Nerothos; Krovikan Vampire

Frontline, Melee

Lecherous and parasitic, Nerothos prefers to lurk in the shadows and gang up on his foes; taking them down without a fair fight.

For sly players who enjoy harassing, outnumbering, and ambushing their foes.

Innate: Haemophilia

Passively: Leeches life on attacks. Nearby allied heroes will also be healed for the same amount.

Active: Target an enemy hero at melee range. If they are facing Nerothos, he wounds them and gains a large attack speed bonus.

Noose

Summons a ring of bats, which swoop from the circumference to the centre of the target circle. Each deals a small amount of damage and applies a stacking slow. The ability is ineffective against groups, but catching a unit alone in the centre will deal a lot of damage and slow heavily. This ability has a low cooldown, and is often chained.

Black Veil

Summons a cloud of darkness in the target area. Nerothos and his allies gain permanent invisibility while inside, and may attack/cast without becoming visible.

Transfusion

Drains life from a target enemy to form a damage shield around Nerothos. The shield slowly bleeds life back into its original owner: if the shield takes no damage, the original target will have all their life returned by the end of the buff's duration.

Ultimate: Guillotine

Damages and wounds all enemy units in a narrow line between Nerothos and the target unit. The target unit itself will be unaffected.

Notes:

• Nerothos is based on the original DotA hero of the same name. His signature 'Touch of Death' ability was modernised and used in RoW for many versions, but was eventually replaced.
• Touch of Death was a channelled life drain ability, with no leash range. Once started, it would only end when the target died, left friendly vision, or Nerothos ran out of mana. It required teamwork to maintain vision of the target while they were sucked dry, but proved unexciting for the Nerothos player who was stuck standing around channelling.
• Black Veil used to black out enemy players' screens, which made it useful offensively as a distraction. It was also crucial protection while channelling Touch of Death.
• He has consistently been one of the best examples of a hero with diverse item builds. He can comfortably build for self-healing, improving his nukes, or honing his basic attack.
• In practice, the current Nerothos is played more as a burst damage ganker than the slow drainer from versions gone by.