Guide to Viper

[Aghnaar]

Hello everyone... I decided to write this guide because i have never actually seen someone playing Viper the right way. What's Viper's real role in a team? From my experience, viper is the best counter to strong mid lane heroes like Shadow Fiend and an awesome tank-dps with the right items. Can also play the role of babysitter on a side lane, harassing opponents and allowing the hard carry on his team to freefarm.
Either u are mid, or side, first skill picked should be poison attack. You continue with Nethertoxin that boosts the hell of your last hit capability. You need to out-last hit your opponents, denying as many creeps as possible, especially when u are on side lane and want to help your hard carry. If you are mid, keep harassing your opponent with your orbwalk everytime he gets near for a last hit. At lvl 6, when u will pick ulti, you should have 3 levels of poison attack one of nethertoxin and one of corrosive skin, in order to slow the ones that autoattack you. When you hit 6, use higher ground to your advantage, cast your ultimate(viper strike) to your opponent and orbwalk him to death. Enemy creeps won't attack you if you attack pressing the poison attack button(C) manually, but they will if you autoattack, so be carefull. If the opponent hero is towerhugging, wait your creeps to reach his tower and use your ultimate to kill him. Tower won't target you when you orbwalk, unless there aren't friendly creeps around. After lvl 6 you gan freely gank across the map.
Now, lets talk about the items you gonna need. Start with a wraithband, then buy phase boots that are really usefull when it comes to hunting or escaping. After phase, start building a vanguard. Max your corrosive skin(maybe the best passive tanking skill in the game) after lvl 6 and watch viper being nearly invulnerable to physical attacks early-mid game. Don't buy lothars like everyone does. Better buy yasha and go for manta illusions that boost your dps. After manta, if there are a lot of disablers, buy a black king bar and target them first in every team battle. After bkb you can aim Heart of Tarrasque, or Buriza-Monkey King Bar if there's not another dps in your team and you are full of tanks.
Special reference--> You really are the nightmare of Shadow Fiend. Everytime i see a good player picking Nevermore in the opponent team, i will go for Viper and solo him mid. I have never lost in a game like that.

[Spectre]

i am not sure it band is a good starting for him

[Aghnaar]

You can freely replace wraithband with magic stick, especially if you're laning against a spammer

[NutzSucksHard]

Good Topic. Still, I hate manta. Easy to find you if you use the orbwalk. Get farmed? Get these : HoT/BoT/Agahnim/Fly/BKB or Linken / Preference between : Buriza/MkB/Rapier/Aegis for last item.



If you plan to tank hard, leave fly or agah for a blademail. This is preference item when you end up.


Vanguard is useless imo. Why?

70% chance to block 20 damage if the wielder is ranged (viper is) for a gain of : +6 HP/sec regeneration +250 HP

You wasted there : 2225 gold for a bonus regen/ 250 hp, and a little chance of getting 20 dommage blocked. Not worth it for me.
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Add to this only 175 gold that is 3~4 creep or even jungle good spot, and you get bonus of 46 dommage with demon edge that will end up for Buriza/MkB/Rapier.

Just buy a vitality Booster for hp need and later use it to end a HoT.

P.S: Lifesteal is a choice, if you getting late game, fuck the orbwalk, sorry for the word, and get a satanic if you can.

[Strikest]

Viper should be maxing Nethertoxin first. And I agree vanguard is a terrible item on Viper, rather get bracers/chainmail for some early game tankiness, or even aghanims.

[Fangorn]

Interesting topic. I have always had trouble with viper; he is one of those heroes that can be hard to play 100% correctly. His skillset and items depends heavily on both your team and enemy composition.

Hardcarry game? Midas, treads, manta, agha, heart, butter
Midame dominance -> 30ish min end? Phase boots, aquila, vanguard, s&y
Gank->push? Phase boots, lothar, vanguard, s&y, cuirass

There are many variations in terms of items for this hero. The hardest part about viper is to kill your enemy fast enough.

About vangaurd viper:
Corrosive skin is totally overpowered. Vanguard will increase corrosive skin's efficiency by alot. The damage block ain't much compared to the melee, but the damage block is all but a small part. Try to ignore the "vanguard is useless for ranged heroes" argument for a bit. It's the HP and HP reg viper is after, the damage block is a great addition. The 250hp helps viper to stay alive in fights. We all know the feeling after rushing lothar on viper, then get's two or three nukes + some autoattacks before we're dead.
Vanguard ain't a lategame item, but it sure is one of the greatest items on viper unless you prepare for a hardcore carry-viper.

Sadly dota lacks an hp-item inbetween the vangaurd and sange. By comparing the items:
Vanguard provides 250hp, great hp reg., damage block
Sange provides 16 strength and a chance to maim the target

Vanguard let's you recover enough after a fight to let you start pushing. Vanguard also increases the efficiency of corrosive skin, aswell as making you more resiliant to focusing damage. Sange provides static strength and an unreliable slow. Sange ain't a bad item on viper at all, but neither is vanguard.

Sange and yasha is amongst the strongest midgame items, it gives you little bit of everything you need + a handy slow. Although you already slow, it's still a great addition.

Personally I play viper aggressively midlane. phase, aquila, lothar, vanguard, s&y. Gather the team after a clash, roshan, then racks a lane. Another gathering, gank->push.
He is quite boring to play as a ricer, as he requires alot of items to farm effectively. Compare him to a shadow fiend, and he's a snail. Well, might have been an unfair comparison, but you get the point. Viper doesn't have any aoe

[supersexyy]

Treads aquila mek aghs is the build used by 95% of pro dota2 players.

[Frank]

mek > vanguard anyday more ehp on ranged heros better buildup better item overall.
Drow can rape viper mid. Brew is also ok with his reworked passive and can usually solo kill him at 6.

[buldozer]

https://entgaming.net/findstats.php?id=5579884

viper build .

have fun!!!

[child]

If I'm facing 3 or more opponents with phys attacks, and I'm not fat on kills, I usually get vang. Viper's biggest weakness mid-late game I always find to be lack of creep clearing. Vang lets u tank with np and hp regen allows u to free farm. If facing magic opponents (4 or more major) i go hood after sny.

My normal build for pubs:
lvl 1 poison orb
lvl 2 Damage passive
lvl 3 corrosive skin
Lvl 4-9 After this point I usually max poison orb + corrosive skin as according to the game. If I'm targeted heavily I max corrosive before poison orb.
Maxing the damage passive early is simply a waste, even if you're going heavy dps build.
Lvl 10 Now max damage passive
Get ult at 6,11,16 Of course

Items:
Start / early - Wraith, courier, ring of protection for aqilla, tangoes, stout, boots (may not need some, I like to start with wraith, boots, stout, tangoes)
Core:
first item - phase boots

second item - Either Sange and Yasha (get sange first) or a vanguard (in melee games, 4v5, need region)

third item - Blademail. If you went vanguard instead of SNY, now get SNY.

Fourth Item - Here it depends on opponents.
If you didn't go vanguard and are being nuked by magic buy a bkb or a heart ASAP. In rare cases get a mkb vrs nasty evasion or BOTS for pushing/teamfights.
If you did go vanguard, I still sometimes get blade mail as fourth item, or you can just start heart.

fifth item - If you don't yet have heart, get it. If you did, get some damages (mkb, mjolnir, crit). If ur perma stunned get bkb.

last item - BOTS, 2nd Heart, BKB if you don't have yet, MKB or crit if u need more damage. These are preferable.



https://entgaming.net/findstats.php?id=6902144
a fairly typical viper game. Vanguard at 11, SNY at 17 mins, Blademail at 21, Heart at 31, BKB at 38, double heart at 43 (sell vanguard)

[Lynx]

Vanguard on viper?

If you want to be durable buy a mekansm

[BiLyA]

Ya, buy a meka in a pub where no one gets mana boots to provide u mana to actually activate it, and even if they have, the chances are that they gonna run away from u and then use them lmfao.

[Lynx]

Be smart with your mana and you can have mekansm ready for fights. Vanguard is retarded on ranged heroes, it does next to nothing. If you aren't skilled enough to be preservative with your mana you can rush a sange and build it into a SnY.

BTW, what shitty pubs do you play where no one buys mana boots?

[BiLyA]

U proly haven't tried yet ent pubs lol. There are no teamfights unless the game drags to more than 40 min, so mek is useless in all heroes. Vanguard gives u survivability and some hp regen so u dont have to always run to fountain. Only when i play ranked dota2 i go mek in mid heroes like viper, razor and sf.

[Lynx]

Alright if there isn't any team fight mekansm isn't the best option. Neither is vanguard on a ranged hero. You basically buy it for the damage block, which is gone on ranged heroes. If you want hp or hp regen there are other better options. Like a sange or bottle.