Hyper-Viper: The Guide

Introduction:

Heya. My name is Tenshi'N, and today i presnt to the visitors of this wonderful website a guide about one of the heroes i use to play: Viper, The Netherdrake. It's a wonderful hero with a pretty unique skillset, and a plenty of green, which would surely please a certain amount of people. So, lets proceed with the guide.

One last thing i think i should add is that i am relatively new to the Dota scene and MOBA games in general, as Dota 2 is the first game of its kind for me, and i play it only for about a year. So, the skill/item builds i described is my personal preference i came up with myself, so take it into account please.

General info:

Viper is a ranged hero, who is classified as a carry/durable by the game makers. His primary stat is agility. His starting health and damage are average, and his basic speed is 285, which is very low and it is his biggest drawback. However, it is greatly compensated by how well his skills stack, so we can say he is skill-dependant. But that should be discussed a few chapters later.

Pros / Cons:

-Pros
1. Fairly easy to play
2. Becomes pretty beefy for a ranged carry after a few levels
3. Good damage output which greatly increases with the enemy's lost HP
4. Is pretty overkill in midgame
5. Great at last-hitting because of Nethertoxin and a good attack animation
6. Awesome voice acting and is green. Just like those letters
7. Can be built in many different ways, flexible.
-Cons
1. Slow and squishy at start
2. Is a preferred target in most teamfights
3. Stat growth could be better
4. Scales down a bit at later game, as his basic damage becomes too low (Fixed by opting out for a DPS build i suggested above)

Skillset:

1. Poison attack:
First reason why people fear the Viper. Deals damage over time, which is oh so noticeable at early/mid game, while also slowing the prey down both in means of attack and movespeed.
DOT (Damage Over Time) and slow decided by skill level.

2. Nethertoxin:
Second reason why people fear the Viper. Gives a bit of a bonus basic damage, which is so useful early-game, and increasing damage the less HP the prey has.
Bonus basic damage, and maximum bonus damage are decided by skill level.
3. Corrosive skin:
Another passive skill, which gets Viper some nice survivability. Harms the attacker, while also slowing his movement and attack speeds. Also increases Viper's resistance to spell's for 25% at skill level 4, which is no joke.
4. Viper Strike:
The one and only ULTIMATE! It is like a single-use poison attack on steroids: Deals a lot of DOT and also slows move/attack speeds. When you level it up to skill level 3, its cooldown will be only 30 seconds, which allows you to be operative. And a damn 80% all-round slow. And also goes through Black King Bar's magic immunity. OVERKILL MUCH.

Early game:

So, you spawned at base, and bought your items, which are Tango - Slippers of Agility - 3x Iron Branch - Circlet (Branches partially solve yourself being too squishy and can be upgraded into a Magic Wand later). Or you may opt for a salve instead of 1 slippers, if you feel you're gonna get harassed alot. Then comes the lane selection: Viper can be effective at any lane, but not solo sidelane, as he'll constantly get ganked. So, lets say you took a side lane. Then, as anyone else would, priorize on last-hitting, as viper is very well-suited for this task with his nice attack animation and nethertoxins you took at lv1. Also do try to deny, but priorize the farming. If an opponent, comes into your attack range, then do harass him. Constant harassment may yield you an early kill if the prey is not careful, but better don't do any towerdiving unless you are 100% sure that you can come back with your life, as Viper is very frail in the beginning. Other useful tip for harassment is that a manualy-cast poison orb travels a bit farther than a auto-casted one, so use it to your advantage. After you get a lv3 Poison Orb at level 5, you can start being abit more agressive, as you will have no more cooldown for it, which seriously increases your offensive potential. Also be sure to get your Boots of Speed as soon as you can, as Viper's innate speed is ridiculously low. Viper excels at ganking, so thats what you should start doing as soon as you get your Power Treads. Also, i will just say it again, Viper is very very frail and will be the first one to get ganked, if you stray too far away from your tower. And you probably will be unable to run away, because of your low speed and health. And should you survive the gank, don't be a greedy Viper, get yourself a Salve to heal up, as, actually, it will save you a lot of time, which you would've wasted should you run to your fountain to heal up. And time means experience and money. Much more money, then you spent on your consumable.

Mid-game:

What you do at midgame, (which is the point when the teams mostly stop farming lanes and start killing each other en-masse) is based on your success at start. If you have been successful and got a Shadow Blade already, then you can be aggressive, and less scared in your line-farming if you still do it. But better go find some lone hero (Preferrably with no stuns), ult him and spit him to death. If he tries to run, you can perform a technique, known as "Orb-walking". You shoot, move a bit, shoot again. Wash, rinse, repeat. This way you can keep up to your little runner better.
Then, when you get enough money, get your Vitality Booster, which will give you some of the much-needed survivability. (Side note: I used to recommend building your Vitality Booster into a Vanguard, but found out it is only half as effective on ranged heroes and grows kinda useless in the later game, so you will do better to keep the booster for a Heart of Tarrasque) After that, i propose you get the amazing Orchid Malevolence, as it will completely solve your mana issues along with boosting your autoattack in terms of both attackspeed and damage, while also giving you an active to kill the sneaky escape-skill heroes with ( Queen of Pain, Bounty Hunter etc.). And if you was not so successful early-game and still didn't have your gank-paradise Shadow Blade, then you should mainly stick with your team, ult the most threatening hero and start raking up kills. Seriously, Viper is so good at finishing low-hp dudes. You may also cycle between enemy heroes with your poison-attack in a teamfight, so their attack-speed will be reduced. Just don't forget to get your poison-orb on autoattack before engaging in a teamfight, and manually casting it all the other time. For the awesome double-kill gank power, just Viper Strike the tankies dude, focus the squishier (They are usually more dangerous too), orbwalk the remaining melee, swear at your teammates for stealing your kill. Its the most important part.
At this point, after you got your core items, you may collect a Yasha to completely solve the movespeed problem and get a bit of other useful stats such as attack speed and damage. Or you may opt for collecting a Black King Bar if you need more survivability, and the opposing team has a fair share of angry nukers trying to target you.
Other thing i want to note, is that you should buy upurself a Dust of Appearance if the enemy team has a Riki or a sneaky Bounty Hunter, so you can melt a lone poor Riki while the poor guy farms the line. And you don't have to wait for your teammates!
If you are doing it right, your killing power will increase rapidly, so your opponents will have the following reaction when they meet you:

Late-game:

Unless you are swimming in kills (which Viper does just a bit too often), teamfights will be hard on you. Will have to move with the team, waiting for a teamfight to land your ultimate on some high-dps dude and do your usual routine. Be extra-careful and only gank lone heroes with someone else (Or if you are absolutely sure the dude will get no reinforcements that would kill you themselves). If you find yourself in a terribly bad shape and in a sharp need of some extra base-damage, then you can opt for a Crystalys But if it is not this bad, and you are on the Viper's usual killstreak and already got your Butterfly which you should be getting (It's an amazing item for an every agility carry alright), then just continue doing what you were doing at the midgame. Just be a bit more careful, (So you won't have to wait a frickin' minute to respawn), and be ready to buyback if things will go sour.
If you are experiencing mana problems after a teamfight, then you might consider saving up for a Soul Booster, which would also add up to your beefiness (Don't worry, your lil' Viper won't go overweight and fall) You know, if noone in the team has got an arcane, or you lack mana-recovery from your supports and stuff. And you also can save up for a Heart of Tarrasque, so you won't have to go to your base to heal up after wrecking your enemy's team and just charge all the way with renewed vigor (And increased health). And if you want to have some serious lols, then go for Boots of Travel. I found Viper to be similiar with a fighter plane, so i sometimes get just that and shout "I AM THE ROKKIT VIPER" to the game chat. Just for the heck of it.
After that, the game is usually done, either in a victory, or defeat.

Build №2: The DPS Viper - How so and when to do.

So, you are doing extremely good in a match, and your team has no carries? Np worries, you can take up to it perfectly if you just change your build a little. So, how will it change, you ask me? While you are pondering, i will say that you should imagine yourself being a Drow Ranger, as surprisingly, Viper can do it even better, given the right circumstances. Anyway, Power Treads, Shadow Blade and a Vitality Booster are a must, so you can dish out damage and slows beginning from the very start, and just Shadowwalk yourself to make a cowardly retreat. Or fly the nest, as Viper does say himself. Or you can get your Yasha even before the The Mighty Red Orb of Health, if you feel you can just shadowblade yourself in time. And then, you increase your damage even more by getting yourself a Crystalys. This way, Viper has about 190 damage in midgame, which can be increased by another 160 points with a lv4 Nethertoxin, which makes your finishing shot to be a ******* 350 damage-worth. Awesome, isn't it?
What you get next depends on the situation. If your team just suck, even while you are killing all the opponents by yourself like the boss you are, and you want to be as much self-sufficient as you can, you might want to think about completing the Heart of Tarrasque, as you already have your Vitality Booster. Or when you just outlevel em heavily, have a dedicated support/tanky dude(s) then go for either completing a Crystalys into a Daedalus, or start with an Eaglesong which will be a first step for getting a Butterfly for the awesome turbo-spitting power you get from it, not to mention the 35% of evasion. Or, maybe, you want to Viper Strike them to death? Then get an Aghanim's Scepter to practically disable an enemy before you kill him, each 12 seconds. Or if you want to dodge an untimely stun with a timely-used active and enjoy the benefits of an illusion goodness, then finish your Yasha into a Manta Style, and also enjoy the nice bonus stats.

Special mention: Pudge and Drow Ranger (And a bit of Nyx Assasin)

So, you may say, why those two? Well, Pudge is because he is ultimately annoying and is a bane of all the squishy nukers and carries, especially the ones going mid-line. And you are going mid, and you know you'll face a Pudge for sure. What to do? Well, first things first, try to delay your first creep wave when they are running to their slaughter, so the first creep skirmish will happen near your side of the river. It may be tricky to do with Viper, as he is oh so slow in the beginning, but really, everything you need to do is just to fly forward in front of your squad of creeps and tilting to the side and back when you are sure you won't miss your creeps. Why it works? Well, just because creep's movespeed is higher than Viper's, so they will catch up to you while running and have to stay in place for a little while for you to move forward. And the damn Pudge now has to visit your side of the middlefield in order to hit any of the creeps. And you are not stupid, and will harass him anytime he closes in for that. He'll see that you are serious and won't be as persistent at last-hitting. But you'll still want to stay behind the creeps so he won't have a clear line to land a hook for you. For the same reason, always be vary of where the Pudge is, so there won't be any surprises. Also, be a good Viper and call missing when he is gone from your line (Just be careful, as the tricky hooker may hide in the fog on his side of the river).

Now, the commonly loved Drow Ranger. No, we need her on our team not in order to feed the Pudge. We need her just because her aura is amazing and stacks oh so well with Viper's playstyle, who can always use more damage, especially as our core is mainly aimed to improve our survivability, not damage. With her Trueshot Aura you are just so much more deadly. So, rejoice if your team has a Drow Ranger, and she is not new enough to feed the opponents.

And the last mention goes to the infamous Nyx Assasin. I will not go into discussing on how to prevent getting yourself owned by the invisible bug, as such techniques like warding, carrying dusts, defensive farming is same for every character you play, not just Viper. What really is worth mentioning, is you should be careful when attacking him because of his Spiked Carapace. As you are a massive Damage Over Time-dealer, you should be vary, that your DOT also triggers the Carapace and, though the damage won't be that large, you will still be stunned. Even if you won't attack, he can attack you himself, therefore triggering your Corrosive Skin, that is, in turn, will trigger his Spiked Carapace counter. Therefore, better do not try to kill the bugger by yourself and take someone with you, preferrably a character that has a stun or a disable, as you might just kill him while he is stunned, not giving him a chance to counter.

ShadowBlade 101: Why the heck is it core?

So, after reading the guide, some people might've got a question: "Why use Shadow Blade? There are many more cost-effective items to increase Viper's survivability and damage output!"
And it certainly will be a valid point, but only in terms of raw stats. Shadow Blade has an active ability which allows you to escape death, and even more, make opponents swearing at you for escaping with just a few hitpoints left, while its stats do synergize awesomely with any hero relying on autoattacks, such as our beloved Viper. And besides that, the Shadow Blade has much more uses than just escaping.
A few examples:

1). Positioning directly in the middle of a teamfight

They have a Lina spitting her area-stuns at your team, Lion hexing your dudes, or some Keeper of the Light illuminating your sorry ***es, and they all are out of reach for an honest frontline fighter? No troubles! Just use your Shadow Blade to position yourself right behind them and spit away! Just be careful and reatreat if they all start focusing you, as you might want to escape, and your awesome escaping tool will be still on cooldown, so plan accordingly, and beware of wards, and of heroes like Bounty Hunter and Slardar, as they both can track you with their ultimate. But, even when tracked, the speedboost you gain is a nice thing which might still save you. You can also use the active to make the opponent think you are scared and running away, when you will just start attacking a few seconds after. Breaks the aim of other autoattack heroes, and saves your HP.

2) Chasing!

Your team had wrecked em in a teamfight and the survivors are running away, laughing at your attempts to catch up? Shadow Blade to the rescue! The awesome speed boost you get from its active ability might help you to unexpectedly catch up and make them sorry.

Another thing worthy of note, that it will stop the Juggernaut's ultimate from shredding you to pieces even when you use it when he started the ult on you already. So, you can bait the dude to waste his ultimate on your poor green self :D

There are also more ways to use this amazing item, but i will leave it to your own imagination :)

Shadowblade Rush!

Another viable build i based on the reader's suggestions (Thanks to Kaeroku). May be a bit dangerous to do due to a lack of early stat-items, but it will certainly pay off if you manage to pull it. We do it fast, cause of skipping the components for completing Power Treads and even not getting a Wraith Band. An early Shadow Blade, however, provides you with quite a bit of useful stats, and an awesome escape, just as i specified earlier. Also, if you get it really early, then you can, most probable, forget about any kinds of detection for a while and go gung-ho, as your opponents will be hesitant on getting wards or dusts for their precious early farm. You should still check their inventories from time to time to see, if they got any of the detection stuff though. After the Shadow Blade, it is preferrable to build a Manta Style, as it will really confuse your opponents, when combined with your previous item. After that, you are basically free to choose what you want next, but i heavily suggest getting a Vitality Booster for the better survivability.

Build demonstration:

And here you go, some matches which demonstrate the builds i described:

#116603427

A nice demonstration of the DPS build in an intensive game, the outcome of which is not predictable until the very last minute.

#116272274

A bit of an overkill, but still a pretty nice demonstration of what the DPS build can do.

#114068241

A more standard build where i rushed my Shadow Blade by skipping the components i needed to complete Power Treads. Team was uncooperative and we lost it in the end, but i myself did good, and it would be a nice example of all the in-s and out-s of the build.

#118405986

Aside from the build, it also shows the strength of even a bit of teamwork.

P.S: You can click on the game number, which links you to Dotabuff where you can watch the replay in question

Match list will be expanded when i will get more decent Viper games.

Afterwords

So, you actually had read this far? You're awesomely patient, what more can i say? :) Thank you for reading my Viper guide, and i hope you like it! You can also add me on Steam for some gaming, my Steam nickname is Tenshi'N, the same as here, on Dotafire!.
And once again i say, it is my personal vision of that hero, so any constructive criticism is welcome and encouraged!

Special thanks to

My friend Winni for proposing a name i used for this guide and for being awesome in general, to dark_fire for giving me so much ideas for different Viper builds, to Mirror and Nubtrain for giving me info i used to improve the guide and reworking my core build, and to Kaeroku (for suggesting the build 4 - Shadowblade Rush).

P.S: This guide is a "Work in Progress", so i will expand it based on the feedback i get.
See you next time! (Hopefully)

P.P.S: Also, check out my next project, A guide to Drow Ranger for more autoattack goodness, and a brand-new Guide to Skywrath Mage for some nukes, for a change! :D

Upcoming updates:

19.07.2013: Testing some ridiculously ******ed pub builds for people to try. Also working on a brand-new Skywrath Mage guide. Will approximately take me 4 days to finish both.
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29.07.2013: The Skywrath Mage guide is done and is linked just a tad bit higher. Also, there won't be any new builds in this guide even though i promised so before. Thats cause i am quitting Dota, as it started to take a bit too much of my time. Meaning, this version of the guide is FINAL, and no new content will be added anymore. You can still add my steam, which is still Tenshi'N, just for the heck of it!
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22.11.2013: Found out that DotA is too addicting to quit, so here am i again, editing my most successful guide! Re-made build 1:"The usual Viper" to contain more of Orchid Malevolence, as it is awesome. Respective changes in the "Mid-Game" chapter are made. I still doubt i will add any new builds, but the existing ones will be edited!
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11.12.2014
Added the new skill build i have tried not too long ago and found it to be pretty effective.
03.03.2014: Added another build for everyone wanting to be tanky :D