Let's say offlane and mid, sorry.
i know bottle for sure if mid.
Ehh, i don't like Treads on him, just tried it, not worth it, you're too vunerable until you get sange and yasha without phase boots.
go mid, 1 stout and 2 pooled tangoes is all you need to survive till 4 mins, rush a bottle and if you can, boots, skill ulti at 8, till then dump points in q and e and immediately leave lane at 4 mins and gank with the run, buy a stick + orb of venom out of kills you just got. Bottle up, tp to another lane and immediately gank again, no one stops ns from ganking until 3 people rotate. Get phase by 8 mins and use ulti to hopefully set up another gank, till min 12 go around farming whatever empty lane you have. As soon as its 12, or if ulti is up, ask your team to group and go ganking again, secure their jungle and make their carry worthless. You'll have a straight basher by 15 mins, skip urn. Next you want heavy fighting items, bkb is almost always needed, ac is good, so is halberd, the item choices are totally dependent on you.
For some general tips on how to play him, abuse your ms to play like a puck or a weaver, weave into and out of the battle and dive only for the kill, you dont have an urn to heal urself back. Abuse how insane your q is early game, with just one other hero you'll be murdering the enemy whenevr night/ulti is up. I tried urn armlet aghs style ns and tbh I find it total shit, some 5.5ker posted the guide on youtube, and I've mostly just spewed whatever he said. This builds worked wonders for me at 2.5k so it might not apply to higher brackets. Anyway thats about it I think, excuse the shitty grammar im way too tired
E: found the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcViNj2Y-eg
Night Stalker aghanim is imba maphacks. BKB is normally better than vanguard on him as an early tank item. You'll usually have an urn or bottle (or even both), so the regen is wasted from vanguard, and the block is very situational. Night stalker is strongest in the early and midgame where also nukes destroy everyone over right-clicks. He also has really good early armour anyway so a stout shield is enough, you don't need to upgrade it.
The extra damage and movement speed from phase is better early too than the attack speed. He already gets a lot of attack speed from his passive and as close to max ms as possible is always good on someone who chases around people. He's also kinda slow at day which there is much more of before level 11 and 16.
See, for a Nightstalker, I would prefer an Urn of Shadows rather than a bottle. So I wouldnt go mid if another hero in my team is a better mid hero than me. But if you are the best mid hero OR your team has another roamer then go mid so that you get an early level 6. Remember to get your 1 level of crippling fear, 2 levels of Void and 2 levels Hunter and then just leave the mid and roam around the map for squishy heroes like Sniper, Lina, CM, Luna. ALWAYS get a quelling blade on NS. It is my personal gamplay and it works like a charm. I'll tell you how : Do not take the normal paths as they might be warded if the enemy team has good support. So, use your quelling balde to make your own way through the trees where u can surprise gank the squishy hero who will never be expecting u to come from such a path and if u get ganked u can even evade on the same path through the trees (trees obstruct vision so you will just vanish into the darkness and become a pain for the enemy team). Once you start getting kills you will snowball really fast. Make Tread Boots- some people make phase boots for extra chasing speed but you already are so fast, you dont need it- Treads will give u the much needed AS and mana coz your mana gets drained really fast as u have to pull off so many Voids and Silences. You can however go for Phase Boots if u make a bottle instead of an Urn.
See, NS is a very situational character so his build is not fixed. If you have a hard carry/late game carry in your team then your job is to carry the mid game and shut the other team's carry, not let their supports ward, punish them if they try and keep roaming the map for wandering heroes :P Make a Vanguard after Urn (later on you can upgrade the Vanguard), then you can head straight for Aghnims. Now the situational part here is that if the enemy team has lots of spell casters then you make a BKB instead of Vanguard otherwise you stick to Vanguard and then aghnim. This Aghnims will make you a very important assest for your hard carry as you will be able to get him the much needed kills with your epic night vision. Then make Moon Shard, Skull Basher (upgrade it later) and a Heart. Thats all you need.
Now, if you dont have heroes that can carry your team then your build should be different. It should be in this order
1. Treads
2. Urn
3. Vangurd - Upgrade later
4. Skull Basher
5. Moon Shard
6. BKB (If needed) otherwise make a dmg Item- I go for MKB, you can go for Daedalus as well - your choice
If you want a daedalus + MKB (lets say there is PA in the other team and u need an MKB and now u dont have slots then just consume the moon shard and make a daedalus)
But as Pomi said, NS is strong early to mid therefore you need to pick NS when your team has a late game carry which is the best situation otherwise you need to have a team with pushers like AXE, TINY or DK who can end the game early.
In the first build where you have a hard carry, you are basically playing a tank support. Your job is not to get kills but to silence and slow them and let your hard carry finish them. Thats the right way to play. I have seen so many people in pubs who have no idea how to play. They get like 12-13 kills with a shit hero like Lich who dies late game and his ult can be evaded very easily. So never make that mistake; be a team player. Let your hard carry get those kills and trust me, they will commend you for it :P since you are one of the best gankers in the game. No one escapes the Nightstaker :V
In the second build, you can get boots of travel in the late game- sell your power treads and make a heart if needed.
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I suck at armlet toggling (but i'm going to have to learn eventually, i can't just keep avoiding it) but give me some builds that don't involve it.
By mid game i want Phase boots, Vanguard, Urn, and Basher, is that good? I'm a HUGE fan of Orb of venom on a lot of Melee heroes, i was thinking about getting it on him, is it worth getting Skadi over heart on him? Or just sell the orb before 30 mins? Oh, and is Sange and Yasha good over Vanguard? I feel like it might be due to it making my move speed during the day respectable, and night move speed crazy good, even without having to use Phase effect from my boots. Then looking at the stats and attack speed Sange and Yasha gives me + maim, i just don't see it being bad on him, even though someone told me it's bad on him. I wanted to build that instead of vanguard?
Phase, Sange and Yasha, Urn, Basher, Orb of venom?
Then i started thinking about getting Treads on him for the extra attack speed and stat toggling effect, then treads would make his day attack speed respectable, and like i said before, the Yasha would make his day attacks speed respectable, and move speed, then once night comes my attack and move speed would be insane, even without phase boots?
Treads, Sange and Yasha, Orb, Basher, Urn?
Or should i just stick to the standard build that everyone does that i said above.