
Rage
Launch into a maddened rage, becoming Debuff Immune, increasing magic resistance and gaining movement speed. DISPEL TYPE: Basic Dispel
- DURATION
- 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
- MAGIC RESISTANCE
- 80%
- MOVESPEED BONUS
- 6 / 9 / 12 / 15%
Strength · Melee
Infests other units for mobility and strength

Win rate
51.4%
A across all ranks
Pick rate
13.8%
of public matches
Public picks
467.7K
in the sample
Pro scene
14
20 bans · 64% win rate
Bars start at 50%. Sample sizes: Herald 7.2K · Guardian 27K · Crusader 58.6K · Archon 105.3K · Legend 133.4K · Ancient 81.2K · Divine+ 55K.
Last 6 days
51.4%
Bought before the horn
Gauntlets of Strength
Quelling Blade
Iron Branch
The first minutes
Boots of Speed
Chainmail
Phase Boots
Core items
Radiance
Armlet of Mordiggian
Manta Style
Sange
The full build
Manta Style
Abyssal Blade
Assault Cuirass
Demon Edge
Aghanim's Blessing
Ultimate Orb
Most-bought items for Lifestealer in OpenDota’s sample of parsed public matches (1,777 purchases counted). Bars compare each item with the most-bought one in its phase. The percentage is the win rate in games where Lifestealer bought the item by minute 30 (green or red when it is clearly above or below Lifestealer’s average). Teams that are ahead buy items sooner, so a high number shows the item goes with winning games, not that it causes the win. Items with fewer than 100 games show no percentage. Cheap components are hidden from the mid and late game.
Sacred Relic
371 games
Phase Boots
2,264 games
Radiance
499 games
Sacred Relic
1,241 games
Sange
150 games
Yasha
564 games
Armlet of Mordiggian
523 games
Assault Cuirass
84 games
Platemail
124 games
Hyperstone
221 games
Final items compared within the same purchase window (at least 60 games each), so they are not simply ranked by how late or expensive they are. Still a correlation: a team that is far ahead can buy anything sooner.
140
100
Active: Chop Tree: Destroy a target tree.
4s
Active: Chop Tree. Destroy a target tree.
Passive: Quell. Increases attack damage against non-hero units by 8 for melee heroes, and 4 for ranged.
55
Use: Plant Tree: Targets the ground to plant a happy little tree that lasts for 20 seconds.
500
Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.
500
1,450
Active: Phase: Gives 20% increased movement speed on melee heroes, and 10% on ranged heroes, and lets you move through units and turn more quickly for 3 seconds.
Win rate when bought49.7% · 2,300 games
8s
Active: Phase. Gives 20% increased movement speed on melee heroes, and 10% on ranged heroes, and lets you move through units and turn more quickly for 3 seconds. Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.
4,700
Toggle: Burn: When active, scorches enemies for 60 magical damage per second. Illusions deal 35 magical damage per second. Radius: 650
Win rate when bought51.4% · 2,147 games
2,500
Toggle: Unholy Strength: When active, Unholy Strength grants +35 damage, +25 strength and +4 armor, but drains 45 health per second.
Win rate when bought53.1% · 1,048 games
Toggle: Unholy Strength. When active, Unholy Strength grants +35 damage, +25 strength and +4 armor, but drains 45 health per second. You cannot die from the health drain when Unholy Strength is activated, nor from the strength loss when Unholy Strength is deactivated.
4,650
Active: Mirror Image: Creates 2 images of your hero that last 18 seconds. Melee images deal 33% damage, while Ranged images deal 25%. Illusions take 300% damage.
Win rate when bought55.1% · 890 games
34s125
Active: Mirror Image. Creates 2 images of your hero that last 18 seconds. Melee images deal 33% damage, while Ranged images deal 25%. Illusions take 300% damage. Dispel Type: Basic Dispel
2,100
Win rate when bought56.2% · 911 games
6,250
Active: Overwhelm: Stuns a target enemy unit for 1.6 seconds. Pierces Debuff Immunity.
35s75
Active: Overwhelm. Stuns a target enemy unit for 1.6 seconds. Pierces Debuff Immunity.
Passive: Bash. Grants melee heroes a 25% chance on hit to stun the target for 1.2 seconds and deal 120 bonus physical damage. Bash chance for ranged heroes is 10%.
5,125
Passive: Assault Aura: Grants 30 attack speed and 5 armor to nearby allied units and structures, and decreases nearby enemy unit and structure armor by -5. Radius: 1200
2,200
5,800
Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades the ultimate, and some abilities, of all heroes.
2,800

Launch into a maddened rage, becoming Debuff Immune, increasing magic resistance and gaining movement speed. DISPEL TYPE: Basic Dispel

Lifestealer rends an enemy unit, slowing the victim's movement speed and allowing all allies to regain health for a percentage of the damage they deal to that unit. The victim recovers movement speed over the duration.

Lifestealer's attacks deal damage and provide heal for a percentage of his target's max health. He gains permanent max HP whenever he kills a unit.

Passively grants Lifestealer Attack Speed.

Lifestealer infests the body of a target unit, becoming undetectable, and healing for a portion of his max hitpoints every second while inside. He can then explode from the host body, dealing damage to nearby enemies. If the infested unit is an enemy creep or a neutral creep, he can take control of the unit's ability to move and attack, and the creep loses a portion of their max hitpoints over time. Does not work on enemy heroes. DISPEL TYPE: Basic Dispel
Aghanim’s ScepterInfest may target enemy heroes for a short duration, attacking them from the inside while increasing Lifestealer's regeneration rate.
Aghanim’s ShardConsuming a creep with Infest drenches enemies in blood which deals damage over time based on the host's remaining health.
+1% Feast Heal and Damage
25+1s Rage Duration
+12% Infest Target Movespeed/Health
20+25% Open Wounds Lifesteal
+175 Infest Damage
1550 Attack Speed on Open Wounds Target
+4 All Attributes
10+15 Movement Speed
In the dungeons of Devarque, a vengeful wizard lay in shackles, plotting his escape. He shared his cell with a gibbering creature known as N'aix, a thief cursed by the Vile Council with longevity, so that its life-sentence for theft and cozening might be as punishing as possible. Over the years, its chains had corroded, along with its sanity; N'aix retained no memory of its former life and no longer dreamt of escape. Seeing a perfect vessel for his plans, the wizard wove a spell of Infestation and cast his life-force into N'aix's body, intending to compel N'aix to sacrifice itself in a frenzy of violence while the mage returned to his body and crept away unnoticed. Instead, the wizard found his mind caught in a vortex of madness so powerful that it swept away his plans and shattered his will. Jarred to consciousness by the sudden infusion of fresh life, N'aix woke from its nightmare of madness and obeyed the disembodied voice that filled its skull, which had only the one thought: To escape. In that moment Lifestealer was born. The creature cast its mind into dungeon guards and soldiers, compelling them to open locks and cut down their companions, opening an unobstructed path to freedom while feeding on their lives. Lifestealer still wears the broken shackles as a warning that none may hold him, but on the inside remains a prisoner. Two minds inhabit the single form--a nameless creature of malevolent cunning, and the Master whose voice he pretends to obey.
Win rates come from public Dota 2 matches (OpenDota), 3.4M matches counted, refreshed Oct 24, 2026. Tiers use the win rate in the chosen rank: S 52.5%+, A 51%+, B 49%+, C 47.5%+, D below; heroes with too few games are left unrated. Hero data and patch notes are Valve’s. Builds Forge is an unofficial fan site, not affiliated with Valve.