Night Stalker

#42

23 + 3

18 + 2.2

15 + 1.6

Grants the following bonuses per level:
	+66_HP and +0.3_HP regeneration +3 Main Attack Damage
	+0.37 armor and 2.2 attack speed
	+19.2_MP and +0.08_MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance

Armor

(813.8 EHP)

26.5%

Magic Resist

(851.7 EHP)

(65 Avg)

Projectile Speed

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

150

Attack Range

(600)

100 (118)

Attack Speed

(1.7 BAT)

Attacks per Second is defined as
ΣAS / BAT / 100

0.55 + 0.55

295

0.6

This unit takes 0.175s to turn 180°.

27

Collision Size

24

Bound Radius

800 /

1800

Vision Range

Default

Gib Type

npc_dota_hero_night_stalker

2011-06-11

Released

2004-04-30

(2.60)

Competitive Span

2011-06-11 — Present

Version Control

This article has been updated to the latest version (7.41d) and is mostly accurate.


Empowered by the shadows of nightfall.
The beast of bedtime tales, Balanar is the primal terror that every child knows to fear. Once the sun goes down, Night Stalker's hunt begins. Charging through the shadowy forests, he snares prey in a debilitating Void, slowing and forcing his quarry to flee, arms withering and spells fizzling as their hearts are stricken with Crippling Fear. Should sunrise threaten to end his terror, the Hunter in the Night transforms through a Dark Ascension, spreading his wings under the blackened veil of night, and goes on the prowl for ever more victims.

Roles:	Carry Initiator Durable Disabler Nuker
Adjectives	Blue, Flying, NicePecs, Wings Legs `( 2 )`

Bio

I feed the darkness and the darkness feeds me.
▶️ Balanar, the Night Stalker

Alias:

NS

Lore:

Of the Night Stalker, there is no history, only stories. There are ancient tales woven into the lore of every race and every culture, of an impossible time before sunlight and daytime, when night reigned alone and the world was covered with the creatures of darkness--creatures like Balanar the Night Stalker.

It is said that on the dawn of the First Day, all the night creatures perished. All, that is, save one. Evil's embodiment, Night Stalker delights in his malevolence. He created the primal role of the Night Terror, the Boogeyman, and as long as there have been younglings, his is the specter summoned to terrify them. This is a role he relishes; nor are these empty theatrics. He does indeed stalk the unwary, the defenseless, those who have strayed beyond the lighted paths or denied the warnings of their communities. Night Stalker serves as living proof that every child's worst nightmare....is true.

Voice:

Tony Todd (Responses)

Upgrades

Aghanim's

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Refreshes cooldowns of non-ultimate abilities upon an enemy hero kill.

Increases both the base bonus movement speed and base bonus attack speed values.

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Void now hits all enemy units within the radius.

Talents


-35s Dark Ascension Cooldown	25	+100 Midnight Feast Lifesteal
+15 Strength	20	+75 Crippling Fear Radius
+20% Hunter in the Night Status Resist	15	+25 Dark Ascension Attack Damage
+10 Crippling Fear DPS	10	-1s Void Cooldown
▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All / / Attributes

Innate

Hunter in the Night

▶️

Ability

Passive

Affects

Self

Balanar is in his element at night, attacking and moving with great swiftness.

These ability bonuses are only granted at nighttime.

Move Speed Bonus:

24% (

39%)

Attack Speed Bonus:

38 (

88)

Status Resist Bonus:

(

20%)

Innate Properties
The higher Balanar's level, the greater the bonus movement speed and bonus attack speed increase.

Move Speed Bonus Lvl Up Interval: 3

Move Speed Bonus Increase:

2%

Attack Speed Bonus Increase:

2

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Refreshes cooldowns of non-ultimate abilities upon an enemy hero kill.

Set Cooldown on Kill:

(

0)

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Increases both the base bonus movement speed and base bonus attack speed values.

The hunting prowess of Balanar improves as the night beckons.

Hero Model

Ability

Passive / Channeling

Affects

Self

Balanar's hero model has the following hidden

innate abilities.

He may only perform or utilize the ability's functions upon a successful channeling, excluding passive innate abilities.

Innate Properties
Only Balanar and certain hero models ascends the z-axis upon Dark Ascension cast.

Z-axis Ascend: 150

Details

Hidden Innate Abilities

Tap on the

innate abilities for more details.

Dark Ascension grants the following hero models all ability effects, except ascending the z-axis:
- Clockwerk ascends 260-distance on the z-axis instead.
- Lina
- Rubick
- Other hero models ascends 150-distance on the z-axis instead, while granting all ability effects.

Abilities

Void

Q

V

Void

▶️

Ability

Unit

Affects

Enemy Units

Damage

Spell / Magical

Damages and applies a movement speed slow on the unit-targeted enemy.

Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0.47

Cast Range:

525

Damage: 80/160/240/320

Move Speed Slow: 50%

Attack Speed Slow: 50

Slow Duration:

1.25

During nighttime, Void also mini-stuns with a longer slow duration.

Slow Duration:

1.6/2.2/2.8/3.4

Stun Duration:

0.1

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Refreshes cooldowns of non-ultimate abilities upon an enemy hero kill.

Set Cooldown on Kill:

(

0)

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
Void now hits all enemy units within the radius.

Effect Radius:

(

400)

11/10/9/8 (

10/9/8/7)

90/95/100/105

Balanar creates a vortex of infinite night, tearing opponents violently into the eternal darkness that once was.

Crippling Fear

W

F

Crippling Fear

▶️

Ability

No

Affects

Enemy Units

Damage

Spell / Magical

Silences and applies damage over time while near the Night Stalker for the duration.

Cast Animation:

0 + 0

Radius:

375 (

450)

Damage per Second: 25/30/35/40 (

35/40/45/50)

Damage Duration:

3

Silence Duration:

3

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Crippling Fear is more effective during nighttime.

Damage Duration:

4.5/5/5.5/6

Silence Duration:

4.5/5/5.5/6

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Refreshes cooldowns of non-ultimate abilities upon an enemy hero kill.

Set Cooldown on Kill:

(

0)

30/25/20/15

50

A vision of the twisted maw of Balanar etches itself into the minds of the poor souls unlucky enough to cross his path.

Midnight Feast

E

G

Midnight Feast

Ability

Passive / Unit

Affects

Self / Units

Damage

Instant Kill

Self-heals utilizing lifesteal when attacking enemy units.

Lifesteal:

12/16/20/24 (

112/116/120/124)

Lifesteal is less effective when attacking creeps.

Creep Lifesteal Factor:

0.6

Consumes a non-ancient enemy unit or neutral creep to while restoring some of its max health and mana upon cast.

Can only be cast during nighttime.

Cast Animation: 0 + 0.63

Cast Range:

125

Current Health as Damage:

100%

Max Health as Health Restore:

10%/15%/20%/25%

Max Mana as Mana Restore:

10%/12%/14%/16%

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Refreshes cooldowns of non-ultimate abilities upon an enemy hero kill.

Set Cooldown on Kill:

(

0)

39/36/33/30

Dark Ascension

R

Dark Ascension

▶️

Ability

No

Affects

Self

Grants Night Stalker flying movement, unobstructed vision and bonus attack damage during his ascension.

Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0

Attack Damage Bonus: 50/100/150 (

75/125/175)

Flying Vision Factor: 1

Duration: 30

140/135/130 (

105/100/95)

125/175/225

It is a humbling sight to see when the mightiest of warriors become afraid of the dark.

Recent Matches

Main Article: Night Stalker/Matches

Date	Tier	Tournament		Patch
June 8, 2026 - 11:00 CEST	Tier 3	EPL Season 38 - June 8	0 : 1	7.41c	+ Details
June 7, 2026 - 20:00 CEST	Tier 3	EPL Season 38 - June 7	1 : 0	7.41c	+ Details
June 5, 2026 - 11:00 CEST	Tier 3	EPL Season 38 - June 5	0 : 1	7.41c	+ Details
June 4, 2026 - 12:00 EDT	Qualifier	EWC 2026 NA CQ	0 : 1	7.41c	+ Details
June 3, 2026 - 21:45 MSK	Tier 4	LOST S2 Div 1 - Group Stage - Week 2	0 : 1	7.41c	+ Details

Recent Changes

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore

Version

Description

7.41d
(2026-06-04)

Talents:
LVL 25 -40s Dark Ascension cooldown reduced to -35s.

7.41b
(2026-04-07)

Reduced base health regeneration from 1.5 to 0.25.

7.41
(2026-03-24)

REMOVED Heart of Darkness .
Hunter in the Night is now Night Stalker 's innate ability.
- REMOVED the Night Reign ability component.
- Increased movement speed bonus from 22%/28%/34%/40% to 24% + 2% per 3 HeroLVL .
- Increased attack speed bonus from 20/40/60/80 to 38 + (2 * HeroLvl) .
Void
- REMOVED Voidbringer ability component.
- Reduced max ability level from 5 to 4.
- U Reduced damage from 80/160/240/320/400 to 80/160/240/320.
- U Reduced movement speed slow from 50%/50%/50%/50%/60% to 50% on each level.
- U Reduced attack speed slow from 50/50/50/50/60 to 50 on each level.
- U Reduced nighttime slow duration from 1.6/2.2/2.8/3.4/4 to 1.6/2.2/2.8/3.4.
- U Reduced cooldown from 11/10/9/8/8 to 11/10/9/8.
- U Reduced mana cost from 90/95/100/105/105 to 90/95/100/105.
ADDED the Midnight Feast ability.
- This is now Night Stalker 's third ability.
- Applies a 6/8/10/12 lifesteal-based self-heal when attacking enemy units.
  - Allied units and buildings are not considered valid units.
- Has an active component, and can only be cast during nighttime . Instant kills a non-ancient enemy unit or neutral creep restore 10%/15%/20%/25% max health and 10%/12%/14%/16% max mana.
- Has 125-cast range, 39/36/33/30-second cooldown, with 0-mana cost.
REWORKED Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- OLD Crippling Fear
  - Reduces cooldown by 5.
  - Adds a toggle functionality, that allows Night Stalker to continously apply its ability effect within the radius. [?]
  - Has a 50-mana cost activation with 6% max mana cost per second.
- NEW Hunter in the Night
  - Now refreshes cooldowns of non-ultimate abilities upon an enemy hero kill.
  - Increases bonus movement speed by 15%.
  - Increases bonus attack speed by 50.
REWORKED Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- OLD Hunter in the Night
  - Can be cast on a non-player unit to instantly kill it and restore 25% self max health and 25% self max mana.
  - Has a 150-cast range, 35-second cooldown, with a 50-mana cost.
- NEW Void now affects all enemy units within 400 radius of the unit-targeted enemy.

Talents:
LVL 10 +5s Dark Ascension duration ➜ +10 Crippling Fear damage per second.

LVL 20 +40 Crippling Fear damage per second ➜ +75 Crippling Fear radius.

LVL 25 +100 Hunter in the Night attack speed ➜ +100 Midnight Feast lifesteal.

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.

Night Stalker's Relics	Voice Lines
Channels Cancelled With Void Night Time Kills Slow Duration From Void Damage During Dark Ascension Crippling Fear Silence Duration Teleports Leading To Kills Urn Charges Used Silences Leading To Kills Slows Leading To Kills Solar Crest Casts Leading To Kills Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills	Bronze	▶️ Heh heh heh hah heh hehhhh. ▶️ Now they will suffer.
	Silver	▶️ Your nightmare continues. ▶️ Just what I needed!
	Gold	▶️ There's no escape. ▶️ Darkness hungers.
	Platinum	▶️ It's feeding time.
	Master	▶️ I'm the beast of bedtime tales.
	Grandmaster	▶️ Nighty night.

Equipment

Trivia

Many of Night Stalker's responses that refer to his vampiric qualities make reference to Bram Stoker's Dracula, a film adaptation of the classic novel starring Gary Oldman.

▶️ "If I ever get my claws on that bird." is likely a reference to the rooster that crows when the game transitions from nighttime to daytime.
- Additionally it is a reference to a line used by "Looney Tunes" character Sylvester the cat when describing "Tweety Bird."

Night Stalker's deep and raspy voice is a possible reference to Batman.

In an earlier version DotA, there existed a hero similar to Night Stalker called File:Void Demon mapicon dota2 gameasset.png [[Void Demon|]]. His first ability "Time Void" had similar effects to the present Void ability, except it also stunned the target for 5 seconds. Void Demon also had an ability similar to Omniknight's Degen Aura, though it had a larger radius of 600 units. His third ability was a pushing spell called "Quake" which was useful for destroying towers. Finally, his ultimate was called "Mass Haste". This aura gave Void Demon and nearby allies benefits similar to Night Stalker's Hunter in the Night, except that it had no conditions and enabled Void Demon and his team to hunt Heroes relentlessly both day and night. Ultimately, Void Demon was replaced with Night Stalker as his skill set was deemed too powerful.

"In the forest of the night" is a reference to the poem The Tyger by William Blake.

Warcraft 3 similarities:
- In DotA, Night Stalker uses the model of Tichondrius, a campaign-only variant of the Undead Dreadlord hero.
- Crippling Fear is based on the Firelord's Soul Burn, a single target silence that deals damage over time.

Gallery

Day model
Night model
Concept art
Low Violence model
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
Old game clock modifier
Bone Harvest sprite - alive
Bone Harvest sprite - dead
Monster Hunter Hero Atlas Illustration

v e Night Stalker Equipment
Sets	Frightful Revelries Black Nihility Legends of Darkheart Pursuit Twilight Legions Unfettered Malevolence Darkness Wailing Origin of the Dark Oath Feasts of Forever Dread of Night Spring Lineage Unfettered Malevolence
Arms	Shadow of the Dark Age Golden Shadow of the Dark Age Shadow of the Dark Age of the Crimson Witness
Taunt	Taunt: Party Monster

Night Stalker

Page version status

Contents

Bio

Upgrades

Aghanim's

Talents

Innate

Hunter in the Night

Hero Model

Details

Abilities

Void

Crippling Fear

Midnight Feast

Dark Ascension

Recent Matches

Recent Changes

Dota Plus Progress

Equipment

Trivia

Gallery

General

Specific

Night Stalker

Bio

Upgrades

Aghanim's

Talents

Innate

Hunter in the Night

Hero Model

Details

Abilities

Void

Crippling Fear

Midnight Feast

Dark Ascension

Recent Matches

Recent Changes

Dota Plus Progress

Equipment

Trivia

Gallery