An enchanting guide to Enchantress

Introduction

I really enjoy Enchantress but hardly ever see anyone play her. This guide is the way I play her and I hope this gives a good grounding. This guide will explain why I use the builds I use and the basics of how I think best to play her. This guide is aimed at people who play pub matches and don't know much about enchantress.

I've included 2 alternate item builds which I'll discuss in items but I prefer the 1st and find it the most consistent for most situations and thus the best for a guide

Skill Build Explained:

The first point goes into Enchant as this allows you to jungle from the start.

The next 2 go into Nature's Attendants which is also the first skill you want to max out grabbing at 2, 3, 5 & 7. Enchantress's greatest positive is her ability to heal the entire team.

The fourth goes into Untouchable which is also the 2nd skill you should max out with levels 8-10. It is arguable as to whether to max out Untouchable or Enchant first. Everyone else seems to go with Enchant first but I prefer Untouchable. Enchant allows you to slow a single target and is great for ganking heroes. Untouchable helps with survivabilty and makes you harder to gank. I find the single level in Enchant is enough of a slow for me to keep chase with heroes while Untouchable increases survivability and pushing towers. I also find Untouchable better in team fights which should have started by level 8. At the end of the day its your choice on how aggressive you want to be this just works better for me.

Enchant is then finished 3rd between levels 12-14 depending on your preferd order.

Impetus should be taken at every opportunity so 6,11 and 16

Items Explained:

Buy Town Portal Scroll as needed. other than that follow the guide;


FEELING GENEROUS:

If you find yourself in a pinch and everyone has left without buying an Animal Courier it won't affect your game much to buy it (good old public games). You get great farm in the jungle and will still have all of the items by level 6 for ganking.

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ALTERNATE 1: RING OF BASILIUS

I much prefer to build Urn of Shadows onto Enchantress for the increased health pool, healing flexibility and mana regeneration but if you find yourself with a character who may also build Urn of Shadows on your team like;



Then I find Ring of Basilius is a good alternative. Start with the Ring of Basilius and go straight for Power Treads. You don't need a Tango as if your attacked use Nature's Attendants for health regen.

ALTERNATE 2: HAND OF MIDAS

It should be noted that Hand of Midas is a perfectly valid build on Enchantress. The increased attack speed is useful and the gold/exp boost is great. It's an investment at the start to increase your potential later but unless your going to get the use don't bother and also it slows down your start of game. Urn of Shadows is optional on this build

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STARTING ITEMS:



I use to start with Sage's Mask but quickly realised that you're not going to run out of mana before you get it couriered to you so buy it first after the game starts. Starting with Boots of Speed makes you impossible to be ganked in the forrest. At all times you'll have full health and your starting speed is 310 so your faster than most. Also you should have 1 if not 2 strong creeps with you. If you are attacked move away a bit and send in your creeps. Come back and help them and whoever attacked you will leave far worse than you if not you'll get the kill.

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BY LEVEL 6:



As soon as you get Impetus your going for your gank on bottom. You should have Urn of Shadows to start gaining charges, Gloves of Haste to increase attack speed and Boots of Speed to help run down a fleeing hero. If you've completed Power Treads your going great

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CORE:



Urn of Shadows offers more healing options along with a much needed boost to your health pool. It should also be used offensively on fleeing heroes. Power Treads should be finished off and cycled through as needed. Leave on strength for the health increase and change to intelligence when mana regen is needed e.g post battle. Aghanim's Scepter is the most important item on Enchantress and finishes your core providing a large increase to range and damage along with health/mana/attribute increases.

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EXTENSIONS:

I've put these in order of my buying preference and buying order;

Large increase to health and mana pools, with great health and mana regeneration. You shouldn't die often as Enchantress while being involved in most kills, which will lead to multiple charges. It's also made of many small items making it easy to assemble and gain the adavantages as you go, as opposed to Scythe of Vyse and Shiva's Guard which require Mystic Staff worth 2700. The other little perks like quicker respawn and experience after death don't hurt eigher

Both Have good stat boosts and mana regeneration with Scythe of Vyse having slightly more pure stats while Orchid Malevolence increases attack speed and damage (both base and added at end of silence). Orchid Malevolence is also easier to assemble comprising smaller items and costing less. I normally choose which I buy depending on the game. If they have alot of 'right clickers' then I build Scythe of Vyse, If they rely on spell nukes/AOE stuns then Orchid Malevolence. If they have a mix I normally build orchid malevolance first then choose between Scythe of Vyse and Shiva's Guard

Good increase to intelligence and the armor boost will help with survivability. Im not sure if the slowing aura stacks with Untouchable so if someone can comment I'll update this bit.

A useful boost to your health pool and increase to intelligence stats, however Cripple isn't as useful as Scythe of Vyse's or Orchid Malevolence's actives unless your trying to chase someone down. By this point your looking to build your 2nd or 3rd major item if you made Bloodstone first and thus gold isn't really an issue so the difference in cost shouldn't be considered.

Gives a nice boost to intelligence stats and increases mana regeneration. The increase in movement speed, however, is not required for Enchantress. 'cyclone' is useful again for crowd control but unless your good with it and have strong team synergy I find it often hurts teams as much as it helps.

Buy Bloodstone first and Scythe of Vyse or Orchid Malevolence second and I've never had any problems.

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SITUATIONAL:

This is a great item for enchantress to carry if your not ******ed. If there team has 2-3 invis or a strong invis like riki someone on your team should buy a gem. Most people assume there tanky character will get the gem but in truth it should be the person least likely to die, this is Enchantress. In battles you will be in the back of your team and if the fight turns you can easily outrun most with Untouchable. Enchantress needs to be guarded against surprise burst attacks as she has a low health pool and Gem of True Sight helps prevent this. In short if you play sensibly you shouldn't loose it

Increases all attributes and health/mana regeneration. Most importantly will block most spells once every 20 seconds. This is a great item if you're going up against heroes with a single long distance move such as Sniper's Assassinate or Spirit Breaker's Charge of Darkness.

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REJECTED:



I'm just going to list some of the most common items recommend for other heroes and why you shouldn't get it for Enchantress;

If you find yourself being targeted and dying far to often then you might consider buying a Shadow Blade. If you find you need to buy this you shouldn't be playing enchantress or your team is completely useless and the game is over anyway. You don't need an escape mechanism you need better map awareness, buy an Observer Ward

Gives massive health pool increase and regeneration. Buy a Bloodstone its cheaper and gives the much needed mana regeneration as well. If you have a Bloodstone you dont need a Heart of Tarrasque as well.

Of course Aegis of the Immortal goes well on all heroes but you shouldn't be dying or innitiating. Much better off giving it to a tankier hero on your team than taking it yourself.

Gameplay

3 & 10 = Easy camps

2 / 4 / 7 & 8 = Medium camps

1 / 5 / 9 & 11 = Hard Camps

6 & 12 = Ancients

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NEUTRAL CREEPS:
I'm not going to go into what all the creeps do as its a waste of space on a guide that I feel is already too long. If you don't know what they all do I suggest you look here CREEPS as it's important to know.

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START (JUNGLING):

At the start of the game head into the jungle. You want to start at a hard camp, so pick 5 or 9. The reason for this is so you dont start with mud golems. Mud golems are magic immune and can't be charmed but don't spawn at the hard camps. If you do come across mud golems early on come back to them with 2 creeps or once your level 3 or they take too long to kill.
Don't worry what the creeps are at the start just target the strongest and Enchant it. If you try running around looking for Cantaur Khan or Ursa Warrior your going to waste time.
Radiant is easier to jungle as you want to keep jumping between 7 / 8 & 9. Dire is harder as you want to jump between 1 / 2 & 4 picking up 3 if your waiting for Enchant to cool down or have only 1 creep.
The trick with Enchantress is knowing when to Enchant. If you enchant every large monster you won't earn any good golg/XP. The trick is to use Enchant on 2 camps and then use the 2 creeps to clear the third. Then repeat. If you do this correct you will be level 6 when the side lane heroes (if they have 2 in it) are level 5. If your team isn't bad at denying or have gotten a kill they may even be level 4 (very common)
As you approach level 6 drag the creeps from 2 or 8 into the lane and let them kill the wave. This will cause the enemy heroes to push up and you sweep around for a kill with Impetus. Try to have Centaur Khan and/or Dark Troll Warlord for the stun and net respectively. Obviously not everyone is an idiot and they may not push up or have wards to protect themselves.
Should also note here that at the start of the game your contolling very strong creeps compared to the enemy heroes. If the enemy heroes are pushing right up and you've grabbed 2 strong creeps try to get a gank. Remeber if you fail though you lose all the time in XP/gold so be sure of the kill. Also remember until level 6 you do very low damage so pick your lane partner wisely.

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LEVEL 6 ON:

Grab some Town Portal Scroll's and head back into the jungle. Your trying to rush for aghanims scepter. Buy the components as you need, if your low on health get Ogre Club, running out of mana Staff of Wizardry. If laning is still going on try and pick up another couple of kills bottom between jungling. Bounce around as your needed for ganks/pushes and when nothing is happening head straight back into the jungle.

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PUSHING TOWERS:

Your very weak against towers but you have a good skill for killing creeps and building waves Untouchable. If you run ahead of your creep wave and have the enemy creep wave attack you there attack speed is slowed by 80. Even if it takes a little while to kill them you will take almost no damage. just keep running ahead and doing this and you'll build up a large push giving you time to attack the tower. This is the other reason why I max Untouchable second. If you ever do find your losing health just use nature's attendant. This is great for defending towers to counter a push and is best used starting from as far back as possible

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GANKING:
Don't get over confident when you finally start getting your damage up, your still a squishy hero. You can't gank solo but require the help of other heroes. You work best with anybody with a long stun such as Shadow Shaman with shackles and hex. This allows you to get mutliple shots at maximum range. Start with Enchant before using Impetus. Once they go out of range of your right click use Urn of Shadows.

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TEAM FIGHTS:
Simple stay middle to back. When the fight starts hit nature's attendant when your first hero loses about a third of there health much better to use it early and get all the heal than be silenced and not use it or have heroes dying before it finishes. also you don't want to run out of mana using Impetus. If one of your team mates starts to pull back because they are low on health pop urn on them. Target there ranged squishy DPS first as they will be far from you and maximise your damage. As you target hero's closer move back. The lost shot from moving is easily made up by the extra damage from doing so.

CARE

CARE:

Need to watch out for anyone with;

SILENCE

Doom bringer

Silence makes you practically useless. You cant heal people without Nature's Attendants and without Impetus you might as well be blowing kisses.


BLINK DAGGER AS NATURAL PROGRESSION



You won't be completely eaten by them as Untouchable will allow you time to move unless they have a stun, but they will definately make life more difficult for you

USEFUL EXTRA

ILLUSIONS:
Don't really think it needs it's own chapter but i didnt know where else to put it. You can Enchant illusions, all types of illusions. Chaos Knight uses his ulti take one. Someone uses Manta Style, take one. Pops an illusion rune, take one. At the worst you hit the wrong one and they are slowed. You then know who to attack.