King of the Jungle...and the Void - UPDATED 11/27/13

Introduction

So you've choosen to play Enigma, the master of the jungle. Here is a guide that will help you not suck with him. Enigma is my favorite hero because he is so independent and can do many different things. He can push, gank, escape, and of course....TEAMFIGHT. Doing all of these things requires decent micro skills so if controlling multiple units or being aware of the map is not your thing Enigma is too awesome for you.

Update 11/27/13

So I've been playing DOTA for a a little over a year now and Enigma is still my favorite hero, so I'm back to share how he has changed for me. For one. Going mid with Enigma is very strong, but only go if no one else on your team will. Don't ever lane him, except maybe with Juggernaut/Ember Spirit vs low escape heroes. And even then its probably best to jungle roam. Enigma still holds the title as the best early jungler in the game. With the new changes to the jungle I out experience mid laners. Sometimes hitting level 6 by as early as 4 minutes.

Many people have critized my use of soo many consumables instead of going soul ring. I'll tell you why. I rush Mekansm, which means I have mek up by atleast 8 minutes into the game. Soul ring slows that down and still doesn't provide enough mana for Enigma, and doesn't make the eidolons tankier, resulting in needing to put more points into that skill, which slows down the ganking. Just try my build soul ring supporters and you will see.

So my new playstyle I feel is the true way he should be played. He is a great split pusher, a great ganker, and an amazing teamfighter. Stay in the jungle, helping out when the oppurtunity arises until Mek is finished. Leave jungle and then begin pushing. Join the most aggresive preferably and don't be afraid to black hole. With your Mek and black hole even 3v5 your team should win the fight.

Your next item to get is up to you. Either Blink Dagger or Eul's Scepter of Divinity. I normally opt for Eul's unless they have a warlock or tide on their team and my poistioning before a teamfight is of upmost importance. During the down time between black holes you should be split pushing, or helping gank. Not babysitting a carry, Enigma is not a support. Buying wards is helpful though for the true supports as you are richer. Once blink and eul's are done feel free to split push deep. When you are attacked by one person, eul's them, run a little and then blink. When attacked by multiple, Eul's yourself and blink as soon as you land. Should be enough to save you. Continue this until Boots of Travel then you can split push and be home in time to blackhole.

Pros / Cons

+ Jungler - so you get good XP and so does a solo laner
+ Pusher - can push lanes without even being in that lane
+ Can fill a variety of roles
+ BLACK HOLE - a gamebreaking ultimate
+ Somewhat rare pick in pubs

- High cost mana spells
- Somewhat squishy
- Focused down in teamfights
- Takes good micro to be great at
- Long cooldowns on spells

Items

Starting Out

So you just spawned and your looking at your team composition. If you see a hard support don't bother buying the courier. If you see 4 hard carry's (sigh) then you have no choice sadly. Fear not though friend, either path will work for you and will not slow you down at all if played right.

If your not buying the courier then proceed to purchase your 2x Clarity and Ring of Basilius. Basilius is key for you dear friend, it gives you much needed mana regeneration and armor to all your minions, and any other thing standing near you. You don't want to use your first clarity till you have reached level 2 and spawned eidolons a second time. Once you reach 200g go ahead and purchase 4x more clarity potions and have the courier send em your way. Proceed to pop them only ever after casting demonic conversion. These 4 clarity potions should last you to level 6.

Core Items

First item besides potions you should purchase, preferably before 9 minutes in is yes... Mekansm... This item will make your teammates love you, and will save your life after a successful black hole. Early game it makes killing you very hard, at 9 minutes with this item in a tri lane the lane is pretty much invincible except versus maybe a Keeper of the Light


Blink Dagger, it makes existence itself disappear in a blink. This item will give you a nice ganking tool, an amazing escape tool, but most importantly the ability to initiate teamfights like a pro. This item is a must have for Enigma and any player that plays him and doesn't get this should be reported.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity - I cannot stress my love of this item enough. It will solve your mana problems, unlike Arcane Boots. It provides great movement speed which with escaping, and an amazing disable which can be used offensively when chasing but most importantly defensively when split pushing and after a black hole. I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to black hole, eul's, then blink to safety.

Boots of Travel - The +100 movement speed is even more amazing now that all other boots besides Tranquil Boots got nerfed. And then it makes you an amazing splitpusher rivaling the likes of Nature's Prophet and the ability to always be there for a black hole oppurtunity.

At this point, you should be all fine and dandy, the next item you buy depends on how the game is going. Here are some of my favorites.

Situtational

Dagon - My new go to item when my core's are finished. With euls plus blink I find I survive more teamfights then just relying on BKB to save me after black hole. Dagon allows me to properly threaten towers during split push, as a support will not be enough to shoo me away from a tower. The range is great as well, malefice, Dagon, blink, black hole, midnight pulse, eul's, blink, dagon is my standard endgame combo, and its deadly.

Black King Bar - Great item if the enemy team has stuns and gives some decent stats. Almost guarantees you get Black Hole off. Not too expensive either.

Orchid Malevolence - I love this item, sadly you can only buy if your team is ahead, and you wanna get even more ahead. It has amazing range so use before you blink in and black hole, it also gives you added utility during teamfights in which black hole is on cooldown. But most importantly its fun to destroy other heroes one on one with Enigma.

Necronomicon - Good when they have stealth heroes as the level 3 version gives true sight when summoned. These guys hit hard and synergize well with your summons. The stat boost is nice too.

Refresher Orb - Wanna troll the enemy team and be useful doing so. Here is your item. Only get 1 point in black hole though for this to be useful. 12 eidolons is pretty great too.

Ring of Aquila - Get this whenever you think you might die, its a pretty cheap upgrade from ring of basilius.

Luxury

Shiva's Guard - This is my goto luxury items. It goes nicely with black hole as after you are already in the perfect position to use it and you can use while channeling black hole! It also gives a massive 30 intellect and 15 armor, and lowers the attack speed of enemies, its perfect for Enigma.

Radiance - I used to buy this because another guide recommended it. Its great for trolling with Enigma during those games when your 10-0 and already have 2 situation items already. It does feel really good landing midnight pulse, blinking in, popping black hole while radiance melts them though.

Heart of Tarrasque - A lovely item for all heroes, I've only gotten it a couple of times when the game was in our favor but they were making a good defense and focusing me down.

Scythe of Vyse - A great item to make sure a hard carry dies or catching someone out of position. It also provides nice stats, especially the mana regeneration and whopping 35 intellect.

Skills

Malefice - Your bread and butter spell. You wanna max this first at all times. It stuns 3x at max level. These stuns, imo are better than a full 3 sec stun at once. This will interrupt a channel, can allow you to escape after being blinked on, and generally mess up the flow of the hero unfortunate enough to be targetted by it. Also nice to use against a fleeing hero because of the amazing cast animation and range it could grant you a free kill with the damage it deals.

Demonic Conversion - This spell spawns 3 eidolons that after they have attacked 6x, they split. They do nice enough damage and take a nice beating as well, from creeps anyway. You can convert any creep on the map except the leader of hard packs or the mud golems. The best things to convert are enemy catapults, for the free gold and the amount of damage they take to kill otherwise. 2 Points in this should be enough to handle all the packs with good micro. I also use these guys to push lanes when otherwise it would be unsafe to do so alone late game.

Midnight Pulse - With the recent buff to Midnight Pulse I now max this spell second, getting the first point at level 8. The damage on this spell is now great and underestimated. Almost makes it worth it to get Aghanim's Scepter when balling outta control, almost....

Black Hole - The spell that makes the entire enemy team fear you. Use your trusty blink dagger to get in the perfect position then unleash the void on the enemy team. This spell goes through magical immunity and catches stealth heroes as well. The hard part of using this spell is learning when to use it. Generally you want to initate every teamfight you can with this, but don't be afraid to use it 2 on 3 as long as you are with someone that has high dps.

Creeping / Jungling

This will take some time to master but its pretty easy. Heres a nice map of jungle location, thanks to another guide here.


With Enigma, the master of the jungle there is never any need to pull into a lane or avoid the hard camps. You want to wait till the jungle spawns at 30 seconds then proceed to clear the medium camp. You should be able to clear this camp before the 1 minute mark. Once cleared, head to the hard camp or medium camp. You might not have enough time to clear the hard camp below it but that's fine. Once your eidlons go away head back to medium camp and clear that. Then head to hard camp to the right if dire, or back to the hard camp below if radiant. You just pretty much wanna rinse and repeat being sure you hit the a camp every minute.

Clarity potion use is key to your staying power in the jungle. You don't want to use your first clarity potion until after you have spawned eidolons twice. Use it as soon as you spawn them the second time and don't let yourself get hit and waste your clairty. As soon as you acquire 200g, which should be really soon, just go ahread and purchase 4 more claritys and let the courier bring them to you. These should last you until you are level 6 or 1450g, which means should be able to go get your Arcane Boots which solves all your mana problems.

Feel free to stay in the jungle as long as you like. I like to leave around level 6 if my team is being aggresive or whenever I get blink dagger if not.

Heres a video of me jungling as Enigma, level 7 before 6 mins in! Play Video

Team Work

With Enigma you are the iniator, unless there is like a Tidehunter on your team. Use best judgmenet and advise your team you are going to ultimate. Then blink in and proceed to dominate. Be sure to target their highest dps target with your malefice once black hole complete and then throw down midnight pulse. You can use midnight pulse before you blink in and black hole as well but in my experiences it causes the team to unclump and that's not what you want.

Conclusion

And that's my guide for Enigma, will be updating frequently and improving its format and making it look fancier. Hope you enjoyed, please leave feedback.

Updates:

2/22/13 - Fancified some

3/7/13 - Added luxury item section

3/23/13 - Added Jungling Vid

11/27/13 - Updated guide to current META