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Animal Courier
Tango
Orb of Venom
Arcane Boots
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Glimmer Cape
Force Staff
Meteor Hammer
Aether Lens
Guardian Greaves
Blink Dagger
Shiva's Guard
Refresher Orb
Magic Wand
Infused Raindrops
Tranquil Boots
Soul Ring
Spirit Vessel
Solar Crest
Rod of Atos
Lotus Orb
Scythe of Vyse
Kaya
Town Portal Scroll
Observer and Sentry Wards
Tome of Knowledge
Smoke of Deceit
Dust of Appearance
Gem of True Sight
Bounty Rune
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1 | 8 | 9 | 11 |  |
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2 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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4 | 13 | 14 | 16 |  |
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6 | 12 | 18 |  |
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10 | 15 |
Winter Wyvern,also known as Auroth, is one of the most well-rounded supports in Dota2. She has an extremely strong potential to turn games around and to counter-initiate the enemy team if positioned correctly. I fell in love with the Wyvern ever since her release in Dota1. She quickly became one of my favorite and most-played heroes when released in Dota2.
Io , 
Keeper of the Light , and 
Enigma, the key to playing Winter Wyvern right is to communicate effectively with your teammates; Executing an excellent Winter's Curse followed up by your team taking advantage of the enemy team clumped together needs to have the team communicating. Same goes with Cold Embrace as it could be fatal to whomever you are using it on since you are disabling that player for the full duration of the skill. Now I'm not saying that communication is only needed when playing those heroes, communication is key in all MOBA games. However, it is most critical playing those heroes. You need to inform your teammates of what's in your mind and to communicate effectively with them to execute that beautiful combo; After all, you don't want 
Earthshaker and Winter Wyvern to cast their ultimates together because of lack of communication.
Winter's Curse is one of the bigger ultimates in the game that turn games around Splinter Blast and Winter's Curse is low and requires setting up and a keen eye+fast response.
Phantom Assassin and 
Troll Warlord
Meepo and those with summons like Brood Mother and 
Nature's Prophet.
Ravage and 
Black Hole and you want to counter that with a heavy AOE ultimate yourself. Remember that it pierces 
Black King Bar
Zeus and 
Tinker
Slark and 
Huskar. Cold Embrace like 
Skywrath Mage
Timbersaw and 
Pugna. And those with spells that require a delay as we mentioned like 
Lina and 
Leshrac In this chapter, I will be listing information and facts about Winter Wyvern's stats and skills that I believe most people don't know. Now I won't bore you with basic stuff about what each and every skill does. If you don't already know Winter Wyvern's skill set, I advise you to watch this video and to try her out a couple of minutes in Demo mode.
Winter Wyvern's base stats, Click Here! Winter Wyvern has a low distribution of stats! Which is entirely false; here is Winter Wyvern's rank in stat distributions vs all 40 intelligence heroes in Dota2: Winter Wyvern has 24 base strength at level 1 making her the 2nd most intelligence hero with starting base strength with 
Jakiro being the 1st having 25 starting base strength!
Ogre Magi having a skin as thick and hard as his head is being the 1st with 107 total base strength. Winter Wyvern ranks the 14th in Base Agility at level 1 with 16 base Agility while Outworld Devourer tops that list with a base Agility of 24.
Silencer having the most base Agility between Intelligence heroes at lvl 25 with 94 base Agility. Winter Wyvern isn't even in the top half of the list of heroes with most armor. She has 1.29 starting armor. Winter Wyvern is ranked the 7th among all heroes in Dota2 in total base Intelligence at level 25 with a base Intelligence of 99.4! This is no wonder since she is an Eldwurm herself who reads a lot of books as you can see in the picture below. Pugna tops that list with a total of 134 total base intelligence at level 25.
Winter Wyvern is one of the heroes with the least damage output with a maximum starting damage of 45. This is why her first skill, "Arctic burn", is really vital in the early stages of the game for kiting and harassment since it gives Auroth the boost she needs to both her damage output and range. Winter Wyvern has a very low movement speed of 285; which is why most guides try to build items around this weakness and boost her lack of speed by buying her 
Wind Lace, Eul's Scepter of Divinity, or even 
Drum of Endurance
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade doesn't only make the skill toggelable but it also refreshes the debuff placed on the enemy! Winter Wyvern a flying unit, it doesn't give her flying vision but gives her night vision. Arctic Burn is Winter Wyvern's harassment and kiting/zoning skill in the early stages of the game. Since most offlaners are durable and tanky, this skill is one of the greatest harassment tools in the laning stage as it deals 9% of the enemy's current health as bonus damage. That means laning against high hp heroes like 
Bristleback , 
Axe, 
Kunkka,
Clockwerk, or even 
Faceless Void alongside many other heroes will give you an advantage since you are turning their strength against them. Arctic Burn gives our Wyvern unobstructed pathing jut like 
Firefly, and 
Hunter in the Night, you can use it to surprise the offlaner out of no where for your carry to follow up with his skills like 
Juggernaut's 
Blade Fury or Slark's 
Pounce and the list goes on .. Arctic Burn given you have the vision.
Arctic Burn gives is also really helpful when you have to flee enemies especially when encountering roamers while you are on your way to that delicious Bounty Rune. You can fly over terrains and over trees and get to safety. Watch how EG player, Cr1t, managed to escape from Slark using Arctic Burn
Winter Wyvern to solo gank mid as she has no stuns or lockdown abilities such as 
Fissure, or 
Shackles even with a 
Rune of Invisibility for example. So you will be wasting your time in a hopeless gank instead of pulling creeps or stacking neutrals. Watch how the pro player Cr1t wasted time ganking Outworld Devourer.
Arctic Burn is that it consumes a lot of mana at level 1 ~ 120 Mana which is almost 1/3 of Winter Wyvern's Mana Pool at level 1. Arctic Burn also has a long cooldown of 50 seconds at level one! So you gotta be careful when you are trying to ward or take a rune as your only mean of escape might either need more mana or be on cooldown. Arctic Burn can be used at the beginning of teamfights were enemies have high current HP. It can also be used in grave situations to escape. Arctic Burn gives is not to be underestimated; It gives 400 bonus night vision which is much greater than what a consumed 
Moon Shard gives (150 night vision) and still greater than the night vision bonus of a non consumed Moon Shard (300 night vision). Arctic Burn's night vision bonus along with the gigantic bonus attack range can be used to surprise enemies and to find pickoffs! Arctic Burn gives you and fly over terrain to ward a deep ward or even to deward from distance!
Phase Shift or 
Chemical Rage as it still will produce the secondary projectiles. You can however dodge the secondary projectile using the mentioned abilities.
Linken's Sphere especially that it has an amazing cast range of 1200 and a relatively low cooldown of 7 seconds. This is especially useful when you are fighting a 
Weaver or escape heroes like 
Ember Spirit and 
Storm Spirit! Winter Wyvern in his games using Splinter Blast when chasing down a fleeing enemy! Always keep in mind when using Splinter Blast that the target doesn't get affected in anyway! That means no slow no damage no anything. Splinter Blast needs a lot of mana just like Arctic Burn~ 120 mana at level 1 ! It then increases by 10 for every level. I generally prefer to max this spell first as it really help Winter Wyvern in getting some gold or xp and in "securing" early kills and pickoffs. Winter Wyvern actually has an ability that clear waves! When you are going from a place to place and you pass by the middle lane, spit a Splinter Blast on that Seige Creep and watch your gold ticking! Splinter Blasts and get that Glimmer Cape you've always dreamed of getting but couldn't because you had to buy Observer and Sentry Wards and support the team. Splinter Blast quite often. Try to target creeps, if any, and damage + slow all nearby enemies. If there are no creep units available, target the higher hp heroes to help kill whomever your team is killing and to minimize the possibility of that enemy escaping. Nature's Prophet, and Enigma as you clear their summons by a couple of Splinter Blasts and gain quite a lot of money out of them. Splinter Blast is the large mana cost this spell require. The radius for pulling off the secondary effect of this spell is kinda small ~ 500 radius ~ and will require setting up to hit multiple units.
Cold Embrace makes your allied target invincible to physical attacks, secondary affects like 
Mana Break and 
Essence Shift still effect the poor embraced fella. Glimmer Cape and Force Staff can both work on a Cold Embraced target Town Portal Scroll, you can always tick the "disable help option" beside that specific troll user. Cold Embrace is one of the abilities that make drafters think about Winter Wyvern in the lineup. This skill counters heavy right clicker very well; Such heroes like 
Drow Ranger, [Troll Warlord]] , Phantom Assassin and many other heroes are countered heavily by this spell. Cold Embrace right. A lot of players, for example, still confuse 
Exorcism for a Magical type instead of Physical. Using Cold Embrace against enemies with Pure and Magical type skills will not only be hindered useless, but will negate the chances of survival of the Cold Embraced target as you are disabling them for the full duration for the ability! Winter Wyvern players do the mistake of embracing an ally against 
Spectre whose 
Desolate is of Pure type! Cold Embrace recklessly will put your allied hero to danger since he is disabled and exposed to a lot of abilities such as 
Meat Hook , 
Sacred Arrow , 
Hookshot and many many other abilities. You might also be warming the prey for the enemy team if they have abilities that go off after a delay like 
Light Strike Array and 
Split Earth; So be careful when using it and tell the one you are using it on that you are going to Cold Embrace him if possible, you don't want him to rage quit after he pressed that Town Portal Scroll at the same moment you targeted him to Cold Embrace! Cold Embrace is almost always maxed last as it doesn't really offer much in the early to mid game since most allies won't have that high maximum hp. It is basically just skilled to save allies in dire situations against physical attacks and since the duration doesn't increase with levels, it is best to keep it at level 1 until later on in the game. Cold Embrace can be used on the creep the enemy tower is targeting when that creep is low on hp to both heal him/her? and make that creep invulnerable to the tower's attacks thus help push the lane.
Repel from 
Omniknight pairs well with Cold Embrace as it will make one allied unit invulnerable to both Magical and Physical damage. Repel has a duration of 4 seconds from level 1 which is exactly the same duration as Cold Embrace. What could be better?! You can't read that without hearing the sound of 
Crystal Maiden echoing through your ears!Same goes with 
Oracle's 
Fate's Edict as it makes a target invulnerable to Magical damage and it has the same duration as [Cold Embrace]] starting level 3. Cold Embrace. Winter Wyvern to be able turn off or cancel out Cold Embrace just like 
Bane can cancel out his 
Nightmare. Others suggested for Auroth to be able to target Splinter Blast into a Cold Embraced ally. I find both suggestions to be truly reasonable but even more reasonable if they would implement it as a talent upgrade instead of that useless "+1 second Cold Embrace Duration".
Black King Bar but won't taunt (turn enemies against their allies) those under that Black King Bar effect. Winter's Curse target, most notably: 
Coup de Grace, critical strike from 
Daedalus, 
Corrosive Skin , 
Counter Helix , and 
Blade Mail. 
Time Lock 
Greater Bash and 
Monkey King Bar , 
Headshot , 
Desolator's armor reduction, and 
Eye of Skadi. Winter's Curse is what everyone know Winter Wyvern for! It is her best and strongest ability. Winter's Curse can be used in many different situations such as: Crystal Maiden or 
Ancient Apparition when that hero is beside the fat farmed carry. This will allow for you to have the advantage of fighting 4v5 and can potentially be the reason you win the whole next teamfight! Winter's Curse has a rather small radius of 500 but has a decent cast range of 800. This can allow the team to follow up with their big ultimates such as Black Hole , 
Freezing Field , or even 
Death Ward. It can also be extremely fatal to the enemy team if you have a 
Sven in your team ready to slaughter them with a couple of hits with his 
Great Cleave or Ember Spirit with 
Sleight of Fist , Phantom Assassin with 
Battle Fury and so on .. Winter's Curse: is to catch up fleeing enemies when you have no Eul's Scepter of Divinity or Rod of Atos at your disposal and you want to stop that enemy hero from moving and allow yourself and your team to catchup and follow up the execution. Watch below how Winter Wyvern reveals Slark with a 
Sentry Ward and uses Winter's Curse on him for her teammates to catchup.
Town Portal Scroll or another channeled ability like Death Ward , Freezing Field, or even 
Epicenter before it goes off. Winter Wyvern, I almost always use Winter's Curse Defensively to either Counter-Initiate or to basically stun a unit under BKB and waste that Black King Bar usage.
Enraged 
Ursa while he is under the effect of Black King Bar and you want to use anything to stop him from ripping your team apart, that is when you use Winter's Curse and cancel out his Enrage ability and Black King Bar to follow up with your stuns and disables. Winter's Curse is to counter-initiate the enemy team with it. You basically have to lurk between the trees and Fog-of-War and wait for the enemy's initiator to .. well .. initiate and Winter Curse him as soon as the enemy's teammates follow up with his initiation. Think of 
Magnus , 
Tidehunter , or even Earthshaker.
Mirana baits the enemy Earthshaker and his team to initiate only for Winter Wyvern to counter that with her brutal ultimate!
Bounty Rune; it is safe in this situation to use Winter's Curse and disable them all while you teleport to base. It is a similar usage to the 
Song of the Siren use+tp. Watch how Winter Wyvern was caught by Slark placing a sentry and had to use Winter's Curse tp buy some time to safety.
Arctic Burn at level 1 as it grants us a very good chance getting first blood with it either in contesting runes or in lane vs the offlaner. Arctic Burn together with Orb of Venom slows the enemy a lot and gives Winter Wyvern a lot of potential to harass the enemy offlaner out of the lane. Splinter Blast and try to max it out first at level 7. Splinter Blast is also a great harassment ability which you can use on a ranged creep whenever the enemy offlaner gets near with a long cast range. You generally want to max Splinter Blast first as it greatly helps you get the gold you need for items and the exp to level up! Cold Embrace at level 4 and keep it at level 1 until we have nothing else to level up. As we mentioned, most heroes have little hp in early-mid game and the 1% extra hp regen the skill gives isn't really that big of a deal by then. We skill it once to have that powerful ability to stop all incoming physical attacks. Winter's Curse at level 6,12,and 18. This is your signature ability and the skill that the enemy fears the most! Arctic Burn as soon as we finish maxing Splinter Blast. Arctic Burn scales really well with levels and it is a rally good spell at all stages of the game.
Smoke of Deceit and Observer and Sentry Wards. However, the +50 Damage is also a very good choice especially when paired with Arctic Burn! Arctic Burn gives, the +600 Night Vision is insane! The +350 HP isn't at all bad especially if you are getting kited a lot and you are dying a lot but generally and if you are playing right, you really don't need the extra raw hp and it's really much better to choose the night vision. Cold Embrace duration and +15% Arctic Burn Slow Winter Wyvern's previously lvl 25 talent of +15% Arctic Burn to lvl 20! Both talents are great, however, if you are rarely using your Cold Embrace because there are many magical users against you (think about Pugna , Skywrath Mage , 
Invoker, and many others) then your best option is to choose the increase in Arctic Burn's damage. I never really chose the -5 Cold Embrace since going from 15 seconds CD to 10 isn't really something I felt like I needed especially too late in the game when you are level 20! Arctic Burn's slow a ridiculous 55%! This amount is really high and not to be taken lightly. Arctic Burn upgrade as it is more critical and much more game winning than reducing Cold Embrace's cooldown by five seconds. Winter's Curse Duration and Splinter Blast 2s Stun. Splinter Blast upgrade makes our Ice Dragon have a 2s stun every 7 seconds from a cast range of 1200! This is a really great talent especially with heroes that pull heroes together like Magnus and 
Dark Seer. This talent choice is especially great with Aether Lens as you can spit from really really far away and do significant amounts of damage and 2s stun. Winter's Curse's duration = 6.25! Imagine being able to disable the whole enemy team for a 6.25 seconds! Black King Bar which can be critical in many situations. You can even kill the tankiest tanks with this upgraded Winter's Curse if you caught him up with his team's damage dealer. The Splinter Blast upgrade is a really good one and it really depends on the game but this talent is generally more critical in games especially in your role as a counter-initiator.
Total cost = 625
Animal Courier ask the other support or roamer to give you an 
Observer Ward to place it in the safe lane to see incoming ganks or rotations. Buy Tango and give the mid hero a 
Tango (Shared) if he wants one. Animal Courier, you don't have the money to buy a 
Clarity anymore so buy it as soon as you can later on since Winter Wveryn's abilities cost a lot of mana so you need to get a Clarity. Wind Lace instead of Orb of Venom, it is understandable since the Wyvern lacks movement speed and critically needs it. I don't think that you do need it however if you are going safe lane. Getting an Orb of Venom almost always guarantee that first blood. You can then proceed with the earning money to buy a Wind Lace.
Winter Wyvern needs a lot of mana and this item provides that to you and your teammates. If no one in the team has an Arcane Boots, then you should get it and later build it to a Guardian Greaves. If someone has it however, and your team is not really mana dependent, then you can get that juicy Tranquil Boots that gives you amazing movement speed and armor.
This item is like a diamond ring on the Ice Dragon! Force Staff] gives Auroth the mobility she needs and boosts her intelligence which in return increases her mana which is something she truly needs. Not to mention the health regeneration. She can also save the [[Cold Embraced target from stuns and hooks. This item is great in order to get close at that right time to use Winter's Curse. It is good in using it one allied heroes to catch up to that fleeing sucker! All in all it is a must get item in every game with Winter Wyvern.
One of the most famous items as it provides the Cold Embraced target with everything he needs. It provides invisibility for the duration of the spell which keeps the allied hero safe from single target abilities. It also gives the allied hero bonus magical resistance while under the effect of the glimmer cape.
I buy this item on every intelligence hero I play. It is my favorite item in the game. It just gives you so much for so little. For Winter Wyvern it gives her everything she could dream of; Intelligence ~ Mana, mana regen, and movement speed. Do I need to start about what the active can do? Because this needs a guide by itself. You can use it onself to disjoint or evade spells or use it on enemies to either cancel a channeling spells or debuff certain spells. The best item on Winter Wyvern that gives her everything she needs!
Aether Lens gives our Wyvern the boost to her ultimate's 500 cast range. It increases the damage of Splinter Blast and further increases its range. It also allows Winter Wyvern to ward from a much further distance allowing her to keep a safe distance as well as confuse enemies about the exact location of the ward placed.
This item pairs very well with Winter's Curse and gives Winter Wyvern the ability to do damage to structures as she has none.
If no one else in the team has bought Guardian Greaves or GG boots then you should! It removes silences and most debuffs and makes Winter Wyvern much tankier. It also heals the whole team every 40 seconds.
If the game gets late and you have got the money, get this item. It is really great as it gives Winter Wyvern the mobility she needs to initiate or counter-initiate. It can also be used to disjoint certain abilities and to run away to safety. It is generally a very good item on all heroes.
Armor, Intelligence, an active that fits the queen dragon of ice, what more can one ask for. The Active ability of Shiva's Guard is a great addition to Splinter Blast which is to be used after the ultimate ends. It deals 200 Magical damage and slow down those that got hit by it. Winter's Curse and come back with Blink Dagger or Force Staff to continue the execution by this item's active and Splinter Blast.
If 
Techies happen to be against you (God be with you), and the game happen to last more than an hour, this item is a safe bet. As it gives you another round of Winter's Curse + Splinter Blast + Shiva's Guard combo. Winter Wyvern depending on the game.
Are you facing an enemy hero in lane that keeps spamming spells like Zeus , 
Batrider or Bristleback ? Then get yourself a Magic Wand, It will fill up with charges in no time and will be a constant source of instant mana + hp for you.
Is there someone against you with a heavy magical damage spell like 
Mystic Snake or 
Lightning Bolt ? Get yourself an Infused Raindrops to reduce that damage and give yourself a little mana regen. This can be later built into 
Urn of Shadows
Spirit Vessel gives Winter Wyvern the speed she needs along with its really really good active. This item is a must versus heroes with high regeneration or heal like Huskar , 
Necrophos , Omniknight , 
Dazzle. It can also be paired really well with your Cold Embrace when cast to allies.
Depending on your team's lineup and whether they are heavy mana users, If the 4th position in your team and/or your offlaner got an Arcane Boot, it is safe to get a Tranquil Boot to increase your movement speed and survivability. This item is usually paired with Soul Ring to give your hero the mana she needs to use her spells and regenerate the hp lost either by Tranquil Boot passive or by Cold Embrace. Soul Ring also provides Winter Wyvern with mana+hp regeneration.
This item increases the damage of Splinter Blast and decreases your spells mana cost! What could be better? However, this item's value falls later on in the game and it will be taking a precious slot that could be used to carry an item that boosts Winter Wvern's Mobility or survivability. Let's hope this item gets an upgrade some time soon!
Solar Crest is a great item as it increases the survivability and tankiness of Winter Wyvern with the armor and evasion it gives. This item is great vs physical damage lineups and you can use it on allies to further increase their evasion and armor. You can also use it on the Winter's Cursed enemy to reduce his/her armor and increase the chances of his successful execution.
Rod of Atos gives Winter Wyvern intelligence and boosts her strength and tankiness. It is great vs escape heroes as it pins them down with a huge cast range projectile such heroes include Ember Spirit and Storm Spirit as they cant use 
Activate Fire Remnant and 
Ball Lightning respectively.
Lotus Orb removes silences and debuffs from you or whomever it is casted on. It also reflects single target spells like 
Earth Spike and 
Hex. It boosts Winter Wyvern's Armor and mana+hp regen
Scythe of Vyse is an awesome item on all intelligence heroes as it boosts intelligence and provides a great boost to all attributes as well as plenty of mana regeneration to feed Winter Wyvern's costly spells. Hex is a powerful hard-disable that greatly increases her ability to contribute to pickoffs and teamfights.This is my first guide ever so bear with me please :) English is also not my first language so you may find a few grammar mistakes here and there but hopefully not.
I really hope this was useful to you in any way and I hope it wasn't a waste of your time.
I want to thank Hades4u for hosting the tournament and for organizing this site. I also want to thank Dr.D with his guide on formatting. It helped me a lot with formatting this guide.
Happy Dots and Go rekt games with Winter Wyvern
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