Silence, fool! - A Guide to Silencer

A fairly simple guide on how to play the Silencer.

Introduction

Nortrom the Silencer is a ranged intelligence hero who's role can be changed according to his team's lineup and needs. Against an enemy team that is highly dependent on abilities, Nortrom can easily turn a fight around using his ultimate from anywhere on the map.

Biography

"Silence is golden."

The Radiant
Roles: Support, Carry, Initiator

Originally posted by Dota 2:

Part of the seventh and final generation of a carefully designed pedigree, Nortrom was bred by the ancient order of the Aeol Drias to be the greatest magic user the world had ever seen. He was the prophesied one, the culmination of two-hundred years of careful pairings, a war-mage who would bring glory to the order, and destruction to their sworn enemies, The Knights of the Fold. Raised with other young mages in a hidden cantonment among the hills of the Hazhadal barrens, the order's preceptors waited for Nortrom’s abilities to manifest. While the other students honed their talents with fire, or ice, or incantatory spells, Nortrom sat silent and talentless, unable to cast so much as a hex. As the day of final testing approached, he still hadn’t found his magic. In disgust, the preceptors berated him, while the children laughed. “You are no mage,” the head of the order declared. Still, Nortrom did not slink away. He entered the day of testing and faced down the young mages who had mocked him. And then his preceptors learned a valuable lesson: a lack of magic can be the greatest magic of all. Nortrom silenced the young mages one by one and defeated them in single combat, until he alone stood as champion of the Aeol Drias, in fulfillment of the prophecy.

Stats

• Strength: 17 + 2.2
  Silencer has fairly high strength at his initial level and a very good strength gain per level for an intelligence hero.
  
• Agility: 16 + 2.1
  His initial agility and agility gain is decent for an intelligence hero.
  
• Intelligence: 27 + 2.5
  Sadly, although Silencer has a very good base intelligence, his intelligence gain is decent compared to some other intelligence heroes.

Why pick Silencer?

If you see the enemy team pick heroes such as Sand King, Tiny, Tidehunter, Enigma, or anyone else with big teamfight abilities then Silencer can effectively stop them from casting their abilities in crucial situations. In addition, Silencer is a pain for most heroes without spammable, low mana cost abilities.

Pros

• One of the most annoying laners in the game. If the enemy doesn't have a low mana cost ability then they are effectively always out of mana or have low HP the whole laning phase.
  
• With Last Word's intelligence stealing mechanic and Glaives of Wisdom, you can easily convert your kills into more damage.
  
• Almost any item Silencer buys directly effects his damage output.
  
• Has a presence throughout the whole game even if underfarmed.

Cons

• Squishy and fragile. You're easily killed in big teamfights.
  
• No escape ability. If you're being chased, you will almost always die without assistance.
  
• Ultimate can be hard to time. If you don't get your timing right, the enemy team will back off and your ultimate will be wasted. If you use your ultimate too late, then your team will probably have taken too much damage from your enemies' spells already.
  
• Very item and Last Word intelligence steal dependent.

Ability 1 - Curse of the Silent

"Curse you."

• Description: Curses the target area, causing enemy units to take damage and lose mana until they cast a spell.
  
• Damage: 20/35/50/65
  
• Mana Loss: 8/16/24/32
  
• Duration: 6
  
• Radius: 350
  
• Range: 800

Mana Cost: 75/95/115/135 Cooldown: 20/18/16/14

Nortrom's lack of incantations is less of a problem for him than it is for his
adversaries.

Notes

Curse of the Silent is Silencer's counter to any hero with high mana cost abilities. It deals damage over time to enemies while at the same time burning their mana. While effected by the spell, enemy heroes can choose to take the damage and mana burn or choose to waste their mana on a skill.

This skill is particularly devastating to heroes like Chaos Knight and Tinker who are so reliant on their abilities. However, this ability is useless against heroes with fairly spammable abilities such as Shadow Demon and Zeus (who should be spamming their abilities anyways).

Late game, Curse of the Silent is mostly useless against a team with high mana regeneration and the damage is fairly negligible.

Ability 2 - Glaives of Wisdom

"The glaives will silence you."

• Description: Silencer enchants his glaives with his wisdom, dealing additional damage based on his Intelligence. If an enemy hero dies while in range of Glaives of Wisdom, Silencer will permanently steal 2 Intelligence from that hero.
  
• Percent Intelligence to Damage: 30%/45%/60%/75%
  
• Intelligence Steal Distance: 900

Mana Cost: 15 Cooldown: 0

Although lacking in traditional incantations, Nortrom's pedigree of the Aeol Drias
gives him uncanny wisdom, which he applies to physical combat.

Notes

Glaives of Wisdom transforms Silencer from the role of a petty Support hero to a very powerful Carry assuming that you have bought enough intelligence items or have stolen enough intelligence. At a mere 15 mana per throw, Glaives of Wisdom deals pure damage based on the amount of intelligence you have in addition to your normal attack damage.

Ability 3 - Last Word

"Any last words?"

• Description: Targets an enemy unit placing a debuff on it. While the debuff is active, casting any spell causes the target to become silenced and take damage. If the duration of the debuff runs out without the target casting a spell, it will still take damage and be silenced but also be disarmed.
  
• Debuff Duration: 5
  
• Damage: 150/200/250/300
  
• Silence/Disarm Duration: 3/4/5/6
  
• Range: 900

Mana Cost: 115 Cooldown: 36/28/20/12

Nortrom ensures that spells uttered by his opponents will be their last.

Notes

Last Word is a great single target ability that ensures that you remain relatively safe in one versus one battles. When paired with Global Silence, it will ensure that the enemy does not have the ability to cast spells or attack allied heroes for a few seconds. In addition, when combined with Curse of the Silent most enemies will be forced to either cast a spell, waste their mana, and be silenced for a few seconds or to take damage, be silenced and disarmed, and to lose a sizable amount of mana.

After a teamfight, be sure to cast this spell on enemy low life enemies as it will guarantee 300 damage at level 4.

Ability 4 - Global Silence

"A hush falls on the battlefield."

• Description: Silencer stops all sound, preventing enemy heroes and units on the map from casting spells.
  
• Duration: 4/5/6

Mana Cost: 250/350/450 Cooldown: 140

With a shock to the ground, all magic and sound pauses, and Nortrom fulfills his
prophecy.

Notes

Global Silence is Silencer's ultimate ability. In teamfights, this spell is crucial to helping your team win and kill your enemies. Also, the spell can be used to help any teammates run away from enemies as they will be unable to use any stuns or slow effects. Be careful though, the mana cost for Global Silence is extremely high and has a consistent 140 second cooldown for all three levels.

When timing Global Silence, make sure to have map awareness and see what enemy heroes are doing. In this picture, Sand King starts to channel his ultimate Epicenter hoping to catch Silencer off guard with a quick blink, stun, and Epicenter combo. To avoid such a devastating ultimate, Silencer uses Global Silence stoppping all channeling abilities, and allowing him and his team to engage the enemy Lycan, Ogre Magi, and Sand King. Without the ability to cast spells, Ogre Magi and Sand King are left to be useless.

Skill Build - Precursor

When deciding what skills to level, analyse your lane, and decide whether or not to even start getting points into Curse of the Silent early on or to max out your Glaives and Last Word first.

If there is any potential for an early gank with your teammates and you can ensure the kill, always get a point into Glavies of Wisdom first. It will grant you the +2 Intelligence steal early on and will help you later throughout the game. Also this intelligence steal can impact the mana regeneration on heroes like Sven and Chaos Knight who have low mana pools and depend on items such as Soul Ring and Clarities.

Skill Build 1 - Cursed Silencer

Silencer can play the role of a support and transition into a semi-carry midway through the game. This build focuses on supporting your carry, keeping your lane safe, and allowing yourself to transition into a fairly great but not strong carry. This build excels in Normal to High Bracket games.

Skill Build

1. Last Word
2. Glaives of Wisdom
3. Curse of the Silent
4. Curse of the Silent
5. Curse of the Silent
6. Global Silence
7. Curse of the Silent
8. Glaives of Wisdom
9. Glaives of Wisdom
10. Glaives of Wisdom
11. Global Silence
12. Last Word
13. Last Word
14. Last Word
15. Stats
16. Global Silence
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Reasoning

Many people do not advocate maxing out Curse of the Silent first. However, it's an AOE spell that allows you to damage and mana burn up to five enemies. This spell directly counters carries such as Clinkz, Sven, Luna, Juggernaut, Slardar, Morphling, and Spirit Breaker. Also, it gives you early kill potential as it does 390 damage at level four becoming an effective harass and teamfight clean up spell.

NEVER EVER use this build if you're laning against a Zeus, Pudge, Meepo, Phantom Assassin, or Shadow Fiend. All of them have spammable spells and maxing out Glaives of Wisdom and Last Word first would be more efficient.

I choose to get one level in Last Word first because it gives your carry or yourself a three second window in which the enemy cannot use any abilities.

Skill Build 2 - Carry Silencer

Unlike the previous build, this build focuses on building Silencer into a full on carry/semi-carry and is probably the most commonly used build for most Silencer players.

REMEMBER: If you are battling two heroes mentioned in the previous "Cursed Silencer" guide during the laning phase, I would suggest using the "Cursed Silencer" build instead of this one as it will almost always guarantee you a safe lane to farm in.

Skill Build

1. Last Word
2. Glaives of Wisdom
3. Curse of the Silent
4. Curse of the Silent
5. Last Word
6. Global Silence
7. Glaives of Wisdom
8. Glaives of Wisdom
9. Glaives of Wisdom
10. Last Word
11. Global Silence
12. Last Word
13. Curse of the Silent
14. Curse of the Silent
15. Stats
16. Global Silence
17. Stats
18. Stats
19. Stats
20. Stats
21. Stats
22. Stats
23. Stats
24. Stats
25. Stats

Reasoning

As mentioned before, Last Word gives you or an ally a three second window to escape any chain combos that an enemy may have if they reach level two faster than you.

By getting only two points in Curse of the Silent, the spell is limited to a nice 95 mana cost that can be spammed over and over again to your leisure while doing a fair amount of damage and mana burn. Since the ability starts to fall off in effectiveness by mid-game, it is more important to max out Glaives of Wisdom as you begin to buy intelligence items.

To increase your kill potential, getting Last Word after Glaives of Wisdom grants Silencer an avoidable 300 damage nuke, six second silence, and a six second disarm.

Item Build

• A set of Tangos will provide you enough health regeneration to let you stay in lane due to your low health pool.
• Buy one Mantle and one Circlet to later build into a Null Talisman. This will provide you an adequate amount of intelligence to deal a fair amount of damage by mid game.
• Buy a courier for your team. If your team already has a courier, then buy some wards and plant them at appropriate ward spots.

• Only go this build if your team already has a Courier or has bought Observer Wards.
• Since Glaives of Wisdom is based off of how much intelligence you have, starting off with two Mantles of Intelligence is perfect for the Carry Silencer build. After, you can build these Mantles into two Null Talismans.
• The Circlet will help you build into a Null Talisman as well as provide you with +2 in each attribute doing the job of two IronBranches.
• A set of Tangos provides a small supply of health regeneration
for you as you take a lot of damage in the early phase of thegame.

• This is a more conservative build mostly for people who want to use the Cursed Silencer build. Instead of getting two Mantles of Intelligence, you only buy one. Instead of an extra Mantle, buy a Clarity and Healing Salve.
• The Clarity Potion and Healing Salve will ensure that you can stay in lane and be able to spam Curse of the Silent.
• If someone has already bought a courier, buy some Observer Wards.



• With your two Mantles of Intelligence, upgrade them into Null Talismans for a good damage boost.
• If you went with the second alternative build, buy one Null Talisman instead and save the money for some Power Treads.
• You should always carry a teleportation scroll and should be planting/buying wards throughout the game.





• Upgrade your Boots of Speed into Power Treads for the increased attack speed and health.
• It is important to get Force Staff at this point in the game. In teamfights, you will likely be one of the first heroes targeted and will be unable to deal damage or use skills in the teamfight. Also, since you are so slow and have no natural escape ability, Force Staff makes up for that.
• If no one else gets a Mekansm, be sure to buy one for the healthregeneration and armor bonus. It not only benefits you, but alsoyour teammates.
• Once again, always carry a teleport scroll and continue to buyObserver Wards.

• As an alternative build, you can buy Rod of Atos instead of Force Staff.
• Rod of Atos not only gives you a massive slow, but also increases your HP by +325 and gives you +25 intelligence points making it very powerful on Silencer with Glaives of Wisdom.
• I only recommend going this build if your team has a very good tank who can try aggro from other enemy heroes. If your team is constantly running away then get Force Staff.



• By late game, try to build a Scythe of Vyse. This will just add to your carry potential, intelligence attribute, and your ability to disable enemy targets.
• To fill up your last item space, consider the following items:

Possible Items

Black King Bar: Honestly not a big fan of this item on Silencer. You're supposed to be silencing heroes, not trying to be magic immune. If you need magic immunity for more than the four seconds that your ultimate provides, then you can try to get a Black King Bar but I don't recommend it.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: Gives you mana regeneration, improves your mediocre movement speed, and increases your intelligence. Also, Cyclone is a very useful ability to have as it grants a 2.5 second immunity period. This allows you to Cyclone yourself, wait for Force Staff to go off cooldown, and then Force Staff yourself or an ally to safety. If you find yourself running away from enemies a lot, this item is a fantastic item to have.

Orchid Malevolence: I would call this item a more offensive version of the Eul's Scepter. Both items grant 150% mana regeneration but Orchid provides +25 intelligence (15 more than Eul's) and grants you bonus damage and attack speed. In addition, it allows you to silence single targets in long engagements.

Shiva's Guard: I would say Shiva's Guard is the most balanced option out of the other three options. Not only does it give you armor but also +25 intelligence giving players armor and bonus intelligence for Glaives of Wisdom. The aura provided by Shiva's Guard (slows attack speed) is great at late game when most carries usually attack very fast and Freezing Blast (Shiva's Guard's active ability) slows down enemy units in a large area.

Credits

Changelog

• v1.1a: Added a precursor to the skill builds, adjusted the Cursed Silencer build by getting a point into Glaives of Wisdom at level 2.
  
• v1.1: Fixed Starting Items (Had too many Mantles to being with). Got rid of them benign red pixels in the item box frames.
  
• v1.0: Initial Release

Programs used:

• Photoshop

Websites used:

• Dota 2 Wiki[www.dota2wiki.com]
  
• Dota 2 Blog

Thanks to:

• Mad-Matt for support and a bit of proofreading
  
• devilesk for his awesome guide which inspired me to create a guide on the Game Hub

[Brigand]

get glaives at lvl 1 if there are ANY possibility to get first blade early game at lvl1. so u can get +2 int ASAP. oh be aggresive when u play silencer. always go gank, farming on lane while yur friend ganking other lane is a totalwaste. u WANT to be there when your friend are killing the enemy. usually i get glaives at lvl 1 and maxing the other 2 skill. depends on the lane really. at lvl 3 when u have lvl 2 last word. u should try to get a kill if possible. would be great if u have a stunner or disable as ur friend. lvl 3 get 1 kill. then go gank otehr laneXD

[Sigma Boy]

good guide ! like alot , help me carrying games ^^

[DeadCake]

Yeah I meant to add more items and builds into the guide. Will come in a few days.

[himself]

Oops, forgot in the above, his abilities combo well, so you can use both Last Word and Curse of the Silent in combo (especially in mid) for some excellent harassing, or easy kills. So leveling them up together early facilitates this (especially against a Drow, which is easy to counter early as Silencer, using Last Word).

[himself]

In my experience there is an alternate build for mid-laning :P

That is to be, maxing out Last Word first, getting a rank of Glaives of Wisdom at lvl 2, being that it's first rank is really only useful early, and maxing out Curse of the Silent next. This build would be for early kills in mid, which is the way to play him as carry, if your team is lacking on. It's easy early kills if they have inadequate regen.

Also, a big fan of getting a Refresher Orb late game, especially against a team of mostly casters, and even then, it's easy to CC the main carry on the enemy team, which ensures a 12 second enemy global silence, which basically crushes teamfights, unless you are ambushed.

Finally, imo, Silencer is an inadequate Support, so a semi-carry role is simpler and easier. If we need a Support, there are many better ones that would fit the role better, chief among them is Dazzle.

Nice guide!

[aCall]

This ! is a good guide...

[DeadCake]

Also, Curse is an AOE effect while Last Word is a single target effect.

[DeadCake]

1) Last Word is a full 115 mana cost while level 2 Curse is 95 mana.

2) Last Word has a cooldown of 28 seconds at level 2 while Curse has a cooldown of 18 at level 2.

3) At level 2, Curse does 10 more damage in addition to mana drain compared to Last Word at level 2.

[Ecco420k]

I dont think its really worth getting curse

you can spam alot more if you go max last word

[DeadCake]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm currently working on making some more GIFs and adding a "friends and foes" section.