Welcome to the Dota 2 Underlord Support Guide!

Underlord is a strength Hero that I generally like to play as position 4 or 5 support. Being a strength hero, Underlord has a high HP pool that can withstand aggressive pressure in lane due to its passive Atrophy Aura. Armed with 2 AoE magical nukes: Firestorm and Pit of Malice, Underlord can easily wreak havoc in team fights if not spread out. Dark Rift, its Ultimate ability, can be used defensively to get allied heroes out of sticky situations and offensively by mass teleports around the map to rat.

Underlord is virtually identical stat/ability wise to Ogre Magi. Both have strong nukes with high vitality. Ogre Magi’s nuke is just single target. If you like team fight oriented heroes Underlord might be for you!

Cower, for the Abyssal Underlord has arrived…

When to pick Underlord?

Underlord is a very versatile hero and can be utilized in any line up but preferably a safe lane support. This Hero has very good synergy with heroes with instant gap closing abilities like Blink, Blink Strike, Time Walk, Waveform and Pounce etc since it is pretty easy to catch a hero/heroes with Firestorm and Pit of Malice. Combined with these Heroes it is very possible to burst down 1 enemy Hero with the AoE nuke combo any chase down any stragglers.

Carry Hero Synergies: Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Phantom Assassin, Riki, Void, Morphling and Slark

The hero also has very good creep wave clear which makes it a good pusher and anti-pusher. He would do decent in push line ups with heroes that summon invisible units like Lycan and Beastmaster. Underlord can Dark Rift on Lycan’s/Beastmaster’s invisible level 3-4 wolves/level 3-4 hawk and drop your team right next to an unsuspecting enemy hero.

Push Hero Synergies: Lycan and Beast Master

When not to pick Underlord?

No reason not to actually. Just watch out for Heroes that counter your Dark Rift like Disruptor and Kunkka since they can send back your saves.

Semi-Counters: Disruptor and Kunkka

Skills

Skill Builds

Start with Firestorm at Level 1. Only get Pit of Malice if possible 1st blood at runes.

Max Firestorm as soon as possible.

Get Atrophy Aura at Level 3 next at Levels 12,13 and 14. After Pit of Malice is maxed.

No Reason to delay Ultimate levels.

Starting Item Build

Stout Shield Tangos Healing Salve Observer Ward 2 Iron Branches

Core Item Build

Tranquil Boots / Arcane Boots Magic Wand Lotus Orb / Crimson Guard / Pipe of Insight Blink Dagger

Tranquil vs Arcane Boots

Against regular aggression I prefer Tranquil Boots. If things are going well and you get that 900 gold fast for the energy booster, get Arcane Boots. You can dissemble the boots later if you are getting a Lotus Orb or turn it into Guardian Greaves.

Lotus Orb / Crimson Guard / Pipe of Insight

You almost always wanna go Lotus Orb especially if there are a lot of disables being thrown around. The reason for this is once you cast your Firestorm/Pit of Malice Combo, there is a high chance all enemy disables/nukes will be thrown at you since you have to in a relatively close range to cast it. Cast Lotus Orb on you in advance and bait all the spells. Watch the reflect their disables and eat the full duration Firestorm and let your team clean up.

You may not know this but lotus orb can be used as a dispel. Cast it on an allied hero that is disabled to free them.

I don’t really like getting Crimson Guard / Pipe of insight over Lotus Orb early to mid game since sometimes team fights don’t happen. You get more value out of Lotus in my opinion. Get Crimson for heavy melee line ups and Pipe for line ups with lots of magical bursts.

Blink Dagger usage

Your blink will be more used for initiating than saving with Dark Rift. Cast Lotus Orb… Blink forward Firestorm then Pit of Malice = Profit.

Late Game Item Build

Guardian Greaves / Boots of Travel Assault Cuirass / Shivas Guard Lotus Orb Blink Dagger Force Staff

Guardian Greaves vs Boots of Travel

Almost always get Guardian Greaves unless the other support already has it. It’s a burst AoE heal that can dispel. Now you have two dispels. Boots of Travel is good for saving fleeing allied Heroes around the map and is also better for ultra late games.

Assault Cuirass vs Shivas Guard

Get Assault Cuirass if you can beat your carry to it. If not get Shivas Guard. Death by Fire and Ice!

Force Staff?

More mobility and can use defensively.

Luxury Items

Radiance

Yes. Why not? 50 additional damage per second on top of that Firestorm, not to mention that miss chance. Get it if you don’t have a Radiance carrier.

Helm of the Dominator

Keep a friendly creep in the trees for that all-in Dark Rift on the throne.

How to Play Underlord?

A few things that you need to know:

Cast Firestorm first then Pit of Malice next. This maximizes your damage since Pit of Malice only holds heroes for 2.5 seconds max while Firestorm does damage every 1 second interval.

Keep yourself within a 900 radius to apply your Atrophy Aura to foes and allies.

Dark Rift might be a cool skill and all but use it accordingly. Communicate with your team if they want to gank.

Early Game

Ward near your large camp. Stack. Stack. Stack. Stack small and large camps near your safe lane. You can can stack both at the same time by pulling the small camps and casting Firestorm on the large camps at x:54~55. Deny creep waves if needed by pulling them into the camps and this will get you your early levels. Depending on your carries kill potential, you can now attempt to force ganks in your lane at around level 2-3. Cast Firestorm then Pit and hope to get the kills. Keep stacking camps in between waves. Clear them when safe by yourself or with your carry.

The ganks begins once you max Firestorm at level 7. You should have your Tranquil or Arcane Boots by now + 1 piece of your Lotus Orb. Smoke with your allies, most preferably one with a stun and try to pick off the enemies in lanes with the concealment of the trees. Remember, it is fairly easy for you to land your combo so go in first and let your allies throw the second disable. That should net you a few kills. Keep doing this and begin the snowball.

If things are going bad and your jungle is getting taken from you by roaming heroes so you can’t stack camps, group up and try to take down a tower. If the fight looks like its going to go bad double tap Dark Rift and minimize casualties.

Mid Game

Ok. Things are a little easier or harder depending on how early game was.

Depending on your win condition(Does your team peak mid or late game?), you should keep knocking down towers together or keep farming until you carry comes online. Dark Rift should always be on cooldown by forcing reaction TPs around the map by pushing hard with Firestorm and saving allies. Keep stacking in between cooldowns.

A sick mind game you can play with you enemies is for your whole team to group up on one side of the map and as soon as they all portal in to defend, you mass teleport your team to the opposite side of the map. Being that they just used their TPs, they either have to walk all the way across or try to cut off your retreat.

Late Game

If you’ve done your job right all enemy towers should have been knocked down and it’s time to go high ground and siege tier 4 towers. The trick is to push top and bottom lanes hard and let them split up their forces. Keep with the bigger group and be sure to minimize casualties with Lotus Orb and defensive force staves if things go bad.

You can go aggressive by blinking in to try to catch their whole team in Pit of Malice if you have a 2nd huge initiator like Black Hole, Ravage or Epicenter. Other than that play safe and proceed with the slow siege. Keep in mind that you have Atrophy Aura which makes your teams damage stronger each creep wave killed.

If you are defending, keep pushing the other lanes and be ready at any moment for the counter attack! Once they try to force high ground stay as far back as possible and be ready to Firestorm/Pit combo the area of whom ever they go on. If they clump up and dive counter initiate with your combo while trying to save your team as much as possible with Lotus Orbs and Force Staff. If it goes well and you outnumber them with alive heroes, Dark Rift to the farthest lane and push hard. Try and force a buy back or see if they even have buy back saved. If not then that is probably a rax or game for your team. Congrats!

Summary

Underlord is a pretty fun hero to play. Good initiation, push and late game potential. A pretty decent pick, but not top 10. Maybe top 30.

If you have any question, corrections or additional information that you would like me to add. Don’t hesitate to do so in the comments below! Liked the guide? Share it with a friend by using one of social media icons below!

Comments

comments