Malice Unbound: Stay a While, Forever (Underlord Guide)

[u/SqueeSpoon]

I’m back with another big update to my Underlord guide! If you don’t know me, I used to be the #1 Underlord on Dotabuff. I took a long break from Dota, came back a while ago, and I’ve been grinding to bring my old ideas up to date with the current patch.

My last update was all about Firestorm spam. This one goes back to what Underlord does best: catching people and not letting them leave. It’s for players who like hunting people down and making the enemy team scared to walk anywhere alone.

The build

• Soul Ring + Arcane Boots: your spells cost a lot of mana early. These keep you casting nonstop.
• Rod of Atos: your catch. Root whoever’s out of position, then drop Pit and Firestorm on them.
• Aghanim’s Shard: Firestorm follows you, so just walk into their team and let everything burn.
• Gleipnir: upgrade Atos into it. Its root hits a big area, so you can catch a few heroes at once.
• Aghanim’s Scepter: your Fiend’s Gate drops a Pit at both ends, so they get rooted the moment you show up.
• Crella’s Crozier: cuts their healing, which is brutal against late-game Satanic carries. The active makes you immune to physical damage, which is perfect against right-clickers like Terrorblade. Cast Firestorm on yourself with Shard, pop Crozier and walk through them: you steal their speed, they burn longer and Pit roots them again. Avoid using it in front of mages. If they buy Nullifier for you, that’s gold they didn’t spend on your team.

The build is flexible. Read the game and adjust. Swap in Shiva’s Guard if you need more armor and slow, or move items around depending on what the enemy has. As long as you keep catching people, you’re doing it right.

The combo: Pit, then Gleipnir, then Pit roots them again. A stun from a teammate buys time for one more root.

Catch them. Root them. Root them again. They wanted to leave, but the Pit had other plans.

Full guide here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3654884408

Feedback is always welcome 👍

Made by Spoon

[u/princmj47]

Thank you! Will check it out, thanks for the effort.

[u/Specsaman]

Whats the counter or a very2 bad matchup carry for underlord ?

Dont really play in this patch, still sticking to dawn, LC or stalker

[u/SqueeSpoon → u/Specsaman]

Drow, Ursa, Lifestealer and maybe Slark. Although, there are several ways to deal with them as Underlord.

[u/Specsaman → u/SqueeSpoon]

What do you do with ursa ?

I understand the others because of their dispel mechanism so nothing you can do about it, but is blade mail necessary for the bear ?

[u/radioactive_nik → u/Specsaman]

I've been noticing that pros are starting to use disperser on ursa as he's easily kited during fights . Maybe a similar build will give them dispel against the root too I presume? As it applies dispel to the user too

[u/SqueeSpoon → u/Specsaman]

Ghost, Hex or either Euls on late game against him, Blademail if you're stomping in early game other than that its trash. Besides that, in early game you buy boots + QB then tangoes after the bounty runes, rush Soul-ring then Wind-lance to deal off with him. Alas, your pos4 can creep cut the second wave or the actual match up being strong against ursa on the lane.

[u/radioactive_nik → u/SqueeSpoon]

Getting back to the underlord counter, how much of a damage deterrent you say a pipe of insight is against him. Im just 1k mmr at the moment and I usually play offlaner or both support roles but I dont see a lot of other peers in my rank buy the same item against high magic damage team (in general). What would u suggest?

[u/PerpyVanitas → u/Specsaman]

Based on what I have read, there are not much to counter him. Heroes that have built in dispel or debuff immunity may move around for a bit, but overall he is a really good cc hero to have. When against him, people usually focus more on countering the other heroes instead and hoping to just outpace his team

[u/SqueeSpoon → u/PerpyVanitas]

Real counter is the lane though: pressure him early so he’s late on items, and the mid game gets way easier.

[u/PerpyVanitas → u/SqueeSpoon]

Yeah just gotta have a faster game than him and ruin his timings

[u/KnowsTheLaw → u/Specsaman]

Heroes that go on him and kill him

[u/bobuyh]

crozier is such an underrated item, along with the new urn upgrade

[u/Crqftyy]

Could you explain how to use his ultimate please ? It's hard to find good use with it.

[u/SqueeSpoon → u/Crqftyy]

If you’re low, double-click the ult to go to fountain, heal, and walk back through the gate. You can also cast it on an ally by clicking their hero icon at the top, so tell them on mic instead of waiting for them to notice. It’s great for pulling back someone who’s split pushing or out of position. Best time to use it in fights is right after your team stuns someone, so you can gate in and join.

With Aghs or the level 25 talent it gets much stronger. You can cancel initiators like Tide or ES, or block their path, and often force them to BKB the root just to save a teammate who’s out of position. Cast it on the chokes uphill. If you’re surrounded, cast it so the pit roots everyone next to you. And if an invis hero is nearby while Pit of Malice is on cooldown, drop it where they’d try to escape.

[u/SqueeSpoon → u/Crqftyy]

Something a lot of people don’t realize is that the portals have collision, so they physically block paths. In narrow spots like the chokes uphill or the jungle, you can use that to cut off an enemy’s escape or stop someone from walking into your team.

Be careful though, because it can work against you just as easily. If you drop it in a tight spot without thinking, you can block your own escape route or trap a teammate behind it. Before you cast it, check where you and your team will need to run.

[u/powerlifting_dad]

Underlord spammer here 🙌🏽