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109 Votes

(UPDATED) 8/20/17 Pusher | DPS | Extreme AOE Damage

August 20, 2017 by Compressicep
Comments: 82    |    Views: 683047    |   


Build 1
Build 2

Pusher | DPS

DotA2 Hero: Venomancer




Hero Skills

Venomous Gale

1 5 9 12

Poison Sting

2 3 7 8

Plague Ward

4 10 13 14

Noxious Plague

6 11 16

Talents

15 17 18

Prologue | My reasoning | THIS GUIDE IS A WIP (WORK IN PROGRESS)

I've played over 200 (over multiple beta accounts) games with Venomancer and figured it was time to make a guide for him as I just don't feel like the guides currently up on this site do him justice. I realize a lot of people like to build heroes away from what they were originally designed for and that's great!.

But after all is said and done, he is a versatile hero and can dish out heavy DPS and PUSH lanes like a boss. One thing to keep in mind is Venomancer is looked at by the community as a whole as a support class as well, meaning if you get into the game and they really don't have a dedicated support class you need to man up and buy the courier etc. Despite Venomancer being a solid DPSer/PUSHer he is NOT a CARRY!! Will you get kills? But after all is said and done you should not be playing Venomancer to carry a game for your team, does that mean it won't ever happen? No, you may end up being the one with the most kills/farm but you should be focusing on supporting your main carries and helping in team fights with your absurd ultimate.

Taking the role as a support if it's necessary is ok, buying some wards and buying the courrier, along with upgraded courier is a role you can take on easily if necessary. I mean your ultimate is basically a SUPPORT ultimate, it can deal a ton of damage as a DoT and really level the playing field in a team fight. Thats what its intended to do and you should be using it for team fights first and foremost. Getting comfortable with the range of his ultimate is a key factor into using Venomancer to really mesh with a team and being successful in team fights. (I can't express that enough).

Why did I say support at all though? Well his Venomous Gale (Q) and his Poison Nova (R) can be considered a huge supporting factor for your team, not just you. Understanding when to best use his ultimate can be the determining factor in constantly winning team fights and being known as a good Venomancer player or not. "Don't be that guy who is trying to carry with VM." Let the real carries have that role and you'll win.

I will be continually working on this guide but just keep in mind its a WORK IN PROGRESS. It will be considerably better in the coming weeks!

Tournament Build (Information)

The tournament build I've added is after careful thought and watching multiple pro games of Venomancer played by EG.Bdiz[RC] from the team Evil Genious.

Check out GAME ID : 116119654

Playing Venomancer in this type is not something that most people will generally do just because its specificially made for a support role with a very focused/dedicated team where everybody on that team has one role, you specifically being a support role in which you are NOT taking farm from the carry you are with and you are NOT trying to be a carry, your sole purpose is to support and help create ganks.

Your sole role as Venomancer really is to support the carries and you will be using your Venomous Gale and his auto attack which applies slows to help gank in general. Putting wards and sentry wards down is pretty much what you will be doing the entire length of the game while making sure your carries get all the farm and support thats necessary to win the game.

You can try playing this build in a PUBLIC GAME, but I cannot promise it will work as its not nearly organized and there just isnt enough communication going on in most public games to make this work successfully. In some scenarios it might work.

Lore




In the Acid Jungles of Jidi Isle, poison runs in the veins and bubbles in the guts of every creature that scuttles, climbs or swoops between fluorescent vines dripping with caustic sap. Yet even in this toxic menagerie, Venomancer is acknowledged as the most venomous. Ages ago, an Herbalist named Lesale crossed the Bay of Fradj by coracle, searching for potent essences that might be extracted from bark and root, and found instead a nightmare transformation.

Two leagues into Jidi's jungle, Lesale encountered a reptile camouflaged as an epiphyte, which stung him as he mistakenly plucked it. In desperation, he used his partial knowledge of the jungle's herbal bounty, mixing the venom of the (swiftly throttled) reptile with the nectar of an armored orchid, to compound an antidote. In the moments before a black paralysis claimed him completely, he injected himself by orchid-thorn, and instantly fell into a coma. Seventeen years later, something stirred in the spot where he had fallen, throwing off the years' accumulation of humus: Venomancer. Lesale the Herbalist no longerbut Lesale the Deathbringer. His mind was all but erased, and his flesh had been consumed and replaced by a new type of matterone fusing the venom of the reptile with the poisonous integument of the orchid. Jidi's Acid Jungles knew a new master, one before whom even the most vicious predators soon learned to bow or burrow for their lives. The lurid isle proved too confining, and some human hunger deep in the heart of the Venomancer drove Lesale out in search of new poisonsand new deaths to bring.

Ability Details

Casting Method: Active
Targeting Method: Point
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units


Venomous Gale

Key Bind: Q

Poisons enemies so that they take both initial damage and damage over time, as well as suffering slowed movement. Slow starts at 50% and decreases as time passes. Venomous Gale deals damage every 3 seconds over its duration.

**Let me say this again! THIS IS NOT AN ABILITY TO BE SPAMMED IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THIS GAME. At level 1 it has little damage and should be more used as a SUPPORT ability early on to help get ganks off or save yourself from a ganking by slowing others.

Range: 800
Area: 125
Duration: 15.1
Strike Damage: 50 / 70 / 70 / 100
Periodic Damage: 10 / 20 / 40 / 50
Periodic Damage Interval: 3

Mana Cost: 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 Cool down Time: 2





Casting Method
: Passive
Targeting Method: Unit
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units


Poison Sting

Key Bind: W

Adds poison damage to Venomancer's normal attacks, slowing movement speed.
Duration: 7
Damage Per Second: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20
Movement Speed Slow: 11% / 12% / 13% / 14%



Casting Method: Active
Targeting Method: Point
Allowed Targets: Any Unit


Plague Ward

Key Bind: E

Summons a plague ward to attack enemies. The ward is immune to magic.
Cast Range: 850
Ward Duration: 40
Ward Health: 75 / 200 / 325 / 450
Ward Damage: 11 / 21 / 32 / 42




Casting Method: Active
Targeting Method: Instant
Allowed Targets: Enemy Units


Poison Nova


Key Bind: R

**This is Venomancers most important skill, you must be comfortable in knowing the range of this ultimate as it can more often then not mean the difference in winning team fights or not, If you are getting focused, it is IMPERATIVE to at the very least get your ultimate off, once a team fight starts within 3-5 seconds you need to be getting your ultimate off and making sure it hits as many of them as possible, DO NOT WAIT TO GET THIS OFF, YOU WILL HINDER YOUR TEAMS SUCCESS.[/

A spreading ring of poison that does damage over time. UPGRADABLE: Increases damage and duration, and decreases cool down.
Area: 830
Duration: 12 (14*) / 14 (15*) / 15 (16*)
Damage Per Second: 36 (58*) / 58 (81*) / 81 (108*)


Mana Cost: 200 / 300 / 400
Cool down Time: 140 / 120 / 100 (60*)

* = Aghanims Sceptre (This is why its a must)

Pros | Cons

Pro's



+ Fantastic Laner
+ One of the best pushers in the game
+ Free Wards
+ Best team fight ultimate in game
+ Lots of slow abilities
+ Lots of CC

Con's


- Low armor / HP
- Small mana pool until mid game
- YOU will get focused! (REALIZE THE RANGE OF YOUR ULTIMATE!!)
- No real burst damage
- Low base movement speed

Items Overview

Honestly most items are extremely situational based on who you are playing against. But what I've done here is a real cookie cutter item build but it honestly works fantastic for it being pretty straight forward.

I don't insert couriers or scrolls as I want people to fit those in where they feel they should fit in and kind of customize that aspect as you guys see fit.

You'll notice that I have theAghanim's Sceptre pretty early because I feel it's the most important item solely because it plays a such an important role in Venomancers ultimate, making him one of the deadliest champions in team fights.

After much debate and discussion, I wanted to also mention that purchasing a Force Staff or Shadow Blade as their first major item is a possibility (Force Staff is rather inexpensive and could be purchased first then go onto a Aghanim's or Shadow Blade). My suggestion with the Shadow Blade is going that route means you are going to be rather aggressive and can really ramp up the damage. Where Aghanims is going to boost HP / Mana / Ultimate.

After spending a serious amount of time I again feel that Aghanims Scepter is a MUST have FIRST core item you should be purchasing with Venomancer, purchasing the pieces to it based on conditions in your current game as I discuss later.

Starting Game Items Explanation

Im going to base it off going mid as I regularly go mid with him but regardless of you NOT going mid, this will still work.

First and foremost after buying your initial starting items no matter what you do this entire game you need to NOT be greedy! Keep in mind as Venomancer you are not a full blown crazy killing machine (you will be later though).

I like getting 2xTango's because its just more lane staying power, giving you the opportunity to stay in the lane longer and even be more aggressive knowing you have extra. You should be able to comfortably stay in the lane and be somewhat aggressive while amassing roughly 1200-1500 gold before going back. In most cases someone will have purchased aCourier at that point.

Some people are dead set on buyingSlippers of Agility but I skip those forRing of Protection as I like that it builds right intoRing of Basilus. It's your guys call, so try it both ways!


With only 1 skill point in Venomous Gale and a very small mana pool you should not be spamming this ability at all, in these early stages it should be use solely to harass your enemy when a good opportunity arises, when you land your Q go in for 1-2 auto attacks on him as well.

Your second and third skill points should be going into Poison Sting, it is a PASSIVE ability and uses no MANA and helps you kill EVERYTHING better. More damage to last hit creeps and more damage to harass enemy heroes is an absolute MUST. Each skill point into Poison Sting gives your auto attack an additional 5 poison damage maxing out at 20 with 4 points.

Your fourth skill point goes into Plague Ward as its important not necessarily to be using it to kill creeps or heroes but more for your own safety, again because spamming these at level four with your extremely small mana pool is counter productive. Use them as WARDS to save your *** from getting ganked or just keeping an eye out in the forest for your team.

You can place these wards at a very nice range and I can't begin to tell you how many times of gotten a kill from a retreating champion thinking they got away!

Mid | Late Game Items Explanation

Your 5th point should be going back into Venomous Gale which puts that at level 2 now. At this point again you still need to be cautious of your mana pool as its still small and the initial starting and mid game items that I purchase aren't going to be helping you with your mana problems so you still have to be mana smart.

If you've been last hitting like crazy which you should have been you'll be well on your way to yourPOWER TREADS. The reason why POWER TREADS are the only boot you should EVER get as Venomancer is because you can get them early and you can choose between Agility, Strength and Intelligence. This is EXTREMELY important because you can change depending on the scenario you're in and this will be beneficial throughout the entire game.

I think its very important to mention that the items you purchase towards Aghanim's Sceptre should be purchased based on how the game is going, if you need more HP get the Ogre Club first, if you need more mana and HP get the Point Booster.

Your sixth skill point should naturally be going into your ultimate. As I said in my prologue I stated how important your ultimate is to you and your team and knowing when and where to use this can ultimately mean the difference between winning and losing the game. WITHOUT question NO matter what you should be ALWAYS getting Aghanim's Sceptre, it gives your ultimate that much more damage and makes it that much more of a game changer. I know the first thing I do after myPower Treads I start building Aghamim's Sceptre, its that important!

Remember your ultimate has an extremely large radius and only gets larger as its leveled, the animation for it is very deceiving to the point you will feel like you need to be right next to people but that is NOT THE CASE, get comfortable to knowing the ultimates radius based on the points you have in it!

I'm not going to try to tell you guys word for word what I do because I read enough guides and lets be honest, for the most part other then knowing what skills to skill up first and what items to buy and when to buy them we all kinda stray away from there and do our own thing.

Conclusion

First and foremost I'm not perfect as I said in my prologue feel free to give me constructive criticism! I'm sure I messed up punctuation or spelling somewhere!

I'll be regularly updating and changing this guide as I go so keep an eye out.


This guide is a work in progress and I'm going to be constantly updating this and fine tuning it!!!!


UPDATES LOG

*Updated 8/20/17
*Updated some information and Item suggestions. 1-15-2013
*Added Force Staff to Situation/Late game items. 2-19-2013
*Added more detailed information in item discussion based on Shadow Blade / Aghanims. 2-19-2013

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