Footmen frenzy heroes: Crypt Lord

The Crypt Lord does pretty well as a solo hero and is beefy enough to last for quite some time. If you want to play him as a mean killing machine, max everything but beetles. If you'd rather use the beetles of doom, max it instead of Spiked Carapace and keep the Crypt Lord on the sidelines. Summoning beetles while on the front line can be deadly to you, because they'll probably appear around you and block your retreat.

Spells

Impale

Impale damage and stuns a line of enemy units. The stun on this spell is better than the damage it does. It's great when used in tandem with another AoE spell like Carrion Swarm. It's also useful for stopping retreating heroes. Impale always costs 100 mana and has a 9 second cooldown.

Level	DMG/(Impale length)	Range	Stun (Hero/Units)
1	50 dmg / 625 length	700	1 sec hero / 2 sec units
2	90 dmg / 650 length	725	2 sec hero / 3.5 sec units
3	120 dmg / 675 length	750	3 sec hero / 5 sec units
4	150 dmg / 700 length	775	4 sec hero / 6.5 sec units
5	180 dmg / 725 length	800	4 sec hero / 7 sec units
6	360 dmg / 800 length	825	4 sec hero / 10 sec units

Carrion Beetles

Carrion Beetles are a different kind of summons than you're probably used to. These fat beetles don't do much damage, but they have fortified armor and are magic immune. They were designed to be more of a moving Bone Wall than a scary attacking squad. Beetles make a good meat shield for ranged units and also do wonders at messing up the pathing of Tier 4 units. To increase the survival of your beetles, combine them with Vampiric Aura or some Scourge Bone Chimes. A fun strategy to try: Impale a hero and then surround him with beetles. Beetles always last for 60 seconds or until killed. The mana cost is 100 and the cooldown is always 15 seconds for levels up to 6, and level 6's mana cost is 300 and cooldown is 30.

Level	Units	Hitpoints	Danage	Armor
1	3 Beetles	350 hp	16-19 dmg	0
2	4 Beetles	400 hp	16-19 dmg	2
3	5 Beetles	450 hp	21-24 dmg	4
4	6 Beetles	500 hp	21-24 dmg	6
5	7 Beetles	550 hp	24-27 dmg	10
6	20 Beetles	550 hp	24-27 dmg	10

Spiked Carapace

Spiked Carapace is like a local version of Thorns Aura, and also provides additional armor to the Crypt Lord. It is very useful when your opponents tech melee units or when you are facing a Blademaster or Jaood.

Level	Armor	DMG returned %
1	+3	25% dmg returned
2	+6	50% dmg returned
3	+9	75% dmg returned
4	+12	100% dmg returned
5	+15	125% dmg returned
6	+20	225% dmg returned

Locust Swarm

At Level 1, Locust Swarm is a healing spell which takes hit points from enemy units and feeds them to the Crypt Lord. At higher levels, it's an AOE killing spell, because the locusts take much more HP than your Crypt Lord could ever want. Locust Swarm always costs 150 mana.

Level	Life Regeneration	Area	Cooldown
1	20 swarms returning 25 hp each	800 AoE	180 seconds
2	30 swarms returning 50 hp each	850 AoE	150 seconds
3	50 swarms returning 80 hp each	900 AoE	120 seconds