Hero Discussion: Silencer

Welcome back!

It's been really quiet around here, so here's another discussion kick-starter!

I've been playing Silencer recently, as a position 1. Mostly because Illidan starting playing it, and I wanted to try it myself.

I've found that it's actually really strong as a single-target carry, dealing with multiple cores is too much to handle.

Skill build I go for is 0-4-4-0 by 8, then skill ult whenever I can. I usually skip Curse of the Silent for stats, although one value point is also worth it.

What items would you go? Illidan apparently always uses the same build: Rod of Atos >> Optional BKB >> Scythe of Vyse >> Assault Cuirass. I guess refresher after this? I haven't seen too many games that go past that.

Alright, I've done enough talking. Your turn!

I don't play Silencer, but one thing I've been seeing in position 1 Silencer is Hand of Midas as a first item. I think it is a nice pick-up, since it helps with gold and xp, and Silencer benefits from having a quicker right click.

I also see a lot of Aghanim's Scepter, but I'm not so sure about that one (390 damage before reductions and 192 mana burned per enemy doesn't seem worth it).

I like the items you pointed out.

What about Octarine Core, wouldn't it be nice for its cooldown reductions and stats in general?

Community think it's not good on Puck. Why on Silencer?

Agh's scepter would be like a #2 role Silencer I guess. Agh's Refresher is still pretty ridiculous.

Hmmm... Midas? I don't think he needs it... Without ganks from other lanes, I can pretty much reliably kill the other laner a couple times before six... Unless Dazzle's around.

I think "the community" thinks it is viable on Puck sort of, but only as a 6th item. Silencer would be the same, I imagine, since you could have your double ultimate more often. But I would only buy it after the Scythe of Vyse, etc. As a 6th item I like the fact that it gives a nice chunck of HP, mana points and Inteligence (= Damage), while also being a "non-activative" item (you reach a point in the game where you can't manage all the actives you have, if you go for Rod of Atos and other casters).

Also, why not Force Staff or Blink Dagger? Even as a #1, positioning and escaping is very important.

Sofa, why did you skip curse? It's a crazy strong laning ability i dont think there is any reason at all to skip it unless the enemy has really cheap spell to cancel it.

Your reasons please?

I understand it's an amazingly strong laning tool, I use it myself a lot when I'm playing support Silencer.

Curse is to harass, Last Word is to kill, and I'd rather kill. In my opinion, the orb-walking from Glaives of Wisdom are enough for harassing, then you can just walking up to them with Last Word and hit them a couple of times. It's almost always a kill.

Curse takes too long. Same reason why you max Scream of Pain over Shadow Strike.

But curse of the silent burns mana, sofa.. mana! D:

Though i suppose it isn't ideal to max, like Shadow Strike, but having lots of points into this spell just renders the opposing laners mana hungry. Everybody who fought Silencer before will know what a pain curse of the silent is. Mid Silencer against Viper for example. Heck i think i once i've faced a Nether Ward+curse of the silent lane. It is safe to say we have no mana everytime.

Its good at zoning and you could probably max it over glaives, but true Last Word+ Glaives of Wisdom early means easy INT. Should probably try it.. in a practice bot game.

Plz Icefrog, raise Glaives manacost, it's so ********. There is no reason this hero should have almost no mana problems.

Just get items that make you snowball, Silencer is a snowball hero. If you play him as a core, he will snowball a lot easier. If as a support, as long as you survive for int steal, you will still be relevant. Atos is one of the best snowball items on a hero with such high midgame damage output and no disables.

There is literally no point of getting glaives on the laning stave unless you got like 3 kills or something like that. And this probably won't happen since you're the hardcarry and you need to prioritize farming. Look, if you max curse, you'll have a spammable aoe nuke of 390 DAMAGE. With 192 mana lost. EVEN if it's delayed it's still plain better than glaives. Curse does indeed take a while, but if the enemy cast something he'll get it directly, so he won't be able to do much. Like, you can up your glaives, if you want, but please god, prioritize this spell. Your kill potential will be much higher than going for glaives. Although I think getting 1/2 point on it can be potentially good.

My feeling is this is really situational, Silencer is a very impactful hero in the right circumstances, but I'm not convinced by him as a #1 carry.

On the great COTS vs GLAIVES debate - depends completely on your opponent. People with cheap spells on short CD don't give one about COTS - other heroes are severely hampered by it - skill as necessary.

Personally I think the biggest issue around #1 Silencer is he's got slow farming speed, and is very single target focused. He's actually got very good agi gain, but to get lots of int you're dependent on items and stealing from enemies - which means being around kills. While the extra pure damage from GLAIVES is great, it doesn't particularly synergise with either armour reduction, crits or anything else.

I like #2, #3 or greedy #4 Silencer - Aghanim's Scepter is horrible to deal with mid game, and the later Refresher Orb is a great counter to big team fight ults. Pick him for lane domination, anti-team fight, and some supplementary right click.