DOTAFire is a community that lives to help every Dota 2 player take their game to the next level by having open access to all our tools and resources. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting us in your ad blocker!
Want to support DOTAFire with an ad-free experience? You can support us ad-free for less than $1 a month!
Go Ad-Free
Tango
Healing Salve
Slippers of Agility
Iron BranchIron BranchIron Branch
Magic Wand
Boots of Speed
Wraith Band
Ring of Aquila
Power Treads
Ring of Health
Perseverance
Linken's Sphere
Butterfly
Monkey King Bar
Heart of Tarrasque
Boots of Travel
Assault Cuirass
Radiance
Black King Bar
Daedalus
Desolator
|
|
4 | 11 | 12 | 13 |  |
|
1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
|
2 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
|
6 | 16 |  |
|
15 | 17 | 18 |
Weaver is one of the most powerful heroes in the game if used correctly and my favorite hero. With farm he can become a devastating monster, pushing down heroes and towers, without it he is still incredibly annoying to the enemy team. One of the best things about Weaver is his lane versatility, since he can be played as a solo offlaner, dual offlaner, hard carry with support in the safelane, or even in mid, which most people generally don't do but I have done with great success. He is also very versatile with team composition, since he can play hard carry, semi-carry, or even a a hard-hitting support (this is rarely applicable but I have done it with success before).
Pick Weaver if:
There is no carry on your team, in which case you will take the safelane with support and farm your items quickly and easily.
There is no offlaner or hero with a good escape method, in which case you will take the offlane. Your items will be delayed because of low cs, but you will be very hard to kill and so the opposing carry will not be fed, especially in a trilane, which relies on getting early kills to snowball.
There are few disables on the opposing team. Disable prevents you from using Shukuchi which essentially means death to a squishy hero like Weaver. If the disable has a long cooldown, like 
Fiend's Grip or other ultimate disables such as 
Doom, you should be OK. Note that skills such as 
Nightmare are not such a big deal to Weaver as the damage done is minimal.
There are lots of heroes with an escape, such as Windrunner or Darkseer. Weaver is one of the game's best chasers.
]Do not pick Weaver if:
There are a lot of disables on the opposing team. See above.
There is a 
Bloodseeker or similar hero on the opposing team. Anyone that can negate your escape, Shukuchi, means instant death. Bloodseeker is especially bad because you cannot run from him and Time Lapse doesn't do anything about 
Rupture.
There is a 
Pudge on the opposing team. If he shift-queues his ultimate, he is instant death since you have one of the game's lowest base healths.
The Swarm is vastly overrated by many Weaver players and often spammed. It is by no means a bad skill, and it is situationally very good, but I will usually get a kill or win a teamfight that I wouldn't have without it once or maybe twice a game. Get this at level 4, because as I said, it can be useful, but don't level it until later. It does not improve much with levels since the armor reduction stays the same for all levels, and the attack damage is so little that armor reduction is all it really provides.
In my opinion, Shukuchi is the best spell in the game. This is not an exaggeration, it basically allows Weaver four utilities in one. Its first and most important role is that of an escape.
First, in a sticky situation, Weaver can Shukuchi out and be left fine. If the enemy buys dust, it won't matter, since its movespeed bonus means that you will usually get away anyway. And if they do use dust and you're still in their attack range, you can always use Time Lapse to remove the dust debuff anyway.
Its second role is that of chasing. It allows max movespeed � of the time, meaning that a Weaver with power treads can chase with an average movespeed of 462, well above even an 
Anti-Mage with Boots of Travel. Your chase strategy for an enemy fleeing down the lane towards base with Shukuchi is as follows: as soon as they leave attack range (or if you are using it to initiate), get behind them, and then throw as many autoattacks as you can. Then when it comes off cool down, run until the duration expires, making sure to run over them for damage, and then repeat.
Its third role is as an initiation. Entering unseen into a teamfight can be enormously helpful, and its value cannot be understated. Plus it will give 150 damage to soften them up.
Its final role is as a lane nuke. It does 150 damage and is a great harassing tool, as well as a way to combine harass and safe lasthits in the offlane. Just make sure you only use it for this purpose when it is level three or four, as you still need it for an escape.
A semi-role for Shukuchi is a mobility spell. Only use this if you have good mana regen (Perseverance should do the trick). You can get across the map much faster this way.
Some people see Shukuchi as a ganking method, and it is technically possible to dodge wards in the river with good timing, but it generally doesn't work. Besides, Weaver is not a ganker. Steer clear of this use of the spell unless you know what you're doing.
Geminate Attack is a wonderful skill, but it falls off hard lategame. It is excellent if you are a terrible lasthitter (like me), since it will get lots of missed lasthits, and for lasthitting under your own tower. Just think of it as attack speed that falls off lategame. You will max this second since it is excellent for early kills.
Time Lapse is a great skill, and one of my favorite ults in the game. It is a great escape and works well in teamfights. It effectively gives you 1.5 times your hp. There are a few uses for this. One is in a 1v1 with someone. People often forget about time lapse and a right-click battle that seems to be going their way instantly turns when you regain full health. Just make sure to use it at a little under half health to avoid them stun-locking you and then killing you before you get your ult off. You can also use it when someone like Nyx or Lina unleashes their full combo on you only for you to regain all your health back. Finally, my favorite use for Time Lapse is actually offensive. I use it especially often in the middle lane, but it is applicable in any lane. If I am tower-diving someone to get a kill, often I will end up with very low hp, especially from tower damage. Instead of Shukuchi-ing out or just running away, and burning my salve, I simply press the "r" key and I'm at full health behind my creep wave. People generally avoid using Time Lapse frequently, and you definitely don't want to waste it, but use it. Even though the description says 150 mana for its level 1 version, keep in mind that if you have at least 150 mana, you will use it all to cast the spell...and then go back to your mana of 5 seconds ago. It is like 
Reincarnation--if you have the mana, it has 0 mana cost. When I am going for a kill, I make sure I have at least 210 mana so I can Time Lapse out after the kill, though 270 is better to ensure two Shukuchi uses.
Starting Items--Both builds include a Tango, for the obvious health regen, and Slippers of Agility, for lasthitting and early kills. The safelane build has only that to save money, but the offlane build includes some items that help with survivability and your mana problems, even though they don't build into anything core on Weaver. The Iron Branches are obvious, and the Healing Salve is for the extra damage you will take in the offlane.
Lane Items--Both builds include Power Treads, for obvious reasons which I won't explain, and Perseverance. Perseverance is wonderful on Weaver as it is basically a continuous Tango, combined with enough mana that you will never have to worry about Shukuchi mana again. Additionally, it builds into Linken's Sphere. The offlane build includes Ring of Aquila for its stats and mana regen, as well as armor. You will keep this turned off unless you want to push, which you don't want to do in the offlane since being anywhere other than your tower is pretty much a death sentence. I also include the wand, as it's relatively cheap burst heal and stats combo that can help if you have no mana for your Shukuchi-lapse combo and see a golden opportunity for a kill.
Mid and Lategame Items-- Linken's Sphere is your first big item. Weaver's biggest problem is that his escapes don't work if you are stunned through initiation, and Linken's Sphere prevents this, making you basically immortal unless you overextend. Additionally, the aforementioned regen is extremely helpful, and the stats are always useful. You finish your Perseverance first because the regen is more important than the stats for any harass you might take, and for continual use of Shukuchi. Your next item is either Monkey King Bar or Butterfly. I usually get Butterfly first, since it is basically a 30% increase in hp combined with 60 damage and extra attack speed usually meaning similar DPS to MKB (accounting for the minibash), but against PA or another Butterfly, MKB is a better first item. Against 
Tinker, MKB is an absolute necessity, since it stops him from reusing his spells on you. It is also helpful for tanky heroes who have enough time to simply tp away from you, but usually by the time you get your first big item this isn't the case, so Butterfly is the better choice about 70% of the time. After this, you will get the item that you didn't get first, usually followed by Heart of Tarrasque. I almost never see this item on Weaver, and yet it is one of his best possible items. The 1060 extra hp is invaluable, since it multiplies your hp by 1.5 or more in most cases. The regen is just icing on the cake--I don't find it extremely useful, but I'm happy to have it.
If you have all those items, the game is probably more than an hour long, in which case you should get Boots of Travel, since pushing and defending is the main thing going on by then. After that, it's entirely situational--so many permutations occur by that time that I can't even guess what you'll need.
Now for situational items. I'll explain what's good about them, and also why I don't think they're as good as the build I provide:
I've rarely seen a Weaver with Assault Cuirass, but it can be an excellent item if properly used. The problem is that with Weaver, you want to go for damage instead of attack speed. Why? Because with Geminate Attack, damage is more cost-efficient, since Geminate doesn't work with attack speed. Besides, your Butterfly and general agility give you more than enough attack speed to ensure a mini-bash from MKB to interrupt channeling spells. The armor is nice but you're basically wasting the 
Hyperstone gold.
Daedalus is a situational choice for a similar reason. Since it won't work with Geminate, I generally go for higher average damage--it will be much more cost-effective, since IceFrog has balanced all these items for heroes besides Weaver. But Daedalus is definitely viable.
Shukuchi is basically a four-second BKB on a six-second cooldown provided the enemy doesn't have true sight (the only good way the enemy can counter Shukuchi is with a gem, a very risky choice for them), and since your Linken's Sphere will prevent any initiation disables you don't see coming, there's often no need for a BKB. Only consider buying it if there is a 
Tidehunter or lots of similar aoe spells, since Ravage isn't blocked, or a hero with Gem of Truesight, but as I said that's a fairly rare purchase against Weaver since most people have a hard time justifying the 900 gold and inherent risk in buying it.
Radiance used to be the standard on Weaver, but it's only effective if farmed very early, making it your first item. This makes you a glass cannon and you become incredibly easy to kill. The right-click damage per dollar is also quite inefficient. But it can be useful if farmed early for pushing. I only buy it about one of every ten games, and that's if I have a great support in the safelane and know I won't have to leave my lane for 20+ minutes.
A fairly new, and common, build is the Desoweaver, often including a 
Medallion of Courage. The mana regen is great on the medallion, but the problem is that if you really need armor reduction (you usually won't since you'll be able to kill the enemy quickly without it), you can just use The Swarm and it will accomplish the same purpose. Stacking armor reduction below 0 isn't very cost efficient, but if you're against a hero with a high agility gain or good armor item like 
Platemail or Assault Cuirass, Desolator is a good idea.
Gameplay with Weaver is pretty simple. To kill--use your q (sometimes), use your w, walk on top of the hero and past them, right-click them to death, if they survive repeat this.
To survive--run away with your w. If that doesn't work and you're low on health, press r.
You become deadly at level seven. This is the point at which you can chase better than anyone and you are unkillable, since your have your ult and your Shukuchi is on a 6-second cooldown.
Other than that, I've covered most of it in the skill walkthrough section. So instead I'll include general metagame tips here. You want to stay in lane for about 20 minutes. If you don't have your Linken's by then, either you're doing something wrong or were in a bad offlane. In that case, still build it, but do it by winning teamfights instead.
Once you get your Heart, you should solo Rosh. Your damage is easily enough to do this and get away with a third of your health, and you'll regen it quickly. If you can get a friend to help you, great, but you should almost always take the 
Aegis of the Immortal--the few exceptions being if you have a super hard carry on your team such as 
Spectre, Anti-Mage, or 
Faceless Void, assuming they assisted you. Other than that, have a good time going beyond godlike with Weaver!
DOTAFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite DotA hero’s build and strategy.
Copyright © 2019 DOTAFire | All Rights Reserved
Quick Comment (9) View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.