This is a good guide. W early is great for last hitting with Viper's low base damage. The rest of the leveling up procedure is also good. I'd only max Q first if I was roaming a lot or had an easy lane opponent. (You can orb walk them so easily with Viper).
If you aren't shooting for a Mek (I get greedy a lot and rush a Heart), then pick up a Ring of Protection at start instead of a Ring of Health. You can turn it into an easy Ring of Basilius for damage and regen.
If you want a spell blocking item, go BKB for reliability. I don't think Linken's fits into Viper's playstyle at all. Once you have some form of health regen (Mek or Heart), an Orchid Malevolence would be a much better pick up; it gives you the same mana regen rate, extra damage, extra attack speed and loads of extra intelligence to spam your attacks. In addition, it gives you a silence, which can help you shut down heroes 1v1.
Manta and Butterfly are great.
If you want to max W first, then consider Skadi as a first item. With that item in mind you can simply abandon Q and invest levels in stats instead. Second item - HotD => Satanic.
I just wanted to say how amazing lifestealing is on Viper. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's because of extra damage from Nethertoxin. But you have to turn off your Poison Attack to use lifestealing. So my idea is to take Skadi as a replacement for Q.
Try it at least once, you will not regret.
I think skadi sounds good just risky because it takes a while to finish ? i think what could be done is.. after aghs, pick up the ulti orb and decide if linkens or skadi depending on how the farming is going ?
Crits work on vipers toxin Iirc as well but idk it just doesnt seem right in his game plan
I only made this as my favorite way of playing the hero i know a lot of people have their own ways. some people like going vanguard shadow blade so fuck idk lol :D its just opinion, thanks for the feedback guys appreciate it :)
Also, please dont build vanguard on viper lol.
An alternative build ive had some success with is Phase boots > Shadow Blade > Manta > Butterfly
But it just doesnt lend itself to durability and staying alive and is best for just picking off one hero at a time. it relies on maxing Q and W first for maximum DPS cuz fuck durability lol
why has no one mentioned ring of aquilla? cost/purpose ratio its basically the perfect item for viper early. His orb is possibly the best lvl 1 harass in the game because of its range and slow, so I go QWQWQR at level 6 (unless you against a Alch spamming acid mid). I think the best way and border line only way to play viper is aggressive, like previously said games cant go late as Viper cant cope with actual carries, ate hard shit against a luna recently and wasn't fun. Agree completely that Viper is a 2 hero and a massively strong mid as that range is silly and last hitting and denying with W is a breeze.
Thanks for taking time on guide, nice to see differing ideas. Trolls gonna troll and rage on you for some crap but the ppl that are actually interested appreciate it. Thanks guy
I do like the aquilla sometimes, but i just find that it can be a bit better to just get that super fast mek\boots I do get it sometimes though if my farm is godly its just a nice snow ball item really for early game :)
I personally love the item as a whole though but my build for viper is streamlined enough where i generally dont find the money to get it..
And i think something i left out because im not certain of the validity is..., when you manually cast the Q i believe you get an extra 25 max attack range ?
thanks for the thanks btw makes me feel all warm and fuzzy Lol
^Yes, Poison Attack has 600 range, while base Viper's attack range is 575.
It often feels like you do get that extra range but Im not 100's on that one. I like the ring of health idea on start as I do think early mek is the new meta on viper because he can farm it so quickly. I just think Aquilla offers you early kill potential and helps push the mid out of lane with constant Q spam, at lvl 3 you can possibly even dive to get that early kill that could easily be first blood. I don't know, I just think Aquila works so well with brown boots mek that I feel its a must. You become a moving aura with a heal/armor insta boost and beast for blasting down towers.
Think Viper does have mana issues so just my opinion.
Maybe ill try going... Slippers Ring Tango next time i play and build into wraith band headdress into aquilla mek brownboots or something.
i suppose he would have more mana issues depending how aggressivly you are harassing the opponent in lane eh ? :P
Ye I think its the best build that one can go, I actually really like those starting items you just mentioned, I usually go tango/Salve slipper, circlet, branch or clarity depending on my lane. I really like being aggressive and harassing as soon as a last hit is not available. I almost prefer spamming Q over denying sometimes because if you catch them out of position or trying to get greedy you can kill. Give that build a try, You wont be disappointed.
I like wraith band + tango. Solid stats + dmg boost into aquela for below-average mana regen. It suffices though.
I agree that against neutral or negative (disadvantage) lanes, I'd usually go WEWQWR.
Though if I have a positive advantage, like an easy melee hero (i.e. Dragon Knight), I'd go WQQWQR for an easy kill.
Well first game going headress into aquilla went good lol..
http://dotabuff.com/matches/533200280
SF got dominated so bad its not even funny :|
I just go treads mek agh then luxury item and win mid all the time, even though I suck at playing mid.
I think Viper actually has a relatively poor laning matchup against Tinker. Laser in particular is a powerful weapon against viper when last hitting, and makes it so that you can't orb chase, while also landing a very respectable amount of pure damage. I tried Tinker versus Viper and was pretty happy with the result.
I haven't seen the matchup, but Bane sounds like a favorable one as well. All viper can do is attack, and Bane can give you a -30, which is a bitch to last hit with, even with nethertoxin. Brain Sap is another Pure damage nuke that slices through your magical resistance, and it in effect lowers Viper's damage by increasing Bane's health when a scrap comes. Fiend's Grip + Brain Sap is the traditional high damage combo you face come level 6 or 7.
Hood of Defiance sounds great on Viper for some games at your discretion, it's nearly the same cost stopgap as Mek, so if your team already has a Mek on the way, it could be a nice audible, though it doesn't increase your armor or your HP.
Veil of Discord seems worth trying situationally as well. The stats on the item are unreal right now if you ask me. It gives better stats across the board than Mekansm, and has a pretty comfortable buildup as well. The active of Veil increases the damage of your ulti, which honestly isn't doing a ton, but your allies will do increased magical damage as well.
Assault Cuirass seems good, really good. I don't think I've ever built this item on an attacking tank hero and regretted it.
Just some thoughts. I know you love playing Viper, and thinking of new ways to complexify the simplest hero.
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[size=18][Color=#00ff00]Welcome to Viper, the Backwards winged snake thingy[/size][/Color]
Hello, Im here to welcome you all to my take on how to succeed with viper.. I believe viper can be one of the most dominating mid heros... with not really any true counters or poor matchups..
Viper is a hero that once you address his low HP pool can be quite a durable presence with penaltys for damaging him.. and my build likes to focus on using that to our advantage! I believe he is best played as a "2" role in the sense he is not the main carry and does not need to build heavy DPS items. and this guide will focus him as such
Firstly we will start with the skills..(im gonna rip the numbers right from Dotabuff :D)
Spells
Q- [size=12][Color=#00ff00]Poison Attack- [/size][/Color]
DURATION: 2
DAMAGE OVER TIME: 10 / 16 / 22 / 28
MOVE SLOW: -10% / -20% / -30% / -40%
ATTACK SLOW: -10% / -20% / -30% / -40%
CAST POINT 0s
This is an auto attack spell, you can choose to put it on autocast or simply point target with it by hitting q and targetting the enemy which is generally more advisable.
W- [size=12][Color=#00ff00]Nethertoxin[/size][/Color]
BASE BONUS DAMAGE: 2.5 / 5.0 / 7.5 / 10.0
NON-HERO DAMAGE: 50%
MAX BONUS DAMAGE: 40 / 80 / 120 / 160
This is a passive ability that scales to do more damage the weaker the target you attack is.. it also works on buildings.. this is my personal favorite ability on viper it makes it very hard for any hero to try and man fight him 1v1 and it makes last hitting much easier to do. and remember it works on buildings so if you do follow my guide and get this spell maxed GET IN AS MANY SHOTS AS YOU SAFELY CAN! on enemy towers it will whittle them down quite fast :)!
E- [size=12][Color=#00ff00]Corrosive Skin[/size][/Color]
DURATION: 4.0
MOVE SLOW: -10% / -15% / -20% / -25%
ATTACK SLOW: -10% / -15% / -20% / -25%
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25%
DAMAGE OVER TIME: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25
This is another passive ability, its very powerful and very underrated i think, it will trigger and apply the debuffs from ANY source of damage directly from a hero... there are a few corner cases... such as doom and WD ult and probably a few i cant think of atm..
R- [size=12][Color=#00ff00]Viper Strike[/size][/Color]
DURATION: 5.1
DAMAGE OVER TIME: 60 / 100 / 145
MOVE SLOW: -40% / -60% / -80%
ATTACK SLOW: -40% / -60% / -80%
SCEPTER MANA COST: 125
SCEPTER COOLDOWN: 12
SCEPTER CAST RANGE: 900
CAST POINT 0.3s
Your ultimate a single target casted spell.. it is a great counter carry spell to hit on the enemys teams primary right click hero as it drops move and attack speed dramatically and it goes through BKB! it is also upgraded by aghs.. but ill get to that later.
My personal favorite way to level up viper is.
WQWEWRWQEQRQEEstatsR
I know this is up for debate as some people like to do it diffrently in maxing the orb effect first.. but i feel like this build gives you the most punch for man fighting in the lane and team fights.. and feel free to max skin before orb if needed it makes you quite durable..
Items-
Starting items.
branch branch branch Tango Ring of Health
this should be plenty of regen as you will generally not be attacked often due to your skin and ability to hit back harder.
I personally choose to skip a bottle on viper, however it does not mean dont check runes, be aggressive in your attempts to deny them as needed to your enemy lane mate
Mekansm- AN EXCELLENT choice for viper... He more often than not has the mana availible to use the active ability due to only having one spell pretty much (his ultimate..) And it gives him a nice chunk of HP and Armor and some burst HP. And it can be very suprising when you go to help a lane in a gank and you pop a mek for a 250 hp burst heal and armor buff... can win many early game team fights.. I like finishing this before i even get boots if i am farming well... but if needed grab brown boots first.
Boots- Treads\Phases This is up for a pergame basis i personally prefer treads more often than not because i like the extra HP they provide but Some games phases are better depending who you are against as viper is a rather slow hero.
Aghnhaims Scepter- This item is often underlooked on viper i think.. its much better then shadow blade most of the time i think it might be the best scepter upgrade of any hero...
It reduces the cooldown to 12seconds
The cast range becomes 900 (!)
And the mana cost becomes a static 125 at all levels.
This allows you to initiate fights with your ulti and probably use it again during the fight and it really is a massive debuff for enemy carries!
Now those are the "core items" in my opinion from here we move to situational and personal taste items...
Linkens Sphere- this is my personal favorite to grab after the Aghs... as it gives you HP mana And Regen + a spell shield basically doing all you want in keeping you more durable during a fight so your passives can continue to do work, i like this more than a bkb simply because most times a bkb causes you to get ignored and they wont even attack you which is not what you want.
Heart- This is just a pure tank item gives you a lot of extra survivability i like this as a 5th or 6th item..
Butterfly- Obviously good on most agility heros.. Gives him a lot of Extra DPS and Evasion is always nice.. just rather expensive.
BKB- Obvious benefits if you are the main carry it will pay to grab one because you need to not be stunned.
Manta Style- This is my personal other choice after getting an Aghs if i dont want a linkens this is a little more of an aggressive choice than linkens it gives you some durability and move speed which is always welcome on this slow bastard. and the images do Proc the Corrosive skin debuff if they get attacked which is nice to push lanes with
MKB- Super conditional just if needed for evasion heros...
Orchid- this is a situational item.. it gives you basically infinite mana not that you really have mana issues and a nice silence.. honestly i find it better to just get a sheep stick instead.
Shivas guard.. Viper is an OK shivas carrier because it pairs well with the slows he already has and the extra armor does not hurt
My optimal Item build will generally be
Mek, Treads, Aghs, Linkens, Manta, Butterfly. but feel free to customize as you need :)
in closing i feel viper is a strong mid, who does not Scale Super effectively late game, and likes to try and snow ball the game to be ending around 30-40 minutes as he will not compete with heros such as Spectre or PL in the late game. So be aggressive and push for the win when you can!
I know this guides not perfect, and some criticisim would be great and i welcome it.
Thanks for reading.. if you did that is.
First time really making a guide... I made it because i feel like im a fairly decent viper player with moderate success playing him.. but hell i might suck and not know it.
Pros
Great harass ability
Ranged
Powerful passives
Strong early\mid game presence
ult goes thru bkb
Cons
Low Move Speed
Sort of low base damage without nethertoxin
Falls off late game rather hard