Slow them to their death with NetherDrake (Viper)

Introduction

This is a very detailed and awesome build for the common hero Viper. Some of you may think that some of the items are not right or cut out for him but I have experimented with all of them and they seem to work fine. Try out this build as many times as you want until you find it the most suited way for yourself but buying it in this order has been proven to be most effective. But experiment at your own free will.

Viper is no normal hero. He is dangerous throughout the entire game purely because of the damage that he does at the beginning. He is at his best when he starts off mid as he has lots of easy farm, but in the early stages, DO NOT PUSH WITH HIM TOO MUCH. If you do, then it will become easier for the opposition to gank you. Keep as close to your tower or stay at the river so that you can easily get to runes.

Pros / Cons

There are many views of Viper. Sometimes he can be seen as an OP hero(which is what we want!) but other times he can just be one of those heroes that feeds the opponent or opponents.

Pros:

During Early game, due to his damage, Viper is able to harass the enemy greatly because of his range.
Poison Attack is a great way to finish off the enemy as you can deal a lot of damage using Nethertoxin and use Poison Attack at the same time, slowing them down in the process and dealing significant damage at the same time, also as it is poison, it deals damage even after being hit, so if they have really low hp hit them with Poison Attack and then it will finish them off.
Viper's ulti is very useful in team fights as it is able to slow down the enemy as well as dealing lots of damage, upgrading it with aghanim's scepter does even more damage and slows them down even more, meaning that the enemy is easily within your reach and will be easy to finish off.

If there are heroes such as Riki and Dark Seer, they can easily escape using their invisibility and Surge meaning that they can easily escape, leaving you without any kills.
If you don't get early farm and kills, then you are more likely to find yourself almost ineffective as you didn't get your early feed to level up quickly. Without that you will be hopeless throughout the entire game, feeding the enemy and losing money drastically.
If you are too offensive or defensive then they can easily find out what you are trying to do and then act accordingly.

Items

Viper is a Hero that truly depends on his abilities and items. He depends mostly on his insane Poison Attack to kill pretty much all of his enemies, which is why you have to try and not die to earn enough gold to get the next item ASAP. Last hitting is the best and most efficient way of doing this but some think that destroying towers, couriers and killing Roshan is also a few other good ways of earning money fast. A Viper with a full kit is so OP, enemies won't last long when it comes to the team fights in Mid/Late games.

Obviously, starting off with Viper means that you have to get Wraith Band as shown in the Purchase Order above, following that with a tango just in case the enemy try to do some harassment themselves. I prefer a tango compared to the healing salve purely because the tango stores more hp overall compared to the healing salve as it regains 460hp and the healing salve only regains 400hp. Also tangos last longer than the healing salve. But if you do want a healing salve, then don't forget that when using it, the enemy might attack you to stop you from gaining any more hp. That's why I believe the tango is better than the healing salve.

So why do you get sange and yasha after the starting items? There a few reasons for this. First of all, sange and yasha gives you bonus attack speed and agility which means more damage as Viper is an agility hero. It also gives movement speed which Viper needs as he is a very slow hero and he needs speed so that he can deal high damage. So overall sange and yasha is a good item to get first as it gives you good stats and it makes you able to manoeuvre your way to the enemy easily.

Vanguard is an awesome item as it gives you a good average hp regen which is useful when it comes to common farming and pushing in lanes. Also, with the passive block damage, it reduces the amount of damage that you take by a lot, but you won't really notice it in team fights though. If you have low hp in general then Vanguard gives you a boost with 250hp which is pretty good for just 2225 gold.

Manta Style is another good item although it costs more than double Vanguard. It creates illusions of yourself which gives you the upper-hand in fights as the enemy will be confused. Also, it is like an illusion rune that you can get but this, you can keep forever. The illusions do some damage themselves and when it comes to pushing lanes and farming, Manta Style is great for the job as 3 is better than 1.

Shadow Blade gives you invisibility which is great when it comes to backstabbing enemies and finish them off before they can really do anything. But if your team if full of noobs or they aren't just doing great this time round, then it is also a great way to escape from enemy team ganking. Also, it gives you bonus attack speed and damage so that when you come round to backstab the enemy wherever you are, you can deal a lot of damage before they can harm you.

It is obvious to say that you need Aghanim's sceptre as it increases everything on Viper Strike which is a key thing for finishing off enemies in team fights and it boosts the amount of damage that you can do by a lot and it also gives you more hp meaning that it goes well with Vanguard which also gives hp. With more on your attributes, Aghanim's sceptre also gives you better stats which is good as you get bonus damage and makes you become a lot more stronger.

Finish it off with Heart of Tarasque as it gives you immense hp regen of around 80hp regen which is good as it means that you won't need to waste time going back to fountain to refill your hp as all you have to do is stand by your tower and try not to get attacked so that your hp refills quickly.

Also, occasionally, try to get Aegis Of The Immortal as it gives you a second life which is good as the enemy will be coming to you if you are on your own so that they can gank and get rid of you before it comes to the team fight. Use it properly and you could defeat their entire team, allowing your team to push whilst you handle them.

Skills

Poison Attack: One of the main reasons why people are scared of Viper, it is able to slow the enemy down as well as deal damage to them over time which is key for finishing off the enemy.

Nethertoxin: It gives Viper bonus basic damage which is essential for early game as it means that you are able to deal a lot of damage and harass the enemy greatly, leaving them with little hp as well as keeping them at low levels compared to everyone else. Also, it means that you can farm the creeps more easily, but I will go in depth into that later.

Corrosive Skin: It is able to poison the enemy passively and the higher level it is, the more poison damage it deals to the unit or hero attacking you. Use it in team fights so that you can poison all the heroes easily. It also slows down the harmer's movement speed and attack speed so that you can then inflict more damage on them.

Viper Strike: It deals a lot of damage over time and slows them down so that you can deal more damage to them. When fully upgraded, it has a very low cool down rate and it is really good for keeping back OP heroes on their team so that you can gank him together or on your own. Sometimes, it can be used to run away from the enemy, but I normally use Poison Attack if that is the case (very unlikely)

Creeping / Jungling

Viper isn't really a hero that is supposed to be Jungling as he is supposed to be fed from other heroes so that he can level up faster than anybody else as well as earning masses of gold to buy the next item. However, jungling can be used if you are close to levelling up or close to buying the next item, but don't use jungling as a key source to levelling up quickly as it will not do you any good at all. Feeding of heroes is the best, but most risky, way of levelling up and earning gold for Viper.

Creeping is a good way to gain levels and money really quickly. Yes this is with all heroes but as Viper's Nethertoxin gives him additional damage, it means that he is able to last hit more often and is able to push really fast as well, although sometimes that could be a bad thing. Also, go ahead of your unit of creeps so that then when the enemy creeps start attacking you, you can poison them with corrosive skin and then back away and attack so that then you are dealing damage in 2 different ways as well as dealing even more damage than you would normally.

Team Work

You have to be the main man. When it comes to team work and team fights, you have to be the main man who gains all the kills and gold so that he can then become OP. Letting a support take the kills is not a good idea as then the support will become out of role and then turn into a carry itself. So that's why you need to be the No.1 hero in the fights, attacking heroes quickly so that you can get to the next and so on. In team work, like pushing or ganking, you need to be there first or helping somebody else, but always try to get the kills. If you think that the kill is somebody else's, then leave it so that they can take the kill, but if they are struggling, then help them out but don't take the kill unless you took most of the enemy's damage or you took most of the damage from the enemy.

Runing.

Runes. All heroes need them, but Viper can sometimes use them occasionally like when it comes to the Haste Rune, so that he can then get from one place to another, just so that he can kill that person off. If you find an illusion rune, use it then use Manta Style so that then you have 4 illusions all together so that then you can deal more damage per second. Double Damage Rune is always the best. Dealing twice as much damage is what every Viper needs/wants. Use it when crucial so that you can kill multiple enemies all at once just because of the amount of slowing down that you do and the damage that you will be able to do. If you find an Invisibility Rune and you have Shadow Blade, then leave if for somebody else on your team so that you can both go in together. But if you don't have Shadow Blade take it so that then you can back stab then enemy. Regeneration Rune is awesome for survivability as it means you can stay on the front lines longer as it will replenish all you hp and mana so that then you won't have to waste time going back to the fountain to regain your hp.

Summary

All in all, Viper is an amazing hero that has the ability to become the most dangerous hero in the game.... if played well. This build will hopefully make that dream become a reality for those of you who love playing as Viper. Just follow what it says an then you will be the best of the best. But remember, he is very slow so you have to use your abilities to outmanoeuvre the enemy so that then you can attack them from behind so that they have nowhere to run or hide. Without that feeding start, it will be very hard for you to be able to come back so it is a one-way road that you have to take or otherwise, your game will turn out to be a game of feeding the enemy and letting them farm off you and then your team. So don't forget that good start and then roam to gank to get some kills to start you off.

This is my first guide guys, so I hope you like it ;). Please leave any comments or tips below so that I can improve my guides. Sorry for not adding pictures, it doesn't seem to work for some reason. Anyway leave a comment below!

L◎B | DiZastER (Steam Username)