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Point Booster
Vitality Booster
Energy Booster
Gloves of Haste
Boots of Speed
Band of ElvenskinPoint Booster
Blade of Alacrity
Ogre Club
Staff of Wizardry
YashaVitality Booster
Stout Shield
Ring of Health
Sange
Hyperstone
Mystic StaffHyperstone
Moon Shard
Octarine Core
Power Treads
Aghanim's Scepter
Sange and Yasha
Vanguard
Moon Shard
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1 | 7 | 12 | 14 |  |
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2 | 8 | 10 | 13 |  |
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3 | 4 | 5 | 9 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
I already know I will probably catch a lot of flack for this build but hear me out and try this before knocking it. This is not a troll build either, it is an actual build I have found a lot of success with even in higher MMR ranked matches. A lot of people say Viper is best for early and mid game, but as one of my favorite heroes I decided to take on a challenge and build a late game Viper with decent early and mid game qualities. Please read through the whole build first before criticizing the build. And if you do try my build please let me know how it worked out for you. Thank you, good luck, and have fun with my late game Viper build.
How My Chapters Break Down
Introduction
The Build:
Early Game
Mid Game
Late Game
How I Level Vipers Skills
How I actually fight with Viper
Things to avoid with Viper
Contradictory to what a lot of people do at the beginning of the match the only item I buy is an observer ward to ward the rune closest to me. By warding the river it helps to prevent ganks which Viper is vulnerable to early game. Early on Viper can do a lot of DPS so I am usually not too worried about his damage early game. The actual first item I buy is Point Booster. This gives you a little more health and mana to add to Vipers already tanky style. And with Poison Attack being the first skill that gets a point on my build the extra mana helps to continue the attack where normally you would have run out of mana. I always play conservatively at first only harassing to keeps the enemy team from getting the farm they need. The next two items I buy are Vitality Booster and Energy Booster respectively. This is where the controversy begins. Many believe Soul Booster to be a useless item on Viper, but the health and mana bonuses would say otherwise. Not only that but there is a constant regen property that is very appealing. And once you have soul booster in the later game you can farm up an Octorine Core; which not only gives you life steal from your Poison Attack but you get life steal anytime someone takes damage from your Corrosive Skin as well. Next you wanna buy Gloves of Haste, Boots of Speed, and Band of Elvinskin to make your Power Treads already set to agility of course. This will give you the the much needed movement speed and attack speed boosts Viper desperately needs. On certain occasions I have known to buy Treads before Soul Booster but that is only when the other team has a great counter or is playing way too aggressively and I need the speed to get in and out to kill or harass them. But this should easily get you through you early game, and even though Soul Booster is an expensive first item I can usually get both Soul Booster and Power Treads between 15-20 Mins into the game.
Once you have Soul Booster it makes you incredibly tanky and if someone tries to use a skill (like Witch Doctors Maledict, or Queen of Pains Dagger) that drains health over time. The Soul Booster can help counter that with a decent regen speed. The Power Treads also give you the ability to roam somewhat and help with ganks which at this point you can do with ease. The next item on the list of essentials is of course Aghanim's Scepter. I always buy the Point Booster first because again you get more mana and more health with makes you even harder to kill. Then I get Blade of Alacrity. As an agility based hero this will give Viper additional stats boost, and is the first time I actually start to semi start working towards any kind of damage boosts for Viper. Of course this is followed by Orge Axe and Staff of Wizardry respectively. This drops the cool down time of Vipers ultimate attack Viper Strike considerably making Viper even more effective not only in team fights but anytime he has to 1v1 as well. And finally we get to the damage aspect of Viper. Yasha will be the next time to purchase, you can purchase it outright I as do at times but depending how strong the other team is; piecing it out will give small amounts of bonuses needed until you can get the recipe. Mid-Game is where most people say Viper thrives but will fall off some in late game. This is unacceptable to me so I actually buy a Vanguard at this point not only to give even more health, but to help block a lot of damage done my physical attacks. The corrosive skin ability already helps deal with magical damage so just to cover all my bases I buy Vanguard. Sange comes next to make my Yasha deal even more damage. Again Sange can be pieced out as well or bought outright. The final item to ensure Mid-Game dominance is Hyperstone. Now that you have an incredible amount of mana and speed adding Hyperstone to the Mid-Game will ensure that you can not only damage the enemy, but with Viper Strike and Sange and Yashsa it almost ensures you will kill them before they can ever even touch you. I can usually farm up all the items at about 35 mins. But on occasion I have had to push Hyperstone to the late game.
Okay assuming your game has made it past 35-40, which not all do, this is where my build thrives. And hopefully you have been dominating like I do (well most of the time anyway haha) because your next purchase will be a big one. Your going to want to buy the Mystic Staff. This will make your Soul Booster into the Octorine Core. Late game this is pretty especially if the team has some really good late game heroes. Octorine Core on Viper is the equivalent of putting Satanic on Axe or Sven in the late game as far as life steal goes. All damage done by any of Vipers abilities gives Viper health. So that means of course Poison Attack gives you health, Viper Attack gives you health, and as I mentioned before, yes even damage by Corrosive Skin gives you health. Why is this important late game? It is because even though at this point your health regen should be through the roof, late game heroes dish out a ton of damage. With your health lingering in the 2700-3000 range at this point, it makes you even more difficult to kill and a nightmare for the opposing team. This last piece I rarely get but it has proven effective in the comeback game, or just to rub insult to injury for the opposing team. The last piece is to make your Hyperstone into a Moon Shard. Once you have that much damage and that much attack speed anything in Vipers path is pretty much dead. This item has helped me mostly when both teams have run rampant of each other bases I can stay behind and defend. At times even effectively defend against Mega-Creeps. Well there you have how I build a great late game Viper. And in the next chapter I will get into how I actually level Vipers skills in game.
The first skill I always level is Poison Attack. This is of course to harass or gank the opposing team. Nethertoxin always gets the second point for additional damage. Then I will actually only level Corrosive Skin until level 6 which is where of course the first point goes to Viper Attack, Viper's ultimate attack. This makes Viper a little more durable in the Early game where he is most vulnerable in this build. After Viper Strike gets its first level I will give Poison Attack and Nethertoxin each another level before maxing out levels on Corrosive Skin. Then the levels alternate between Poison Attack and Nethertoxin except at level 11 where Viper Attack gains another level until both Poison Attack and Nethertoxin are maxed levels. The rest finish up the last level of Viper Attack and then continue by boosting stats.
Of course as I mentioned I play relatively conservative in early game. I am a little aggressive when it comes to getting the runes before the game starts but only because with Poison Attack Viper does more damage than most heroes with range to boot. The key to my build is farm. You want to avoid laning with a hero like Faceless Void that will want all the gold from last hits. Viper does decently mid so if that is available that is always where I will take him. If not he can easily gank on safe lane so that help with getting gold as well. Dying is the worst thing you can when trying my build because you have to make all your gold count. That is why when I am buying items that require several pieces, as soon as I have the gold for one piece early game I buy it up before I somehow die and loose much needed gold. Another key aspect is to always make sure you have your Poison Attack auto-casting when fighting enemy heroes. Viper does have a decent DPS without Poison Attack but in my experience it tends to rattle the enemy and cause them to flee rather than engage. And if they do engage they try and run halfway through the fight which make them even more easy pickings. Also if your not sure if the enemy is regrouping keep your poison attack on. Even if you have to attack a few creeps with it it will definitely help if the enemy hero does decide to come back. A key element to Vipers success is vision. The only way the enemy can harm or kill you is if you cannot see them. Even high damage volume heroes like Ursa will fall before if you can get vision on them before they can touch you. Even if Ursa activates his ultimate and you hit him with Viper Attacks, then have Poison Attack auto casting with a Sange and Yasha the bear will fall before you. I would however try to avoid heroes like Sven. In Sven's ultimate along with War Cry still make him move at a good speed and his ability Cleave makes it easy for him to hit you with a little distance between you. Only engage Sven in a team fight when you can quickly dispose of him. Even if it comes to a point where you have an Octorine Core, Sven is just one of those heroes most of the time you cannot kill alone. Same goes for Huskar, because he can heal and close the distance very quickly. Interesting heroes I have found success against, with vision of course, is Ursa, Axe, and Pudge. These heroes most of the time would make people cringe, but that might not always be the case with these strong heroes. As long as you can see them you can hit them with Viper Attack you can kill them. This in combination with Sange and Yasha can make them to slow to have an effective counter if caught alone. Especially after Aghanim's Scepter where your cool down rate drops to just 12 seconds. Just be sure you have your Poison Attack auto-casting because a lot of damage will come from the poison itself. There are also a few heroes with ranged ability that you may not wanna initiate with for obvious reasons. The two I have in mind in particular are Drow Ranger and Blood Seeker for their silencing ranged abilities. The success of Viper has a lot to do with successful combinations of his skills. If you not able to use your skills you have to rely on your ability to tank and take damage. I know this is what I built this build for but abilities like Frozen Arrow and Rupture are never fun to try and fight against. This is why items like Octorine Core come into play so you can gain a little life even when retreating. Strong supports make this build a lot of fun, and with a good team especially in team fight to assist after you have initiated, enemy team will have no answers for you. Crystal Maiden and Drow Ranger are great supports to have because of their skills with mana regen and increased range accuracy. Speed is your best friend with my build so the faster you can attack the more it will slow and the harder you become to kill. Eventually the enemy team will have to resort to items like Blink Dagger, Shadow Blade, or Dagon and you can sit back and laugh as they all use all their items, ults, and abilities to try and kill you while your team runs rampant on them. Even so is you have some well placed wards you will still see the attacks coming and laugh as you continue to frustrate the enemy team.
I know my build is a little different. But that is why I purposely made this build. Many people think you can only build a hero one way. There are certain things you have to do with each hero. But that is not always the case. "Obey the principles without being bound by them."- Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee would also go on to say that those who only live within the set guidelines can never reach a higher potential. So please try my build have some fun with on a pub match or two. Like I said in the beginning I use this build in ranked matches and he is my most successful hero. Well I actually have a kinda carry Witch Doctor that is my most Successful but his build if one for another day haha. Please don't post unless you have tried my build. I am open to critiques, I mean we all want to strive to be better.
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