Dirge – The Undying
Primary Attribute: Intelligence
Primary Role: Lane Pusher/Support


Introduction:
Think of Dirge as a strength hero with a large mana pool and some great spells to accompany them. This is a good farm, lane pusher, and provides excellent support to his allies, be it during a gank or by simply being when they need him (touching, isn’t it). He might be a little difficult to use initially, but once you get a hang of things it’s a breeze.

The Good:
Good strength and Intelligence growth
Good Farmer
Decent Survivability
Has a healing skill+ a semi-nuke
Can control lane with ease
Spells have low cooldown

The Bad:
Weak against nukers
Requires a very large mana pool

Raise Dead (Mana Cost - 100/120/140/160/ Cooldown – 30 Sec.)
Description: Calls the Undying's fellow zombies (1 to 4 depending on level) out of the earth to fight. Once a zombie attacks six times, another one will rise alongside it. When a zombie dies, its reanimating life force returns to Dirge, healing him by 50 hp. Lasts 30 seconds.

This spell is what you’re gonna use to collect enough moolah to buy all those shiny items that’ll make your hero powerful. The Zombies have a small HP pool, so try and micro them to ensure that they don’t fall quickly and keep multiplying.

Soul Rip (Mana Cost - 50/75/100/125/ Cooldown – 30 Sec.)
Description: Redirects the flow of living energy through a target friend or foe, damaging them or healing them depending on how many units are near it. Heal/damage is 25 per surrounding creep, and the number of creeps that are used in the calculation change from 5 to 20 depending on skill level.

This spell isn’t that effective early on since it’s rather rare that you’d have more than 10 creeps at any area of a map at any given point of time, so you’d not be using it to its full potential. The mana cost is too much, so it’s rather useless initially; later on in the game as your mana pool expands, this skill becomes a really useful skill that can be used to nuke or heal.

Heartstopper Aura (Mana Cost – N/A/ Cooldown – N/A)
Description: The Dirge's deadly air stills the hearts of his opponents, causing them to lose 1% of their max health over time. The effective area of the skill increases from 250 to 1000 at level 4.

Heartstopper Aura might seem like a weak spell, but don't underestimate it. This skill can really own while you're chasing heroes, or simply sticking around in your lane - you'd be damaging your enemy by doing absolutely nothing. Stack this up with a Radiance and you'd be dealing a good bit of damage without doing anything.


Plague (Mana Cost – 100/125/150/ Cooldown – 45 Sec.)
Description: Infects the target with a plague. Reduces movement speed by 30% and amplifies incoming damage. Infects other units that come within range of a plagued unit. The damage increase changes from 25% to 35% with the spell level.

This is a great skill to help you setup ganks or finish up heroes. Use this whenever you need to without thinking twice, since the cooldown is really low. Skill Build –

Level 1 - Heartstopper Aura (HA) lvl 1
Level 2 - Raise Dead lvl 1
Level 3 - Raise Dead lvl 2
Level 4 - Heartstopper Aura lvl 2
Level 5 - Raise Dead lvl 3
Level 6 – Plague
Level 7 - Raise Dead lvl 4
Level 8 - Soul Rip lvl 1
Level 9 - Soul Rip lvl 2
Level 10 - Soul Rip lvl 3
Level 11 – Plague
Level 12 - Soul Rip lvl 4
Level 13 - Heartstopper Aura lvl 3
Level 14 - Heartstopper Aura lvl 4

Max out Heartstopper Aura at Level 8 & 9 instead of Soul Rip lvl 1 & 2 if you're up against a ranged hero.

Early Game:
Items you should buy:





Just try and get a few last hits on creeps till level 3, after which you can start using Raise Dead (don’t use it at level 1). Use them to farm, and try and micro them so that they don’t die by the hands of the enemy. If they do die, don’t bother too much, since you gain 50 HP per Zombie; if they manage to get 6 shots in before they die, good for you! You get another zombie free. Try and cast them where your enemy is least likely to get too cocky and start targeting them – which is when the creeps clash near your tower. You should be able to farm a Void Stone and Ring of Health by the end of the stage, to complete your Perseverance. Try and get a Void Stone initially so that you can spam Raise Dead a good bit, which help heal you as well as help you farm. For those of you who think that Soul Rip is a better first skill compared to Raise Dead – I disagree; Soul Rip requires large creep waves to achieve its maximum potential, which isn't likely the case until mid game. Besides, you won’t have the mana to spam both Raise Dead and Soul Rip.

Mid Game:
Items you should buy:





You have a good bit of mana regeneration, small healing spell, as well as a small make-shift army of zombies to help you farm lanes. If you’re up against a nuker or you’ve got too many heroes in your lane, you can always neutral creep using raise dead (only if you can’t farm in your lane). It’s time to boost your HP and Mana Pool now. To do so, I suggest that you should get yourself an Energy Booster, Point Booster, and Vitality booster (in this order) to complete your Blood Stone. It shouldn’t be too hard for your hero to farm for these items; if it is then you’re doing something wrong. With your Blood Stone complete, you have enough mana to help your teammates push as well as gank, so try and stick with them when they've got something planned. Don't be afraid to use Plague; use it liberally since it has a small cooldown. If you've got enough dough on your hands, get yourself a pair of Boots of Teleportation.

Late Game:
Items you should buy:





Your nuke/heal spell Soul Rip is a helluva lot more useful at this stage since the creep waves are rather large. Use this to your advantage, and the minute a hero is low on HP in your team, or your enemy’s, use this spell on him (make sure there are a good amount of creeps near him). You should be able to farm for a Radiance quite easily by now. Why Radiance you ask? The damage caused by Radiance along with Heartstopper Aura stacks up to a respectable amount, and ensures that your enemies are softened enough so that your teammates can go in for the kill. If the game’s still not over, get yourself an Attack Cuirass, so that your lil' Zombie babies can spawn more by whacking more.

Optional Item(s):