
courtesy of dota.reactor.cc
The new additions of Blight Stone and Echo Sabre, along with some buffs to Armlet, have brought the best called N’aix back into the spotlight. Being one of the cheapest, if not currently the cheapest, carries in the game, he’s favoured both in pubs and in competitive games due to his ability to fight very early.
However, Lifestealer never was the “super broken” Hero type. His built-in spell immunity, plus great damage output and initiation (with the help of a teammate) allow him to burst targets down quickly. This gamestyle is effective, but there are actually plenty of ways around it.
There are two main things that can give Lifestealer a hard time; kiting through the duration of his Rage, and good physical damage.
Let’s look at a few Heroes:
: Beastmaster’s Primal Roar can stop Rage at any point of the game for a long time, unless Lifestealer invests into a Linken’s Sphere. Also, Inner Beast aura boosts the physical damage output of his whole team. Beastmaster’s not the Hero that will deal with N’aix alone, but he has more than enough setup for it.
Item wise, think of what stop or evade him even for a while. Basher into Abyssal will most likely be a must get for melee carries. For the rest, Ghost Scepter/Eul’s can work, but they can still be purged by a Diffusal Blade; Force Staff is most likely the safest way to go, and it can also be used to save allies.