Dragon Knight
Transcript of Dragon Knight
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Dragon Knight
Davion probably has the highest armor not counting agility bonuses, and
has the longest-duration non-ultimate stun. His Level 3 Elder Dragon Form
makes him a fearsome killing machine.
Pros:
One of the best tanks
Full splash frost attack
Excellent regen and armor
Relatively easy to use
Good aoe/farming skill
A great pusher/defender thanks to EDF
Cons:
Low mana pool
Slow attack speed
Mediocre attack damage
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250 range stun
Hero Skills
Breathe FireBreathes fire at enemy units, which deals damage.
Level 1 - 75 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 225 damage.
Level 4 - 300 damage.
Cooldown: 12 seconds.
Level 1: 100 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 110 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 120 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 130 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
You should always max this skill out first because it is your way of
killing/harassing early and farming throughout the game. DK is lucky tohave an aoe farming skill and this is spell is why some try to play him as a
caster . In a tough lane where you lose a lot of HP or might die from last
hitting, you can continue to farm and harass back with breathe fire. To
make sure you do not waste mana, always make sure you kill a creep with
the spell and hit all the heroes in the lane. I generally click behind the
creep when using this to harass and in the direction of the hero I want it
to hit. If both your opponents are slightly seperated, then click behind the
creep and roughly half way between the heroes to make sure your aoe
hits all the targets. Breathe fire can also be used to help take down towers
early by clearing the enemy creeps, so the enemy tower targets your
creeps and not you. When going for a kill you should either use breathe
fire right away, or save it for a potential killing blow. Generally an ally will
use a ranged stun, then you run in and extend the stun time with dragons
tail, and when the stuns wear off and they are out of melee range you
should use breathe fire to try and finish them. Just like with most spells in
the game, breathe fire does lose effectiveness as the game drags on, but
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it is still good for clearing creeps mid to late game. All my replays show
how to use breathe fire effectively and that is the best way to learn
besides trying it yourself.
Dragon Tail
Knight Davion bashes a melee-range enemy target with the fury of a
dragon's tail swipe. Stuns the target and deals minor damage.
Level 1 - Deals 25 damage, stuns for 2.5 seconds.
Level 2 - Deals 50 damage, stuns for 2.75 seconds.
Level 3 - Deals 75 damage, stuns for 3 seconds.
Level 4 - Deals 100 damage, stuns for 3.25 seconds.
Cooldown: 9 seconds.
Level 1: 100 mana, 9 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 100 mana, 9 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 100 mana, 9 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 100 mana, 9 sec cooldown.
The time in which you get this skill entirely and I mean ENTIRELY depends
on if you have a lane partner or not. There are some circumstances where
if you are soloing you might get this skill if you need it to cancel a hero
with a channeling spell, but besides this you generally only get it early if
you have a lane partner with another disable or slow. I want to make the
point either way that if you do get this skill early game, get it at level 1 for
stunning a careless hero at your tower or in combo with a partner's stun
or slow. With the very low increase in damage and stun time only invest 1
point in this skill until later in the game. Late game this skill will be very
powerful with your frost attack in level 3 EDF and other partners disables.
The only down side to this skill besides the low damage is the low range
on the stun. Dragon tail only has 250 range, but it does not have a casting
time so you can immediately do another action after stunning someone.
Dragon Blood
Grants Dragon Knight blood from his ancient ancestral dragon heritage,
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which increases health regeneration and armor.
Level 1 - Increases hp regen by 1 and armor by 2.
Level 2 - Increases hp regen by 2 and armor by 4.
Level 3 - Increases hp regen by 3 and armor by 6.
Level 4 - Increases hp regen by 4 and armor by 8.
Passive
If for whatever reason you are not getting this skill early game, YOU ARE
AN IDIOT! This skill is what makes you a real nuisance to opponents who
want you to get out of their lane. Whatever you do, you will want to max
out this skill second only because breathe fire takes higher priority over
picking more survivability (duh). Dragon blood relieves you from having to
invest in some regen and armor items that other heroes need to get to be
able to survive until they get their first main item. However, you still may
need to get more regen or HP if you are against nukers or chain stunners.
Elder Dragon Form
Transforms the Dragon Knight into a powerful elder dragon. Gives 25
movement speed boost. Lasts 60 seconds.
Level 1 - Transform into a Green Dragon with a corrosive breath attack.
Level 2 - Transform into a Red Dragon with a splash attack.
Level 3 - Transform into a Blue Dragon with an extremely powerful frost
attack.
Cooldown: 115 seconds.
Level 1: 50 mana, 115 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 50 mana, 115 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 50 mana, 115 sec cooldown.
Elder Dragon Form has received a huge buff in 6.51 by reducing the mana
cost to 50, and the cool down now much less. That means late game you
will only spend 55 seconds out of dragon form at any time. When the
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mana cost was 100 for level 1, many people used to skip getting it until
level 10/11 because they felt EDF 1 was weak. Well now it is pretty much
spamable and it is still one of the best tower killing abilities in the game.
Thus, there is no real legitimate excuse for not getting this skill. In 6.52
the animation was improved as well, so no one can complain about it
having the worst attack animation in the game anymore. Even if you are
not going to get the chance to take down towers before level 11, you
should still get this when defending your tower for a ranged attack. Also,
it still can serve the purpose of an escape mechanism, which I have done
many times to save my ass. Either way, the skill still works the same, but
for only 50 mana it is great for pushing, defending, or just spamming
now. EDF 1 can also be a great way to harass back against enemiesbecause it deals 100 poison damage over 5 seconds. The bonus damage
that is dealt to towers when attacking them with EDF 1 is based off the
skill of corrosive breath from ladder, so it does not do damage over time
to towers.
Level 2 EDF is much better than EDF level 1 when it comes to clearing
creep waves, but losing corrosive breath sometimes does suck though. At
this point in the game you and your team should be pushing a lane
together and with this form of EDF you can let your creeps tank the tower
while you mindlessly focus a tower down. With the splash damage from
your attacks if the creeps fight each other by their tower you will damage
most of the creeps while still damaging the tower. If you have the option
of attacking creeps by a tower and attacking the tower you should be
focusing the tower, because your splash will not hurt the tower if you
attack the creeps. The other likely situation where you will use this skill is
if their team decides to push one of your towers first. If this happens just
stay by your tower and attack the creep wave/heroes from a distance so
that you can splash as many of them as possible. This will buy you time
for your partners to get there and perhaps push them back in frustration
when your allies arrive. If you still have half the timer or a little less left
on EDF just go and neutral if everyone is whoring your experience or
moving out to kill their creeps would put you in danger of getting ganked
by their heroes.
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Level 3 EDF is one of the best ultimates in the game in my opinion. You
basically have a built in Eye of Skadi with full splash damage and a huge
gain in movement speed that allows you to chase almost anyone down if
you manage to hit them with your frost attack. In large team fights you
will find the frost attack greatly aids your partners in both escaping and
focusing down multiple heroes at once. At this point in the game you will
be a major player and your survivability goes up dramatically, as well as
your lane presence. I used to tell people to not waste this skill in the past
because it had a 200 mana cost and you might need it will defending or
pushing. Well, times have changed and now the skill got a huge buff that
means after 50 mana and 60 seconds of use you can use it again 55
seconds later. I still recommend not wasting it to neutral, but now you canuse this skill much more readily with DK's low mana pool.
Skill Build
If you have a partner with a reliable stun or slow:
Dragon Tail
Breathe Fire
Breathe Fire
Dragon Blood
Breath Fire
EDF
Breath Fire
Dragon Blood
Dragon Blood
Dragon Blood
EDF
Dragon Tail
Dragon Tail
Dragon Tail
Stats
EDF
StatsStats
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Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
If you are solo or have a partner without a reliable disable:
Dragon Blood
Breathe FireBreathe Fire
Dragon Blood
Breathe Fire
EDF
Breathe Fire
Dragon Blood
Dragon Blood
Dragon Tail
EDF
Dragon Tail
Dragon Tail
Dragon Tail
Stats
EDF
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
Stats
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Skill build justification:
To clear up any confusion about what skill to pick first, it mostly depends
on what hero you are laned with, although choosing stun first will work in
all lanes. In summary, if you are laned with someone with a stun or a
strong slow, then you should get dragon's tail first. If you are with
someone who just has an aoe spell or aoe slow, lich for example, then
either get dragons blood as your first skill for regen, or breathe fire.
Whatever you do, you should always max out breathe fire first, get EDF
asap, and max out dragons blood 2nd for the regen and surivability it
offers.
If you are in a lane with another stunner, or better yet enigma, then you
should have no problem getting a few kills early or even getting first
blood. Just do not waste mana on breathe fire until you at least have level
2 of that skill because level 1 skills do shit damage.
I know many people dislike EDF level 1, but it is important to get it asap.
If you kill a hero or both heroes at center with the use of EDF and a creepwave to absorb the tower hits, you will be able to take down a tower and
give your team +200 and most likely +400ish gold for yourself. If you
take down one hero or injury one or both of their heroes you should be
able to use the creeps as fodder and take down the tower. Generally if you
use EDF at the right times you can take down a tower with 2 uses or less.
Item Build
Starter Items:
Courier (225)
Ironwood Branch (57)
Ancient Tango of Essification (90)
sapphire water (100 - optional)
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Sobi Mask (325) + Ring of Protection (175)
Bracers 1-2 (510 - optional)
Boots of Speed (500)
Hood of Defiance (2350 - optional)
Scroll of Town Patrol (135)Items I suggest in AR:
x 2
x 2
Items I suggest in AP, SD, or RD:
x 2
x 3
Starter Item Justification:
Courier is essential to your success so always buy one or share one with
your allies. You need to stay in your lane at all possible times, so leaving
to go buy items is a waste when a courier is only 225 gold.
I find that 2 sets of tangos really enhances your early game ability to last
hit and deny without worrying about your health. Flasks of Sapphire Water
are a decent choice as well, but your health will not always be low enough
to justify using one of them. I generally buy them after I run out of
tangos, or when my health is so low that a quick rendevous with my
chicken is all I need to stay in the fight.
I suggest getting 2-3 branches (depending on game type) because it is an
inexpensive way to give a few more stats early and they can be readily
sold or destroyed if you need more room in your inventory. If you are a
player that cannot go without buying bracers, then just spend the gold on
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a circlet instead of branches. I, however, usually go without bracers
because DK does have a solid HP pool early game and his bonus armor
and regen help too.
If you have the money a sobi mask is good to buy along with your tangos,
courier, and branches I suggest it because it will let you harass your
enemies as soon as you hit level 3. Once you upgrade this into ring of
basilus it will provide you with sufficient mana regen for the whole game.
If you want more regen, then a void stone or another sobi mask is the
best way to spend your money later.
If you feel that you need more HP during the start of the game until youbuy your reaver for your satanic, then purchase 1-2 bracers and/or
strength treads. Against heroes that have spell combos that have very
high cool downs and damage this might be the way to go instead of
spending 2,000 or so on a hood. Otherwise you do not need to get any if
you play it safe, rely on your regen ability from helm of iron will and
dragon's blood, and life steal from mask of death/helm of the dominator.
Hood of Defiance is for those situations where you are against spell
spamming heroes and the regen from your helm of iron will and Dragon's
Blood is not enough. If there are 3+ spell-spamming heroes on the other
team then you might want to invest in this item so in team fights you can
take the pressure off your teammates by tanking nukes. Against heroes
like Luna that has a very high damage ultimate this is very helpful in
ensuring you survive, although stunning and running out of line of sight is
the ideal way to avoid her ultimate.
The Core Item:
Helm of Iron Will (950) + Mask of Death (900) + Messerschmidts
Reaver (3200) + Satanic Scroll (1100) = 6,150
Helm of the Dominator is an item that you should utilize to its full
capacity. Any creep in the forest that has an aoe stun, slow, or ensnare is
your friend. DK's general problem is that he needs someone to initiate a
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stun, but with a dominated troll warlord you can easily get a 1.5 second
ensnare on the enemy. Once you get this item it will enable you to neutral
most of the creep camps in the forest, excluding the double ursa camp.
Luckily for us they buffed HotD by giving it +20 damage and cutting the
mana cost of dominating creeps down to 75 (it used to be 150 I believe).
The times this item will come in handy is when your creeps have pushed
well into enemy territory and you notice many of their team members are
M.I.A.. This will allow you to keep farming gold and experience so that you
can later complete this item. With the introduction of Armlet of Mordiggian
you can either purchase the armlet right after completeing your HotD or
wait until you have completed your satanic. If you buy the armlet before
completeing your satanic you will get an opportunity to continue usingforest creeps to enhance your team presence. Unlike vanguard or buying
other regen items, HotD allows you to neutral freely while not delaying
your build into the core item of satanic. I added several replays that show
how to effectively use HotD to neutral when your team has pushed well
into enemy territory and how to abuse stunning/slowing creeps.
But WHY satanic?
Satanic is a great build up to an already useful early game item, helm of
the dominator. The main thing you will aim for is buying your reaver by
the time you hit level 16 in the game. If you do this, then generally you
are on par for farming time and have not wasted too much time running
around the map. Hang on to your HotD for as long as dominated creeps
are still effective. There will come a time in the game when the creeps die
so quick that you cannot even get to use them, or you need to reduce
inventory space. When this happens, you should upgrade to satanic forthe addtional damage and life steal.
The reason I so strongly support satanic is because it offers more than
just damage, unlike armlet on its own, radiance, or battlefury. DK I find is
more formidable when he has HP along with damage, thus satanic is a
solid choice. The damage is also comperable to radiance, bfury, and
armlet, even though it does cost a bit more. The longer the game lasts,
the more effective Satanic will become because DK is already hard to take
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down because of his armor. When you factor in life steal and his aoe slow
he can become nearly unkillable if you have power treads, satanic, and a
bkb or a heart. The most important reason for going satanic is it's viability
in all situations. By completing this item, you put off buying any more HP
items almost indefinately. Satanic does not, however, make you
invincible. One must realize that life steal only increases your survivability
if you are able to attack.
In the following section I am going to highlight some potential items to
complete before or after your satanic. The options include Hand of Midas,
Power Treads, Boots of Travel, Black King Bar, Armlet of Mordiggian,
Heart of Tarrasque, Buriza-do Kyanon, Radiance, Linken's Sphere, OrchidMalevolence, Assault Cuirass, and Monkey King Bar. Some of the items I
get nearly ever game, whereas, other items I reserve for only rare
circumstances.
Other Potential Items:
Hand of Midas
If you are in a tough lane, you will probably not be able to afford this item
without paying dearly for it. However, if you are able to last hit frequently,
are soloing, or dominating your lane then this is a great way to improve
your mid to late game. I do not suggest getting this item if you cannot
delay a regen item or movement speed. If you are having a good early
game, get this, if not then just do the normal build.
Armlet of Mordiggian
I have sufficiently tested this item to know it can be a powerful combo
with lifesteal. If you get this item, you need to have helm of the
dominator or satanic complete. A helm of the dominator when you're
attacking creeps will be enough life steal to counterbalance the -35
hp/sec. Technically, the negative regeneration is only 32 hp/sec because
you still get the +3 hp/sec from the Helm of Iron Will. If you get this item
before your satanic it gives you more opportunity to roam the forest for
stunners/disablers. It also makes you a more formidable hero earlier, but
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has the potential to put you behind if you have an unlucky streak and die
several times. I have added replays of getting this item before and after
purchasing my reaver for Satanic. I find that this item is most effective
when you get it after satanic because you can farm it much faster at that
point in the game. It also gives you huge boosts in damage that leads to
more life steal and in some cases is better than a hyperstone for damage.
Power Treads
The choice between power treads and boots of travel really just comes
down to personal preference. If you need map mobility, then boots of
travel might be the better choice. However, if you are defending most of
the game or not traveling cross map very often then power treads might
be the better choice. If you decide to go power treads, purchase them
after your helm of the dominator and before your reaver. I used to only
get boots of travel, but I find the bonus 10 strength and attack speed can
really help you become a killer earlier. Also, between the frost attack on
EDF and the bonus move speed there isn't really a chance anyone is out
running you regardless of what move speed item you purchase.
Boots of Travel
You should purchase this item when your team has pushed all the way
across the map and you need the mobility to get there. If your team is on
the verge of finishing the game or making a break through, then boots of
travel are essential to your ability to finish up the game. Another time to
get this item after satanic is if you could use it to improve your farming
drastically. If your team has lost all of their towers in top, bottom, and
mid lanes then you should spend the gold on an item that will improve
your dps/survivability. The great thing about boots of travel with level 3
EDF is that you will be one of the fastest heroes in the game and it will be
very hard for anyone to escape you (especially after the nerf to dagger
XD).
Assault Cuirass
This is the item that I normally get as my 2nd core item because itsynergizes best with DK than pretty much any other item listed above.
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The attack speed increase allows you to kill heroes quicker while
improving your survivability through life steal and the really great armor
bonus. Not to mention that the attack speed aura is great for your allies
and since you are so difficult to eradicate you will almost always be able to
stay in combat to support your allies. Most likely you will not be able to
afford this item until level 20+, so after purchasing your hyperstone I
suggest you move onto another core item like heart, BoT, buriza, or
armlet. Basically this item will boost your armor to between 66-72%
reduction, which is great late game with life steal and is really effective vs.
heroes that have high crit damage.
Heart of Tarrasque
It only makes sense to get this item if you are the tank for your team
because the 1k hp bonus and the massive regen and mediocre attack
damage boost are all quite helpful. If I get boots of travel before
completing my assault cuirass I normally will get this item because
without it you might not have enough HP to stay indefinitely in the battle.
RadianceIf you are looking to boost your damage quite a bit and want more lane
presence then this might be the best item for you to get. I personally do
not get this item very often, unless I am dominating and have already
purchased my reaver for a satanic. Generally, bkb armlet, hyperstone,
boots of travel, or heart take precedence over this item for me. Radiance
tends to get weaker as the game goes along, thus if you cannot complete
it quickly after satanic, there are usually better options to buy.
Buriza-do Kyanon
I do not recommend rushing this item after your Satanic because you will
not have good enough attack speed or high enough damage to make this
the most useful item right after your satanic. If you buy a armlet,
hyperstone, heart, radiance, BKB, or MKB then this item will be worth
getting. This item can be great, but it is not essential on DK and needs
another item to boost damage or attack speed significantly. The reason Isuggest getting it later is because the damage boost late game (say 50+
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mins in) will be game breaking and DK needs mobility, survivability, and
attack speed before a damage item like this.
Monkey King BarBeing that you already have a stun, you don't really need to get this. This
item does give you some ridiculous damage though, and combined with
life steal you will be a scary dpser for teams who do not have enough
disables to keep you down. If you prefer huge damage items over
survivability ones then this item can be worthwhile, but I do not
recommend it over buriza for damage. I leave this item for my 6th slot,
and have yet to have a game last long enough to complete my entire
build.
Black King Bar
If you are facing a team that seems to slow/stun you the entire fight, then
you might want to get this item. It does give a decent damage boost, but
the 9 seconds of magic immunity can be very helpful in team fights that
generally do not last much longer then that. Another time this item might
be useful is against heroes like tree or destroyer so you can avoid theirdeadly ults. If you ever have a poor early game, or cannot farm 3200 gold
for your reaver in time, then this is a good potential item to buy after your
HotD.
Linken's Sphere
This item has gotten much better over the past two patches because of
the decrease in price and the 18 sec spell block. Against a team of single
target stunners/nukers this item might be the best choice for your funds if
you already completed your satanic. I know some players like having
more regen early in the game, especially mana regen, and likens is a good
way to get regen early and use those items for something useful later on.
Orchid Malevolence
This item has gotten a lot of discussion on the strategy forums about its
viability on DK. I have used it before and found it can be a worthwhile
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investment. This item works well against heroes with game breaking ults,
blinkers, or heroes with an invisibility skill that always seem to escape. If
you decide to purchase this item, I suggest you get some serious HP
beforehand, otherwise you will be little more than a support hero for your
team. Therefore, wait until you have purchased a reaver or a reaver and
strength treads. The downside to this item is that it gives way more mana
and mana regen than DK needs, but in some situations it can be quite
useful.
Items not to get
Sange and Yasha (5,100)
Yes, it is a good item on DK, but orb effects do not stack so we don't get
this. It does improve IAS, but so does hyperstone, which is better. The
movement speed is decent, but boots of travel or power treads and EDF
cover that pretty well. If you weren't going Satanic I would not flame you
for going this item, but I think Satanic is a better item for a tank hero like
DK.
Battle Fury
For some reason this item is popular in pubs, which I don't understand at
all. I assume they get it because they like pererverance for regen and
they decided to complete the item for damage. For starters the splash
damage is useless when you have EDF that has FULL splash damage.
Secondly, if you want damage so bad finish your satanic or get a radiance.
Some of you are probably thinking right now, well I get it for mana regen
noob! Ugh... If you truly feel you do not have enough mana regen from
stats and ring of basilius then get a void stone, another sobi mask, or a
robe of the magi for an orchids or likens or what have you. The fact of the
matter is a void stone gives you the mana to spam breathe fire which is
more cost efficient than a battle fury for clearing creeps. If you decide to
get this item I will personally come to your house and murder your family
Chris Benoit style.
Vanguard
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I see a lot of people getting this and say they are becoming a defensive
hero because of it. DK should not get this item, EVER. You already have
high armor that works as a decent damage block, so all DK needs is
strength. Bracers, power treads, and reavers are a far better choice for DK
because they offer him damage as well. DK is not like axe, bristle back, or
centaur who actually benefit greatly from getting a vanguard. Axe has
counter helix that works well with vanguard, bristle back has quill spray
and bristle back for damage, and centaur has return and greater strength
to provide damage. DK does not have any passive skill that gives him
damage to make it worth getting a vanguard. All that vanguard does is
delay you from getting better items and having enough damage to carry
your team later.
Vladmir's Offering
For some reason people get this item on DK thinking it will give them
better life steal, even though they spend most of their time fighting in EDF
form. Vlad's life steal is a melee aura and that is all the justification you
need to not waste money on this item.
Mekansm
You do not have the mana to support using this item and that's really the
whole reason you shouldn't get it. Besides, you have high regeneration
and you are going for satanic for life steal so why delay that?
Cranium Basher (3,220)
Are you playing a 1v1 game? If so you are refering to the wrong guide
because this is a team based build.
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse (5,900)
They really changed this item around in 6.50 and now it is not as viable as
it used to be. I think it now supplies way more mana than you need
without giving much else. It is great for intel heroes now, but besides
giving +10 to all stats, it is not so great for non intel heroes. However, if
your team does need another disable, then guinsoo is still an option. If
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your team just needs a way to deal with blinkers, invis heroes, or heroes
with powerful spell combos, then you are better off getting an orchid's.
The Ideal Build
or
This is the build I aim for most of my games, with substitutions made
when necessary. A significant number of people requested that I clarify
the items that I usually go on DK, and I suppose this does summarize
what I attempt to achieve every game. I have never completed the entire
build and I will probably never see the day when I do. However, in one of
the replays I have posted for 1.22 I was able to finish satanic, heart,
power treads, buriza, and a hyperstone by the end of the game. Please
take note that this is not the ideal build for all situations, for example, if
the other team has tons of disables and slows, then you should include a
bkb and/or a linkens. Either way, I hope this clarifies a few things for my
viewers.
Lane Selection
It is essential that you choose the middle lane whenever possible. You will
not be spending a great deal of time at the neutrals early, but it is
important that you can keep farming without any delay and be able to hop
back in the lane to defend a tower. I suggest going mid lane wheneverpossible because the hill going into the river will give you a better chance
of last hitting against a ranged hero without being punished severely for
it. If you have a lane partner with a disable or a slow, then get dragon tail
as your first skill. If your partner does not have any reliable disable or
slow, or if you are solo, then get breathe fire and dragons blood. That is
unless getting level 1 of your stun will be necessary to save you in the
laning phase of the game.
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If for some reason your allies are douche bags and do not let you go mid,
then go bottom for sent or top for scourge. It is important that you be in a
lane that is near your tower and neutrals that you can creep/dominate
later.
Game Strategy
Early Game level 1-10
Before I divulge into the specific strategy I am going to set up some
priorities to clarify a few things.
Use your mana wisely
Defend your tower!
Destroy enemy towers whenever possible
Check runes for potential ganks
You should save your mana primarily for harassing enemy heroes while
killing creeps at the same time with breathe fire early game. The more
creep kills you can get with a breathe fire while hitting the enemyhero(es) in your lane the better. If one of your allies is coming for a gank
soon, then conserve your mana for when they arrive. You should also
conserve your mana if the enemy hero is going to try and push your tower
to give his team tower gold or they are going to dive your tower in an
effort to kill you.
Mid lane is the best lane for DK because he can easily kill off the green
neutrals close to the tower while the creeps push well into enemy
territory. However, do not spend so much time neutraling that you let
your mid tower fall. Losing the mid tower on either side of the map opens
your team up to more ganking. Also, losing towers in mid lane means that
someone is almost always stuck in that lane pushing the creeps back and
that means it is less likely you can defend a tower in another lane. This
also makes it much more difficult to team push because the creep waves
are harder to take down.
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If you are in a dual lane with a fellow stunner, be sure to save mana for a
stun whenever possible. 4+ seconds of stun in a row can be deadly early
game and even shut down many strong lane combos. The only time you
should struggle early game is before you reach level 6. EDF level 1 gives
you a green dragon with corrosive breath as its passive. Against
aggressive lanes, you can fight back very effectively by hitting them
whenever possible. The poison does 100 magic damage over time and
when combined with your attack damage, will hurt the enemy for at least
120 damage. If an opponent is being stupid and letting you get him low
with your poison, then save up for a breathe fire and use it when they are
just about out of attack range. I have gotten many kills by playing these
kind of mind games with people and predicting how much hp the poisonwill drain.
I do not suggest bottle for DK, but that does not exclude you from
checking the runes. Runes appear every 2 minutes in game time, starting
at the 2 minute mark. So in RD you should check for the rune at the 2 min
mark before the creeps spawn or at least have one of your allies do that.
When you do pick up runes, look for opportunities to either push a tower
or get a kill. Haste and invisibility runes are a very easy way to get a kill
in an allies lane and double damage and image runes are great for taking
down towers. Taking down towers is the best way to get gold with DK
early game because a tier 1 tower is at least 350 gold in your coffers.
Mid Game level 11-16
Priorities:
Defend your base
Team push their base
Finish your satanic/begin your next core item
Remember dota is won by destroying the enemy base, not how many hero
kills one team has. That is why it is of the utmost importance to make
sure you do not lose your barracks. As I mentioned before, losing towers
means it is more difficult to organize a team push when the enemy creeps
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are always in your territory and are harder to take down. You will find that
EDF is a great way to defend your base during a team push because the
aoe clears the creeps quickly, while the ranged attack keeps you a safe
distance away.
Hopefully through ganks and taking down the enemy towers you will have
the advantage of map control. This makes organizing a team push easier
and does not require your team to get a kill before being able to
successfully team push. During team pushes you should sit back with the
ranged heroes on your team to do the majority of your attacking. Use
Breathe fire initially and/or at the end of the fight to kill heroes. Save your
stun for the dps heroes that tend to go after intel and other supportheroes on your team. Your stun is not meant for initiating, so use it to
defend your allies that support you.
Most games you will have purchased your reaver around the same time
you reach level 16. Due to the indirect nerf to satanic, you no longer life
steal off of your splash damage, so delaying the satanic recipe is a
potential option. I usually delay the recipe until I complete my 2nd core
item or find that dominating creeps is no longer helping the team.
Eventually in team fights the creeps you dominate will die so quick you
might only get 1 spell off and by this point it is usually time to open
another inventory slot by finishing your satanic.
Late game level 16+
Priorities:
Protect your barracks at all costs
Farm as much as possible when not pushing
Use EDF on ganks, offensive, and defensive pushes
Become unkillable
It should come as no surprise that the most important goal late game is to
defend your barracks. If you lose barracks and cannot counter-push to
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even up the barracks lost per side then winning will become very difficult
even for DK.
DK really becomes a farming fiend mid/late game once he gets splash
damage in EDF form. This is the reason DK becomes so damn difficult to
eradicate late game and why you can usually keep up in items with most
other carries in the game. You should not fall into a cookie cutter build
though when playing DK. There are a lot of choices to make when
deciding your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. items after Satanic. You need to conform
to the role that your team requires of you. The best item for initially
boosting DPS is a hyperstone because you can make use of the attack
speed because EDF 3 has a nice slow that keeps the enemy in range. Ifyour team needs you to tank for them, then a heart will probably be the
best item. If you need more hp and attack damage and/or getting raped
by nukes every fight then a BKB might be the best choice. Either way, you
can see that depending on the situation the best item to get will vary a
lot.
As the game progresses on you will find that EDF level 3 and life steal
becomes increasingly better. The biggest problem you will face on
offensive or defensive pushes is that your allies tend to die much quicker
than you do. Do your best to use your frost splash attack on as many
heroes as you can at once. Conserve your stuns for chasing down enemies
and protecting your allies that support you. Even late game you should
not initiate most of the time unless you are chasing an enemy down. The
best thing you can do to carry your team is to stay alive and keep
attacking from a distance. Unlike most tanks, your main goal isnt just to
soak up damage.
By the time you obtain your 3rd and 4th core items you will probably
notice that there arent a whole lot of people who can kill you. Most dps
heroes cannot touch you because you slow them, life steal, have high
armor (70% reduction), and have disables, which most other carry heroes
lack. Generally the only time DK will lose a close match late game is when
you become cocky and try to take on more than you can handle. Once you
obtain your 3rd core item, it is a good idea to always have enough cash
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saved that you can buy back if necessary. There are some heroes that can
out carry you late game, but there really arent many heroes that can kill
you late game unless you let them.
Good Allies
Ranged stunners/disablers
Vengeful Spirit
Crystal Maiden
Enigma
Furion
POTM
Puck
Rhasta
Lion
Bane
These heroes all have one thing in common besides being ranged. They all
have a stun or disable that can be a great way of initiating for DK. Their
stuns or disables give DK enough time to get in close to land another 2.5
seconds of stun time. These are the optimal heroes to lane with because
they are ranged and can all initiate for DK giving both of you the chance
to score kills early and often. Enigma deserves special mention because of
his ability to mini stun the enemy over 4 seconds at levels 2-3 and 6
seconds at level 4. This gives DK more time to react than any of the other
disables, except for maybe furions. However, with furions disable it does
not do damage like Enigma's does. Both furion and enigma are probably
the best partners because of their long disables and edbolons/treants that
can help in pushing.
Pushers
Enigma
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Furion
Warlock
Death Prophet
Undying
Brood Mother
Visage
Syllabear
Rhasta
Chen
In terms of lane partners, I would avoid the double melee lanes with
undying and brood mother. Brood mother is alright in a lane with you until
they get wards, then the chances of brood getting close enough to slow
them until you can get a stun off are very low. If you really want to
dominate lanes and score your team tower gold early you are best having
furion, enigma, rhasta, or warlock in your lane. These heroes all help you
kill the enemy to some extent and have summons that can help take down
a tower quick. Syllabear, visage, and chen (if he has summons) can be
good allies for taking down towers, but less effective at helping both of
you score kills early. Syllabear needs luck to get an entangle on the
enemy so you can stun them; visage's slow is not a very high % until
level 4, but visage does offer good pushing ability with reverents; and
chen has a decent slow at level 4, but he can be more helpful if he mind
controls a troll warlord to initiate so you can stun.
Slowers
Drow
Veno
Medusa
QoP
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Viper
Dazzle
All of these heroes are good lanners that can help you get kills and get inmore last hit/denies early. If you cannot lane with a ranged disabler all of
these heroes will make for a decent lane partner.
If you can, avoid laning with heroes that do not have a decent slow or
disable, such as sniper, enchantress, silencer, etc. Most of the time, the
heroes that do not make great lane partners are those that are your
teams solo anyways. DK is not a great baby sitter, so let warlock, dazzle,
or viper do that instead of you.
What if I get stuck soloing?
If you get stuck soloing, then you're best off not getting any skill points in
stun and just using breathe fire and dragons blood to last hit and harass.
Generally you will never get close enough to get a stun off or the only
time will be is when they chase you next to your tower. In either of these
cases you are normally against ranged intel or agil heroes mid who have
fairly low HP. With some breathe fire harassment you will not only stay
ahead in level, be able to farm, but you will also be likely to send them
back to the well.
Bad Opponents
If there is one hero that counters DK pretty well all game, it is
enchantress. Early game she makes last hitting hell with impetus, thus
you get stuck using breathe fire to farm/harass her. Unlike many other
good ranged harassers, enchantress is not going to have to heal at any
point because of her heal. Also, enchantress with an early hand of midas
can keep equally farmed with you throughout the game. Hand of midas
and her enchant skill also counters your use of dominated creeps badly.Impetus's damage is pure, thus even when used against you late game it
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will not be reduced by your high armor. Impetus is also good against you
if you use EDF because it turns you into a ranged hero, which enchant's
impetus is based on her range from you .
Now with EDF and your stun, you could get close, but enchantress's slow
(enchant) keeps you from getting close enough to stun. Even if you do get
a stun off, she will probably out DPS you and then you are stuck running
from her. When you get level 16, you have a better chance against her
because your frost attack slows her in return. However, she still can still
keep some distance because of enchant's slow and a guinsoo, which most
enchant players get. So once again, by the time you even get in close
enough to stun, it is likely you are too injured to finish the job.
Enchant's weakness is slows and burst damage, which you only have the
one counter by level 16. Her nature's attendants will keep her alive
against you all game because breathe fire does not give DK enough burst
damage to take her out. Also, when DK goes for attack speed items later,
her passive ultimate reduces your already slow attack speed. By the end
of a normal game you will still probably not be able to kill her without
help, and she might not be able to kill you, but you'll be stuck running
everytime.
All of the heroes in the above pictures are pretty solid counters of DK
early. They punish DK more than most other heroes when he goes in for
last hits. In some cases, these heroes make it virtually impossible to last
hit, except when creeps are pushed to your tower. Now I do not consider
these heroes great counters all game long though because most of them
lose effectiveness vs. you late game. Against nukers your HP pool
eventually grows so much that their nukes are not enough to repel you.
Against axe, panda, and slardar you tend to out farm them most games
and EDF 3 with your longer stun and high armor keeps you from worrying
about these heroes as much later.
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Besides those heroes, in a 1v1 situation there is not much to worry about.
Even with the above 5 heroes you can still farm fairly well to keep on par
early/mid game. What you should really worry about is a hero combo that
can make your life hell. These combos are as follows, 2 slowers are the
worst, a slower and a stunner are equally bad, and 2 stunners can be a
pain for basically any hero, yourself included. 2 Nukers can also be a
problem for DK early, but with a healer as a lane partner, a hood of
defiance, or just playing it safe you can deal with them fairly easily.
Nukers are also a bit fragile and your counter harassment can keep them
low HP as well. If you're against nukers they will lose effectiveness against
you as the game drags on and your regen/high HP makes you fairly good
against nukers compared to many other strength heroes. Against mostcombos if you have a competant partner you should be able to hold your
own.
Now I could include extreme dps and basher heroes in here as late game
heroes to fear, however, that is pretty common for just about every hero
in dota. You have a long duration stun and a frost attack that can make
sure you keep your distance from such heroes. Thus, I do not consider
extreme dps and basher heroes to be a great counter to you even late
game.