or Tiny
• Darkness is best left until Lvl 10 because Lvl 1 Darkness is too short to be of any benefit. However, if you think that you are likely to be ganked, take up Darkness anywhere from Level 6 to Level 10. This will give you an escape mechanism to run away with.

Items

Starting Items

My standard items for Balanar are below:

 or 

• Before getting a bottle, check with your teammates first. We don't want to have to compete with an ally for rune control. It is unlikely that you will get the middle lane, but in exceptional cases, when you do, I suggest you get bottle instead of the regular build. 

An alternative build for starting items is as follow:

 and  +  = 

• Use this build ONLY if you're at the side lanes, as this build will lead up to you obtaining a Vladmir's Offering. The advantage of this build is that you don't need to go back to base for the first 11 minutes (i.e. until the first night is over). This build is generally for more advanced players who gets hit less and for those who wants to rush items.

Core Items

These items costs roughly 2500 gold and can be gotten within 15 minutes of the game if you have decent farming skills, otherwise within 20 minutes. My farming skills aren't that good, so I usually manage to get these at around the 15-16 minutes mark. 

You can get any combination of Braces and Nulls, whether 2 Bracers or 2 Nulls or one of each. Boots for speed, Scroll for escaping and Mask of Death for staying in the lane longer.

If you opt for Bottle as your first item, then your Core Items will look like this:

As for the alternative build, your core items will look like this:

The main advantage of this alternative build is that you get lifesteal but your "slot" for Orb Effect is still free. This leaves you with more versatility for item choice.

IF your opponents are made up of mostly early nukers / spell casters, then swap the  Vladmir's Offering for this 

Boots of Choice

Without a doubt, it has to be 

Phase boots complements Balanar like butter to bread. You get additional movement speed when you need them (either for chasing or running away). It is also cheaper than Power Threads, and provide an EHP (Effective HP) boost of 30% from the +5 Armour. Compare that to the 10 Str gained, the +5 Armour is certainly preferable.

However, the true gem of Phase Boosts lies in its 0-collision when Phase is used. As Balanar is quite huge, getting around creeps could be quite troublesome. The 0-collision has many times saved my ass from being pawned, as well as net me quite a few kills throughout my gaming experience.

So repeat after me. Phase Boots Be the Boots of Choice.

A caveat to this is when 15 minutes into the game, you sense that the game will be a long one (i.e. it will last more than 1 hour), possibly due to some retarded teammates of yours, or perhaps their hero line up is a pain in the ass. This is the only situation (that I can think of) that warrants you to get a Boots of Travel. 

The rationale for this is because if the game were to last more than 1 hour, a lot of pushing will occur after the 50 minutes mark. So, you will be needed at those fighting points with the rest of your teammates, and the only solution to this is the Boots of Travel.

However, please remember that you will be giving up a very crucial advantage of Phase Boots, that is the 0-collision feature. Use this build only when you are familiar with Balanar, and are quite good in navigating past creeps.

Main Items - These items are obtained after your core items, basically your first BIG item.

If you follow the Standard Build, you will be looking to obtain a Satanic.

 6150 Gold: Satanic is the most balanced, all-in-one item for Balanar. It gives Lifesteal, which allows you to stay in lanes for extended periods of time. The transitional item Helm of Dominator allows you to domitate creeps and farm neutrals at early-mid levels (around Level 9-10) without the need to go back. Satanic also gives you +25 Strength, essentially making Balanar more powerful and the additional damage also helps. If you are in low health, run to the nearest neutral creep camp and use Unholy Rage (Active Skill of Satanic). You will see your life replenish to full in no time.

Disadvantage: As I've said, it is the most balanced item meaning it does not truimph in any department. It has no slowing mechanism, no disable and no cool active ability (except lifesteal). It will also be depriving you from obtaining other cooler orb effect items.

NOTE: If you are opting ANYTHING other than the standard build, Vladmir's Offering or Hood of Defiance is highly recommended.

 4500 Gold: Sange and Yasha is also a good item for Balanar. It gives decent amount of Strength and Agility boost, as well as a small damage and attack speed boost. It's greatest property is the Greater Maim and the 12% bonus in movement speed. Greater Maim slows down your opponent, allowing you to dish more damage onto them. A speed bonus is always welcomed.

The main advantage of this build is that it is cheaper. If you are opting for this build, I suggest that you get the Vladmir Offering first, before getting this item. If you are coming from the Standard Build, all you need is another 1000 after the core items to complete the Vladmir's Offering.

Disadvantage: This item will compromise your ability as a tank. It essentially makes you a chaser / ganker, which might not be so great in late game. 

 +  +  +  =  4200 Gold

If you really don't want to buy any of the above, or want to opt for a funky item, or if you're in a more advanced game where people are really good with juking, you can get Aghanim's Sceptre. This item basically gives you unrestricted view at Night, meaning you have a mini Map Hack within a 1800 range. It let's you see past trees and cliffs, making enemy's juking worthless. 

Perhaps it's greatest value is that it essentially make you gank-immune during the night, as you will be able to see any hero that sneak up to you. I have included this as a Main Item as oppossed to a Luxury Item as I believe there is some value in getting this item early - the unrestricted view is very very beneficial in team ganking / running away / chasing. However, I can understand if some of you want to classify this as a Luxury item.

This item's bonus is almost similar to getting:

• +20 Strength
• +10 Agility
• +21 Intelligence

When you consider the Health and Mana bonus. If you compare this with Satanic and S&Y, it isn't THAT bad after all.

Disadvantage: Well, you can name many. It does not provide lifesteal, does not have any slowing mechanism, and have no cool active ability. All it does is provide more vision of the map at night.

Situational Main Items

The following items can be made your main item, when the situation calls for it.

 4350 Gold: When your teammates require a pusher, this is the item to get. Usually, you wouldn't need to get this as your first item, if you have good teammates. However, there are some games where you need to step into the shoes of a pusher, and in those games, this is the item to get.

The main advantage of this item is it provides a good boost of damage, helps a lot with farming and increase your regeneration rate for both health and mana.

Disadvantage: No life and mana boost, no slowing mechanism.

 5350 Gold or  5500 Gold: If your teammates need a meatball (which they often do in pub games), then these items are your best bet. If you are playing with your friends / you have good teammates, go for Assault Cuirass. The bonus aura is very very beneficial to your teammates. The only exception to this is when the enemies have many nukers. If this is the case, then go for Heart of Tarrasque.

However, if you are with ordinary pubbers, go for Heart of Tarrasque. This item provide more survivability than Assault Cuirass and provides a decent boost in damage. The bonus health regeneration is also great for staying out of the fountain longer. Assault Cuirass would be a waste as your team would not always have the neccessary co-ordination to benefit from the aura constantly.

Disadvantage: Both of these items make you a sturdy meatball, nothing more, nothing less. No slowing mechanism, no cool active item ability.

 3300 Gold: Now, I do realise that some of you might balk of the idea of having a Diffusal Blade on Balanar, but let me assure you, this build is quite fun. This is a ganking build, and will ONLY work if you have good teammates around you. I sometimes use this when my teammates are my friends, and I know that I can rely on them for dedicated roles such as supporters and carries.

The main advantage of this item is that it make you a super ganker. This item is the cheapest main item around here, so it should be up pretty quick. Simple ganking procedure. First, look out for those paper heroes, i.e. agility or intelligence heroes with low health. Then, just do the following:

• Void -> Hit -> Purge -> Hit -> Void = Certain death

The mana burn from diffusal blade is also good against Streagth heroes with low mana pool, a few burns and they are out of mana for spells.

Disadvantage: No health bonus, no damage bonus. This build will almost certainly set you back in terms of Levels, as you will want to go around ganking as much as possible to maximize the Purge. When you have killed around 4-6 of enemy heroes, you will notice that you are underleveled when compared to your teammates. However, don't worry, as now the enemies will be roughly your level while your teammates are higher than theirs. This almost ensure victory for your team.

 3653 Gold: As of again, if your teammates are facing many nukers / spellcasters, complete this item before going for any of the items listed above.

Luxury Items / Situational Luxury Items

These items are so called luxury items because you won't be able to complete these items in most games. Most games will only allow you to build the core items and have 1 main item. The game will usually end whilst you're building these items or rather, by the time you build these items, the game is close to an end.

If however, the game is still locked in an intense fight, then do consider any items listed in the Main Item list as your second main item, as long as you don't get 2 items with Orb Effects. Alternatively, the items below would serve the purpose as well: 

 2200 Gold: This item stack very well if you already have a Heart of Tarrasque or Satanic. This item is a must-get if you are designated to be a tank.

 3100 Gold: On rare occasions when you need that extra oomph to kill heroes, this is the solution. The Hits / Seconds of Balanar during night is high enough to take advantage of the bash bonus, and a 1.4 second stun is always welcomed in any situation.

 5400 Gold: MKB is prefered over Buriza as it provides more Damage / Gold. Truth to be told, I am not sure why people would bother to go for Buriza as MKB clearly provides more bang for the buck in terms of damage. I think the only time when someone should go for Buriza is when the Ministun or True Strike of MKB interferes with certain attack modifiers of range heroes, such as Multiple Strike of Medusa.

 3900 Gold: Too many disablers? This is the answer.

 6000 Gold: Ahhh, the most common Luxury Item for pubbers, Butterfly provides a very nice boost to the EHP (Effective HP) of Balanar. It provides a little more than 70% boost in EHP, which is great in all scenarios. Getting this item would often tilt the balance of the game.

 5175 Gold: This item is quite a mix bag for me. On one hand, I think this item is too expensive to justify it's benefit, but on one hand, I can understand it's usefulness in a life-death situation. I think if you can get the money for this item, might as though pay a bit more for a Butterfly. Nevertheless, I'm including this item here, for the benefit of those who might like this item more than I do.

No-No Items

Almost all items not listed above fall into this category. I shall only elaborate on a few items that are commonly bought for Balanar, which I think is of little value or inappropriate.

 Vanguard for Balanar is a total waste of money. The money spent on Vanguard will only slow the progression of your main item. I mean, what's the use of Vanguard on Bala? Apart from life boost, it does virtually NOTHING else.

 Armlet of Mordiggian is a tempting replacement for Vladmir's Offering or Helm of the Dominator. However, this item is much more expensive (2850 Gold compared to 2050 and 1850 Gold the other 2 items) and does nothing to jump start Balanar's farming ability like the other two items. You will not be able to farm neutral creeps at Lvl 12 with Armlet of Mordiggian and Phase Boots without visiting the fountain often, even at night. 

The only benefit from this item is a quick fix for ganking purposes for the early-mid game. This item also obsoletes very quickly.

 or : I don't know whether I'm the only one seeing people with these items on Balanar. I sure hope so. Soul Booster on Balanar??????? ASRG$%*(@&/!#

 o.O I've certainly see Balanar with this item. FGS!!! If your teammates want you to buy this item for the team, then all I can say is that you will definitely lose that game. :S

 This is also another favourite pub item. If you are really that scared, then don't play Balanar. Balanar is a hero that requires some balls, as you will often need to chase heroes through towers as well as through other enemy heroes to kill. Lothar's Edge is just a waste of money. With your insane run speed, how many heroes can actually catch up with you?

 The cost for this item is virtually the same as S&Y. If you want to go for this item, I suggest that you get S&Y, as it gives more appropriate benefits for Balanar.

 Read above. (MKB description)

Examples of Item Build

In this section, I will illustrate a few sequence of item build for particular situations. Some of them are mix-and-match, meaning I don't go straight for a particular 'Big' item. Instead, I build smaller parts of them to get more benefit out of it. In all of the list below, feel free to swap a Bottle for the 2 Bracers / Nulls.

All of the build below are listed in order of acquisition. I have omitted Scroll of Town Portal for convenience.

1. Farming / Pusher Build A

• Core Items (Bracers, Nulls, Boots)
• Mask of Death
• Helm of Iron Will [Complete Helm of the Dominator]
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• Claymore and Broadsword
• Preserverance [Complete Battlefury]
• Messerschmidt's Reaver [Complete Satanic]

2. Farming / Pusher Build B

• Core Items (Boots, Vladmir's Offering)
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• Claymore and Broadsword
• Preserverance [Complete Battlefury]
• Demon Edge / Javelin [Complete MKB in any order]

3. Chaser Build

• Core Items (Boots, Vladmir's Offering)
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• Point Booster
• Ogre Axe / Staff of Wizardry [Complete Aghanim's Sceptre]
• Demon Edge / Javelin [Complete MKB in any order]

4. Anti-Mage / Anti-Nuke Build

• Core Items (Boots, Hood of Defiance)
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• Messerschmidt's Reaver [Complete Heart of Tarrasque]
• Khadgar's Pipe of Insight (only if the team needs it)
• Demon Edge / Javelin [Complete MKB in any order]

5. Ganking Build

• Core Items (Bracers, Nulls, Boots)
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• Sange
• Yasha [Complete Sange & Yasha]
• Demon Edge / Javelin [Complete MKB in any order]

6. Funky Ganking Build

• Core Items (Bracers, Nulls, Boots)
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• 2 Blades of Alacrity [Complete Diffusal Blade]
• Assault Cuirass / Butterfly (to increase your attack speed)
• Upgrade Diffusal Blade (if you have lots of money)

If the situation calls for it, you might want to replace Assault Cuirass / Butterfly with either Heart of Tarrasque or MKB or BKB.

7. Carry Build

• Core Items (Boots, Vladmir's Offering)
• Chainmail
• Claws of Attack [Complete Phase Boots]
• Satanic
• Black King Bar (if needed)
• Assault Cuirass (for tanker) / MKB (for more killer role) / Butterfly (more balanced role)

To be a carry, you will have to spend at least 40 minutes farming the neutral creeps with occasional help to your allies. It is a very boring role. 

Please remember that this list is by no means exhaustive. It is just to give you some idea of how to build things in order. Hope it helps!

Strategy

Laning

Pick a range hero as your teammate if possible. Heroes with good lane control would certainly be preferable as Balanar is quite a lousy laner in early game. Most often, you will either be at the top lane or the bottom lane.

If you are against 2 melee heroes, harass them if possible. Agro the creeps to get them coming closer to you. In this scenario, I doubt you will get into any trouble.

If you're against 1 melee and 1 range, and your partner is a melee, then you might have some trouble. Stay close to the tower. The opponent shouldn't be able to harass you so much with the cover of your tower. Although Balanar has a decent amount of health and starting armour, he cannot stand getting too many hits too. I don't usually have much problems in this scenario, as long as I stay close to the towers.

If you are against 2 range, and your partner is melee, then shit happens. Be very careful if you opponent are heroes like Viper and Pugna, they can force you to go back to the fountain very quickly. Stay close to the tower, or rather stay behind it. Learn the forest routes near the tower to do some juking when neccessary. 

First Night

When first night arrive, you should be Lvl 4 if you did not die. This is the time when you should start hunting. Look at your lane for paper heroes (heroes with low health) and do the following with the help of your teammates.

Void -> Hit -> Void

This combo should kill any heroes with health lesser than 550-600 health with the help of your teammate. If your teammate is a disabler, even better. Don't worry about getting hit by the other enemy, most of the time, he won't be able to kill you in the time frame that you use to kill his partner. When he sees his partner die, he will automatically run back towards the tower, and this is when you cast your third Void on him. You won't neccassarily be able to kill him, but it's a good way to force him back to the fountain.

After getting the first kill, walk towards the rune spot. If it is a regeneration rune, take it and help to gank another lane. Same trick here. Void -> Hit -> Void. Should kill any paper hero. If it is not a regeneration rune, go back to base and heal. Get Boots, and start running around to hunt for low life heroes.

Farming After First Night

If all goes well, you should have killed about 2 enemies and perhaps assisted another 2 more. At worst, you should have 2 kills / assist. When day comes, go back to your lane and start farming again. The key to playing Balanar is as follow:

Farm during the day, Hunt during the night.

When you have obtained a Helm of the Dominator or Vladmir's Offering, you should have no problems neutral creeping alone. This usually happens after your second night. That's when you farm like crazy, and if possible leave the lanes to your teammates as you are a lousy laner.

Therefore, the only major hurdle you have will be your second day. However, during this time, you will notice that there will be some 'imbalanced lanes' where enemy's creeps are on your turf without enemy's heroes. Buy 2 Scroll of Town Portals and teleport to these lanes to farm. When the day is 3 quarter way through, charge to your side of the forest to farm, and return home red life (please don't do this if they have Weaver or Bloodseeker on their side). This should maximize the crappy farming ability of Balanar. 

Usage of Crippling Fear

During early and mid game, use Crippling Fear only when really neccessary. Balanar does not have a very big mana pool. The only time I would use Crippling Fear is when I want to silence heroes. I cannot think of any other situation that warrants the use of Crippling Fear.

You might want to get Crippling Fear at Lvl 2 sometimes, as enemies could be quite smart to wait for Void before using their channelling spells. Having Crippling Fear is sort of a backup silence for you. It helps to save teammates in many situations, and sometimes could save yourself as well.

In the late game, just spam whatever you want.

Darkness and It's Usage

During the day, save the Darkness and use it only when really neccessary, i.e when you want to escape a gank or save a teammate. When night comes, if you have Lvl 2 Darkness, start spamming them. This means that whenever Darkness is not in cooldown, use it. The main purpose is to prolong the night to your benefit. However, if you have Lvl 1 Darkness, don't bother using it, as the cooldown is just too long and the duration is too short.

Interesting fact:

• If you spam Lvl 2 Darkness all throughout the Night, you will have 57.1% of Night in a 1 Day-Night Cycle. If you spam Darkness whenever it is not in cooldown (meaning in Day as well), you will have 62.5% of Night.
• If you spam Lvl 3 Darkness all throughout the night, you will have 73.5% of Night in a 1 Day-Night Cycle. If you spam Darkness whenever it is not in cooldown (meaning in Day as well), you will have 82% of Night.
• Please don't spam Darkness during the Day unneccessarily though. 

Team Fights

Lookout for unlucky heroes who stray too near to your turf and Void them. Your teammates will then (hopefully) pound on him to net a kill. Otherwise, Void their DPSer with the lowest health. For those paper heroes, 2 voids should send them back to the fountain, and thus, bringing an advantage to your team.

When the teamfight break, and the enemies are running in all directions, choose a paper hero to follow and gank. With the aid of Darkness, you shouldn't have much trouble killing if you use Void -> Hit -> Void combo.

Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com