How to play Nevermore, The Shadow Fiend Killing Spree

A demon of the burning legion so abhorred that he makes the skin of even his fellow demons crawl, Nevermore is a creature of the shadows that consumes the souls of those around him. When the Shadow Fiend comes forth to battle, he augments his power with the souls he has consumed, bearing down on his enemies with spiritually enhanced attacks and powerful spiritual blasts. The Shadow Fiend is a terrifying opponent whom few have survived, and those who have perished under his tyranny have faced the most despicable fate of all.

Starting HP: 435
Starting Mana: 234
Attack Range: 500
Base Movespeed: 300
Starting Base Damage: 35-41
Starting Armor: 1.8

Strength: 15 +2.0
Agility: 20 +2.4
Intelligence: 18 +2.0
Overall stat gain per level: +6.4


Advanced Data

Acquisition Range: 800
Cast Point: 0.67
Cast Backswing: 0.40
Damage Point: 0.50
Attack Backswing: 0.54
Projectile speed: 1200
Base Attack Time: 1.7 seconds

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Great harassing, killing and farming nukes.
• Pretty good damage early game with Necromastery.
• Low cooldown, big AoE ultimate.
• Can farm, push and clear creeps very quickly.
• Late game DPS machine.

Cons

• Susceptible to nukers.
• Low Starting HP and Mana.
• Item Dependant.
• Low base damage.

2. Skill Descriptions

Shadowraze



Gives the Shadow Fiend the power to desecrate regions in front of him at varying distances.

Level 1 - 75 damage
Level 2 - 150 damage
Level 3 - 225 damage
Level 4 - 300 damage

Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Mana cost: 75 - all levels.

Shadowraze was previously a pretty bad skill. Usually, people left it until levels 22-25 to skill it and most didn't even know how to use it properly. It was buffed recently with extra AoE and lowered mana cost, propelling this skill from a mediocre, hard to aim nuke, into Nevermore's staple killing, farming and harassing nuke.

The first raze "Z" blasts and area 200 units in front of Nevermore, while the second raze "X" 450 units in front of Nevermore and the third raze "C" blasts and area 700 units in front of Nevermore. Each raze has a 275 AoE.

Necromastery



Whenever the Shadow Fiend kills a target, he stores the unfortunate soul inside of him. For each stored soul he gains 2 bonus damage until his own death releases half of them from bondage.

Level 1 - 16 damage limit.
Level 2 - 30 damage limit.
Level 3 - 46 damage limit.
Level 4 - 60 damage limit.

Passive

If Shadowraze is the staple of Nevermore's skills, then Necromastery is definitely the glue. It binds all of his skills together. Basically, every creep or hero you kill, Nevermore gets +2 damage, up to the cap for each level. If you die, you lose half your bonus damage/stored souls.

This skill is what makes Nevermore's early game last hitting among the best, despite his pitiful base damage. Once you get a roll on, the extra damage (and cash) keeps flowing in, giving him a free relic by level 8 in my build. The amount of souls stored is also related to how much damage your ultimate does.

Presence of the Dark Lord



The presence of such a horrible creature terrifies nearby enemies, reducing their armor.

Level 1 - 1 armor reduction.
Level 2 - 2 armor reduction.
Level 3 - 3 armor reduction.
Level 4 - 4 armor reduction.

Passive

This passive is a simple armour reduction aura. Boring yes, but is quite useful to have when combined with other armour debuffs, whether they be from items or other heroes. It has an AoE of 900.

Requiem of Souls



Summons evil spirits around you dealing damage to units in the area. Number of spirits is related to the number of souls stored and the movement/damage reduction is related to the distance from the Shadow Fiend. Lowers movement speed and damage of nearby units. The closer the units are the greater the effect.


Level 1: 80 damage, 150 mana, 120 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 120 damage, 175 mana, 110 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 160 damage, 200 mana, 100 sec cooldown.

Nevermore's Ultimate is somewhat of a mixed bag. On one hand it is has a big AoE and the potential to deal some impressive damage in at close range, while on the other hand it is very slow to cast, 100% dependant on Necromastery and deals quite unimpressive damage at the edges of the AoE.

The mechanics of the skill are quite easy to understand once you learn it. When Nevermore stores souls through Necromastery they serve to create "lines" in his ultimate. A line is the stored souls being released in one direction damaging all units in its path.

For every 2 souls stored, one extra line is created in a different direction. The directions of the lines are spaced evenly in a circle around Nevermore and continue outwards. At the maximum souls stored, 15 lines are created by Requiem. Each line of souls deal 80/120/160 damage and all enemies get slowed for 15%/20%/25% movespeed and decreased attack damage by 15/20/25%.

1. Necromastery
2. Shadowraze
3. Shadowraze
4. Necromastery
5. Shadowraze
6. Necromastery
7. Shadowraze
8. Necromastery
9. Stats
10. Requiem of Souls
11. Requiem of Souls
12. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord
13. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord
14. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord
15. Stats / Presence of the Dark Lord
16. Requiem of Souls
17. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats
18. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats
19. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats
20. Presence of the Dark Lord / Stats
21-25. Stats

Explanation for Skill Build.

Why max Shadowraze first?

Since Shadowraze was buffed, the skill is now extremely effective early game to harass, kill and farm. Maxing it first will net the most benefit from its good damage and cheap mana cost. Don't take it on level 1 though, as the mana cost is high for poor damage and Necromastery needs to be taken.

To further explain it, Shadowraze is your nuke. It's common practice to max your nukes asap, Even when you have skills like Necromastery. Shadowraze IS your lane control: your farming, your harassing and your killing, it only makes sense to max it asap. It also takes time to fill up your souls from Necromastery. There is no point skilling another level of it if you haven't/can't max it, while on the other hand, it wont hamper you much if you sit on the maximum of the previous level of Necromastery for 2 minutes while you get another levelup. From levels 1-3 Nevermore's base damage is pitiful, hence he needs level 2 Shadowraze to harass and actually fill up the level 1 souls. (Once you have bottle, spam away.)

Why max Necromastery so quickly?

Taken on level one as you shouldn't be using your level 1 nuke. The +16 damage maximum will help with your last hitting until you take the next level of it at 4. Maxing it by level 8 means you will have the damage equivalent of a FREE RELIC soon after. Leaving this skill to later would make absolutely no sense, as passing up on such great damage early game is ludicrous and your ultimate is dependant on this skill.

When should I take Presence of the Dark Lord?

Presence of the Dark Lord can be taken at two different stages. If you are surviving well and have team mates with other armour debuffs, or you are planning to buy Stygian Desolator, take this skill from levels 12-15. However if you find yourself being killed too easily, have no intentions of getting Desolator and have no allies with armour debuffs, take this skill from levels 17-20, as the stats will help you out immensely.

Why not take Requiem of Souls at 6?

As stated earlier, Requiem of Souls is 100% dependant on the souls stored by Necromastery. By this stage you will only have Necromastery at level 2 which is a maximum of 15 souls. The damage created by this skill at this stage would be minimal at best. Not using it this early will also save more mana for Shadowraze, which would do more damage anyway.

Could I take some early Stats instead?

Many older Nevermore builds suggest taking stats over Shadowraze. Since Shadowraze is actually good now, I don't recommend skipping it at all for stats. As stated above skipping Necromastery would be insane, so that leaves no room for early stats. My item build attempts to make up for this.

4. Item Build(s)

In this section I'm going to try something a little different. I've composed a suggested item build of my own containing a core build and the items following. This build is one of many, but it has been the build I've used the most and have found to be very effective. Following that, I've composed a "Choose your own Item Build" section, outlining the many other possible builds for Nevermore. Follow the step by step walkthrough of composing your own Item build, but make sure you read all of the explanations first so you know what items to get for which situations.

My Core Item Build

Item order

1. Full Bottle (700)
2. Two Circlets (370)
3. Boots of Speed (500)
4. Kelen's Dagger of Escape (2150)
5. Finish the two Bracers (650)

Total cost: 4370 gold.

Explanation

This core build focus' around Nevermore being a soloer and an early game nuker with Shadowraze.

Full Bottle is a very underrated item in my opinion. It is great on Nevermore for the sustained HP and Mana regen. There is much more to it than just refilling it at the fountain and using the three charges, it can carry useful runes for you for two minutes, which in turn refills if for you, it can also be used mid-battle to heal and restore mana and is often the difference between dying and killing. This is all explained in greater detail later in the "Effective use of Bottle" section.

The Circlets and Bracers are to make up the lack of stats you have early game. Most other Nevermore builds go for stats early, but in mine the Bracers make up for that. They are cheap and effective at what they aim to do and will help you survive, as well as adding small amounts of damage and mana. Boots are kind of obvious, so I wont need much explanation there, +50 MS is invaluable.

Kelen's Dagger of Escape is the major item in my core build. It's such an effective and flexible item, providing you with the early escape tool you need, while later on allowing you to position your Ultimate better as well as chasing down heroes. I choose Dagger over Lothar's mainly because Dagger can be used for much more than just positioning you're ultimate like Lothar's is. It can be used to Blink over terrain for better escaping, it can be used to chase and kill heroes that otherwise you wouldn't have been able to, it means you wont be able to be hooked or swapped effectively, as you can just blink out straight away. Also, it does not have an easy and cheap counter like Lothar's with true sight.