Tremble, mortals and despair..
Doom
has come to this world!

click to listen



~ Fanart made by artgerm

Foreword
Welcome to my guide on Lucifer, the Doom Bringer. This guide was originally written by n!ght, but I took over the job, he is now the co-writer of this guide and I will improve it with the competitive way of playing Doom.
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Table of Contents
1. Informations about the hero
a) Attributes
b) Miscellaneous
c) Pros & Cons
d) Skills
2. Skill Build

3. Early Game Strategy (LvL 1-5)

4. Mid Game Strategy (LvL 6-15)

5. Late Game Strategy (LvL 16-25)

6. Mini Guide to LvL?Death
a) Bonus Damage
b) Cancel Animation
7. Items
a) Core Items
b) Situational Items
c) Luxury Items
d) Rejected Items
8. Item Build

9. Drafting

10. Replays

11. FAQ

12. Miscellaneous
a) Summary
b) Special Thanks
c) Changelog
1. Informations about the hero
1.a) Attributes
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Advanced Statistics
Affiliation: Scourge
Attack Animation: 0.5 / 0.7
Casting Animation: 0.3 / 0.51
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Missile Speed: Instant
Sight Range: 1800/800
Damage: 53-69
Armor: 3.2
Movespeed: 300
Attack Range: 150 (melee)

1.b) Miscellaneous

Other names for Doom Bringer
lucy, luci, doom, db, DOOM!, lucifer



Background Story
Lucifer was the leader of the Doomguard attack force of the burning legion in the first attack by the dark lord Sargeras. With his original master long gone, Lucifer grants his undying loyalty to the Scourge to finish what his lord once started. Devouring the insignificant for his greed while dissipating the souls of those brave and strong enough to withstand his strength and the heat of his fiery haven of burning earth, Lucifer takes no prisoners and makes sure those who persevere through his wrath die by the agonizing and burning pain of Doom itself.




1.c) Pros & Cons

Pros
 
[ + ] Very powerful ultimate
[ + ] Not much item dependent
[ + ] Impossible to keep from farming
[ + ] Early-mid game killer
[ + ] Very good Strength Grow
[ + ] Awesome movementspeed due to Scorched Earth

Cons
[ - ] Bad attackspeed, even in lategame
[ - ] His ultimate can be denied
[ - ] Needs items to do anything except his ultimate in lategame
[ - ] No real disable, only Full Silence (items+ abilities)




1.d) Skills

Devour
Swallows an enemy unit for a short period of time, digesting it and dealing minor damage. Each level decreases the cooldown and mana cost and gives bonus gold when the devoured unit is killed.

We use this spell to get gold. Simple as that. Always devour when the Cooldown is ready, and try to always devour creeps that are in deny-risk. Keep in mind that if you devour high life creeps it will push the lane a little far away from your tower, so be careful. Use it to your advantage if you want to go take a rune or make a gank, in this case, use Devour right on the ranged creeps (he deals more damage to your creeps and is Devoured faster) and make some attacks apart from last hitting to the creeps. This way, the lane closes up to the enemy tower and you get hid in fog, being able to exit your lane without much hassle.

[Level 1] - 30 seconds cooldown, uses 50 Manapoints, creeps up to level 1, 10 bonus gold
[Level 2] - 25 seconds cooldown, uses 45 Manapoints, creeps up to level 2, 20 bonus gold
[Level 3] - 20 seconds cooldown, uses 40 Manapoints, creeps up to level 4, 30 bonus gold
[Level 4] - 15 seconds cooldown, uses 35 Manapoints, creeps up to level 6, 40 bonus gold



Scorched Earth
Blankets the ground in flames, damaging enemies and healing the Doombringer. Also increases Lucifer's attack and movement speed. Lasts 20 seconds.
Scorched Earth surely helps a lot if used well. It is very spammable and also deals a little bit damage on your foes SO USE IT TO CANCEL BLINK DAGGERS, but for this, you need at least level 3 Scorched Earth. Blink, Doom, Lvl Death, Scorched Earth on your enemy side of the field, you may just cancel a coming SK or ES and win the battle very easily. Also used for the move speed boost to catch up with fleeing heroes. Also notice that the Casting Range is 800 and the AOE is 700, so you must cast it 100 units away from your, for more weird it may sound, it works like this. Just cast it at your feet and you'll be fine. Don't waste much time casting, cast and issue a move command right away so that you use your time the best way.

[Level 1] Damages enemies / Heals Lucifer for 1 HP per second. Increases the movement and attack speed of Lucifer by 10%
[Level 2] - 2 HP, 15%
[Level 3] - 3 HP, 20%
[Level 4] - 4 HP, 30%



LvL? Death
Dissipates a piece of a target's soul. Deals 250 bonus damage if the target's level is a multiple of a specific number or 25.
LVL? Death usage is what distinguishes a good Doom from a regular Doom. You don't level it right away neither you level Devour at lvl 5, you don't level any skill. This is something you may do as Invoker too, sometimes you skip a skill at lvl 6 so that you can get both Exort and Invoke at lvl 7.

Well, the purpose of saving a skill point is to match the enemy level and the bonus of your skill whenever possible. For example, you are at lvl 5 or 6 with 2 ranks of LVL? Death and a skill point to spare and you go gank another lane. Chances are that the heroes in that lane are lvl 4 or lvl 5, so leave LVL? Death at lvl 2 if they are lvl 5 and upgrade it to lvl 3 if they are lvl 4, so that you get the bonus and grab the kill. Save the skill point at lvl 7 too, you may use it better. The only shame in playing this little game is that you can't back the level once you skilled LVL? Death, but it's a risk you will face and don't be afraid of skilling it to higher levels.

[Level 1] - Deals 100 damage. Deals 250 bonus damage if the level of the target is a multiple of 6 (6, 12, 18, 24)
[Level 2] - Deals 150 damage. Deals 250 bonus damage if the level of the target is a multiple of 5 (5, 10, 15, 20, 25)
[Level 3] - Deals 200 damage. Deals 250 bonus damage if the level of the target is a multiple of 4 (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24)
[Level 4] - Deals 250 damage. Deals 250 bonus damage if the level of the target is a multiple of 3 (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24)




Doom
The target unit becomes inflicted with Doom. The afflicted unit cannot cast spells and will take damage per second. Can be improved by Aghanim's Scepter.
[Level 1] - Deals 40 (50*) damage per second and fully silences the target, 12 (14*) sec. duration, uses 150 manapoints
[Level 2] - Deals 60 (70*) damage per second and fully silences the target, 14 (16*) sec duration, uses 200 manapoints
[Level 3] - Deals 80 (90*) damage per second and fully silences the target, 16 (18*) sec duration, uses 250 manapoints

That's why Lucifer is named the Doom Bringer. It is harder than it looks, actually. It is a battle initiating skill. You Doom an enemy hero to initiate a team battle. If you do this correctly and on the right target, chances are that you will win the team battle.

The Aghanims upgrade is very important as the cooldown drops by like a lot, thereby letting you use it more often. You also use Blink Dagger to hit the right target, having a very smaller chance of things turning wrong.

Remember: The right time to initiate is right before your enemy does and right when they don't expect you to initiate, but also having a good margin of security so that all goes in your favor.

2. Skillorder & Variations
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Normally you should skill like this:
[Level 1] Devour
[Level 2] LVL? Death
[Level 3] Devour
[Level 4] LVL? Death
[Level 5] Nothing
[Level 6] Doom
[Level 7] Nothing
[Level 8] Devour
[Level 9] Devour
[Level 10] Scorched Earth
[Level 11] Doom
[Level 12] Scorched Earth
[Level 13] Scorched Earth
[Level 14] Scorched Earth
[Level 15] Stats
[Level 16] Doom
[Level 17- 25] Stats
3. Early Game Strategy (LvL 1-5)
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Step back and farm. Hardly will you need to exit your lane to gank until like level 5. Try not to Devour full life creeps so that you are able to Devour another creep as soon as the cooldown ends. Don't use LvL?Death to nuke unless you are really able to kill your enemy or the bonus applies.

Take part into minor ganks that happen near your lane, also call for ganks on your lane, specially if you are facing a carry.
See Drafting for discussion on Doom's laning.


4. Mid Game Strategy (LvL 6-15)
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Gank whenever your ult is available, always help your team with counter ganks, and by always, I mean always... carry a TP and use it right when your team goes for the counter gank. Don't forget to farm, but don't forget to gank.

Focus the ganks on the carries, but not your ulti. You are suposed to disable the most dangerous hero around with your ult. Saving it may mean that you are going to disable / kill an even more dangerous hero and it may save an ally or two but it may mean that you are going to miss a kill and risk your whole team's safety also. Read: Use Doom whenever you need to use it, be it to deny Lich from casting his ult or to kill an LolI'mGoingToBlinkNow Morphling.

Now, from LvL 11-15, the more the clock marks, the more you need to gank, You should already have Aghanims or Boots of Travels or both. Go ganking frenzy, don't be afraid to ult full life heroes, just be sure that you are dishing a powerful hero away from battle even before it begins. Also be sure that your allies will follow up in the battle.

5. Late Game Strategy (LvL 16-25)
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Gank. Always take part on team battles with ease, initiating who you need to initiate and go tank if you did initiate properly. If you fail to initiate, e.g. you tried to Doom the Pandaren Brewmaster but he was able to blink-clap-ult before you could even lay a hand on him, step back and try again later. Ulting an already useless hero like ES or Lich after they casted their ultimates is not advisable. Just retreat if you can't win (and you aren't likely going to win if you failed to initiate).

Spam Scorched Earth, don't refrain to use Devour but use it only on very low life creeps and neutrals. Cast LvL?Death on the proper heroes, cancel chanelling spells and cancel enemy heroes's animation so that they miss their target. This can save lifes.

You did not farm a lot the whole game to stand out of the battle casting spells. Do not be afraid to blink in and LvL?Death AND Doom your target. Oh and yes, LvL?Death first and rapidly Doom after it, then hit, it's important because your targets are likely to get Linkens Sphere if you focus them too much. Foolish them, go for the combo, you can do it.

Use Scorched Earth on your enemies's "side of the field" to deny heroes from blinking at your allies. Use it on every cooldown and cover all the field you are able to cover so that you can run around more swiftly. The next LvL?Death will be focused on those you will "crit" on aka deal bonus damage. Always try to cancel chanelling skills with it and cancel animation.

6. Mini Guide to LvL?Death
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6.a) Bonus Damage

The Bonus Damage is a second instance of damage, it won't be blocked by Linkens and will be applied right after the main damage procs.

Also, the heroes table show the level of the enemy heroes, so pick your targets for LvL?Death before going to gank / fight. Typing -matchup (-ma) does the same thing for you.

6.b) Cancel Animation

It is not about your animation, it is about your enemies's. Have you ever seen Earthshaker struggling to cast Fissure or Totem while close to an enemy Clockwerk Goblin with Battery Assault on? It is the same concept except that you have only one instance of cancelling the enemy animation.

This can help an ally catch up and disable a Queen of Pain that was about to blink, however you forced her to do the animation once again by casting right before she could blink. Cast it to delay Zeus's bolt from hitting the target so that your ally can use a charge on his bottle or hide in fog. Cast it to mess with Warlock's timing on the Infernal and therefore allow your ally Shadow Fiend to ult properly.

7. Items
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7.a) Core Items



Core. Don't even think before buying this item. You need it.



Great for runewhoring and getting that extra mana to grab that kill with LvL?Death and for healing purposes. Can save your life.



Your ult lasts longer, deals more damage and cooldowns faster. It also buffs your stats. Do I even need to say that you need to get it?
Guinsoo's is a good alternative for Aghanim's if you need to go for a way more ganking strategy.



You can farm it, you benefit out of it, you rice with it, you abuse the speed it gives, you buy it. Phase is good for moving around too, but it won't let you globaly gank and farm. Power Treads are useful if you aren't doing well.



Blink Dagger lets you initiate with ease against any hero lineup or whatever you face. Having vision of your enemies is crucial. Don't underestimate this item, it is a bit hard to use. Remember to dodge projectiles with it and use it to move around without spamming, because you may need it for later.
Lothar's Edge is an alternative to Dagger.



It is both useful for initiating and for retreating. It is more costy than Dagger, but the backstab is just too useful.
If you can get it very fast, you will just benefit a huge lot from it. You'll rice better because you have a escape mechanism, will be able to scout for ganks and land that extra hit/nuke and grab more kills. It is a good item, but imba countered by true sight, really. Alternative to Dagger, don't do the mistake to take both items, it is not necessary.

7.b) Situational Items



Imba double ulti. Go in, LvL?Death + Doom two targets, fight. But you need to be very fast and have the mana pool to do so.



Also buffs your farming but it may be way more than what you need to farm. Again, it is nice to get it as soon as possible, 15~20 min is awesome, 20~25 min is fine, if you can't buy it by then, go for Aghanim. You can get Radiance if you are facing squishy heroes and/or blinkers.



Useful against heroes with a lot of magical damage.



Useful against heroes with a lot of physical damage.



Very useful item, boosts the move speed of your team, provides mana burn and true vision.



Supportive items. Get as a 5th~6th item.



Guinsoo's used to be the core item for Doom before the Aghanim buff. He benefits a lot out of it for the ganking and the mana regen and mana pool boosts. You may want to get it for stunt kills while ganking, it is really awesome.



Only useful against strong initiators like Tidehunter, Demon Witch, Earthshaker, Sand King, Shadow Shaman and Invoker.



If you need to silence yet another target.



Special hit this season. Post core items.

7.c) Luxury Items



Become more tankish.



Against mass physical damage lineups.



If the game drags on too long.



Very useful to mess around with single target spell users and debuff casters (Bloodseeker, Venomancer, Visage).



Imba counter to Warlock, Omniknight, Broodmother and Rogue Knight.



Useful for armor reduction strategies.

7.d) Rejected Items

Everything else.

8. Item Builds
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The core item on your build is Aghanims, get it as soon as possible. Skipping it for an early Boots of Travel IS ADVISABLE but not always the best choice. Do it accordingly to what your team needs.

Power Treads if you are doing very bad, Phase Boots is no longer a good choice unless you're facing Broodmother or Undying, Boots of Travels every possible chance.

Then you get either Lothars or Dagger. Sometimes, getting Lothars as a first item is very awesome, you survive better and therefore rice better, also have a better chasing and escaping skill.

Then luxuries. Buy what your team needs. You won't win the game by yourself, act as a support at late game, disable who you need to disable and go in to dish some damage and tank by yourself.

Dagger/Agha build

- At base -


- 3~7 minutes mark -


- 11~15 minutes mark -


- 14~18 minutes mark -


- 20~24 minutes mark -


- 26~30 minutes mark -


9. Drafting
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Doom Bringer is the obvious counter to whichever gay hero that can't contribute to a team battle just by attacking, such as Storm Spirit and Queen of Pain.
But it isn't as easy as it goes. Doom usually needs a solo lane to go on, he can be countered, also he needs initiators to follow him up and gankers to help Doom farm well early.

9.a) Doom & his team

Blink Dagger Doom is useful provided that he has the vision to initiate, so having scouters is just amazing. If there is no way of having vision by scouters or if Doom could be useful scouting by himself, Lothar's can do it's job. Upside is the very abusable Backstab and WW is an awesome escaping mechanism, downside is that it is not instant as Dagger, inefective near towers or sentries and a bit more costy.

9.b) Allies

Early Gankers, Roamers & Junglers



They gank, you farm. Their disables are very useful for you to cast LvL?Death twice on your target early.

Effective inlane with Doom



Special mention to CM and KotL, who let you spam your LvL?Death nastily, also they have harassing skills (bite, leak). And Witch Doctor -> Cask + Maledict + Hit + LvL?Death (with bonus) + Hit = Profit?

Scouters



They can reveal your target. Props for Zeus and Spectre for obvious reason, Venge for giving large vision and denying blinks, NA for insta gibs and ganks, Weaver, Lanaya and Beastmaster for global MH. For all those who will come here to complain about Invoker, just think about Tornado + EMP + Doom. What can you do to dodge it? Nothing. The other heroes that can scout can't help Doom really because they have better uses for their spells. And Levi can simply blink + Ravage in no problem, the AOE is so huge that he will always hit who he wants to.

9.c) Enemies

Your targets



Those heroes take priority, there are other doomable heroes such as Lich and Enigma, but seriously there are other ways to take them down. But for those I listed here, they can make all the difference on a team battle and you should disable them.

Your counters when soloing



They outlane you very easily on 1v1. Any dual stun lane can do it against Doom also.

10. Replays
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To be added.

11. FAQ
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None yet.

12. Miscellaneous
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12.a) Summary

Doom is the kind of hero that needs to go rambo on battle, but still time the initiation and be sure to hit the target, always. A beefy hero, not high mana pool, so use spells wisely. Take your time to get up to date with your battle strategy so that you can always hit your target and initiate with ease alongside your team. This, and you will likely win all team battles and therefore the game.

12.b) Changelog

- November, 2009 -
12th - Finished.
06th - Posted.

12.c) Special Thanks

n!ght, Shorttail.






source