NOOBCAKE's Guide to Enchantress

Introduction

Welcome to the NOOBCAKE guide to Aiushtha, the Enchantress! This is the second guide in my "series" if I can call it that. She is probably in my top 10 favourite heroes, as she is quite versatile (seeing a pattern?) - she plays a very good jungling hard support, but she can also end up doing a lot of damage as she scales very well into the late game. In my view she is the definition of good positioning, as the wrong move can mean instant death where as the perfect one can net you a rampage.

Aiushtha is extremely squishy, so fear heroes such as Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain and Phantom Assassin who can close long distances instantly. Her passive comes in handy here, but close quarters combat is not where you want to be!

Once again, let's get this thing STARTED.

About Enchantress

Aiushtha appears to be an innocent, carefree creature of the woods, and while this is certainly true, it is hardly the sum of her story. She well understands the suffering of the natural world. She has wandered far, and fared through forests bright and drear, in every clime and every season, gathering friends, sharing news, bringing laughter and healing wherever she goes. For in worlds wracked by war, forests are leveled for the building of ships and siege engines; and even in places of peace, the woods are stripped for the building of homes, and as fuel for countless hearths. Aiushtha hears the pleas of the small creatures, the furtive folk who need green shade and a leafy canopy to thrive. She lends her ears to those who have no other listeners. She carries their stories from the wood to the world, believing that her own good cheer is a kind of Enchantment, that can itself fulfill the promise of a verdant future.

Pros/Cons

Pros
Great pusher and ganker
High Intelligence gain
One of the best heals in the game
Versatile
Useful all game
SPROINK!

Cons
HP Problems
Very low Strength gain
Difficult to play well
SPROINK


When to pick

• Enemy team is squishy
• Enemy team includes heroes with low attack speed such as Tiny
• You are on the Radiant (matter of preference, for me)
• Your team has a lot of disable
• You feel lucky (for CENTAURS)

When NOT to pick

• Enemy team has blinkers
• Enemy team is full of nukers such as Lina, Zeus, or Lion
• Enemy team is tanky
• Your team is already squishy enough
• There is another jungler on your team

Enchantress vs Enigma vs Chen
Chen if you want midgame teamfight, and a hard support role - mek and arcane boots, and ward *****. He doesn't have a stun, only a partial slow - 8% -> 32% slow, same with bonus damage. I feel he should be picked over Enchantress when you have a solid team that can gank effectively early game, and with decent teamfight and push.

Enigma is teamfighting all game, but more of a ganker as he has a semi-stun Malefice which neither Chen nor Enchantress have. Ultimate teamfight hero - Black Hole goes through BKB and lasts 4 seconds. Also spawns Eidolons (who we all know are his trailer trash babies) and is the fastest jungler in the game. Also has decent push, from Demonic Conversion and Midnight Pulse that damages structures.

Enchantress, our gal. Primarily a ganker/pusher. Can gank early game anytime with Ursa or Centaur, and starts to deal huge amounts of damage at level 11 onward. 50% slow for 5.5 seconds is a great ganking tool all game. That, and various things you can do with Impetus mean she can 1v1 some people - especially if you bought Orchid. You know what's funny? Enchant on three Dark Troll Warlords and an Alpha Wolf. Trolls spawn skeletons. ARMY OF NEUTRALS

Skills

Untouchable

Ability: Passive
Enchantress beguiles her enemies, slowing their attacks when she is attacked. Lasts 3 seconds.

Duration: 3
Attack Speed Slow: 20/50/80/110

Enchant

Ability: Target Unit
Enchantress charms an enemy, bringing it under her control (if a creep) or slowing it (if a hero).

Range: 700
Duration: 5.5
Enchant Duration: 80 seconds
Movement Speed Slow: 20%/30%/40%/50%

Nature's Attendants

Ability: No Target
A cloud of wisps heals Enchantress and any friendly units nearby. Lasts 10 seconds.

Heal Per Second Per Wisp: 10
Radius: 275
Duration: 10
Number Of Wisps: 3/5/7/9

Impetus

Ability: Auto Cast | Affects: Enemy Units | Damage: Pure
Places an enchantment on each attack while activated, causing it to deal additional damage based on how far away the target is. The farther the target, the greater the damage dealt.

Range: 550 (715*)
Distance Traveled Dealt In Damage: 15%/20%/25%
Damage Cap: 375/500/625

Brief Guide on Jungling

How to Jungle Effectively!
Whenever I play Enchantress, I follow these rules: On the Radiant, go to the middle camp, the one between the stairs; on the dire, go to the camp closest to Mid-Lane T2.

Forcibly take control of the biggest, toughest creep. Kill the others.
If you have time, stack the small camp while you're killing the large camp and hopefully you manage to get out of the box before it spawns again.

*MEGA TIP ALERT* pray to the gods that you get a Wildwing Chief (formerly known as Wildkin), then send it near the small camp and set up a tornado. Use tornado to kill creeps. Get gold.

Note that this trick doesn't get you any EXP, unless you are within range. Alternatively, send the Wildwing to midlane, and harass the opposite mid with tornado.

After killing both the large and small camps, take the medium camp next to the rune.
Repeat.

On the Radiant, you may also rotate to the Large camp by mid T2 - on dire, it's a bit of a trek to get over there, and it's also risky as it is quite close to the lane.


You may be required to stack and pull.

• Some camps have different "hitboxes", which are basically areas around the camp which it scans before spawning creeps. If anything (including wards) are within the camp at X.00, then the camp will not spawn.
  
  The "Pull" camps are the #2, and #8 camps for the Dire and Radiant respectively.
  
  As nothing must be inside the boxes, and creeps have different speeds, you must attack them at different times. X:51-X:53 is a safe bet. Hit them later rather than earlier, and draw them away from the camp into the lane. This is the safest way to make sure they stack - if you go sideways, the creeps may end up walking through the hitbox at X:00 and you will be left with an unstacked camp.
  
  After the camp is stacked (at least 2 stacks, as in two 'waves' of creeps) then it's ready to pull! Hit the creeps at X:16 or X:46, and draw them into the wave. This time, the neutral creeps will draw aggro from the lane creeps, and will lead them back into the camp.
  Congratulations, you have stack and pulled!
  
  These are just the basics; for advanced stack pulling, you may want to try other guides, such as this: Play Video More advanced techniques include double pulling, which means you single pull (no stack), and then pull the camp behind it (#1/#7) into the pull camp. Essentially, pulling the wave TWICE. This requires knowledge of creep aggro radius, damage, and TIMING. Just stick to stacking and pulling.
  
  A note on camp sizes.
  1, 5, 9, 11 = Large Camps
  2, 4, 7, 8 = Medium Camps
  3, 10 = Small Camps
  6, 12 = Ancient Camps

Skill Discussion and Build

In this guide, I have not included a lane Enchantress - because I think that if you pick her, you should definitely jungle. I mean, there are far better lane supports. What's the point of having a jungle hero if you aren't going to jungle?

Enchant is taken first because IT'S IN HER NAME!
No for real though, you need it to jungle.
Use it on the largest creeps in camps, then use that creep to tank for you and kill other creeps. Basically you control them into killing their family and friends.

Wow, I never realised she's such a *****.

When cast on creeps, it joins your team. (yay!) When cast on heroes, it slows them by 20-50% for 5.5 seconds - one of the longest in game. Allows you and your friends to beat the **** out of them, while they diarrhea flowers.

once again, total ***** - but it somehow makes me love her more.

Usually the one you max first, as the slow is increased and the cooldown decreased under the same mana cost - the cooldown decreased to 15 seconds ALSO means that you can have control of 5 creeps at any given time. This is why it is maxed out first - more ganking and pushing power at no mana cost increase!

Untouchable is extremely useful under certain circumstances. It slows enemy attack speed by 20 up to 110! That's more than enough to cancel Fervor from Troll Warlord, almost enough to Strafe from Clinkz, and will reduce Tiny to literal stone. Not moving stone, frozen stone. Heh.

Nature's Attendants is an AMAZING heal - if you or a friend are in dire need, pop this and heal for a total of 900. Yeah, 900. Just to enforce how big of a deal that is, at level 16, Enchantress has 777 base HP.

You may argue that Untouchable is better or Nature's Attendants is better, it is really up to you. I put the early points into heal because of my starting regen - one tango. Nature's Attendants at level 2 will give me the heal approximately equal to a salve, and it means I can buy more clarities to ensure that I can gank.

OMG NOOB Y U GET STATS
I've included stat points because it gives you more health and mana. This is only for the carry build, as you need all the mana you can get for farming non-stop.

Now for the fun skill - Impetus.
It deals a percentage of the distance traveled as damage. Not just any damage, though - PURE damage.
If you followed the link, you will now know that PURE DAMAGE SOUNDS AWESOME - and it IS.

The range without Aghanim's Scepter is only 550 - so the additional damage you get, assuming the distance traveled stays 550, would be 87-135. 5 of those will be enough to kill just about any support in the mid game, and it just gets better from there - will discuss it in the items section.
Get this whenever possible, cos it's just freaking awesome.

Item Discussion and Builds

Starting Items

Why no Salve, Sage's Mask, or Ring of Protection?

• Support Build
  Nature's Attendants > Salve.
  
  Sage's Mask isn't really necessary, as percentage based mana regen items are only effective once you get them after your Int hits 33. It's about numbers and that.
  
  Ring of Protection, probably into Ring of Basilius yes? I much prefer getting Urn of Shadows on Enchantress, as it gives mana regen as well as a handy active that heals or nukes.
  
  
• Carry Build
  WHA-
  trust me.
  BU-
  shut up and trust me.

Core Items

• Support Build
  I really don't think I need to explain any of these - you're playing support, BUY SOME WARDS.
  Also, since Enchantress's health is so bad, you will want Power Treads.
  
  Mekansm if noone else in your team is a suitable carrier for it. It's good, you can push even harder now, and save your teammates so they love you.
  
  Force Staff is a really cheap way to increase damage on Impetus. Chuck one, force the enemy away, laugh as it hits them for ~300 extra pure damage. Can also be used defensively, to run away or juke over cliffs.
  
  Eul's Scepter of Divinity also comes in here - cheap disable, and you can save yourself too. Just make sure your teammates will be arriving in time for you to come down.
  
  
• Carry Build
  WHAT THE HAIRY BALLS
  Hand of Midas, GOTTA MEET THE QUOTA
  
  Power Treads and Aghanim's Scepter BY 20 MINUTES
  
  Mask of Madness Maximum Sproinkage
  WHAT IN CRIKEY **** ARE YOU DOING
  Orchid Malevolence SILENCE, FOOL! Also gives really good mana regen AND a 25% damage increase. All very good for a killing machine.

Luxury Items

• Support Build
  Aghanim's Scepter isn't really necessary here. It's just a fun item to consider, as it gives a lot of stats as well as boosting your ultimate.
  
  More support-y items such as Scythe of Vyse or Necronomicon, maybe a Rod of Atos for another slow - as always, consider what the enemy have.
  
  
• Carry Build
  Assault Cuirass for IMBA Sproinkage.

Gameplay

Early Game

Follow the jungling section in this guide.

Keep in mind that the enemy may try to block your camps with wards - remember the hitboxes? Well, if you are on Radiant, there's a convenient "magic bush" that blocks both the large camp and the pull camp. Deward that immediately. In fact, even consider starting off with sentries so that your farm goes uninterrupted.

Whenever you find a Centaur Chief, convince him to join your party and bring him along to gank. Safe lane or mid lane, it doesn't really matter. Smoke of Deceit is really handy here, so your enemy doesn't see you coming.
Use Enchant to slow the enemy, and get your Centaur in position to stun. With follow up from lane partners, you should be able to net the kill. Keep in mind you should do you best to NOT take the kill, as the laners need the advantage more. There's no point in you getting gold and exp when you'll be hiding in the jungle!

[*] use all the jungle farming tricks you know and get that Midas. My personal record is I think 5 minutes 27 seconds - but you can get faster, by not buying Gloves of Haste first. Save for recipe, get it sent to you on courier, and buy the gloves from the side shop. That'll cut at least 20 seconds as the courier needs to travel to you with the midas recipe, where as if you complete midas by buying glove from the sideshop you can use it on the way back to jungle.

Mid Game

Hopefully you have ganked sufficiently and effectively enough that your carry is now decently farmed.
At this stage, Dark Troll Warlords (the tall trolls that spawn skeletons) are your new best friend. They have a disable and can push! Also, Alpha Wolves are excellent as they give you and your team bonus damage.
You can push, teamfight, usual things supports do - except pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to the enemy's position and your own. Getting caught will result in instant death.

[*] farm more. non-stop farm for 20 minutes, or until you have Agh's. Ignore everyone.

Late Game

This is where you want to invest in disable items, or might want to invest in magic immunity. Remember, let everyone else duke it out and float around like a butterfly, healing and throwing Impetus.

[*] Still squishy, unless you somehow managed to farm a heart. Still, let someone else tank damage for you. Pop MoM, and laugh maniacally as you sproink your way to a rampage.

Orb Walking

Orb Walking is very important on Enchantress.

Basic explanation: instead of 'Auto-Casting' an ability such as Impetus, cast it directly.

Confusing explanation: when you attack, there is still an animation that occurs after the projectile has left, returning you to normal position. You are able to cancel this animation by clicking away, forcing your character to move.

By doing this repetitively, you are able to dramatically cut down time between attacks, and hence your damage output increases.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

Not only do you have to do this, but you must click BACKwards, away from the enemy - provided he is slowed by whatever skill or item available, you will be constantly throwing impetus at maximum range possible, for the highest damage output.

YES PLEASE

• Friendly Stunners and Nukers. Crystal Maiden and Windrunner come to mind.
  
  
• Enemy squishies, such as Lion, Rubick.. list goes on.
  
  
• Enemy carries that aren't recommended to get Black King Bar
  because Impetus is magic damage.
  
  
• Tanky, initiating teammates. Tidehunter, Earthshaker, Sand King to name but a few.
  
  
• Phantom Lancer. Enchant an illusion, then laugh as it spawns an entire army.

NO GOE AWAE

• Blinkers, and invis. All of them.
  Impetus hurts more at range, you want them to be far away - and you can't fight what you can't see. Even with dust or sentries, invisibility usually gives them bonus move speed.
  
  
• Enemy nukers and disablers.
  if you can't cast your heal, you can't survive.
  
  
• Pudge
  Fluffy White Tail Status - DISMEMBERED.

Credits

Thanks to IceFrog and Valve, along with the good half of the Dota Community. Thanks for the images too - I used the wiki page again, but a few are from the nice people over at 'playdota'. Thanks to you readers also, the feedback on my Troll Warlord guide helped motivate me to write another. :D

I will be adding replays and screenshots to better explain this guide soon, I hope. Please don't be disappointed yet! There are still many things to I want to improve on!

• v.1.0.0 - Guide Released
• v.1.0.1 - Added Chen vs Enigma vs Enchantress