Necrophos

Version Control

This article is mostly accurate for the latest version of the game (7.38), in which this hero/item was changed.
It has no changes in the current game version — 7.38c.

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Necrophos

#12

18 + 2.3

12 + 1.3

23 + 2.7

Grants the following bonuses per level:
	+50.6HP and +0.23HP regeneration
	+0.22 armor and 1.3 attack speed
	+32.4MP and +0.135MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance +2.7 Main Attack Damage

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516 +2.05

351 +1.15

4 Armor (639.84 EHP)

27.3% Magic Resist (709.77 EHP)

49 ‒ 53 ▶️ Damage (51 Avg)

1200 Projectile Speed Melee units have their projectile speed set to 900, if they should ever need it.

500 Attack Range (800)

100 (112) Attack Speed (1.7 BAT) Attacks per Second is defined as ΣAS / BAT / 100

0.3 + 0.47 Animation

280 / 310 ▶️ Move Speed

0.6 Turn Rate This unit takes 0.175s to turn 180°.

27 Collision Size

24 Bound Radius

1800 / 800 Vision Range

Ethereal Gib Type

npc_dota_hero_necrolyte

2010-11-01 Released

2004-10-22 (v2.60)

Competitive Span 2010-10-01 — 2016-12-12 2016-12-20 — Present

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"Necro" redirects here. For other uses, see Necro (Disambiguation)

Damages enemies and heals allies simultaneously.
Sentenced to a slow death by plague, the corrupt cardinal Rotund'jere instead found himself infected, but miraculously immune. Proclaiming himself the Necrophos, he set out to spread disease far and wide. Cloaked in a Ghost Shroud, the cardinal's ethereal presence chills his surroundings, while those who wander too close, seemingly Seeking Death, are struck by waves of Deadly Pulses. The most afflicted are often the first to die. Once his very presence has slowly Stopped their Hearts, he culls the infirm with a single swing of the Reaper's Scythe, permanently boosting his own regeneration. Wherever Necrophos goes, enemies wither as allies thrive.
Roles:	Carry Nuker Durable Disabler
Adjectives	Bearded, Green, Undead, Nose Legs ( 2 )

Facets

Profane Potency

Grants Necrophos a flat area-of-effect bonus per Sadist stack.

Rapid Decay

Ghost Shroud grants self movement speed bonus based on the total movement speed slow applied within the radius.

Applies an all restoration reduction corresponding to Necrophos' all restoration amplification to all affected enemy units within the radius.

Upgrades

Aghanim's

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Grants bonus enemy max health loss per second based on Necrophos' current health regeneration.

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

New Ability

Grants the Death Seeker ability.

Turns Necrophos into a large death projectile toward the unit-targeted location.

Necrophos rehabilitate himself upon arriving to the location. Then, the affected enemy unit spreads a wave of Death Pulse corresponding of its level, dealing damage to enemy units and healing allied units.

Talents

-2.5s Death Pulse Cooldown	25	+0.5% Heartstopper Aura Damage
+25% Heartstopper Aura Health Regen Reduction	20	+15% Ghost Shroud Self Restore Amp
+50 Death Pulse Heal	15	+20% Ghost Shroud Slow
+2s Sadist Stack Duration	10	+125 Reaper's Scythe Cast Range
▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All / / Attributes

Bio

Behold the Pope of Pestilence.

▶️  Rotund'jere, the Necrophos

Alias:

Rotundjere

Lore:

In a time of great plague, an obscure monk of dark inclinations, one Rotund'jere, found himself promoted to the rank of Cardinal by the swift death of all his superiors. While others of the order went out to succor the ill, the newly ordained cardinal secluded himself within the Cathedral of Rumusque, busily scheming to acquire the property of dying nobles, promising them spiritual rewards if they signed over their terrestrial domains. As the plague receded to a few stubborn pockets, his behavior came to the attention of the greater order, which found him guilty of heresy and sentenced him to serve in the plague ward, ensorcelled with spells that would ensure him a slow and lingering illness. But they had not counted on his natural immunity. Rotund'jere caught the pox, but instead of dying, found it feeding his power, transforming him into a veritable plague-mage, a Pope of Pestilence. Proclaiming himself the Necrophos, he travels the world, spreading plague wherever he goes, and growing in terrible power with every village his pestilential presence obliterates.

Voice:

Sam A. Mowry (Responses)

Innate

Sadist

Sadist

Ability

Passive

Affects

Self

The Sadist rewards himself with a bonus health regeneration and bonus mana regeneration stack for a duration per enemy hero kill.

Stack per Kill: 6

Health Regen Bonus: 3/4.5/6/7.5

Mana Regen Bonus: 3/4.5/6/7.5

Duration: 8 ( 10)

Creep kills grants a less effective stack.

Stack per Kill: 1

This ability levels up with Reaper's Scythe.

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Profane Potency

Grants Necrophos a flat area-of-effect bonus per Sadist stack.

Area-of-Effect Bonus per Stack: 40

---

• Grants regeneration stacks per kill credit to Necrophos, including from denies.
  • Each stack places a new buff on Necrophos, with each buff duration independent of the other.

• Both the health regeneration and mana regeneration component considers the following as creep kills:
  • Ancient creeps.
  • Creep-heroes.
  • Buildings.
  • Ward-type units.

• Does not grant stacks for killing the following units:
  • The Double.
  • Illusions.

• FACET NOTES
  The Profane Protency   facet grants the following bonus per stack:
  • flat radius bonus per enemy hero kill.
  • flat radius bonus per enemy creep kill.

Hero Model

Hero Model

Ability

Passive / Channeling

Affects

Self

Necrophos' hero model has the following hidden innate abilities.

He may only perform or utilize the ability's functions upon a successful channeling.

Details

Hidden Innate Abilities

Tap on the innate abilities for more details.

Abilities

Death Pulse

Q

D

Death Pulse

▶️

Ability

No

Affects

Units

Damage

Spell / Magical

Releases a wave of death around Necrophos, dealing damage to enemy units and healing allied units.

Cast Animation: 0 + 0.77

Search Radius: 500

Projectile Speed: 400

Damage: 100/160/220/280

Heal: 55/80/105/130 ( 105/130/155/180)

8/7/6/5 ( 5.5/4.5/3.5/2.5)

115/130/145/160

Poor souls who succumb to Rotund'jere's plagues are recycled for future use.

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• Affects the following units:
  • Fogged units.
  • Invisible units.
  • Allied Couriers.

• Does not affect the following units:
  • Hidden units.
  • Invulnerable units.

• ABILITY DRAFT
  Acquiring Aghanim's Shard while drafting this ability unlocks Death Seeker.
  • Toggling autocast off swaps-out this ability with Death Seeker.
  • Both abilities have independent cooldowns.

• 
  • Takes up to a max 1.25 seconds to reach affected enemy units.

Ghost Shroud

W

T

Ghost Shroud

▶️

Ability

No / Aura

Affects

Self / Enemy Units

Slips into the ethereal realm that separates the living from the dead, and emits a movement speed slow aura that affects enemy units around him.

Cast Animation: 0 + 0

Slow Radius: 750

Move Speed Slow: 16%/19%/22%/25% ( 36%/39%/42%/45%)

Duration: 3/3.5/4/4.5

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Reduces Necrophos' magic resistance while turning ethereal. However, his self-restorative powers are amplified.

Magic Resist Reduction: 20%

All Health Restoration Factor: 1.45/1.55/1.65/1.75 ( 1.6/1.7/1.8/1.9)

Ethereal Duration: 3/3.5/4/4.5

28/24/20/16

75

Rotund'jere uses the souls of his victims as bridge from life to afterlife.

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Rapid Decay

Ghost Shroud grants self movement speed bonus based on the total movement speed slow applied within the radius.

Move Speed Slowed to Flat Move Speed Bonus Factor: 0.5

Applies an all restoration reduction corresponding to Necrophos' all restoration amplification to all affected enemy units within the radius.

All Restoration Reduction: 1

---

• Ghost Shroud creates a negative aura upon cast centered around Necrophos for the entire duration, affecting both Necrophos and enemy units within the radius.
  • 
    • Attack immune
    • Disarm
    • Ethereal, granting 100% physical damage resistance as a secondary effect.
      • Multiple ethereal-based magic resistance reduction sources do not stack, the higher multiplier takes precedence.
      • However, it stacks multiplicatively with other magic resistance sources.
    • 
      • The following sources stack diminishingly with similar effects:
        • Heal amplification sources.
        • Health regeneration amplification sources.
      • The following sources stack additively with similar effects:
        • Mana restore amplification sources.
        • Mana regeneration amplification sources.
  • 
    • Movement speed slow.
    • FACET NOTES
      The Rapid Decay facet considers enemy clones, illusions, and creep-heroes as heroes.
      • Considers the following units as valid heroes:
        • Fogged heroes.
        • Invisible heroes.
      • Does not consider the following heroes:
        • Dead heroes.
        • Hidden heroes.
        • Invulnerable heroes.

modifier_necrolyte_sadist_active

Ghost Shroud: Slowing nearby enemies and amplifying your healing while taking increased magic damage.

modifier_necrolyte_sadist_aura_effect

Ghost Shroud: Slowed x% by Necrophos' Ghost Shroud.

• Necrophos now has 10% magic resistance.
  • Ghost Shroud reduces the total magic resistance by 0.2% per 10 intelligence points.

Heartstopper Aura

E

I

Heartstopper Aura

Ability

Passive / Aura

Affects

Enemy Units / Self

Damage

HP Removal / Spell / Magical

Necrophos stills the hearts of his opponents, causing nearby enemy units to lose a percentage of their max health over time.

Aura Radius: 700

Max Health Lost per Second: 0.8%/1.3%/1.8%/2.3% ( 1.3%/1.8%/2.3%/2.8%)

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Self Health Regen as Health Loss Bonus Factor: ( 0.5)

Health Regen Reduction: ( 25%)

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Grants bonus enemy max health loss per second based on Necrophos' current health regeneration.

Those who come within a short distance of the Necrophos can feel pestilence and plague in the air.

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• 
  • Does not affect ancient creeps.
  • Utilizes the HP Removal mechanic to apply magical spell damage in 0.2-second intervals.
    • Hence, it does not proc on-damage effects.
    • The first interval starts 0.2 seconds after learning the ability.
  • Has the following damage flags:
    • No-spell-amplification
    • The flags prevent the spell damage from interacting with their respective sources.

• The HP Removal per interval is defined as:
  • EXPR
    EnemyMaxHPLoss + (Self ΣActualHealthRegen × 0.5)
  • SCEPTER NOTES
    • The max health loss bonus value corresponds to a factor of Necrophos' actual total health regeneration values. This includes the following sources:
      • Both flat and percentage-based health regeneration sources.
      • Health regeneration manipulation sources.
    • Hence, he following sources do not affect the ability upgrade:
      • Health freeze sources.
      • Heal over time sources.
  • 
    • The debuff icon on the enemies' HUD only shows up when the affected unit has vision over Necrophos.
    • However, the floating damage numbers are always visible.

• The following sources immediately updates Heartstopper Aura's ability values:
  • Leveling up the ability.
  • The actual total health regeneration as max health loss increasing ability upgrade.
  • TALENT NOTES
    The following talents:
    • Health regeneration reduction.
    • Max health loss increasing.

• ILLUSIONS
  Necrophos' illusions bestows the aura and gain stacks independently.

• BREAK
  Disables the aura component and stop granting new stacks.
  • However, existing stacks still grants Necrophos the bonus health regeneration and bonus mana regeneration.

modifier_necrolyte_heartstopper_aura

Heartstopper Aura

modifier_necrolyte_heartstopper_aura_counter

Heartstopper Regen: Temporarily gaining x health regen and x mana regen per second.

modifier_necrolyte_heartstopper_aura_effect

Heartstopper Aura: Losing a percentage of health every second while near Necrophos.

math

Death Seeker

D

C

Death Seeker

▶️ ▶️

Ability

Unit

Affects

Units

Damage

Spell / Magical

Turns Necrophos into a large death projectile toward the unit-targeted location.

Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0.6

Cast Range:  900

First Projectile Speed: 900

Necrophos rehabilitate himself upon arriving to the location. Then, the affected enemy unit spreads a wave of Death Pulse corresponding of its level, dealing damage to enemy units and healing allied units.

Damage Factor: 1

Heal Factor: 1

19

125

This ability levels up with Death Pulse.

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• Acquiring Aghanim's Shard unlocks this ability in the      fourth ability slot.

• 
  • Launches a 900-speed projectile upon cast.
  • 
    • Applies the following ability effects on Necrophos:
      • A disabling forced movement and moves Necrophos periodically with the projectile, utilizing the same projectile speed upon cast.
        • Can move over impassable terrain and over trees.
    • Hidden
    • Invulnerable

• 
  • Death Pulse projectiles of the corresponding level are released within 500 radius, centered around the unit-targeted enemy.
  • 
    • All ability effects affects the primary unit-targeted enemy as well.
    • Death Pulse is not released if the primary enemy is affected by the following sources upon projectile impact:
      • Hidden sources.
      • Invulnerable sources.

• SPELL BLOCK
  Procs Spell Block sources upon projectile impact.

• SPELL REFLECT
  Procs Spell Reflection sources upon projectile impact.

• ABILITY DISJOINT
  Releases Death Pulse of its correspondingly at the targeted unit's previous location.

• SPELL STEAL
  Death Pulse released is based on Necrophos' corresponding level when acquired.

• SOULBIND
  Launches two projectiles simultaneously to both targets, Necrophos reappears next to the secondary target.

• ABILITY DRAFT
  Acquiring Aghanim's Shard while drafting Death Pulse unlocks this ability.
  • Toggling autocast off swaps-out this ability with Death Pulse.
  • Both abilities have independent cooldowns.

modifier_necrophos_out_of_world

On hidden entity

• Directly uses Death Pulse's ability values, it does nothing if Death Pulse is not learned upon cast.

Reaper's Scythe

R

R

Reaper's Scythe

▶️

Ability

Unit

Affects

Enemy Heroes

Damage

Spell / Magical

Stuns the target enemy hero, then deals damage based on per point of missing health of the targeted enemy unit. Any kills under this effect is credited to Necrophos.

Cast Animation: 0.45 + 1.5

Cast Range:  600 ( 725)

Damage per Missing Health: 0.7/0.8/0.9

Stun Duration: 1.5

Grants permanent bonus health regeneration and mana regeneration each time Necrophos kills an enemy hero with Reaper's Scythe.

Health Regen Bonus per Kill: 2/4/6

Mana Regen Bonus per Kill: 1/2/3

100

250/375/500

The amount of death and suffering in the air increases the power of the Necrophos' plague magic.

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Kill Credit Priority

Has the following priorities among kill credit manipulation sources.

• The ability has two main components:
  • The stun duration and the magical spell damage component.
  • The permanent health regeneration and mana regeneration bonus stacks granted per kill.

• 
  • All damage instances the affected enemy unit receives for the entire stun duration is sourced to Reaper's Scythe and credited to Necrophos.
    • Not affected by status resistance sources.
  • 
    • Deals enough damage (before reductions) to kill the unit-targeted enemy when it is at 41%/44%/47% of max health.
    • Damage-sharing sources (e.g. Fatal Bonds) shares one 0-damage instance per Reaper's Scythe cast.

• 
  • Grants 1 stack per enemy hero kill sourced to Reaper's Scythe and credited to Necrophos, including reincarnation sources.
    • Considers illusions and other creep-heroes as heroes; the Spirit Bear and clones as creeps.
  • 
    • The granted bonus values are not updated retroactively, and retain their values from when they were acquired.

• The following conditions do not credit Necrophos with the kill credit:
  • Forced kill sources applied to the affected enemy unit during the stun duration.
  • When the affected by the following sources during the stun duration:
    • Hidden sources.
    • Invulnerable sources.
    • When the affected enemy unit is affected by a reflected Omnislash or Swiftslash. In the case of Swiftslash, it must still be occuring when the damage is dealt.

modifier_necrolyte_reapers_scythe_respawn_time

Reaper's Scythe: Permanently granting x HP regen and x mana regen from kills.

modifier_necrolyte_reapers_scythe

Reaper's Scythe: Frozen in the face of the Reaper.

• 
  • The ability effects are applied as follows:
    1. The stun debuff.
    2. The magical spell damage.

Recent Matches

Main Article: Necrophos/Matches

Date	Tier		Tournament	Picks		Score		vs. Picks
Mar 14, 2025 - 14:00 PET	Tier 3		EPL World AM S15			0 : 1
Mar 08, 2025 - 15:00 CST	Qualifier		ACL X ESL China OQ1			0 : 1
Mar 07, 2025 - 19:00 CST	Qualifier		ACL X ESL China OQ1			1 : 0
Mar 04, 2025 - 13:00 CET	Tier 3		CCT Series 7			0 : 1
Mar 02, 2025 - 12:55 CET	Tier 1		DreamLeague S25			0 : 1

The International

• Necrophos has won the following final matches in The International of the following years:
  • 2017

Recent Changes

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

Version

Description

7.38
(2025-02-19)

• Ghost Shroud
  • The self restoration manipulation component now includes lifesteal sources and spell lifesteal sources.
  • Rapid Decay
    • Now applies the same amount of restoration reduction by the same value as Necrophos ' amplification value.
• Heartstopper Aura
  • Reduced aura radius from 800 to 700.
  • Rescaled max health loss per second from 0.6%/1.2%/1.8%/2.4% to 0.8%/1.3%/1.8%/2.3%.

7.37d
(2024-10-01)

• Increased Ghost Shroud movement speed slow from 10%/15%/20%/25% to 16%/19%/22%/25%.
• Reduced Reaper's Scythe cooldown from 110 to 100.

7.37c
(2024-08-28)

• Increased base intelligence from 22 to 23.
• Reduced Ghost Shroud self magic resistance reduction from 25% to 20%.

Dota Plus Progress

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Necrophos's Relics	Voice Lines
Three Hero Death Pulses Self Healing During Ghost Shroud Heartstopper Aura Damage Reaper's Scythe Kills Total Healing Teleports Leading To Kills Blade Mail Damage Radiance Damage Blinks Leading To Kills Veil of Discords Leading To Kills Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! ▶️ Breathe it in.
	Silver	▶️ That was costly. ▶️ The stench of death is upon you.
	Gold	▶️ What do you mean, cheer up? I'm quite cheerful. ▶️ It's all gone rotten.
	Platinum	▶️ To your health. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
	Master	▶️ I am the rotten apple that spoils the bunch.
	Grandmaster	▶️ Oh, this is sick!

Trivia

• ▶️ "My name is Lesion!" probably has to do with the Bible passage Mark (5:9), that reads in the NIV, "Then Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' 'My name is Legion,' he replied, 'for we are many.'"
• ▶️ "You reap what you sow." might be from the Bible's passage Galatians (6:7) "Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. You reap what you sow."
• ▶️ "Red Death." may be a reference to the Edgar Allen Poe short story of the same name.
• ▶️ "Die young and leave a purulent corpse." is a reference to the James Dean quote: "Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse."
• ▶️ "Who can't be cured, must be endured." is a reference to Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy; "What cannot be cured must be endured."

• On the November 21, 2013 Patch, extra filters were added to Necrophos' voice, along with a 10% higher pitch, to make him sound more distinct from Warlock. However, (most likely) a typo caused his voice to be played at 10% pitch, instead of the desired 110% pitch, causing his voice to be much deeper and slower than intended.

• Warcraft 3 similarities:
  • Necrophos uses the ghostly Necromancer model of Kel'Thuzad, a campaign-only unit.
    • On release, Necrophos' title was Necrophiliac. Upon realizing the sexual connotation, this was quickly changed to Necrolyte.
    • Within the Warcraft universe, the Necrolytes are a type of Necromancer that use the dark energies of the Void.
    • Necrolyte is a portmanteau of "nekros" (νεκρός), the Greek word for corpse, and acolyte, a religious attendant.
    • On the November 21, 2013 Patch, his title was changed to Necrophos, likely to avoid copyright issues with "Blizzard Entertainment".
    • "Necrophos" is a pun on the former title, as "phos" (φῶς) is the Greek word for light, and the homonym of Necrolyte is "Necrolight".
  • Necrophos has a 1/10 chance to spawn in with the name "A Phoe Gyi", which is Burmese and translates to "an old guy.

Gallery

• 

  Model

• 

  Concept art

• 

  Ability icon progress

• 

  Hero icon progress

• 

  Bone Harvest sprite - alive

• 

  Bone Harvest sprite - dead