Support Venomancer for New players!

This guide was made for those who are new to DOTA. Those who wish for a hero with whom they can learn the general ropes of the game, have a look!

Forward

I have played Dota 2 for a reasonable amount of time, but may not have as much experience as other old timers who have more experience/skill.

I still remember my first few games as a newcomer, of which I learned the game with Lich (might make a guide about him), and I remember how confused I was that time. I wish to help the new players to this game, that is why I decided to write this guide, making a Newbie guide to Support Venomancer so that they can help out ingame and make a difference.

If I have some parts needing clarification, correction or just plain mistakes please feel free to point them out in the comments so I can update the guide.

Guide version history

• v.1.02 :22/2/13 - Added Ingame guide! Subscribe and view it here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=128769992
  
• v.1.01 :18/1/13 - Fixed some spelling mixtakes, added Arcane boots to item build, added new section on ganking build. Added thanks.
  
• v.1.00 :14/12/12

Thanks to:

• Madbottler: For carrying me through my begginner phase in Dota 2 and gave thoughts on Ganking build.
  
• Sourapple: Fixed my spelling mistakes.
  
• Albino: Also gave thoughts on Ganking build.

Welcome to Dota!

Dota can be incrediby confusing for new players.

Although not a overly complex game, Dota itself has a wide array of game mechanics which can overwhelm and confuse a newcomer, as it did for me.

Thus, I made this guide keeping in mind that it is primarily aimed for new players of the game, including players of LoL who have migrated over.

Dota is a game in which you pick a hero, and along with your 4 other teammates, try and destroy the other team's big giant Ancient, located at the other side of the map. All this while you have to defend your own Ancient from a likewise enemy team.


Now in order to move on, you must know the basic ways to navigate in the game.
Players who have played RTS games or LoL/HoN can skip this.


That's right, right click where your cursor is to have your hero move to where you clicked.

The left mouse button is generally used to select things, such as heroes, items, navigate the item store... you get the point.

Another important feature to learn about are hotkeys.


Hotkeys are the other part in controlling your hero, with...

• Q,W,E,R being the hotkeys for the skills of which your hero will use.
  
• A+ Left Click to manually order your hero to attack what you selected, this action is the basic for denying, a mechanic later covered.
  
• S to stop the current action/movement of the hero
  
• Y to bring out the Chat Wheel, a very useful tool for communicating with your team.

Items that have activatable features are also able to be accessed with hotkeys, by default they are bound to the numberpad of your keyboard, I would recommend rebinding them to more accessible keys through the options menu ingame.

Venomancer? Who, What, Why?

Now that we have the basics of gameplay down, let's get on to the Heroes section.


TOO MANY HEROES TO CHOOSE FROM!

This is where most newbies can get stumped. Who do I choose? Which ones should I avoid? Who's easier to learn?

Fear not. Choose Venomancer.


He can be found in the Dire Agility section

The reasons why a new player should choose Venomancer...

• Generally easy to play
  
• Can be played both aggressively and defensively
  
• Not really item dependent, thus requiring less farm
  
• Plague wards
  
• Versatile

Venomancer is a really great hero for beginners as they can generally learn most of the mechanics of the game through him if played as a support, that includes warding, denying, lane pushing and ganking.

This guide will teach you how to play Venomancer as a Support hero, an important role less punishing than a Carry.

Vile Advance... [Skills]

Venomancer

This part will focus on the skills available to him, as well as provide a skill build order to follow.

Skills

Venomous Gale


Venomancer launches a ball of unknown snake fluids in a straight line in front of him. All enemies caught by the ball will be slowed by 50% at the start and then decreases as time passes. The slow does not change with levels. Affected units will also suffer from DOT (damage over time).

Poison Sting


A passive effect for your normal attack, it makes your normal attacks have a slow and poison damage (damage over time).

Plague Wards


Allows Venomancer to place a Plague ward which can attack units. The ward has its own vision and has a timer until it expires. Multiple wards can be placed.

Poison Nova


Venomancer's ultimate, he releases a big cloud of poison in a circle from his body. Enemies affected will suffer DOT (damage over time). The area of effect is huge and the damage itself is quite high, but keep in mind that the ultimate alone cannot kill a hero, leaving the target with 1 hp. However, other DOT attacks can be placed to finish the hero off.

Skill build

1. Venomous Gale
2. Poison Sting
3. Plague Ward
4. Plague Ward
5. Plague Ward
6. Poison Nova
7. Plague Ward
8. Poison Sting
9. Poison Sting
10. Poison Sting
11. Poison Nova
12. Venomous Gale
13. Venomous Gale
14. Venomous Gale
15. Stats
16. Poison Nova
17.- 25. Stats

This build emphasises on early game aggression, with you generally helping your teammate get kills. Get Gale at level 1, as it is the most powerful level 1 slow in the game, any hero caught with it will generally die afterwards from the focused attacks you and your lane partner will dish out. Putting more points into it early is not recommended, as only the damage is increased. The main point is to slow the enemy down, so 1 point is enough for it.

Level up Poison Sting at level 2, as it will allow you to hit like a truck in early phase, and the slow it provides is very useful. It will help you alot in harrassment. Max it out after Plague Wards so that you can hit harder and have a DOT attack to compliment your Ultimate, since you won't have any more mana to cast Gale after using the mana-intensive ult.

Proceed to max out Plague Wards first. They can act as free observer wards, keeping your lane safe from ganks and providing vision. Secondly they are very useful tools for defense and pushing, this will be further explained upon in the next section.

Put points into your ultimate whenever you have the chance, that is level 6, 11, and 16. Poison Nova can deal quite a lot of damage and its huge AOE means you can spread it to every enemy hero if you release it well. Use it during teamfights, as it can really change the tide of the battle.

Sweet toxin! [Gameplay]

General tips on playstyle if played as a support.

Early Game

As a Support, you will either take Top or Bottom lanes with another partner. Your role as a support is to let your carry (typically your partner) to get last hits safely while trying to keep the enemy heroes away from last hitting your creeps.


Seek first blood. Your 1st point in Venomous Gale is more than enough to ensure a kill by catching them with sticky poison substances. Spray any foolish hero who comes too close to the creep wave and then proceed to beat the victim down with your lane partner. A point in Sting at level 2 will provide you a painful auto attack to keep enemy heroes from last hitting creeps. Keep in mind that auto attacking enemy heroes near hostile creeps will make them attack you, however they can be distracted afterwards by your creeps and will return to what they were doing a moment ago.


You can surprise your enemies by hiding behind some trees and then coming up from behind to shoot your ball of things at them.

You should be able to get a few kills, or completely scare your enemy of the lane, allowing a practically free lane for your partner to farm from. Since nothing is aiding the enemy in counterpushing your creep wave, you and your partner will now be in front of the enemy tower along with your creeps, trying to take it down.This is where your Plague Wards will help. Place them to keep your momentum up by killing the enemy creeps faster, place them to help attack the tower, they are very useful for pushing. For Defense, you can place them far at the sides to keep a look out for gank ambushes from the enemy, or if your lane is tough and difficult, you can use them to slow down the enemy push.

Lesale Deathbringer a écrit :

Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.Well warded.

Keep in mind that wards can block unit pathing, so you can seal up narrow funnels with it temporarily or block heroes.

Mid Game

By now you should be roaming around the map, assisting in ganks and pushing the enemy towers. You are still fairly squishy and your ultimate will leave you thirsty for mana so you will have to buy quite a few Teleport Scrolls for healing and defending against enemy pushes. As a Support, you will be warding the river spots with Observer wards or your own Plague wards, since vision over these areas can help your team spot incoming ganks.

In teamfights try and release your ultimate so that all the enemy heroes gets caught in it, as the radius is forgivingly big, throwing a good ult will only require good positioning from you, that is to just creep to the middle of the fight without dying first.

If your lane partner/carry has farmed well and your team has been largely successful in
teamfights, your team will be able to end the match at this point.

Late Game

By Late game Venomancer will not be very prominent, especially if he is played as a Support. Your role will be to defend against big pushes with a wall of Plague wards, or to assist in speeding up tower pushes. Again your goal in teamfights is to get as many heroes coated with your ultimate, but by lategame the important enemy carries will most likely have Black King Bars, granting them temporary Magic immunity, thus making your ult ineffective on them.

Then your focus will be drawn on to the enemy supports, and it is your duty to bring them down fast so that your team can isolate and kill the surviving carries.

A significant purchase... [Items]

Recommended Item Build

Largely you can follow the Recommended Items list on the buy tab, although there is some additional items added to my build, mostly cheaper utility items and support items.




Starting items


The Tango, Salve and Clarity are your standard healing items
The Ring of Protection gives you extra armour and the Slippers give extra Agility, your main stat. The two items can be combined later into a Ring of Aquila.

Early Game


The Magic Wand takes stacks charges from the enemy casting spells, and when used, will give you health and mana depending on how many charges you've stacked. Gives stats and provides emergency heals.


The Boots of Speed is required for the extra movement speed and to later made into Power Treads.

Combine the Ring of Protection into a Ring of Basilius, Slippers into a Wraith Band, then combine the two into a Ring of Aquila, which grants mana regen and bonus armour as an aura. Remember to turn it off Early game so that it doesnt affect your creeps .

Core

or
Use the Boots of Speed to make Power Treads, an item which can be switched between different attribute modes, giving a bonus to a select attribute. Keep it in Strength mode (Red), as it will help you survive longer. However, you can also make the boots into Arcane Boots. This item has an activatable ability which grants the user and all nearby allies a burst of mana. The mana provided will help your sustainability in the game and give your teammates much needed mana when required.

The Mekansm will be your only costly item, as your general role as a Support will not get you many last hits. This item gives good health regen, and a healing burst along with armour. It is needed to help your team survive teamfights as it provides heals in an area, making it your number one support item.

You will need Observation Wards for maintaining map vision and Sentry Wards for dewarding the enemy observer wards.

Situational/Luxury Items


Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives you an activatable cyclone which propels a target up to the air, granting it 2 seconds of invulnerability, while making it unable to move or use anything. It gives good movement speed, mana regen, and the cyclone can be used to save yourself after you throw your ult in a chaotic teamfight or catch an enemy you were chasing.


A Force Staff/ Blink Dagger will give you a means to jump to the enemy to initiate and throw your ult, or be used as an escape mechanic.


Expensive Utility items such as Orchid Malevolence (Grants Silence to a target), Scythe of Vyse (Hexes a target) can be extremely useful in taking out dangerous heroes, but are generally too expensive for a support to obtain. These items are only possible if the match reaches lategame.

Ganking time! [Alternative skill/item build and thoughts]

Since a reader has requested this, I will now provide everybody an alternative build to Venomancer, this time being focused on ganking.

Venomancer's skillset makes him a incredibly potent ganker:

• The slow caused by Venomous Gale is incredibly powerful.
  
• His Poison Sting causes slow and hits suprisingly hard early game.

These 2 points alone make him a strong ganker. However you will need to start ganking early game, and press your advantage at that stage, since by midgame your strengths will begin to fall as the enemy gets stronger and they stick together more often.

The original skill and item build I provided earlier is a mixture between a Ganker and a Hard Support. Venomancer's strengths requires him to be aggressive early game to ensure victory, and so the player is required to gank regardless. However, I have thought about placing Venomancer in a more focused Ganker role, and have come up with this build:

Ganking Venomancer:

Skill build

1. Venomous Gale
2. Poison Sting
3. Plague Ward
4. Poison Sting
5. Poison Sting
6. Poison Nova
7. Poison Sting
8. Venomous Gale
9. Venomous Gale
10. Venomous Gale
11. Poison Nova
12. Plague Ward
13. Plague Ward
14. Plague Ward
15. Stats
16. Poison Nova
17.- 25. Stats

Recommended Item Build

Starting Items





The Tango, Salve and Clarity are your standard healing items
The Ring of Protection gives you extra armour and the Slippers give extra Agility, your main stat. The two items can be combined later into a Ring of Aquila.

Early Game






Items are standard as the support build.

Core Items






The Medallion of Courage is an important item to have. Once used on a target, it reduces both you and your targets armour by 6 for 7 seconds. This item is what makes you the ganker. Slow the target, cast the medallion on the target, then proceed to auto-attack the target to death as your slow will let you hit as much as possible on the debuffed target. Consider this your main item to get, and possibly what you will be rushing before the early items.

Optional





These items all assist in ganking and can be considered mid game. They are all pretty expensive to build and thus choosing one of them for the occasion at hand is what you should be doing.

As for late game, consider the ones suggested earlier on.

Thoughts

This build takes Venomancer's power early game to its maximum effect. First max out Poison sting, as it hits hard and provides a handy slow making your normal attacks the main factor in obtaining a kill. 1 point in Venomous gale is enough early on as you will be relying on its slow, not its DoT, the mana scaling of the skill after the recent parity updates makes it very hard to manage mana early on. However, max it out after Poison sting, since doing so will maximize damage output and you will have enough mana to recast it and by then you will have an Arcane Boots to provide mana for continous ganking.

The Medallion of Courage is what you should be going for as a ganker, and a Shadow Blade, Blink dagger or Eul's Scepter can compliment your ganking. After finishing your items and ganking the enemy hard, mid game will come and ganks will become much harder and less frequent. This is where you will use the Mekanism to survive in team fights.

To me, ganking and support are in the same category, as ganking helps your team slowly inch towards victory, while giving your carries more space to farm and less pressure on them. Thus Venomancer will ultimately fall back into a support role once early and mid game has finished.

My enemies will taste my venom... [General/Afterword]

Playing Venomancer as a Support will help newbies learn the game quickly while taking an active role in the game. Important things such as Positioning, Pushing, Defending, Warding, and Ganking can all be learned with this hero.

If you have a friend with you, the person can choose heroes such as Juggernaut to go along with you as his Level 1 Blade Fury compliments really well with your Venomous Gale. To be honest, almost any hero with a damaging follow up skill can work well with Venomancer.


The main thing about Dota is that in order to start playing decently in the game, you have to have a basic knowledge of how the game works, which can be covered with a few games as Venomancer. Another thing is to have an understanding on all the heroes, a seemingly daunting task, but a few dozen games will most probably familiarise you with a majority of them, if not all.

REMEMBER TO PLAY A FEW PRACTICE GAMES AGAINST BOTS TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF

This concludes my guide for Venomancer, I hope you liked it! Remember to be polite ingame, and always help each other out and make the community a better place.

Credits

• http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Dota_2_Wiki: A great site for all Dota 2 related information, have a read! [Provided skill pictures and the minimap]
  
• http://www.dota2.com/heroes/ : Check out the heroes! Also provides videos for skills! [Provided Roster pic]
  
• http://www.dota2.com/items/ : Check up on those items.[Provided item pictures]

Sites to visit

Besides from the ones mentioned above, the following can also be visited for more Dota Information:

• Dota Cinema (Youtube) : Provides guides and other good videos.
  
• Dotabuff[www.dotabuff.com] and Dotaholic[www.dotaholic.com] : You can check your game stats with these sites.

[Gibbous]

I prefer to max Poison Sting first and not use wards until they hit at least lvl 2, since a 300 dmg dot at lvl 7 on every target you get a click off on is no joke.

[The Hairy One]

In your first skill build ( geuss its the standard one) in most games it will be better to get stats in stead of leveling poison sting, because veon has a REALLY low base mana pool and as a support he often doesnt get mana boots or other items fast so skilling stats helps you be able to cast nova, gale and some plage wards. Nice work

[sneed]

Hello everybody! I've published an ingame guide on Venomancer as an new section!

You can subscribe and view it here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=128769992

[Leandro]

very good guide!

[Hanosandy]

thank you for the guide, found out your method works much better for venom over the course of the game. ^_^

[Liqbasilisk]

Actually ignore my last comment... I can't seem to read today

[Liqbasilisk]

Venomous gale does do damage over time. May need to fix that.

[TRIARII`Euphoria]

Really good job, fav.

[chipichipichapachapa]

great guide ! keep it up

[Skram]

This guide is perfect for anyone :p