Life against Stealth Top
Writing this guide during Valeera's patch, I am excited to say that I've returned to a loved hero that was considered underpowered for a quite some long time, and found a build that made him viable in the current meta.
Nazzeebo, is a late game beast and a hero you need to draft carefully considering his strengths and weaknesses. His main strength is wave clearing, sustainability and late game crazy damage. His weakness is his early game and reliance on gathering voodoo stacks to make him viable after 10.
When to draft? Top
The witch doctor is a poke machine that comes with a unique CC ability that can function as a root or route block. With the correct talents, Zombie Wall, becomes an amazing wave clearing tool also so you got a very potent special ability that you need to learn how to use effectively. The ring created from the zombies is close to useless if you don't pick the tier 1 talent, Thing of the Deep, that increases Nazeebo's ability cast range by 20%.
Nazeebo is fine as a second 'mage' but never pick him instead of one. He has no burst, and low gang potential while he becomes a real threat comes post level 10. He is also AMAZING against mage happy teams and in general non-AA based teams due to the Superstition talent on 13.
In a nutshell draft Nazeebo when:
a) You have a proper team lineup with frontline/support/a mage/a melee assassin
b) When the opposing team damage is ability based mostly
c) On maps that farming waves is easy. Avoid picking him on two lane maps.
The build Top
Tier 1: Thing of the Deep
The only choice on this tier, in my humble opinion. It changes the game of Nazeebo SO much, that everything else seems trivial. Easier walls and spiders is a huge gift, and once you've picked this some times you won't be able to play Nazeebo without it.
Tier 2: Blood Ritual
The sustain in this talent is amazing. You will never need to hearth back and you can keep yourself up simply by getting ENEMY kills. See the ENEMY part? Yes, even Shrine minions give back life. Needless to say that if you are able to rotate between two lanes and farm the waves, you will get in full health instantly.
Tier 3: Dead Rush
Such an amazing talent for your teamfighting potential (which is suffering early) and as a wave clear tool. Zombie attacks spread poison to minions and you can go W/Q on a wave, ride your mount and get the exp + Blood ritual goodies while you move to the other wave. It's also amazing for chasing away heroes, since the zombies that uproot deal some significant damage and most of the times they will force someone to run away.
Tier 4: Gargantuan
Very good right now. Since some patches ago, Gargantuan got a boost in his AI, and now instead of travelling aimlessly to push a lane if no enemy was around, he will guard a quite big area around the summoning point attacking to anything that gets near. He is amazing for objective fighting, blocking skillshots and generally scare people away with his damage and stomp, because he doesn't go down easily without focus from 2 heroes at least. Get him out on a Curse or Shrine, or any capture point and get some significant help in winning the fight. The Dead rush upgrade to your Wall is very fitting with Gargantuan, since zombies will also chase people in a same range.
Tier 5: Superstition
LOL. Unless you are facing Illidan, Tychus or Tracer, Superstition will make you almost unkillable. Being a back line poke hero, you should be hard to dive to, so people will want to drive you away with abilities. Superstition along with Blood Ritual and Things of the Deep, makes you a self regenerating ranged tank that does amazing sustained damage through Dead Rush, gargantuan and spiders. This talent is a reason to pick Nazeebo.
In cases that you are facing AA heavy teams, Ice block would be preferred.
Tier 6: Spider Colony
Many people would go with Ring of Poison because it adds a pseudo-burst to Nazeebo. However, Spiders are very nice for spreading the Voodoo and they become godlike on level 20 with Vile Infection. Literally, if you hit any squishy with a Jar at 20, he has to get focused heal or run back to hearth. Being above the health mentioned isn't a problem with Blood ritual.
Tier 7: Vile Infection
You won't believe your eyes with the damage output. Throw Zombies, Spiders, Gargantuan in a teamfight and watch the life totals drop like crazy. The only thing you need to do is get to 150 stacks. With the correct game plan, you should hit 150 by level 16-19 (depending on the map). I won't even mention the siege damage you can cause by hitting a structure with Zombies, Spiders and toads. Tested a full rotation of W (that ended on 5 uprooted fellas), double Q due to Colony and one toad wave, brought down a keep/fountain and the tower in one go. Didn't even use Garry in the mix.
Game plan Top
Early on, you are weak. You need to timidly farm waves leaving the lane when in trouble and asking for help when you can't hold up. At level 4, you can sustain a lane on your own, and you can get back to full health if you double-lane soak.
By level 10, with Dead rush and Garry, you should be able to be a good help for your team on capture points. Help them, but don't forget your prime goal in the game. To reach 150 stacks and clearing waves for your teammates to do other things.
Although Nazeebo is a good merc capturer, I would advise against it, since it's better for you to go full W/Q/2xE and AA minions as fast as you can, and go round lanes making sure there are no red dots in the map. Feels like PacMan.
Once you get Superstition you can bully most heroes away from any push you are doing and if your team follows, you will start spreading cancerous Voodoo to all structures while keeping lanes pushed easily.
If you achieve the life goal of getting to 150 stacks and Vile Infection gets going, you are almost unstoppable. Get your team together and follow a proper engage. Throw a zombie wall, summon garry and hit your Jars, and watch the enemy team run away. Not even tranquility can keep up with the damage. And the good thing is that you can easily repeat the process seconds later.
Most of the times, I end up the games with top structure damage and experience, and depending on how many teamfights happened (that mattered), highest hero damage also.
Concluding Top
Nazeebo is a late game beast that needs to build up his strength. He is not always a good draft, but he is most of the times easy to fit in any comp that doesn't miss damage, frontline or support. He is an amazing hero to play since his playmaking potential is entirely independent to his damage, since he can block skillshots, block routes, zone and sustain.
A very underrated hero that becomes a beast in the right hands. Very rewarding experience to play with the Witch doctor, and I hope that all of you that made it to here will share the same thought after trying him a bit.
Horsepants praise Top
In his stream, HORSEPANTS a GM player from NA that uses non-meta heroes to dominate the meta, you will find many good videos and plays with Nazeebo. Lately he streams a lot of Tassadar and Nazeebo. So take a visit on his stream:
https://www.twitch.tv/horsepants
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