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Discussion:
By far this is my favorite hero I have created, and since my other heroes haven't been put up yet, I'm hoping this might be my first showcase. If anyone has ever played magic the gathering you might know where I got the Devouring Strossus name from, if not then it sounds flipping sweet anyways. I don't exactly know what a Strossus is, but I know that it shares more than letter in common with the word "Bad ass", and that in itself should make you instantly like this hero. Alright, onto the cool stuff.
SKILL DISCUSSION
 Breath Stealer
This is your basic survival skill. At first glance it may look IMBA, since it will give you 60% of the damage dealt back in life, but if you take a closer look it only has a 26% chance to proc. That means that around 1 in every 4 hits will trigger this. If you take a look at Leoric, he drains 20% life every hit, and gives it to allies, every 4 hits he has basically drained 60% damage dealt back in life. The thing is Leo's skill can't have those burst streaks that this can (by burst streaks I mean like 4 procs in a row or something insane that will regenerate a massive amount of life). So that's what this is all about. It's only a one use skill, so there's no point in listing it's uses.  Necrolagia
This is Malnoths core defining skill. It makes him an excellent creep pusher, and an excellent hero hunter all in one, but requires that you be near deceased creatures for it to stay a steady effect. It could also boost you in those situations where you are outnumbered by hero's, but you manage to kill one, massively boosting your combat ability against the other, to hopefully finish it off. It's uses range from: Creep pushing Lane defense Hero hunting (mostly in a lane, or right after a hero/creep kill) A good use is that it can tell you when an enemy hero is creeping, since you will get the benefits from him/her killing the creep. Tower ravaging (works when your creeps die too, which happens often near towers).
 Dredge
A unique slowing spell is the best way to describe this spell. Tight off the bat, if you use it against an escaping or oncoming target that is near full life, this skill won't do much. However, if your target is suffering from the common condition known as "screwed", this will double it's torture. The thing is this skill is design to take on those nasty tanks that like to charge in kill one or more of your people and make it's clean escape, all the while enjoying a nice 50 Regen a second. If that situation were to happen you could dredge your target, and make them suffer for their mistake. Most important uses are: The obvious one is the slowing down of your target Helps catch escaping, near death foes. Helps in the escaping from near death foes that are farther from death than you. on full life opponents, this will completely cancel their Regen. Allows team members to escape disabling opponents waiting for their mana to creep just over the horizon so they can cast their spell, by disabling their Regen rate. Provides and extra ganking opportunity to those heroes that can quickly exit battles.
 Strand of Night
And the icing on the cake. This master of puppets will allow you to jump into combat unexpectedly for the sheer enjoyment of ruining a gank and/or finishing a gank. It's the perfect set up for Dredge, and it can double over as an escape tool after dredging. This is your prized possession, and should be used every opportunity possible. Uses: - Setting up skill combos.
- Saving allies from ganks.
- Finishing off unsuccessful ganks.
- Escape/chase tool.
- High damage nuke (the only one you have).
- Extra team strategy.
Damage Capability At max distance of each level this can deal 150, 440, and 875 initial damage respectively. Plus the additional life drain of 67.5, 264, and 656.25, over 6 seconds respectively. If pulled off to it's maximum potential, this spell can be extremely deadly. Especially coupled with dredge this damage can go unmitigated by health regeneration. The unfortunate part is, it is rare where you will be able to get the full damage, since this spell has a .6, .8, and 1 second cast time, that means that fog can easily interrupt, or other variables can cause it to not take the full effect you would like. Tricky, but pays off very well.
ITEM DISCUSSION
 Stygian Desolater
You will tend to be attacking fast if you are playing this hero correctly, and that means you can constantly keep your opponents armor at a minimum. This is good, since you want you targets to be as crappy as they can before you own their face.  Assault Curiass
Gives you even more armor subtraction at your disposal, coupled with the Stygian, which means a grand total of -11 to armor. Most non-agi opponents don;t get near that much armor, so that means unmitigated damage. Plus it adds to your impressive attack speed advantage while pushing.  Observer Wards
I know this sounds stupid to be in a core item build, but hear me out. With a lot of these scattered across the map, you can make it that much easier for your team to gank, and make it that much easier to use your ult to its full potential. I would say this is a cheap must later in the game.  Heart of Tarrasque
You're a strength hero so this is always a good choice. The thing is you aren't much of a tanking hero as you are a dps hero, so this may not be the highest up there on your "GG I GOTSTA GET THIS JANK" list. Don;t spend too much time worrying about getting this.  Satanic
With your already capable life stealing abilities, this is just salt in the wound. It would allow you to lane longer, deal even more damage, provide extra life steal, and it stack with all of your abilities. Get it, got it, doodie. Er, good.  Power Treads
If you like your eye sockets not completely obliterated by a 10,000 megaton fist of Norris, get these, and don't ask why. Just get them. I seem to be one of the few people who doesn't get BoT's all that often, and I don't know why. You get little Timmy's leg ffs.  Manta Style
Drains your opponents mana, allows duplicate images, and coupled with dredge, your opponent wouldn't be able to Regen the lost mana back. A good item, but not a must.  Armlet or Mordiggian
If you've got your Satanic, and you've got your breath stealer at max rank, why not get this. It adds impressive damage, bonus strength, a nice ias, and it looks cool. The degen would be offset by your impressive health gaining techniques, so I say get it.  Vladamir's Offering
The life steal doesn't count as an orb effect, and it gives bonus damage. That means that you have three different sources of life stealing, which will make your opponent cry sweet tears of fail. Enjoy those man. Make them last.  Buriza
Buriza gives you that awesome crit, combined with your life gaining ability and your attack speed increase, this would provide an awesome benefit to you. That's about the best I can think of for items to use in a build. But do as you wish, just don;t complain when you want your ironwood branches back. It was your choice...
HERO DISCUSSION
THE GOOD      
These guys are your friends. Kind Leoric has that vampiric aura that, coupled with your items/skill, can mean a devastatingly high life drain. Naix is pretty much in the same sense, but his open wounds ability slows the opponent and allows you to drain their life at the same time. Vengeful swap and your ult mean that the opponent has a very unlikely chance to be getting away. Nevermores passive ability is on the same lines as yours in the respect that he wants to kill creeps, and does it well. When those creeps die that means you begin to kill faster as well. You and him combo-ed up means massive pushes. Both you and bloodseeker are going to be able to tell when the opponents are creeping, and when they are low on life. Plus his ult makes the opponent want to stop, giving you ample time to ult your way in for the kill. Viper is the king of slow, and his slow deals massive damage, which means at the end of its effect, you can dredge for a decent % slow to top it all off. Venomancer, Dazzle, Night stalker, QoP, and PA all have slows that also deal a high amount of damage, which is good for your dredge. Pugna, while not usually a team player, can decrepify the opponent allowing you to ult for massive, extreme damage.      
THE BAD      
All of the above opponents are capable of long range multiple disables, which is bad news since your ult has a casting time. All of the below opponents are capable of turning invisible rapidly or for a very long time (especially rikimaru), which halts your chances of getting good combos in, and being able to kill them for the hero kill bonus.      
AND THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY 
These two, while usually a pain in the ass, are even more so to you. First off the enchantress has that ult that lowers your attack speed by 90%, rendering your Necrolagia practically useless against her in a push. Secondly, her wisps are capable of taking care of life lost rapidly, which means your dredge will have very little effect if she pops it out at the right time. Thirdly, if she throws an impetus at you while you are casting you ult and you go flying away 2500 range, that means that she just took 600 range + 2500 range, plus any other distance you travel away from her while its going at you, equaling a minimum of +500 pure damage from her impetus. If you traveled any it could get far beyond +700 damage, which hurts really really bad. And Bloodseeker. If he ruptures you as you cast your ult, it still counts as you moving, which means big big damage, minimum of 1500 damage if you travel the whole length of your ult. These two are very bad news for you, if you are against them.
Alright, that's about it for the discussion. I hope you like this hero as much as I enjoyed making him. Thanks go out to: DotA and Icefrog for making me addicted to something that isn't (likely) hazardous to my health. My friends for calling me gay for playing DotA, then telling me their adventures on puzzle pirates. Chinese Food, for being so awesome. Roundhouse kicks, note the above. Death Metal and Industrial Techno, for instilling the will in me to punch things in the face enough to come up with ideas. Chinese Food, god i love Chinese food. My parents... wait, no, never mind And finally me, because without me none of this would be possible.
I hereby rescind all of my thanks, and reserve them for myself now. Cept for Chinese food, that stuff is the bomb. Peace DotA -MrZombie
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