Undying

Undying

The Dire

22 + 2.1 10 + 0.8 27 + 2.0

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 568 1195 1898 Mana 351 767 1235 Damage 57-65 90-98 127-135 Armor 3.4 5.36 8.86 Attacks / Second 0.64 0.72 0.87

Movement Speed 310 Turn Rate 0.6 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range Melee Missile Speed Instant Attack Duration 0.3+0.3 Cast Duration 0.45+0.51 Base Attack Time 1.7

Undying the Almighty Dirge, is a melee Strength Hero who serves as a formidable tank and a dangerous spellcaster. His abilities forcing opponents to either kill him first or suffer powerful debuffs in a teamfight. Decay is a spammable skill that reduces the enemies' Strength, making them more fragile as the fight goes on. Soul Rip can act as both a powerful heal or nuke, redirecting the flow of living energy to a target. By ripping some of the health of his ally or enemy in an area, the target can be healed if it's an ally, or damage if it's an enemy. This is empowered by Tombstone, which acts as a tank in itself by summoning Zombies to slow Undying's foes while it is alive. With the Zombies summoned, Soul Rip can deal to its potential, while Decay weakens Undying's foes. Finally, Undying can transform into a horrific Flesh Golem. This transformation increases all allied damage by a significant percentage, and helps keep Dirge alive as his team kills the enemy. Monstrous and truly sadomasochistic, Undying finds great pleasure on keeping himself alive and vital, while his adversaries suffer as he delivers death to the field. Once death has brought upon, the Almighty Dirge will never cease.

Bio

Undying, the Almighty Dirge Play "Again and again, I live and die." Role: Durable / Pusher / Disabler / Initiator Lore: How long has it been since he lost his name? The torn ruin of his mind no longer knows. Dimly he recalls armor and banners and grim-faced kin riding at his side. He remembers a battle: pain and fear as pale hands ripped him from his saddle. He remembers terror as they threw him into the yawning pit of the Dead God alongside his brothers, to hear the Dirge and be consumed into nothingness. In the darkness below, time left them. Thought left them. Sanity left them. Hunger, however, did not. They turned on each other with split fingernails and shattered teeth. Then it came: distant at first, a fragile note at the edge of perception, joined by another, then another, inescapable and unending. The chorus grew into a living wall of sound pulsing in his mind until no other thought survived. With the Dirge consuming him, he opened his arms to the Dead God and welcomed his obliteration. Yet destruction was not what he'd been chosen for. The Dead God demanded war. In the belly of the great nothing, he was granted a new purpose: to spread the Dirge across the land, to rally the sleepless dead against the living. He was to become the Undying, the herald of the Dead God, to rise and fall and rise again whenever his body failed him. To trudge on through death unending, that the Dirge might never end. Voice: Fred Tatasciore (Responses)

Abilities

Decay Q D Ability Affects Damage Target Point Enemies Magical Undying saps the life from enemy Heroes in an area, dealing damage and stealing Strength for the duration. Range: 625 Radius: 325 Duration: 25/30/35/40 Strength Stolen: 4 Damage: 20/60/100/140 10/8/6/4 70/90/110/130 The strength of the living is simply borrowed from the strength of the dead.

Notes: Decay stacks, but can't reduce a Hero's strength below 1. The strength loss takes effect before the damage. Every point of strength stolen makes Undying bigger. Heals Undying for 76 HP per enemy hero affected.

Soul Rip W R Ability Affects Damage Target Unit Units Magical Redirects the flow of energy through a target friendly or enemy unit, healing or damaging it depending on how many units are near Undying. Each counted unit takes damage. Range: 650 Radius: 975 Maximum Units: 5/10/15/20 Heal/Damage per Unit: 25 25/20/15/10 50/75/100/125 Even his allied Heroes feel despair in Undying's presence.

Notes: Can heal Tombstone, but can't heal or damage any other buildings. Every counted unit, ally or enemy, takes 25 damage; units cannot be killed by this, only reduced to 1 HP. Soul Rip can Heal/Damage a maximum of 125/250/375/500 The 25 damage is HP removal.

Tombstone E T Ability Target Point Summons a tombstone at the target point. Zombies will frequently spawn next to every enemy unit in the area around the Tombstone, and attack them. Zombies have the Deathlust ability, which causes their attacks to slow the target, and if the target reaches below a certain amount of health, increases the attack and movement speed of the zombie. Range: 600 Radius: 400/600/800/1000 Duration: 15/20/25/30 Spawn Interval: 3 Hit points: 200/400/600/800 60 120/130/140/150 Dirge calls on his fallen brothers to fight for the Dead God.

Notes: Tombstone is magic immune, but can be healed by Soul Rip. Zombies won't spawn on invisible units. When destroyed, tombstone gives 70/90/110/130 gold Tombstone has 4 armor.

Tombstone
Duration 15/20/25/30 Hit Points 200/400/600/800 Armor 4 Movement Speed 0 Sight Range 1800/1800 Bounty 70/90/110/130 Experience 44

Flesh Golem R F Ability Affects No Target Self Undying transforms into a horrifying flesh golem that possesses a Plague Aura. This aura slows all enemy units within 750 range and amplifies the damage they take; the closer to Undying, the more damage. When a plagued unit dies, Undying is healed equal to a percentage of his maximum health. Radius: 750 Duration: 30 Maximum Damage Amplification: 20%/25%/30% (25%/30%/35%*) Minimum Damage Amplification: 5%/10%/15% (10%/15%/20%*) Amount Healed on Hero Death: 6% (10%*) Amount Healed on Non-Hero Death: 2% (3%*) Movement Slow: 9% 75 100 Increases damage amplification and percent of HP healed. The flesh of the recently dead add to the power of Dirge's plague.

Notes: The souls of units killed near Undying will return to heal him even if he did not kill them. Plague Aura is strongest within 200 distance of Undying and decreases farther away from him. Dying illusions do not trigger Plague Aura's heal.

Zombies

Zombie
Duration 60 Hit Points 30 Damage 37-45 Armor 0 Movement Speed 375 Sight Range 1400/1400 Attack Range Melee Attack Duration 0.3+0.3 Base Attack Time 1.6 Bounty 5-7 Experience 25 Notes Possesses Deathlust Magic Immune

Zombies cannot be controlled. Zombies will not spawn to attack buildings. Zombies will not spawn in fog of war.

Deathlust Ability Affects Passive Enemies Slows enemy units on attack. If the attacked unit's health goes below the threshold or is below 5/10/15/20% Max HP, the zombie receives enhanced movement and attack speed. Movement Speed Slow: 7% Movement Speed Slow Duration: 2.5 Health Threshold: 5/10/15/20% Max HP or 100/200/300/400 HP Bonus Attack and Movement Speed: 50%

Notes: Slow from multiple zombies stack.

Spell Immunity Ability Affects Passive Self This creature does not feel the effects of most magical spells.

Tips

• One of the best skills to use early game is Decay: it's quite spammable, and will make ganking easier. You can easily get first blood if you're laning with a good partner.
• Decay is very useful even if left at level 1. Max it when team battles begin to start: you can spam it even more and make enemies squishier.
• Undying can be played in many ways: if you're going for a more supportive role, use your Tombstone and your Flesh Golem to slow the enemies while spamming Decay, then let your lane partner get the kill. Otherwise, use Soul Rip to finish a Hero while there are many creeps nearby: this way it will deal more damage.
• Don't use Soul Rip to harass, but use it to heal a friendly hero or to finish off enemies. This is more effective if there are many units nearby, such as creeps if you're laning, or heroes if you're initiating.
  • Remember that Soul Rip can be used to heal your tombstone.
• While initiating, use Tombstone and Flesh Golem, then Decay/Soul Rip: this way these skills will deal more damage.
• Though his spells are individually quite cheap, you will almost always have mana problems since both Soul Rip and especially Decay are very spammable. Consider getting Arcane Boots during the laning phase, then disassembling it once you have enough to buy the remaining pieces of a Bloodstone. You can then convert your standard boots to Phase Boots allowing you the mobility and chase power to keep Flesh Golem's powerful aura on the right targets during a teamfight.
• If you don't have enough money to buy a Bloodstone in time or you'd prefer cheaper items, try to make yourself as tanky as possible: if you're initiating, enemies will target you first. That's why you need an early Vanguard and/or a Hood of Defiance if the opposing team has a lot of nukers. Other useful items that increase your HP are Rod of Atos, which will probably solve most of your mana problems too, and Heart of Tarrasque.
• Should the enemy team have an Earthshaker, it is unwise to place a tombstone at the beginning of a teamfight. Each zombie will cause the echo to deal extra damage, likely obliterating your entire team (or at the very least severely injuring them).
• If Naga Siren is on your team, be aware that Tombstone will summon zombies even when the enemy targets are sleeping and untargetable. This can be used to your advantage.

Trivia

• Undying was originally an intelligence hero. His skill set was completely changed upon becoming a strength hero:
  • Raise Dead was his former third skill, in which he can summon five zombies at will. When a zombie dies, Undying rejuvinates a percentage of their health. Because this skill didn't require corpses, it was an excellent tool for jungling, pushing, and overpowering a hero.
  • Heartstopper Aura was originally his second skill when he was an intelligence hero. This aura degenerates the health regeneration of his enemies who stand in his area. When he was changed to a STR hero, this skill was transferred to Necrolyte.
  • Plague, his old, curses a target to be greatly slowed and take amplified damage. The target is then cursed with a disease that infects his nearby allied units, afflicting them with the same effect. This is a great ultimate for disorienting positions, ganking, as well as pushing.
• Undying makes several references to the Left 4 Dead series, saying names of special infected, campaign names, and even the title itself in his dialogue.
  • One notable reference is Undying's line "No dead are safe from Blueheart Bob," which is similar to the famous Left 4 Dead "Chicago Ted" graffiti line ("No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted").
• Undying also references the Half Life series in a rival line towards Tinker. Dr. Kleiner, who shares his voice actor with Tinker, has a pet headcrab named Lamarr. Headcrabs are small, parasitic creatures, who attach themselves to the head of their victims, after which the victims turn into zombies.
• Undying's Invoker response is a reference to the 6.72's leaked changelog, where Invoker's name "Kael" was mistakenly translated into "Carl".
• A dirge is a sombre song of mourning or grieving, typically performed at a funeral.
• Undying, along with Skywrath Mage, has the lowest agility growth of any hero in the game. (+0.8 per level)
• Despite being listed as a disabler, Undying does not have a disable.

Update history

January 03, 2013 Patch

• [Undocumented] Added animations for Beastmaster, Undying, and Venomancer relating to their loadout stance.

December 13, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Decay providing too much healing to Undying.

December 06, 2012 Patch

• Undying's Tombstone now caps at 64 maximum Zombies.

November 15, 2012 Patch

• Zombies no longer spawn other zombies from a stolen Tombstone.

November 08, 2012 Patch

• Zombies now correctly disable Blink Dagger.

October 25, 2012 Patch

• Fixed a recent bug that caused Zombies to get Deathlust sooner than intended.

August 09, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Tombstone spawning zombies against couriers.
• Fixed Tombstone receiving too much aggro from towers.
• Fixed Zombies not dying when their target becomes invisible.

August 02, 2012 Patch

• Fixed Tombstone not spawning zombies near sleeping enemy units.
• Fixed a bug with Flesh Golem dropping the damage amplification too low outside of maximum distance.

July 19, 2012 Patch

• Fixed a case where early game Zombies could sometimes get stuck with an earlier or invalid level of Deathlust into the late game.
• Fixed Zombies being controllable when their target goes invisible.

July 12, 2012 Patch

• Enabled Templar Assassin, Disruptor and Undying in Captain's Mode.
• Fixed Jinada proccing on Tombstone.
• Fixed Spiderling passive proccing on magic immune units (like zombies) and spawning mass spiderlings.
• Fixed Tombstone interaction with Refresher Orb.
• Fixed Deathlust sometimes not working properly.
• Fixed a bug where Deathlust would sometimes not go away.
• Decay now makes the target lose exactly 76 health when cast and heal exactly 76 when it ends. Before the health scaling was causing the target not to lose then gain the correct amount of health.

July 05, 2012 Patch

• Added Disruptor and Undying!

Balance changelog

6.77

• Decay damage reduced from 40/80/120/160 to 20/60/100/140

6.75

• Decay
  • Steal duration increased from 21/24/27/30 to 25/30/35/40.
  • AoE increased from 300 to 325.
• Tombstone's Death Lust HP requirement also triggers if the target is below 5/10/15/20% HP.

6.73

• Flesh Golem cooldown decreased from 90 to 75.
• Decay cooldown decreased from 11/9/7/5 to 10/8/6/4.

6.72c

• Tombstone no longer generates usable corpses.

6.71

• Flesh Golem's Plague slow increased from 7% to 9%.

6.70

• Decay damage from 30/60/90/120 to 40/80/120/160.

6.68

• Tombstone cast range increased from 250 to 600

6.67

• Tombstone's HP increased from 150/300/450/600 to 200/400/600/800

6.66

• Added Aghanim's Scepter for Undying.
  • Regular Plague Aura
    • Plague Aura amplifies up to 20% / 25% / 30% max and heals for 6% of heroes and 2% of creeps
  • Scepter Upgraded Plague Aura
    • Plague Aura amplifies up to 25% / 30% / 35% and heals for 10% of heroes and 3% of creeps

6.60

• Lowered Base Armor by 3 points (6->3)
• Tombstone no longer spawns zombies to attack fogged units

6.58

• Reworked

Pre-6.58 rework Abilities

Raise Dead Q D Ability No Target Calls the Undying's fellow zombies 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. Duration: 30 Number of Zombies: 1/2/3/4 30 100/120/140/160

Heartstopper Aura E T Ability Affects Damage Aura Enemies HP Removal The Dirge's deathly air stills the hearts of his opponents, causing them to lose their max health over time. Radius: 250/500/750/1000 Max Health Lost Per Second: 1% Those who come within a short distance of the Dirge can feel pestilence and plague in the air.

Notes: Heartstopper Aura deals HP Removal damage, and thus will not disable abilities or items like Blink Dagger or cancel consumables. Will not affect ancient units or Roshan, despite going through magic immunity

Plague R E Ability Affects No Target Self Infects the target with a plague. Reduces movement speed and amplifies incoming damage. Infects other units that come within range of a plagued unit. Radius: ? Duration: ? Damage Amplification: 25%/30%/35% Slow: 30% 45 100/125/150

Gallery

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  Splash artwork

See also

• Undying responses