Dota 2 Death Prophet Guide

Dota 2 Death Prophet Guide by Purple Weeaboo

Today I will be explaining to you about Krobelus, the Death Prophet, and how to utilize her to full capability. Death Prophet has become one of my most favorite Heroes for the fact on how versitile she can be without being that dependant on items. She shines the most when it comes to adapting to team layouts as she can fill almost all roles. Regardless if it be Ganking, Initiating, Carrying, Supporting, Tri-Laning, TANKING, Chasing, or even babysitting the lane for your main Carry. Sadly, she’s an underrated Hero as I don’t see many players choosing her nowadays. What I hope this guide succeeds in is to show the true potential of DP that will possibly make the common reader try out this swell Hero. At this point, I should Shut Up and get on with the informative part of this guide.

Foretold Stats

Before rushing to the conclusion and getting this entire guide over with, we’ll start at square one with her base Stats to make everything a bit easier to comprehend.

Strength – Base 19 + 2.2 per level

At first glance her base durability seems a bit underwhelming, making her not the Tank she’s known to be early game. But what is notable is the 2.2 Strength per level which over time makes her more durable than the rest of the Intelligence Heroes (1.6, 1.5, 1.4, etc). At level 25 she will have 91 Strength/1879 HP.

Agility – Base 14 + 1.4 per level

Agility is not the strongest aspect of DP as you can see. This gives her both a sluggish attack animation stacked with a base Armor of 3. Even though she is known for taking huge amounts of damage, her reliability against physical damage depends on certain defensive items that we’ll discuss later on. At level 25 she will have 67 Agility/10 Armor.

Intelligence – Base 20 – 3 per level

Much like her Strength gain, DP excels in Intelligence gain as well in comparison to other Intel Heroes. Late game her mana pool can be quite extensive to where you can spam your abilities with little to no cost. At level 25 she will have 112 Intelligence/1456 Mana.

Misc. Stats

Attack Damage – 44-56
Movement Speed – 280
Turn Rate – 0.5
Sight Range – 1800/800
Attack Range – 600
Missile Speed – 1000
Base Attack Time – 1.7

The Abilities of the Prophecy

Crypt Swarm
Sends a swarm of winged beasts to savage enemy units in front of Death Prophet.
Magical
Damage: 100/175/250/300
Mana Cost: 105/120//140/165
Range: 810
Cooldown: 8

This is your harassing, last hitting, lane pushing, kill stealing securing tool. What’s nice about this ability is the fact on how early it kicks in. Even if not maxed early game you will deal notable damage at a consistent rate with It’s low cooldown and acceptable mana cost. Sweeping enemy creep waves is literally an ease with this which makes it superb to max out when mid or solo offlane. In most scenarios I learn this ability first as it makes it more worthwile to invest points into.

Silence
Prevents enemy units in a target area from casting spells.
Duration: 3/4/5/6
Mana Cost: 80
Radius: 310
Cooldown: 15

A self explanatory ability which doesn’t need further explaination but I will anyways because who doesn’t love reading? Normally putting one point in it already does the job, but that’s not an excuse to put the rest in stats afterwards. Whenever tri-laning, It’s better to go for more utility rather than a 100 damage nuke. Especially in regards to Heroes with a built-in escape. Your Silence should never be off cooldown in teamfights. And above all, make sure to position yourself correctly to Silence high priority targets with gamebreaking ultis.

Witchcraft
Increases the potency of Death Prophet’s spells, while providing a passive movement speed boost. Reduces mana costs and cooldowns of Crypt Swarm and Silence, and adds additional spirits to Exorcism.
Movement Speed: 5%/10%/15%/20%
Mana Cost Decrease: 10/15/20/25
Cooldown Decrease: 1/2/3/4
Exorcism Spirits: 3/4/5/6

This passive is the bread and butter for DP. This is the ability I always under and circumstance max firstly for the fact that it helps you universally throughout your entire ability pool and more. This is what I mean:
Increases your poor base MS of 280 to 345.
Mana Cost for Crypt Swarm to 140.
Mana Cost for Silence to 55.
Crypt Swarm cooldown to 4 seconds.
Silence cooldown to 11 seconds.
Increases Spirits to 27.

On paper that may seem like small attributes that you wouldn’t pass by but you have to think of the possibilties. A 300 damage nuke every four seconds with more spamming capabilities. A more active Silence that can be casted whenever It’s needed. Even having you move at haste speed with the correct item build. But let’s not forget the damage buff for your ultimate which happens to be our next topic.

Exorcism
Unleashes evil spirits to drain the life of nearby enemy units and structures. At the end of the spell’s duration, Death Prophet is healed in proportion to the damage dealt. Lasts 30 seconds.
Physical
Damage: 45
Spirits: 4/12/21
Life Drain: 25%
Mana Cost: 200/300/400
Radius: 700
Cooldown: 100

Now before I discuss this ulti of ultis, notice how I underlined the damage type. Exorcism’s damage is Physical. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you certain enemies bought a BKB ensuring it would block out It’s damage. But with that aside, this ulti is what puts the “Death” in Death Prophet. It deals the same amount of damage throughout each level but the damage relies on your Spirits. More Spirits equals more damage. Having both maxed out Exorcism and Witchcraft gives you a 675 damage lingering army of ghouls. Underestimating the power of this ulti often gets you killed especially if you’re melee walking into this monstrosity. The key to using this ulti to full effect is to not use it in open spaces. Any competant team would realize this therefore backing up and waiting for it to wear off. Waiting for your team to start the teamfight going while you being there in the sidelines undetected of vision makes it perfect for you to close in on your enemies ensuring they can’t escape. When having the option to use your ulti to push structures or save for a foreshadowing teamfight, you always want to go with the teamfight. Safe times to use your ulti to push would simply be when the enemy team can’t reach you in time, or the obvious “dead” factor. The damage is just what half the ulti can do. Whenever the teamfight is finished you might think to yourself to stop what you’re doing and head back to base to heal up correct? No No. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. The Life Drain helps after teamfights where you soaked up the most damage while also dealing a good amount to be fully restored back to health, ready for more pushing, farming, kill stealing securing.

Death Profit

So over time you’ve accumulated some gold through taking towers, picking off certain enemies, taking last hits from your Carry, now what do you do when having all this $$$?

Starting Items-

Tangos x 2
Branches x 5

This is my standard build at the start of every match. Two sets of Tangoes ensuring you’re not easily harassed out of lane by others, and if needed to share with your fellow lane buddies.

Why five GG Branches? Three are built into a Magic Wand while the other two will be invested in working on a Mekansm.

This leaves you with 158 gold which can be used to either buy one of the following: Animal Courier or Observer Ward

Mid Game-

Boots, Magic Wand, Mekansm

So here we are at Mid Game and right now you have a build built around keeping yourself alive. But this is just the start.

Of couse getting Boots is great for the fact you get 395 MS with the help of your passive Witchcraft. This makes you able to kite around the first few teamfights while still staying alive.

If not you always have Magic Wand and Mek which not only give you superb stats and armor, healing nukes always compliment your ulti when It’s not usable at the time.

After you get these three items It’s basically wherever you want to go from here. But here are some items I recommend for:

Late Game:

Boots of Travel, Eul’s Scepter, Drum of Endurance, Heaven’s Halberd

Remember how I said earlier you can move at haste speed with the right items? Well here you go. With the use of your passive, Boots of Travel, Eul’s, and Drums you can run at a constant 518. At this point if you’re aren’t locked on in teamfights you will get out of most case scenarios. But speed isn’t the only reason we buy these items.

BoT’s are great regardless if you’re playing offensive/defensive so you can be in a teamfight where the teamfight happens.

Eul’s gives you the mana regen you need to be able to spam your Crypt Swarm and Cyclone that one enemy that can actually chase you. A note to remember is that you can Eul yourself while still being able to recieve the heal from your Spirits after your ulti wears off.

Drums provide durability stats with the addition of chasing easier with your teammates. Popping a charge would make you run at 522 max MS if you really want to be Racecar Prophet.

Heaven’s Halberd. My favorite item and an underrated one as well. It sounds somewhat odd to get it on someone much like DP, but It’s better to have one instead of letting that farmed Void get a Rampage in his 5-man Chrono. This gives you a much higher presence in teamfights and it syncs well with your Silence.

Notable Pickups-

Bloodstone

I knew from the start when I was going to make a DP Guide I was going to have to share my opinion on getting Bloodstone on the said Hero. I’d just like to say as much as Bloodstone is a great item, It’s wasted money when it comes to DP. Sure the HP/MP is quite helpful making your tankiness come online earlier in the game, but DP doesn’t have much of a Mana problem and can easily be replaced by other items that gives her more versatility to her team. The mana regen is highly needed for Heroes that have four active abilities at which they need to spam 24/7 to excel. While as DP only needs it for Crypt Swarm. Am I saying Bloodstone is the worst item on DP? No. This my opinion and mine alone. If you have been building Bloodstone on DP and it has been working fine throughout your matches then by all means keep building it.

Heart of Tarrasque, Pipe of Insight, Blade Mail, Linken’s Sphere, Urn of Shadows

These are the go-to items for when you see yourself dying often or if you just want to be the tank of all tanks. Heart of course is the answer to anytime you feel you need a huge kick in HP.

Pipe combined with Mek helps your team more than yourself. Get this when you see yourself as the only one alive after skirmishes happen.

In regards to Blade Mail, It’s always nice to pick up lastly after you finished your other HP/Armor items. Get this if you feel like you’re being focus fired too much. Not to mention if the enemy team has Carries that can dish huge amounts of damage, but can’t take any damage.

Linken’s Sphere provides nice regen which helps you stay in lane while also denying any sort of single target abilities that are messing up your game.

Urn which is another good item to get if nobody else bothers for it. Starting Strength is always a positive along with you being present for most of the kills.

Refresher Orb, Necronomicon, Vladmir’s Offering

This is for the “I’m going to split push all day” DP.

Refresher Orb gives you a more global presence. Providing both pushing and teamfight capabilities at the same time. If for whatever reason everyone is playing passively, you can take at least two towers with your ulti duo. But always make sure to know the location of your enemies and save the Refresher ulti just in case of sudden initiations.

Necronomicon no only provides helpful pushing, but helpful auras as well. True Sight, Mana Burn, Movement Speed, and who could forget Last Will kills? If you have both Refresher and Necro, please take note that you cannot spawn another couple of Necronomicons.

Vlad’s much like other items is a niche pickup, but if you feel your team would benefit from the aura I would say go for it. Just not one the highest priority items to rush into.

Shiva’s Guard, Scythe of Vyse

You have the damage, but no disabling? How disappointing.

Shiva’s Guard compliments your ulti by giving yourself more crowd control and some swell Armor/Intel on the side. Grabbing this against high MS enemies is a must.

Sheepstick provides more of a singular disable against enemies with more advance mobility such as a Blink. Be sure to follow up when the hex expires with a Silence to give you a couple extra seconds if needed.

Dagon

Because Dagon. Need I say more?

The Fate of Friends

Death Prophet is a flexible Hero that can be thrown into any scenario and still work out fine. Therefore multiple Heroes pair up great with her, though a few notable ones include:

Undying

If you recall any of those cheesy 80’s love novels, then you would know the “Undying” love of these two. Their entire kits sync so well together, It’s like an unstoppable combo. With the fact that these two grant high lockdown, durability, chasing, harassing, and teamfight all together makes them one of the best dual lanes. The combo is mostly to spam Decay plus Crypt Swarm to the point where putting down a Tombstone marks their death.

Faceless Void

Pretty self-explanatory. Your Spirits aren’t effected by the Chronosphere, meaning you can linger around the sidelines or be in the Chrono directly. Regardless your enemies will have to accept the high amount of damage you and your pal of a Void is dealing.

Disruptor

In pubs It’s great to see good Disruptors where they can land Kinetic Fields with ease along with Glimpsing back that one enemy who TP’d in to stop your tower pushing. Great backup for keeping enemies in place making you spend less gold on disabling items and more on offensive/tank items.

Troll Warlord

Who else to help you amass multiple structures than Troll? What he does is help preserve your ulti for teamfights while still pushing towers and barracks. Instances can be made where both you and Troll can easily take two towers in less than 30 seconds mid game. It’s ridiculous.

Elder Titan

Elder Titan is all about helping you initiate with better positioning. Closing in on them makes it much easier while his ulti helps take down more difficult targets that require high burst damage to take down quick. A great laning buddy as well for his reliability on controlling the lane making it much more safe.

Zeus

Couldn’t chase that one enemy who got away with a slither of health? Do the Supports need to be picked off before initiating? Do you feel you need backup in regards to dealing damage? Just say the magic words “zeus ulti”.

Grave Diggers

Drow Ranger, Venomancer, Viper

DP relies on having active movement in teamfights to make full use of her potential. What all these Heroes have in common is the potential to easily lockdown a singular target with an infinite duration of slows. Your best bet against these guys would be to initiate on them before they do.

Bounty Hunter, Spirit Breaker

Against these two makes your pushes more difficult to execute. Let’s not forget their ability to shut you down instantly in a 1v1 scenario. Being heavily warded helps, but against these guys you always want backup of some sort at anytime when you’re about to push lanes. Fighting against these two can be somewhat difficult as they both have built-in MS increase making it hard to chase when you’re behind on farm. Playing more defensive or making SB/BH your team’s top priority pick is your safe choice.

The Vision of Conclusion

Overall, Death Prophet offers so much and requires so little to be online and active. What I hoped today was to help you the reader learn a bit more about this Hero and how to excel just a bit more than you have before.

This will be an ongoing guide. In the future if any drastic changes have been made to the Hero, you can always come back and learn how this changes how you play/build DP.

Of course feel free to give constructive criticism and even post some tips you have for DP yourself. This is the internet where opinions are acceptable, right?…Right?

But concluding, I thank you for reading/skimming to the end. Took myself a good while to get this guide going as I thought multiple times that there were small points I could add here and there. But I feel this guide was informative and hopefully you as well think the same!