Anub'arak, the Nerubian Assassin

Why NA?
Nerubian Assassin is currently one of the most famous hero pick in competitive DotA. The reason is simple, he has all the skills that help a lot in teamplay -a stun, a mana burn and an initiator wind walker. He can be a ward supporter, a nanny (a hero who take care of late gamer) or even an assassin.

Note that the term 'assassin' is different than the term 'killer'. Assassin kills fast and leave in a haste without leaving any evidence behind. While killer just kills. XD

Skill Build

1. Impale/Mana Burn
   
2. Mana Burn/Impale
   
3. Impale
   
4. Mana Burn
   
5. Impale
   
6. Vendetta
   
7. Impale
   
8. Mana Burn
   
9. Mana Burn
   
10. Stats
    
11. Vendetta
    
12. Stats x5
    
13. Spiked Carapace
    

Elaboration:
Skill build is pretty simple. Mana Burn first if your lane don't have early high damage to get First Blood, other than that, go for Impale for the stun.

Do not max Mana Burn first since during early game, the enemy might not have that large mana pool for you to burn.

One thing to note is that when Vendetta is maxed, it has 60 seconds cooldown and 50 seconds duration. So basically, use your Vendetta early and try to scout jungle for kill. If you time it wisely, then you can use it twice at the very end of 50 seconds after 10 seconds.

Item Build

• Circlet x2
  
• Empty Bottle
  
• Scroll of Teleportation
  
• Dagon x5
  
• Boots of Travel
  
• Observer Ward
  

Elaboration:
Basically, there are two ways of playing NA. The first one is full support which does nothing but a ward whore, kind of like how VS is played. The other one which is much superior is the Assassin build (the one I mentioned above).

The idea is to kill fast, leave the scene fast, pretty much like Hitman.

Strategy
Game starts get two circlets, a tango and a clarity. Go to your lane and do your stuff. If you raised Mana Burn first, burn the hell out of your enemy so they can't harass you and that you can farm without fear. If you go for Impale first, try to coordinate your teammate to get First Blood.

Try to farm in your lane until you have the first 700 gold and level 6. Get Empty Bottle and start to roam around the map controlling the Rune. Gank the hell if your team hero lineup allows you to do so. Discuss combo before you visit your teammate's lane for ganking. Again, TeamSpeak helps a lot.

Get Boots of Speed if you have the money and always REMEMBER to have a teleport scroll with you. This allows you to be anywhere of the map and make your position unpredictable aka ninja.

After ganking for awhile until around level 8 or level 9, request for a solo lane so that you can start to farm up you Dagon. (This stage is very important, STOP ganking and farm up Dagon asap)

You should get your Dagon around level 10 or level 11. Now this is when the game really starts for you.

Start to roam around your enemy's jungle then try to kill those low HP heroes. Vendetta, hit, Impale, hit, Mana Burn, Dagon! Then it's a kill. But wait, don't stop yet, remember what I've said earlier? Leave the fucking scene! Teleport back to base if you feel that his teammates is out to get you.

Keep doing the killing and upgrade your Dagon until it's maxed out. Then try to farm up Boots of Travel or you can support Observer Ward for your ease in locating the enemy in their jungle.

Replay
http://www.uploadyour.info/download.php?filename=6.49b_nerubianassassin_imba36221.w3g
Description: This is a very nice replay which I just played 2 days ago. It's a great example on how NA should be played. Notice how I start the killing frenzy after I farmed up my first Dagon. I was able to control Scourge's forest and tame Drow Ranger, Juggernaut, PA and also Earthshaker to get ugly late game. Keeping the ganking pase was the key.

Shendelzare Silkwood, the Vengeful Spirit (2)

I have a support build VS much different than hopeless'. The playstyle I follow is the tournament kind of VS.

Basically, the job of VS is to roam around the map and gank early game since missile is a very pain in the ass.

Item build should be:

• Boots of Travel
  
• Empty Bottle
  
• Bracer x2
  
• Hoods of Defiance
  
• Mass Observer Ward
  

Elaboration:
Yeah, I know, it's very cheap because that's how VS should be played. You won't need to farm, leave the farming to a much better late gamer like Spectre or BB.

Skill Build:

1. Missile
   
2. Stats
   
3. Missile
   
4. Stats
   
5. Missile
   
6. Swap
   
7. Missile
   
8. Command Aura
   
9. Command Aura
   
10. Command Aura
11. Command Aura
    
12. Swap
    
13. Stats/Terror/Swap

Elaboration:
Basically max missile for early gank. Swap should be gotten asap. Command Aura for adding those sexy damage. Pretty much straight forward.

Strategy:
Game starts, buy chicken then get some tango and clarity. Scout the jungle to clear the fog and then wait in the jungle for ganking. Then start to farm up for observer ward and Empty Bottle. Get Boots after that.   Watch the replay provided below for some good location for ward placement.

The most important part when playing Vengeful Spirit is not to be afraid to die for your team, especially trading lifes with those late gamer hero in your team. It will pays off. Do not care about your hero score that much cause you are a supporter, that's normal.

Also, one thing to note is that this kind of supporter VS needs to have voice-comm tools like TeamSpeak to be effective. So you can't do this alone in pub game.

Here are the replays:
http://www.uploadyour.info/download.php?filename=6.49b_vs_ifeedbutsupport40000.w3g
Description: This is a good example of support VS where I fed but did help out a lot for my team. Do notice that my creep stats are only below 50 until the end of the game. Also, to determine how good of a support I am, notice that of all the hero kills, I was there 85% of the time. Just keep asking when you are watching this replay whether my teammate was able to get all those kill if I wasn't present? That should sum everything up of a good VS. XD

http://www.uploadyour.info/download.php?filename=6.48b_vengefulspirit_ozzy74942.w3g
Description: This is also another example of support VS. Notice at minute 15 where I combo-ed with fatty's Tinker. How he got those kill was TEAMWORK. I think the match was won because of both of us ganking the hell out of Scourge.

http://www.uploadyour.info/download.php?filename=6.49b_juggernaut_morningcombonc42693.w3g
Description: This VS was not played by me but from Why. We were training out the combo, QoP, Silencer, Juggernaut, VS and Lina. Basically VS, Juggernaut and Lina trilaned bottom and get first blood. Then VS just basically follow Juggernaut around for ganking, letting Lina, QoP and Silencer to get buffed.

Shendelzare Silkwood,the Vengeful Spirit.

Shendelzare Silkwood,the Vengeful Spirit(abbreviation:VS)

Advantages:
-Deals comparatively high damage in early games as VS has the highest damage in a targeted stun out of all dota heroes.
-Deals dramatically high damage in late games due to Command Aura.
-Is supportive for VS's armor reduction aura for enemies and attack damage aura for allies.
-Highly weakens enemies' forces due to VS's nether swap when it comes to teambattle.
-Very dynamic,changes style of play effectively.

Disadvantages:
-Low hp
-Attack range of 400 is considered low for ranged heroes.
-Considerably long animation after each hit.A plus point if animation cancelling skill is practised.
-Needs a lot of skills after casting Nether Swap.Switching positions with an enemy hero is easy,but getting away from the crowd safely is a difficulty.

To optimize VS's advantages and at the same time,cover the disadvantages,is what VS should do.As I mentioned earlier,VS is very dynamic,and basically I can suggest at least 3 types of role and build VS can play well,let's name it my way:

-Offensive
-When the team has not enough fighters,VS can be one,an effective one.Item build is basically all-offensive.
-During a teambattle,stay with the team,let tankers tank in front and start hitting as soon as you can reach enemy heroes.HIT THEIR MAIN FIGHTERS FIRST.
-Cast Terror to reduce enemy forces' armor and damage before doing anything else to maximize the damage.
-Since VS is the fighter,Nether Swap and Magic Missile can be used for safety purpose,for example,to stun the hero who is attacking VS,or to switch position with a hero outside the teambattle to escape when VS has low hp.

-Supportive
-VS can be extremely supportive in late games.Command aura,Terror,Magic Missile,and Nether Swap are basically all supportive.
-During teambattle,stay somewhere in the middle of the team to possibly give all allies units the Command Aura,and at the same time,effectively cast Terror for all enemy units.
-Mekansm,Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse,Necromonicon and Eye of Skadi are the item options to be used to support the team.
-Great use of these items gives catastrophic effect for the enemy.Mekansm to heal,Guinsoo's scythe to disable,Necromonicon to boost the speed of the allied units,and EOS to slow the escaping heroes.Unbelieveable.

-Armor-reductive
-Doesn't need much explanations,Assault Cuirass,Stygian Desolator and VS's Terror total up an armor-reduction aura of 16 for a targeted enemy unit and 10 for the rest of the enemy units.Imagine that.
-To optimize the use of Stygian Desolator,it is recommended to attack different nearby target heroes in a teambattle,to further reduce their armor.(Provided you have good cover from your teammates to do the damage during the effect of Stygian desolator.)
-With the aid of Assault Cuirass and Terror,EOS alone gives enough hp to stay somewhere in front of the team during teambattles.Stand up front to initiate the battle by reducing enemy units' armor by 10.I believe winning a teambattle is not a difficulty.

Item building for mentioned styles of play for VS.

-Offensive build

-Power thread
-A must for fighters,boosts attack speed which is very much needed.
-Stygian Desolator
-Greatly reduces targeted units' armor.A plus point for VS's high damage.
-Butterfly
-Greatly boosts VS's damage and attack speed,gives 30% evasion which is very helpful for low hp VS.
-Radiance
-Animation cancelling skill alone is useful to take down escaping heroes,yet radiance is not only a strong plus point in hunting heroes,it's also a vital item in teambattles,and creeping too!
-Buriza Do Kyanon
-Base damage of 400+ gives a critical damage of 880+.Do I need to further explain?
-Black King Bar
-To be a fighter,we must be prepared to be the main target of enemy heroes.To deal damage without being disabled,Black King Bar is an option especially there are quite a number of Int heroes to disable.


-Supportive build

-Boots of travel
-Greatly boosts movement speed and ability to teleport,gives VS ability to provide immediate back up for the team.Also for farming purpose to reach a tower before the creeps are being cleared.
-Mekansm
-Heals nearby allied units and boosts armor,fairly effective to heal allied heroes,yet effect is less obvious in late games when hp of heroes increases over levels and items.Helpful in pushes.
-Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
-Gives ability to disable enemy hero for 4 seconds.Target main damage dealers of the enemy team.Awesome.Gives VS enough mana pool and mana regeneration to spam skills efficiently too. -Assault Cuirass
-Gives 5 armor aura and slightly increases nearby allied units' attack speed,5 armor reduction aura for enemies,totals up with Mekansm,perfect.
-Lothar's Edge
-Enables VS to get away easily from the enemy unhurt after switching position with one of the enemy heroes especially when enemy heroes stick.
-Empty Bottle/Arcane Ring for early games OR Eye of Skadi for late games.
-Empty bottle to heal and arcane ring to spam without having to worry about mana regeneration for the team,is fairly enough in the early games.During late games,An Empty Bottle or Arcane Ring doesn't really help already.Eye of Skadi might be an option as it greatly increases VS's hp and mana pool,giving Slow effect to prevent enemy units from escaping.


-Armor-reductive build

-Boots of travel
-To fully optimize VS's role to reduce enemy units' armor,boots of travel will do the job to make sure VS is at EVERY battlefield possible,immediately.
-Stygian Desolator
-Reduces enemy units' armor by 6.Enable the team to amplify damage dealt to the enemy units VS targets.
-Assault Cuirass
-Further reduces enemy units' armor.Totals up an armor reduction aura of 10 with Terror casted and 16 when that particular unit is being targeted by VS with Stygian Desolator.Ouch!
-Butterfly
-Enables VS to attack faster,to attack different heroes effectively and seperately to reduce more enemy units' armor with Stygian Desolator.Also allows VS to be more presevere with ability to Dodge attacks.
-Heart of Tarrasque
-Greatly boosts VS's maximum hp and hp regeneration.Enables VS to stay in the battlefield as long as possible to maximize the period of the armor reduction aura for the enemies.
-Empty Bottle
-Heals VS the most effective way in a short period.Also gives VS ability to control Rune from the early games till the late games.Make VS more presevere without having to go back to base too.