Necrophos

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Necrophos

Necrophos

18 + 2.3

12 + 1.3

23 + 2.7

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

Armor

(639.84 EHP)

Magic Resist

(709.77 EHP)

(51 Avg)

Projectile Speed

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

500

100 (112)

(1.7 BAT)

Attacks per Second is defined as
ΣAS / BAT / 100

0.3 + 0.47

0.6

This unit takes 0.175s to turn 180°.

27

24

1800 /

800

Gib Type

npc_dota_hero_necrolyte

Released

2004-10-22

Competitive Span

2010-10-01 — 2016-12-12

2016-12-20 — Present

Version Control

This article has been updated to the latest version (7.40b) and is mostly accurate.

"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 )`

Upgrades

Aghanim's

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

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

Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:

Grants the Death Seeker ability.

Turns Necrophos into a large death projectile toward the unit-targeted enemy's 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
+20% Heartstopper Aura Health Regen Reduction	20	+15% Ghost Shroud Self Restore Amp
+60 Death Pulse Heal	15	+15% Ghost Shroud Move Speed Slow
+2s Sadist Stack Duration	10	-2.5 Ghost Shroud Cooldown
▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All / / Attributes

Bio

Behold the Pope of Pestilence.
▶️ Rotund'jere, the Necrophos

Alias:

Rotundjere

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

Passive

Affects

Self

Grants self 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: 3.5/5/6.5/8

Duration: 8 (

10)

Creep kills and denies grant a less effective stack.

Stack per Kill: 1

This ability levels up with

Reaper's Scythe.

Details
Interactions
Status Effects
Show All

Profane Potency

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

Area-of-Effect Bonus: 35

necrolyte_sadist_counter
- Grants stacks per kill credit to Necrophos, including from the following sources:
  - Denies
  - Reincarnation sources.
- Each stack places a new buff stack on Necrophos, with each buff duration independent of the other.
- Considers the following units as enemy hero kills:
  - Meepo Clones.
  - The Spirit Bear.
- Considers the following units as creep kills:
  - Ancient creeps.
  - Buildings
  - Creep-heroes.
  - Ward-type units.
- Does not consider the following units as valid units:
  - The Double.
  - Illusions.

Interactions: Self-Illusions

Does not bestow current stacks.
However, the ability grants all created illusions whenever

Necrophos gains one.

Other ability components are fully functional with all illusion-mechanic notes apply.

Interactions: Break Sources

Disables the

buff stack gain.

However, existing stacks are not removed.

modifier_necrolyte_sadist

Hidden Modifier

MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_DEATH
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_AOE_BONUS_CONSTANT_STACKING

modifier_necrolyte_sadist_counter

Sadist: Regenerating x health and x mana a second.

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MANA_REGEN_CONSTANT

Hero Model

Hero Model

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

No

Affects

Units

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:

70/90/110/130 (

130/150/170/190)

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.

Ghost Shroud

W

T

Ghost Shroud

No / Aura

Affects

Self / Enemy Units

Turns Necrophos ethereal, and emits a movement speed slow aura that affects enemy units around him.

Cast Animation:

0 + 0

Slow Radius:

700

Move Speed Slow: 16%/19%/22%/25% (

31%/34%/37%/40%)

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: 1.55/1.6/1.65/1.7 (

1.7/1.75/1.8/1.85)

Ethereal Duration: 3/3.5/4/4.5

28/24/20/16 (

25.5/21.5/17.5/13.5)

75

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

Details
Status Effects
Misc.
Show All

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 Factor: 1

Creates an aura with two main components upon cast centered around Necrophos for the entire duration:
- - Movement speed slow.
  - FACET NOTES
    Affects the following incoming restoration sources:
    - Heal and health regeneration sources.
    - Lifesteal and spell lifesteal sources.
    - Mana restore and mana regeneration sources.
- - 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 incoming restoration 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.
  - - FACET NOTES
      Grants self flat movement speed bonus corresponding to the total movement speed slow applied to enemy heroes within the radius.
      - 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_STATE_DISARMED
MODIFIER_STATE_ATTACK_IMMUNE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_INVISIBILITY_LEVEL
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEAL_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE_TARGET
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MP_REGEN_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MP_RESTORE_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MAGICAL_RESISTANCE_DECREPIFY_UNIQUE
MODIFIER_ABSOLUTE_NO_DAMAGE_PHYSICAL
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_STATE_CHANGED
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_RESTORATION_AMPLIFICATION

modifier_necrolyte_sadist_aura_effect

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

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEAL_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE_TARGET
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HP_REGEN_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_LIFESTEAL_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_SPELL_LIFESTEAL_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MP_REGEN_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MP_RESTORE_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE

- Necrophos now has the following magic resistance values:

BaseMagRes = 10%
Reduces the total by 0.2% per 10 int.

Heartstopper Aura

E

I

Heartstopper Aura

Passive / Aura

Affects

Enemy Units

HP Removal / Spell / Magical

Causes 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

Health Regen Reduction:

(

20%)

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

Self Health Regen to Health Loss Bonus Factor: (

0.5)

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

Details
Status Effects
Show All

necrolyte_heartstopper_aura_effect
- Does not affect ancient creeps.
- Utilizes HP Removal to apply magical spell damage in 0.2-second intervals, and the damage per instance is defined as:
  - EXPR
    DmgInst = ( EnemyMaxHPLoss + (Self ΣActualHealthRegen × 0.5) ) × 0.2
  - 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 debuff icon only appears on the affected enemy units' HUD 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.
  - TALENT NOTES
    Upon learning the following talents:
    - Health regeneration reduction.
    - Max health loss increasing.
  - SCEPTER NOTES
    Upon acquiring the ability upgrade.

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, the following sources applied on Necrophos do not affect the ability upgrade:
  - Health freeze sources.
  - Heal over time sources.

modifier_necrolyte_heartstopper_aura

Heartstopper Aura

modifier_necrolyte_heartstopper_aura_effect

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

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HP_REGEN_AMPLIFY_PERCENTAGE

Death Seeker

D

C

Death Seeker

Unit

Affects

Units

Spell / Magical

Turns Necrophos into a large death projectile toward the unit-targeted enemy's 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.

Search Radius:

500

Damage Factor: 1

Heal Factor:

1

19

125

This ability levels up with

The Rumusque Faithful consider Necrophos to be more plague than person.

Details
Interactions
Status Effects
Misc.
Show All

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

The ability effects are applied as follows:
1. - Launches a 900-speed projectile upon cast.
  - - Applies a disabling forced movement that stuns and moves Necrophos periodically with the projectile, utilizing the same projectile speed upon cast.
    - Can move over impassable terrain and over trees.
    - Has the following additional properties:
2. - Applies the self- heal upon reappearing.
3. - Applies the Death Pulse magical spell damage.
  - - Can affect enemy units at max 1400-distance away with the cast range and effect radius.
    - Releases Death Pulse projectiles of the corresponding level centered around the unit-targeted enemy .
  - All other ability effects affects the primary unit-targeted enemy as well.
  - Death Pulse is not released if the unit-targeted enemy is affected by the following sources upon projectile impact:
    - Hidden sources.
    - Invulnerable sources.

Interactions: Spell Block

Spell Block sources proc upon cast and blocks the ability cast completely.

Interactions: Disjoint Sources

Releases

Death Pulse of its correspondingly at the

unit-targeted enemy's previous location.

Interactions: Spell Steal

Applies

Death Pulse of its corresponding level when acquired.

Interactions: Spell Redirection

Launches two

projectiles simultaneously to both targets, Necrophos reappears next to the secondary target.

Interactions: Ability Draft

Requires drafting

Death Pulse to unlock this ability.

modifier_necrophos_out_of_world

On Hidden Entity

MODIFIER_STATE_STUNNED
MODIFIER_STATE_INVULNERABLE
MODIFIER_STATE_UNSELECTABLE
MODIFIER_STATE_FROZEN
MODIFIER_STATE_OUT_OF_GAME

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

Necrophos has the following reappear distances apart to the target unit correspondingly to the targeted unit's collision size:

			Distance
	`18`	`4` `18`	`58-distance`
	`18`	`27` `36` `40`	`87-distance`
	`27`	`4` `18` `27`	`58-distance`
	`27`	`36` `40`	`87-distance`

Reaper's Scythe

R

R

Reaper's Scythe

Unit

Affects

Enemy Heroes

Spell / Magical

Stuns the unit-targeted enemy hero, then deals damage based on per point of missing health of the affected unit.

Any kills under this effect is credited to Necrophos.

Cast Animation: 0.45 + 1.5

Cast Range:

600

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:

1/2/3

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 Necrophos's plague magic.

Details
Status Effects
Show All

Kill Credit Priority

Has the following priorities among kill credit manipulation sources.

The ability effects are applied as follows:
1. necrolyte_reapers_scythe
  - All offensive incoming damage instances the debuff-affected enemy unit receives for the entire stun duration is considered sourced to Reaper's Scythe and credited to Necrophos.
    - Not affected by status resistance sources.
  - The following sources applied on the debuff-affected enemy unit at this point will not grant Necrophos the kill credit:
    - Forced kill sources.
    - Hidden sources.
    - Invulnerable sources.
    - When affected by a reflected Omnislash or Swiftslash. In the case of Swiftslash, it must still be occuring when the damage is dealt.
2. The magical spell damage.
  - 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.
3. - Grants 1 permanent health regeneration and mana regeneration bonus stack granted per enemy hero kill sourced to this ability and credted 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.

modifier_necrolyte_reapers_scythe_respawn_time

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

MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MANA_REGEN_CONSTANT
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_HEALTH_REGEN_CONSTANT

modifier_necrolyte_reapers_scythe

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

MODIFIER_STATE_STUNNED
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_TAKEDAMAGE_KILLCREDIT

Recent Matches

Main Article: Necrophos/Matches

Date	Tier		Tournament	Picks		Score		vs. Picks
January 7, 2026 - 22:10 UTC	Qualifier		SA OQ2 DreamLeague S28			0 : 1			+ Add details
January 5, 2026 - 18:15 EET	Qualifier		EEU OQ1 DreamLeague S28			1 : 0			+ Add details
January 4, 2026 - 16:30 CET	Qualifier		EU CQ RES Unchained 3			0 : 1			+ Add details
January 3, 2026 - 19:00 CET	Qualifier		EU OQ2 RES Unchained 3			1 : 0			+ Add details
January 3, 2026 - 13:00 CST	Qualifier		CN OQ2 BLAST Slam VI			0 : 1			+ Add details

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

Description

7.40b
(2025-12-23)

Rescaled Ghost Shroud all health restoration factor from 1.45/1.55/1.65/1.75 to 1.55/1.6/1.65/1.7.

7.40
(2025-12-15)

Reduced Sadist Profane Potency radius bonus per stack from 40 to 35.
Reduced Reaper's Scythe health regeneration bonus per kill from 2/4/6 to 1/2/3.

Talents:
LVL 15 +50 Death Pulse heal increased to +60.

LVL 15 +20% Ghost Shroud movement speed slow reduced to +15%.

LVL 20 +25% Heartstopper Aura health regeneration reduction reduced to +20%.

7.39e
(2025-10-02)

Ghost Shroud 's ethereal effects are now disabled while the affected unit is debuff immune.

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!

Equipment

v e Necrophos Equipment
Sets	Scourge Dominion Fowl Omen Apostle of Decay Golden Sullen Sanctum Sullen Sanctum Immemorial Emperor Set Lich Master Necromancer The Murid Divine The Plaguemonger Master Necromancer Vestments of the Ten Plagues Set Plague Baron Wrath of Ka Exodus of the Plague Witch Relics of the Putrid Pontiff Set Robes of the Heretic Serpent's Spite Rot-Iron Ripper
Weapon	Scythe of Pestilence Scythe of Plague Soul Reaper Sullen Harvest Laments of the Dead Direstone Liferipper Raven Scythe
Shoulder	Golden Sullen Hollow Sullen Hollow
Legs	Sullen Rampart
Kinetic Gems	Kinetic: Twin Deaths' Haunting

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
Monster Hunter Hero Atlas Illustration

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