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3 Votes

Venomurder | A Guide to Venomancer

October 24, 2015 by RATE THIS HIGHLY
Comments: 8    |    Views: 29726    |   


Build 1
Build 2

Early Burst Damage+Kill Securing

DotA2 Hero: Venomancer




Hero Skills

Venomous Gale

1 4 5 7

Poison Sting

2 8 9 10

Plague Ward

3 12 13 14

Noxious Plague

6 11 16

Talents

15

Skill Build

At first level, having a point into Venomous Gale is good for securing early kills in lane, and can help in securing an early rune for your carry or mid. Generally this is a good idea and can often get your team a first blood, but if you wish to avoid early confrontation then it would probably be better to get a point into Poison Sting to help with lane harassment. Afterwards however, you should continue to max Venomous Gale because the early kill potential is better than the harassment that upgraded wards and poison sting will grant.

As far as the rest of the skill build goes, maxing Poison Sting earlier than Plague Ward is generally a better idea because Sting benefits your damage and your wards' damage simultaneously.

Item Build

Starting Items
This starting items consist of

1 X Tango
2 X Clarity
1 X Ring of Protection
2 X Iron Branch

This should leave you with 100g

The tangos and clarities give you and your laning partner enough HP and MANA regeneration for the early game, allowing you to use your Venom Gale without as much consequence, and spam your wards in lane to either acquire last hits while your carry is out of lane. The
Ring of Protection gives you some more armor which is always good, and can transition into a Ring of Basilius. And Iron Branches are for good old stats OR can transition into a Magic Wand if you happen to be laning against a Bristleback, Skywrath Mage, ECT.

IF you need to buy the Animal Courier, I would recommend sacrificing an Iron Branch in order to purchase it.


Early Game
In the early game, the first thing you should do is transform your Ring of Protection into a Ring of Basilius. Afterwards, simply purchase Boots of Speed.

-The Ring of Basilius will give you mana some much needed MANA regeneration

-The Boots of Speed will give you mobility which is always good, and can help you position your Venomous Gales


Core/Midgame
FIRST AND FOREMOST
You need Arcane Boots if you are going to be able to last very long without having to return to the fountain. It is also an important support item in general, and can help out a teammate if they need some MANA.

Afterwards
You should get an Aghanim's Scepter and a Blink Dagger

You may choose the order in which you purchase these.

If you are confident in your ability to land successful Poison Novas without a Blink Dagger, go for Aghanim's Scepter. It makes your ultimate even more amazing and the extra stats are always appreciated.

If you need it for the particular game that you are in, Blink Dagger is a must. It is more important to be able to land good Poison Novas that it is to land higher damage but less successful ones.

BUT YOU SHOULD PURCHASE BOTH

Mekansm
Venomancer is a good Mekansm carrier. He benefits from the extra survivability, and is generally in fights enough for his team to benefit from it. You may consider purchasing a mek BEFORE your Aghanim's Scepter or Blink Dagger, however this depends on when your team may need it. (If your team is engaging in fights early, you should probably go for it quickly)


Extensions

Black King Bar:
If you feel like you need spell immunity after preforming initiations, purchase a BKB before considering anything else. This item is important for surviving after you initiate.

Veil of Discord:
This item is good if you feel like you are falling off in spell damage. Just remember to apply it to your enemies before using Poison Nova or Venomous Gale.

Force Staff:
Great mobility item. Good for for moving, escaping, and gives you a bit more intelligence. (However MANA shouldn't be a problem at this point)

Scythe of Vyse:
This item is good for singling out targets, weather you are trying to stop enemies from escaping, or keeping one from killing you. Also the stat gain should not go unnoticed.

Octarine Core:
Lower cooldowns? Spell lifesteal? More HP and MANA? Whats not to love. This is more of a luxury item if you are already confident with your ability to kill people.

Works Well With:

Venomancer works well with carries that can be aggressive in the laning phase, especially those that benefit from a powerful slow. ( Venomous Gale)

Ursa: Ursa's powerful rightclick damage from Fury Swipes and Overpower in the early game is very powerful with Venomancer's slow.

Slardar: This guy can hurt a lot early on, and while he already has a good stun, Venomous Gale helps close the gap allowing him to get more hits in.

Undying: Decent rightclicker and Decay means that the high damage output from your spells will bring enemies down lower and faster because they have a lower max health.

Honestly his, ability to harass and amazing/high damage slow causes him to work well with almost anyone. These were simply the best in practice. He is just a very powerful support.

Works Well Against

Venomancer works well against squishy heroes that can taken down by his Venomous Gale and a few rightclick attacks.

Dazzle: Dazzle is squishy and can be killed fairly easily if caught out, but most importantly, Venomancer's Damage Over Time spells work very well against Shallow Grave.

Templar Assassin: Templar Assassin's Refraction is easily broken by Venomancer's Damage Over Time.

Luna: (Along with other heroes with no natural escape mechanism) Luna is squishy and has no way to escape being chased down by Venomancer, and can't put up with the harass without an active babysitter.

Lich: Generally for the same reason that Luna is vulnerable. Another thing worth mentioning is that Ice Armor does not protect against Venomancer's magic damage output.

Is Countered By

Venomancer isn't very strong against people with good regeneration HP who can stand up to his harass or any form of escape mechanisms.

Antimage: His Blink can get him out of any sticky situation that your slow can put him in. (Same applies to Queen of Pain)

Faceless Void: He too has an escape mechanism ( Time Walk) AND can evade some of your Venomous Gale Tick with Backtrack (This is not a big deal. It's just like icing on the cake coupled with his escape.)

Ogre Magi: Ogre has a lot of natural HP regeneration and honestly, his spells may end up doing more damage to you then your's do to him.

Dragon Knight: His Dragon Blood allows him to deal with Veno's harass.

Gameplay

The gameplay for a lane support Venomancer is fairly simple.

IN LANE
In lane, Poison Sting is a great way to harass your enemies. It is annoying and can add up to some good damage

Your wards can be placed behind the enemy creepwave and can deny you enemies access to farm in the lane. If you are against melee heroes, you can punish them for attacking your wards with your normal rightclick attacks. If not, your Plague Wards will put in good damage against range heroes, and you should be able to phase the, out of lane very easily.

If your lane plans to be aggressive early on, landing Venomous Gales is important. The slow coupled with the poison is a death sentence to any enemy that manages to get caught out. (Be sure you coordinate with your laning partner when releasing a Gale, so they can help you follow it up with rightclicks or other spells)


FARMING PATTERNS
Like most lane supports durring the laning phase, you should only take lasthits if
A. The carry would not be able to get them anyways
B. The carry is out of lane
C. You are jungling and are not needed in lane


After the laning phase ends, you should be active in fights, but if you happen to find some time in which no fighting is going on, you may jungle or use the lane freely (Again, provided that carries are not using said spaces)

JUNGLING
If you are not needed in lane, you can jungle by using your Plague Wards and baiting the creeps into them. You can have up to 8 wards active at once, which should be enough to kill creeps at a good speed.

ROAMING
Venomous Gale is a strong ability to roam with. You can move to another lane and if you land your Venomous Gale, you should be able to secure a kill with the help of the other heroes in lane.

ONLY ROAM IF YOU ARE NOT NEEDED IN LANE

FIGHTING
You should be very involved in fights. Remember to carry Town Portal Scrolls in order to reach fights quickly when you are needed. Your goal is to hit as many players with BOTH a Venomous Gale and a Poison Nova. If these two are applied to a target (or multiple) it can often lead to guaranteed kills.
REMEMBER: Poison Nova will not kill targets on its own. It will always leave them at 1 HP. You have to apply another form of DOT in order to secure kills with it.

Feedback Please.

This is my first guide and I am aware that it is not very good. (Not necessarily from a gameplay perspective but more from a formatting and general design)

I would like to continue doing this and feedback to help me improve as someone who makes guides would be much appreciated.

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