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It would be nice if there were some situational item picks as well as a more detail guide as to when to pick viper,but this is an all around good guide that I found very helpful.
Davec, these aren't the perfect choices, but since you are new I urge you to follow the tactics that you create yourself. You play better this way and understand the mechanics more intuitively. It took me a lot of choices and changes to get to my current build and you should always try new too.
P.S. Vanguard is still much less useful on ranged heroes.
Thank you for this guide.
I´m new in game (lvl 3) and this guide shows me the mechanism how to play with Viper. First game, win, lvl 25, 26 kills, 5 deaths, 11 assists.
I have only changed the build from Shadow Blade to Vanguard + Manta Style (I missed Scepter and Cuirass due the end of game).
EDIT: I have added the Helm of the Dominator and the Reaver on way to Satanic in this game. The lifesteal in combination with fast attack rate and great damage of this build is simply to good for the durability...
If I'd known that earlier I would've asked you to update the guide though I am still holding to my Huskar opinion though, as I have lost my lane to Vipers so many times.....
It's still a great guide though, and I would love it if it was to be fully up-to-date
Having a good build can win games, I've seen games lost because the other team was dominating but they had terrible builds....
Tigerre I wrote this guide 2 years ago, the metas and balance was different, and i had far less understanding of everything, most of your suggestions either refer to its old age or are rather situational. My items are more of 'what if this game isnt going so well', because if its going well you dont need a guide or even a good build, you'll just snowball either way.
Some times getting Wraith Band and a couple of Ironwood Branches or a stack of Tangos/a Healing Salve with a couple of Pooled Tangos is probably more ideal than your starting items that you've suggested, as it helps with last hitting and harassing.
Vanguard is pretty wasteful on Viper now as the damage block chance is really bad on ranged heroes, Mekansm is always better. Not saying that Vanguard is entirely useless, but you generally want to get Mekansm now.
Getting Aghanim's Scepter is better than Shadow Blade, your Corrosive Skin and sick kiting skillz help you get away from enemies :D (Trust me, once you can kite, only stuns will stop you) Aghanim's Scepter is almost always a core item, there are very few situations where you shouldn't get it, it gives you a 12 sec cooldown for Viper Strike... NO MORE HEROES GETTING AWAY NOW :D HAHAAAAAAA!
Getting Drums of Endurance or Phase Boots are almost always required as your MS is so terribly slow, I know I always get Phase Boots, as someone else builds Drums of Endurance, then getting Mekansm then Aghanim's Scepter is usually the way to go.
Bottle should be more of a situational item then anything else as you don't always need it. I'd get it against a Pudge as you can win rune-races against Pudge and also against anyone that doesn't get Bottle, though I never get Bottle anyway, as there's always someone playing an Ember Spirit or someone else who benefits more from Bottle
Double Wraith Band? Seriously? Why would you need 2 of them? Your base damage is already good, and getting Ring of Aquila is always better, then a fast(Ish) Mekansm, my record is like 10 mins with Mekansm, Phase Boots and Ring of Aquila, in that game I got a ton of kills though, and a good amount of farm....
Suggest practising different things on hard/unfair bots to become better with the hero and also to learn how to manage mana better, as Viper with Mekansm and Shadow Blade has a lot of mana issues, hence why you should get only Mekansm after Boots of Speed upgrade and then Aghanim's Scepter...
How is Pudge hard to lane against? I've never lost my lane to a Pudge, even when I am slightly out of position and die once... Pudge is one of the weakest mids in the game. He relies on snowball and is slow and therefore can be shut down very easily with a good rotation from supports, and when he goes to last-hit, manually cast Poison Attack to force him back. Now thinking about easy to shut-down heroes, Viper is one of them, a good gank or two at mid can screw up your game so hard.
Build 1 skill build is really bad, you should get 1 in Poison Attack, 3 in Nethertoxin and 1 in Corrosive Skin as that's the best build, always max Poison Attack last, as the other two abilities scale much better than it, Poison Attack is generally used early on for the harassment ability that it gives...
The skill build that you use is very risky, hence why the one I said is much better, I saw a recent pro game (I think it was Arteezy) in which a Viper got killed because he went max Poison Attack+ Nethertoxin
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+1
P.S. Vanguard is still much less useful on ranged heroes.
I´m new in game (lvl 3) and this guide shows me the mechanism how to play with Viper. First game, win, lvl 25, 26 kills, 5 deaths, 11 assists.
I have only changed the build from Shadow Blade to Vanguard + Manta Style (I missed Scepter and Cuirass due the end of game).
EDIT: I have added the Helm of the Dominator and the Reaver on way to Satanic in this game. The lifesteal in combination with fast attack rate and great damage of this build is simply to good for the durability...
If I'd known that earlier I would've asked you to update the guide though I am still holding to my Huskar opinion though, as I have lost my lane to Vipers so many times.....
It's still a great guide though, and I would love it if it was to be fully up-to-date
Having a good build can win games, I've seen games lost because the other team was dominating but they had terrible builds....
Yeah, Viper indefinitely beats Huskar in lane....
Yeah, Viper indefinitely beats Huskar in lane....
Vanguard is pretty wasteful on Viper now as the damage block chance is really bad on ranged heroes, Mekansm is always better. Not saying that Vanguard is entirely useless, but you generally want to get Mekansm now.
How does Heart of Tarrasque get Viper's damage up? It's a strength item, and Viper's an agility hero... All that Heart of Tarrasque does is makes you tankier :D
Getting Aghanim's Scepter is better than Shadow Blade, your Corrosive Skin and sick kiting skillz help you get away from enemies :D (Trust me, once you can kite, only stuns will stop you) Aghanim's Scepter is almost always a core item, there are very few situations where you shouldn't get it, it gives you a 12 sec cooldown for Viper Strike... NO MORE HEROES GETTING AWAY NOW :D HAHAAAAAAA!
Getting Drums of Endurance or Phase Boots are almost always required as your MS is so terribly slow, I know I always get Phase Boots, as someone else builds Drums of Endurance, then getting Mekansm then Aghanim's Scepter is usually the way to go.
Bottle should be more of a situational item then anything else as you don't always need it. I'd get it against a Pudge as you can win rune-races against Pudge and also against anyone that doesn't get Bottle, though I never get Bottle anyway, as there's always someone playing an Ember Spirit or someone else who benefits more from Bottle
Double Wraith Band? Seriously? Why would you need 2 of them? Your base damage is already good, and getting Ring of Aquila is always better, then a fast(Ish) Mekansm, my record is like 10 mins with Mekansm, Phase Boots and Ring of Aquila, in that game I got a ton of kills though, and a good amount of farm....
Suggest practising different things on hard/unfair bots to become better with the hero and also to learn how to manage mana better, as Viper with Mekansm and Shadow Blade has a lot of mana issues, hence why you should get only Mekansm after Boots of Speed upgrade and then Aghanim's Scepter...
How is Pudge hard to lane against? I've never lost my lane to a Pudge, even when I am slightly out of position and die once... Pudge is one of the weakest mids in the game. He relies on snowball and is slow and therefore can be shut down very easily with a good rotation from supports, and when he goes to last-hit, manually cast Poison Attack to force him back. Now thinking about easy to shut-down heroes, Viper is one of them, a good gank or two at mid can screw up your game so hard.
Build 1 skill build is really bad, you should get 1 in Poison Attack, 3 in Nethertoxin and 1 in Corrosive Skin as that's the best build, always max Poison Attack last, as the other two abilities scale much better than it, Poison Attack is generally used early on for the harassment ability that it gives...
The skill build that you use is very risky, hence why the one I said is much better, I saw a recent pro game (I think it was Arteezy) in which a Viper got killed because he went max Poison Attack+ Nethertoxin
I (Think I) will go +1