Soffy's In-Depth Enchantress Guide [7.20e]

Hello everyone, and welcome to my Enchantress guide! In this modest arrangement I have tried to compile all useful information I know about Enchantress -- which I gradually gathered through the MANY matches I've played with her -- and thus provide you with the necessary help to understand this incredible hero, since I believe that's the reason you've stumbled upon this guide, anyway! Keep in mind, however, that this is mostly MY way of playing Enchantress, and the result of what I've observed from my time playing her. Thus, while it should be very useful for learning the hero, I encourage you to experiment on what suits your playstyle better. I am an active DotA player and I plan to keep this guide updated as frequently as I can. Whatever questions or inquiries you may have about this guide, or Enchantress, please feel free to let me know!




So hey, I'm a 22 years old casual DotA player from Brazil! I play DotA since 2015, but my first contact with MOBAs was through League of Legends, two years prior. I have played it a lot, but since I had some friends which were very addicted to DotA, I was eventually dragged into it and began to shift my focus from one game to the other.

Initially, when I first started playing, I didn't know the heroes too well, so I just picked one whose concept looked cool to me. I always liked ranged, healer characters (even though there are other heroes who fit that concept better, I didn't know that at the time), so from a first glance I thought it would be cool to play Enchantress. And then, from my first match, I instantly fell in love with her! I literally spammed her every match for a long time until I got to know more of the game's hero pool. So, yes, Enchantress was the very first character that I placed my hands on, and since then, I never stopped playing her, which is why I can comfortably say I am experienced with her.

Well, now that you know a little bit about me, let's get on with business! I hope you enjoy reading this guide as much as I did writing it. Oh, and I apologize in advance for any spelling or sentence structuring mistakes; English is not my first language, but I did try my best to avoid them.



Aiushtha, the Enchantress, is a ranged intelligence hero. She is an extremely fun hero to play — because of her diverse skill kit — but at the same time she is not very friendly to begginer players, due to the fact that she requires the player to have some ability with micromanagent in order for her to be played to her full potential (that is due to her Enchant skill, which allows her to take control over creep units). She is very flexible, and can be played as a Jungler, in the Offlane or even in the Mid Lane. It's not recommended to take her to the Safe Lane though, because although she can deal considerable damage with Impetus, she isn't the best suited to be carry, and functions better as a semi-carry due to her early game domination and decent scaling. It's very rewarding to learn how to play Enchantress, because she can really stomp games from very early stages, and good sucessful ganks, if she is jungling, can easily set up the road to victory for her team, similiarly to Chen. On that same end, she does require some team coordination for taking early objectives. However, that obstacle is a bit compensated because she also proves to be useful in mid to late game, as her Impetus provides her with good damage output, as long as she can keep her distance.












Enchantress doesn't require very specific allies or situations to thrive, as she is quite versatile. However, considering she can be such a dominant hero, it is important to identify certain heroes that can boost her success potential, as there are some of them that she loves beating and others that she enjoys having on her team. These might be looked upon when considering your pick:

SQUISHY ENEMIES: Heroes with low health and no effective defense against Impetus, such as Io, will perish easily to Enchantress. They usually won't be able to stop you from dealing waves of pure damage against them, and if they happen to try to escape, their escape mechanisms won't be able to disjoint projectiles, either, resulting in massive damage.

ALLIES WITH SURVIVABILITY-ENHANCING ABILITIES: Enchantress has great survivability tools, but sometimes she can find herself in situations where those might not be enough. Heroes that are able to dispel disables and debuffs or have regenerative skills are greatly appreciated by Enchantress, because that allows her to go for a more agressive playstyle. It's not unusual to have yourself saved by a well-timed dispel or have some healing on top of your own just enough to get out of what would otherwise be a deadly situation.

ALLIES WITH LOCKDOWN: Anything that can keep enemies in their places to help you land Impetus has very good synergy with Enchantress, as being able to freely hit enemy heroes without fear of retaliation or without the need to chase them is one of the things Enchantress appreciates the most. A good Chronosphere, for instance, allows you to quickly bring down one or two enemy heroes just by being there to focus them during the duration of the spell (provided you are outside of it, of course).

Aside from that, though, Enchantress unfortunately has very clear weaknesses. Therefore, there are some situations which you should be cautious about and strongly consider not picking her on:

AGAINST HEAVY NUKERS: You should not pick Enchantress if there are heavy nukers on the opposite team as their burst is capable of making her defensive skills negligible, and also because she has very low HP and Strength gain, as mentioned above. Not being able to stand long in teamfights will translate into not dealing a lot of damage with Impetus, making you inefficient. Also, they usually require you to build specific items just to be able to survive their damage, which is a hassle to your itemization.

AGAINST GAP CLOSERS: Highly mobile heroes that can travel long distances with their skills and easily reach Enchantress' face are very dangerous for her. By being able to be constantly at your feet, those heroes give you a hard time because you can't really deal damage with Impetus as long as they are close to you, and as we know, that's your main source of damage. On the same end, it's also harder to run from them or chase them, even with your decent movement speed.

AGAINST HEROES THAT HINDER UNTOUCHABLE: Even though Enchantress' passive is very useful, it's not effective against all heroes. Troll Warlord and Windranger, for instance, have ultimates that buff their attack speed enormously and will effectively go through the slow your passive applies, which means they'll make quick waste of you with their possibly high attack damage. Another case worth mentioning is heroes that have so many illusions that Untouchable probably won't help too much, such as Phantom Lancer.

AGAINST MULTIPLE UNITS OR PUSHER TEAMS Enchantress has no farming tools whatsoever, and her only damaging skill is single targeted. That means she has a hard time clearing waves of creeps and making her way through swarms of units ( Phantom Lancer's illusions or Broodmother's spiders, for instance). Also, she can't really count on Enchant for this because she can only dominate one creep every few seconds. In other words, if your team is lacking decent waveclearing or area damage, you might want to pick something else instead.

FIRST PICKING: Lastly, having knowledge of all the factors that can contribute to a bad match, it is definitely not the smartest idea to first pick. Enchantress' counters are very obvious and you'll have trouble dealing with them. But if you're up for a challenge, though...

PASSIVE: Enchantress beguiles her enemies, slowing their attacks when she is attacked. DURATION: 4 ATTACK SPEED REDUCTION: 20 / 70 / 120 / 170 (120 / 170 / 220 / 270)

Untouchable is a passive that applies a debuff on any enemy hero that issues an attack command or a targeted spell towards Enchantress, instantly slowing their attack speed. If the attack is fully executed, the slow debuff lasts for the remaining backswing duration of the attack. It is needless to say that this is an excellent passive, and is one of the things that makes Enchantress such a lane bully. Untouchable will be your primary tool for compensating your low health pool and armor in the early stages of the game, and will make it possible for you to easily trade hits with any hero, specially the enemy supports that try to harass you. Untouchable also opens space for a more agressive playstyle in the sense that you can mitigate a lot of creep damage in lane, since they are also slowed by it. With this passive, it's also very easy to escape tricky situations where you're surrounded by multiple enemy heroes, as you can prevent most of their hits until you can run away safely with your high movespeed, as long as they don't have hard disables or strong magical damage. You shouldn't get too confident as the game progresses towards late game, though. Even with the massive attack speed slow, your health will still be pretty poor. Most right clickers will start to take a good chunk off of it with just a few hits as they begin to build their big items. Also, at this point, you'll be even more vulnerable to burst damage, specially strong cores', so it is crucial that you remember that you are just a squishy little hero and pay attention to your positioning. When enemy heroes start building their Black King Bars, be wary that Untouchable does not pierce magical immunity, so your slow will have no effect on them. Also, heroes like Windranger and Troll Warlord will make your passive ineffective due to their ultimates' attack speed steroid. It is also worth noting that due to the nature of her passive, Enchantress is an ideal tank for Roshan, being able to be targeted by him while receiving very little damage.

NOTES: The slow is applied at the start of their animation. This means they will still be slowed even when they cancel the attack or the cast, or if it misses. Your illusions benefit from Untouchable. Disabled by Break (such as Silver Edge's active or Viper's Nethertoxin). Doesn't affect buildings or wards (such as Witch Doctor's Death Ward).

W: Enchantress charms an enemy and applies a basic dispel on it, bringing it under her control (if a creep) or slowing it (if a hero). RANGE: 700 DURATION ON HEROES: 3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25 / 6 DURATION ON CREEPS: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 MOVESPEED SLOW: 55% MANA COST: 65 COOLDOWN: 55 / 40 / 25 / 10 LIST OF DISPELLABLE BUFFS HERO BUFFS Abaddon Aphotic Shield Curse of Avernus Axe Culling Blade (speed bonus) Bane Enfeeble (talent attack speed steal) Bloodseeker Bloodrage Brewmaster Drunken Brawler Centaur Warrunner Retaliate Chen Divine Favor Holy Persuasion (teleport buff) Clinkz Strafe Dark Seer Ion Shell Surge Earthshaker Enchant Totem Ember Spirit Flame Guard Grimstroke Ink Swell Gyrocopter Rocket Barrage Invoker Alacrity Keeper of the Light Chakra Magic Legion Commander Overwhelming Odds Press the Attack Lich Frost Shield Lone Druid Spirit Link Battle Cry Lycan Howl Magnus Empower Mirana Leap Monkey King Jingu Mastery Mischief (speed bonus) Necrophos Ghost Shroud Ogre Magi Bloodlust Omniknight Guardian Angel Oracle Purifying Flames Outworld Devourer Equilibrium Pangolier Shield Crash Rolling Thunder (wall bumping stop buff) Phantom Assassin Phantom Strike Phantom Lancer Phantom Rush Pugna Decrepify Spirit Breaker Bulldoze Sven Warcry Treant Protector Living Armor Ursa Overpower Visage Grave Chill Warlock Shadow Word Windranger Windrun NON-HERO BUFFS Ancient Thunderhide Frenzy Ogre Frostmage Ice Armor ITEM BUFFS Aegis of the Immortal Regeneration Arcane Rune Arcane Buckler Armor Bonus Clarity Replenish Crimson Guard Guard (shield) Rune of Double Damage Double Damage Drum of Endurance Endurance Ethereal Blade Ether Blast Eul's Scepter of Divinity Cyclone Ghost Scepter Ghost Form Glimmer Cape Glimmer Rune of Haste Haste Healing Salve Salve Hurricane Pike Unlimited range buff Mask of Madness Berserk Medallion of Courage Valor Mekansm Restore (armor bonus) Mjollnir Static Charge Rune of Regeneration Regeneration Satanic Unholy Rage Solar Crest Shine Urn of Shadows Soul Release

Enchant is a spell that can target both enemy heroes and creeps, having a different effect in each of those cases. If used on an enemy hero, clone (such as Meepo's duplicates or Arc Warden's Tempest Double) or creep-hero (such as Lone Druid's Spirit Bear or Warlock's Golem), it will greatly slow the target. If used on creeps or illusions, it will convert them, allowing Enchantress to control them. Along with these effects, Enchant will always apply a basic dispel on the target, which is capable of removing most basic stats altering effects (like speed or damage bonuses), slows and silences. Enchant is a very good utility spell and it will serve you the most if you are jungling. With it, you can approach a neutral camp and take control of the strongest creep there, allowing it to tank the other creeps in the camp for you while you kill them, easily clearing it this way. Also, having creeps under your control in the early levels can be game changing if you are ganking, as you can use their abilities to provide extra damage or disables, and also due to the fact that squishy heroes will take tremendous damage from them. A very nice thing that I like to do aswell is to farm the enemy jungle instead of mine; that allows me to gank their Safe Lane instead of the usual Offlane when the time comes, and they most of the time won't be expecting it. If you are jungling and you don't intend to gank for whatever reason, you can also send your creeps to harass other lanes (especially Midlane), as establishing your presence in the adjacent lanes of the jungle is very important. A good example is using Wildwing Ripper's Tornado to zone the enemy midlaner and disrupt their farm. If you are laning by yourself, however, Enchant won't provide you with much help. Against heroes, it functions primarily as a tool for chasing, which won't assist you with survivability or farming. A possible exception can be if you are laning against the likes of Abaddon, Ursa or Legion Commander, as you can dispel many of their skills with Enchant, such as Aphotic Shield, Overpower or Press the Attack. Of course, bringing a creep to the lane to harass the enemy suppports can be a nice aggressive strategy, but most of the time your other skills will be enough to handle them. On the other hand, if you are sharing the lane with a teammate, Enchant can be a good setup for kills, provided you have additional disables or a good source of damage. As soon as you've learned your ultimate ability – Impetus – Enchant will make your life much more easier by allowing you to slow your target and land as many ultimate hits as possible. Make sure to apply this debuff before chasing your target down, as it will help you a great deal. You can also use Enchant to hinder your enemies from chasing you, although you should keep in mind it has a long cast animation.

NOTES: Ancient creeps can be converted if the talent Enchantress: +150 Health and 25 Damage for Enchantress and her units is chosen, but Roshan and creep-heroes (which are also tagged as ancient creeps, with the exception of Lone Druid's Spirit Bear) are only slowed. If the same talent above is chosen, couriers can also be targeted, but it has no effect on them. Blocked by Linken's Sphere's Spellblock. Cannot target buildings or wards (such as Witch Doctor's Death Ward). Does not pierce spell immunity. When a converted creep's duration ends, it dies instantly. No one gets experience or gold from it. When recast on an enchanted creep, its duration gets set back to 50/60/70/80 seconds. This also goes for other enchanted summoned units, such as Necronomicon's creeps. On an additional note, the duration of summons is not set to 50/60/70/80 upon first converting them. It only sets it after casting it on them a second time. Enchant's current duration and cooldown allows for up to 1 / 2 / 3 / 7 creeps to be controlled at a time.

E: Enchantress summons a cloud of wisps to heal her and any nearby friendly units over a period of time. DURATION: 11 RADIUS: 275 MANA COST: 170 / 160 / 150 / 140 COOLDOWN: 35 EFFECTIVE HEALING NUMBER OF WISPS: 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 (12 / 14 / 16 / 18) HEAL PER SECOND PER WISP: 10 (35) With no talents: Can heal a total of 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 health per second. Can heal a total of 440 / 660 / 880 / 1100 health over its full duration. If the talent Enchantress: +8 Nature's Attendants Heal is chosen: Can heal a total of 120 / 140 / 160 / 180 health per second. Can heal a total of 1320 / 1540 / 1760 / 1980 health over its full duration. If the talent Enchantress: +12 Nature's Attendants Wisps is chosen: Can heal a total of 140 / 210 / 280 / 350 health per second. Can heal a total of 1540 / 2310 / 3080 / 3850 health over its full duration. If both talents are chosen: Can heal a total of 420 / 490 / 560 / 630 health per second. Can heal a total of 4620 / 5390 / 6160 / 6930 health over its full duration.

Nature's Attendants is a spell that summons forth a cloud of healing wisps that will follow Enchantress for the duration, healing her and any injuried allied unit in a small area around her over time. The healing is very gradual, with each individual wisp choosing a random target in range to heal every second — without any priority — but ignoring units that are already at full health. Multiple wisps can choose the same target, so the less injuried allies in range, the more chance there is for the wisps to go straight to the ally you want them to. Nature's Attendants is without doubt Enchantress' most important spell. It will provide a much needed sustain in lane, allowing you to recover from most of the harass that will be coming your way and making you practically unkillable along with Untouchable. Throughout the game, the best way to use this spell is as prevention to upcoming damage. Since its healing happens slowly over time, it's not quite good to use it when you've already taken a lot of damage, as your enemies may be able to finish you off before you're able to recover yourself. Also, this spell has a long cast animation, so it will hinder your mobility a little bit, as well as give you a hard time to activate it if they have disables. But if you instead happen to use it before you're engaged, your healing will overcome the damage they deal to you and you'll be able to survive most of the time and get back to safety, or keep hitting them, depending on what's going on. Of course, another important way to use it is simply to sustain yourself, topping off the health you lost from enemy harass. But do be careful, because Nature's Attendants has a respectably long cooldown and casting it will prevent you from using it again for quite some time in case you need to. Also, you'll have to become a little less aggressive without it to back you up. Ideally, you will want not only to use this spell, but also consumables to keep control of your health. As detailed above, you can heal your allies with Nature's Attendants. However, you shouldn't go out of your way to heal them in teamfights; the range is ridiculously short for a healing spell, and trying to get near them may put a risk to your positioning, which should be your priority at all times, along with your constant Impetus damage. Also, most heroes lack the movement speed to follow after you, requiring you to practically stand still waiting for them to be healed, which can be quite dangerous.

NOTES: Nature's Attendants ignores ancient creeps. Wisps can heal invulnerable units, but not hidden ones (such as Puck in Phase Shift or someone in Shadow Demon's Disruption). Pierces spell immunity. Doesn't affect buildings or wards. When Enchantress dies, the wisps still continue to heal units in range of her death's location. When choosing the Enchantress: +8 Nature's Attendants Heal talent, the numbers of wisps that can be seen in the animation does not increase.

R: Enchantress places an enchantment on each attack, causing it to deal additional damage based on how far away the target is. RANGE: 575 ( 715) ( 765) ( + 905) DISTANCE AS DAMAGE: 16% / 20% / 24% (24% / 28% / 32%) DISTANCE CAP FOR MAXIMUM DAMAGE: 1750 MAXIMUM DAMAGE: 280 / 350 / 420 (420 / 490 / 560) MANA COST: 40 / 55 / 70 COOLDOWN: 0

Impetus is a spell that enhances your basic attacks, making them deal extra pure damage on each hit. This damage is calculated taking into account how far away the target is from Enchantress at the moment the projectile hits, which means moving away from the target causes it to deal more damage on impact, and moving closer decreases the damage. Impetus is Enchantress' only damage-dealing spell, but it is what makes her so impactful throughout the game. Dealing waves of constant pure damage isn't something to be underestimated, and it can easily burn through many targets' entire health, even that of tankier heroes. There are two ways to use Impetus: you can toggle it on, causing it to be automatically activated along with each attack, or you can keep manually pressing R (or whatever key you use to cast your ultimates) while having the cursor over the target (this is called "orb walking"). Usually, in your early-mid game, you won't have the mana to back up an automatic use of Impetus and you won't be spamming it too much, so there is no reason to keep it toggled on. Another benefit of orbwalking is that when used manually, the attack is partially treated as a spell cast; this prevents the hero from drawing aggro from nearby enemy creeps or towers and makes it possible for them to harass an enemy hero without being focused as they normally would be. This is specially useful if you are ganking, as you can be aggressive without losing too much health in return or having to back up. I like keeping Impetus toggled on as soon as I buy Hurricane Pike, as its active has an extremely useful synergy with Impetus. When orbwalking with Impetus, there are some things you should keep in mind. Firstly, that you are able to "cancel" the attack animation by commanding Enchantress to move forward right after the projectile has been thrown, maximizing the number of Impetus hits you are able to land this way, which is very important. Also, when chasing down an enemy, pay attention if you'll be able to land any more Impetus attacks on them: if that's not the case (for instance, if the target is getting out of vision or going under tower range), then when casting the last Impetus you should immediately turn around and walk away from the target, so you can make it deal the most possible damage (as explained above). In general, always stay at the back of teamfights, making sure to be the farthest possible from your target, but also in a safe position from anyone coming your way. You should try to keep constantly moving to mantain the distance between you and your targets, thus making your damage as high as it can be.

NOTES: Since the bonus damage is dealt in a separate damage instance and counts as spell damage, it is not affected or considered by anything that works with attack damage, but also that it fully works with spell damage amplification and spell lifesteal. The attack range bonus of Aghanim's Scepter is granted only if Impetus is learned. Doesn't affect buildings or wards. Can be disjointed. Pierces spell immunity.

In this chapter we will discuss what possible ways to progress Enchantress through her levels. She is a bit flexible on that topic, so I will go around what benefits her in which situations, as well as showing a general build which works in most games from my point of view. Also, considering Enchantress can be played in two different roles, I will point out how this variety affects her skill build.









When laning as Enchantress, wether that being in the Offlane or Midlane, you'll want to abuse your skill kit's most significant strength: your ability to endure the enemy's harass. By taking a first point in Nature's Attendants, you're guaranteed to have a powerful healing that can quickly bring most of your health back, in case you ever get low (there are very few heroes who are able to outdamage your healing in lane). That allows you to be aggressive and try to land as many attack hits as you can, knowing that even though you'll be attacked back, you'll be able to heal yourself. I prefer to start with Nature's Attendants instead of Untouchable because Untouchable's first level only provides 20 attack speed slow; while that is good, I think Nature's Attendants utility is better in terms of sustain.

After that, you'll focus on maximizing Untouchable and Nature's Attendants, respectively. Nature's Attendants healing is already strong by the start, and having your passive fully upgraded is just too good to pass. The games where you'll want to switch that order are the ones in which the enemy team has little to no right clickers, having much more spell damage than physical damage; after all, there is little need to rush the maximum level of an attack speed slow passive if you won't be attacked that much.

You don't want to spend a point in Enchant until Level 4 or 5. You won't be making much use of it in lane, as against heroes it just provides a slow. Of course, dominating a creep and bringing it to lane can help you pressure who you're against with, but you'll be doing it at the cost of your own survivability. Besides, one point in Enchant only allows you to dominate a single creep for less than a minute. It's best to wait and add a point to it when you're able to pair it with Impetus on the following level, and possibly scoring a kill. There can be exceptions, though: if you feel you'll be able to be overly agressive or push the lane fast, it's fine to invest in Enchant.

You should max Impetus and get your talents whenever possible. Don't ever skip them!









First of all, Jungle Enchantress has been nerfed very hard. She doesn't have nearly as much power as she used to, as she requires a lot more of point investments in Enchant to be able to dominate as much creeps as before. Also, the meta favours dual lanes because of the importance of denying and winning the lane nowadays, so you should really try to stick to a lane rather than jungling. I'm just including this here to help you in case you want to do it.

Anyway, in opposition to being in a lane, as a jungler you'll be mostly secluded to the jungle without directly confronting any enemy hero, so your priority should be upgrading your farming and ganking tools; in other words, placing early points in Enchant. I think two points – along with one in Nature's Attendants to aid in your sustain and recovery from ganks – are enough.

Then, you should maximize your skills in the usual order: Untouchable and Nature's Attendants first while upgrading your talents and ultimate skill whenever they are available. Enchant should be the last priority.










At Level 10, you'll be choosing your initial talent in the match, picking between Enchantress: +30 Movement Speed during Nature's Attendants and Enchantress: +10 Enchanted Creep Armor.

These talents are situational, even though Enchantress suffers a great deal against magical damage and taking a little bit of that weight from her back is always very welcome. Besides, Enchantress' base movement speed is already significantly good. The scenarios you'll want to favour the movement speed over the magic resistance are if the enemy team is lacking that type of damage, or if you're dominating the game and don't feel particularly threatened by it.





In this tier there are two powerful talents, with Enchantress: +30 Attack Speed for Enchantress and her units being more offensively oriented and Enchantress: +8 Nature's Attendants Heal focusing around sustain. Before picking one of them, you might want to consider your situation in the game: is the enemy team picking on you with burst damage and disables? Are you being able to attack freely in teamfights?

If you feel you don't or won't really need the considerable increase in Nature's Attendants healing you can go straight to giving that nice boost to your damage, which will not only help you kill enemies faster, but also assist greatly in farming, pushing the lanes and damaging structures.





In this tier, I'm more inclined to suggest Enchantress: -65 Untouchable Slow rather than Enchantress: +150 Health and 25 Damage for Enchantress and her units, because the slow increase in Untouchable is just really massive to pass, which gets even more noticeable against a heavy lineup of right clickers.

Of course, dominating ancient creeps has great advantages; many of them provide strong auras for your team, while some of them have excelent active skills such as the Ancient Black Dragon's Fireball, which temporarily ignites a large area. They have high health and assist a lot with pushing, specially if you have a pack of them. With that being said, it's up to you if you want to favour some utility for your team, or emphasize your own survivability.





It's not very common to reach maximum level as Enchantress, as most matches tend to end quicker than that. If it comes to it, though, you'll be able to pick between Enchantress: +6.5% Impetus Damage and Enchantress: +12 Nature's Attendants Wisps.

I always tend to get the bonus Impetus damage. By late game, you'll have most of your build complete already, which translates into having the extra range from both Aghanim's Scepter and Hurricane Pike, the useful mobility and also the stats from your other items. With proper positioning, you won't be getting in a situation where you'll need such a massive healing from Nature's Attendants.

Enchantress's item build is very versatile and flexible, as she only has two core items that you'll probably want every game: Hurricane Pike and Aghanim's Scepter. The rest purely depends on which enemy heroes she is facing, the current situation of the game, and also which position she's currently filling (which can range from 2 to 4).

Even though many items can work on her to a certain extent, I will only be talking about those which I think are a solid choice or at least worth it, which isn't the case of Mask of Madness, for instance.

These items will provide you a safe start, while giving a little bit of power to farm, deny and harass with your basic attacks. The regeneration from the two sets of Tangoes is useful for keeping your health in shape from every little damage you may take, and Faerie Fire can be a life saving item if used at the right moment, plus it gives you +2 damage, which is always welcome. I like taking a Healing Salve because it allows you to quickly come back to action after falling victim to great amounts of damage without the need to sacrifice the long cooldown of your Nature's Attendants. The Iron Branches are very cost effective, give good stats and can be built into a Magic Wand later on, which I strongly recommend. You can always ask the courier to bring a few Clarity potions if you've opted for a more aggressive Enchant build, but other than that, your mana management should be good enough for you not to need it, considering you'll have only one active skill until level 5 in the recommended build.

If you're playing as a jungler you'll usually be position 4 or 5: that means your build will be more supportive in nature, and that you must buy the Animal Courier and wards as needed by your team. Other than that, you might want to start with a few Clarities to aid in your use of Enchant and Nature's Attendants, Tangoes to heal yourself and perhaps a Blight Stone, since it has good sinergy with your dominated creeps. Other possible initial items include Boots of Speed and Healing Salves.

DUST OF APPEARANCE: Dust of Appearance should be in your inventory whenever there are invisible enemies in the other team. It is a crucial item, and trust me, most of your teammates won't buy it, so you must. Using Dust of Appearance will not only reveal invisible units in a large area but also slow them, allowing your team to follow after them or to back up more easily.

SMOKE OF DECEIT: Smoke of Deceit is a must if you are jungling. The ability to position not only yourself, but also allied units, and approach your enemies without being seen by wards can be the difference between life and death for your target when ganking. As the game progresses, it is also a crucial item for strategic pickoffs in the enemy jungle with your team, or just to gain vision control of the map.

TOWN PORTAL SCROLL: Town Portal Scroll should be in your inventory at all times, and I mean it! It is your most valuable mobility item, allowing you to go for your team's aid when needed, to get back faster to the lane and avoid missing too much farm and also to defend towers. It's just too good of an item to not keep it with you. A good use of Town Portal Scroll can change the tide of a teamfight completely.

DRUM OF ENDURANCE: Drum of Endurance is a great item with its all-around stats, and it synergizes with Enchantress very well. By increasing her damage, mana and her health by a great deal and also having an active that boosts her already high movement speed and increases her attack speed, she not only gets more durable, but is also able to chase down enemies more easily and land more Impetus hits.

HOOD OF DEFIANCE: Hood of Defiance compensates a bit of Enchantress' innate inability to deal with spell damage, providing health regeneration and a good boost to magic resistance. You should look forward to purchasing it when against a lineup with heavy magical damage (such as heroes like Earthshaker or Sand King), as it will help you survive a great deal, along with Nature's Attendants.

INFUSED RAINDROPS: Infused Raindrops protects you from magical damage while consuming its charges. It can be a very cost effective item against certain heroes with high mana cost nukes, such as Lina, Queen of Pain and Lion. Being able to mitigate their damage will greatly improve your survivability.

MAGIC WAND: Magic Wand gives you good stats and a very useful active when stacked, allowing you to come out of many extreme situations alive. You can even use it to restore mana to give that last Impetus hit on a pesky enemy or use an emmergency Nature's Attendants when needed. It's considerably better against enemy heroes that spam skills, such as Zeus or Bristleback, as you'll stack charges very fast.

PHASE BOOTS: Phase Boots provide a little bit of armor and attack speed, but are mainly looked for because of their movement speed boosting active. It sinergizes quite well with Impetus, helping Enchantress chase down her targets more easily, and also being able to use it more frequently thanks to the nice attack speed bonus. The ability to ignore unit colision when phasing is also very useful. However, considering these boots don't provide any additional attributes, they're a bit risky for squishy Enchantress, so it is recommended to build other items that help her in that aspect.

POWER TREADS: Power Treads is an equally viable choice of boots. Focusing more on stats and damage, it makes Enchantress a little tankier, while also making her attacks hurt more. However, in comparison to Phase Boots, your attacks can feel quite slow, and that isn't very good when you think about hitting with Impetus as much as you can. When using Power Treads, keep in mind that you should always keep it in Strength mode for the extra health, except when pushing towers or if you're in no risk of taking damage. You can change it in late game, though, if you're not having issues with staying alive; the extra health won't matter that much anymore, and you'll have other tools for survival.

These are two powerful items that have a thing in common: they both increase your basic attack range and consequently boost your Impetus' damage by a good margin, as well as makes you able to attack enemies from a very safe distance. That is the reason I end up building them in almost every match.

Aghanim's Scepter, aside from the boost in your ultimate, also gives you a good amount of health, mana and stats, increasing your damage and making you a little more durable. The same can be said for Hurricane Pike, with the addition that it also offers an incredible active effect which not only allows you to go through some terrains, repoisition yourself and your allies and chase after your enemies, but also makes you able to land four very long-distance Impetus hits which deals ridiculous damage. For that reason, I usually suggest building Hurricane Pike before Aghanim's Scepter.

BLACK KING BAR: Black King Bar should be acquired to nullify part of the effectiveness of enemy heroes who rely too much on disables or magical damage to be impactful ( Crystal Maiden, Lion, Leshrac, etc.), allowing you to basically ignore them for the duration. As was mentioned, Enchantress is very susceptible to suffering with burst damage, so Black King Bar suits well to her.

BLOODTHORN: Bloodthorn is a great powerful item that upgrades from Orchid Malevolence. It gives a lot of damage, attack speed and mana regeneration (great for spamming Impetus) and is primarily used to silence casters before they have time to use their spells. Along with that, it has an active that makes everyone attacking the target to receive true strike and land critical hits, making it also great for dealing with enemies with evasion. It is ideal for a right-clicking hero such as Enchantress, so you should buy it when you need you and your team to quickly bring down a single target.

EYE OF SKADI: Eye of Skadi gives an absurd amount of stats, making you much more tankier than any other item listed here. It's a very good item to have, specially because it's also an attack modifier that makes you slow your enemies with each hit. That combines nicely with your Impetus and makes a lot more easier for you to kite enemy heroes without having to rely too much on your Enchant.

MOON SHARD: Moon Shard is a delicious item on Enchantress, and is a personal favourite of mine for those games where your team is simply dominating. It is a costy item that provides nothing more than attack speed (a lot!), turning you into an Impetus machine gun. Of course, you have to be sure you have the mana to back it up, otherwise it won't be that useful. If you don't feel the urgent need of anything else, and you're being able to be safe in teamfights, throwing a lot of Impetus hits, then go ahead and buy it (be careful not to consume it).

SCYTHE OF VYSE: Scythe of Vyse is one of the items that gives you the most Intelligence in the game along with a lot of mana regeneration, basically solving all your mana problems. However, this item is known because of its wonderful active – Hex – which strongly disables your target and allows you to freely attack it for the duration. It's overall a great item choice, but is even better against enemies that can run in and out of battles as they please, such as Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain or Storm Spirit. Taking that ability from them, even for a little bit of time, can be very valuable for your team.

AEON DISK: Aeon Disk is a somewhat tricky item. Honestly, if you've been following this guide, you wouldn't want to pick Enchantress in a match where Aeon Disk would be most useful — that is against heroes that can instantly kill you in a single combo, or get you off guard with Shadow Blade and finish you on their own (such as Clinkz and Lina, for instance). What Aeon Disk does is apply a dispel on yourself and prevent you from dealing and taking damage from any source after your health drops below 70%. So if you were to face a wild Invoker using his full combo against you with Aeon Disk on your inventory, there would be no way he would kill you with it, allowing you to pop Nature's Attendants and run away, or giving your team enough time to come to you. It is a very much needed item in those situations if you don't want to see your life going down the sink every time.

EUL'S SCEPTER OF DIVINITY: Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives great movement speed and mana regeneration, both which Enchantress appreciates. It should mainly be bought to interrupt chanelled spells or temporarily disrupt powerful initiations (like a blinking Magnus or Axe, for instance). Other than that, though, it has many other useful utilities, which include setting up kills by cycloning a target and giving your team time to surrender it, dispelling yourself from effects such as silences, protecting yourself from dangerous combos by becoming untargetable and invulnerable in the middle of its execution (I'm looking at you, Kunkka) and also to mitigate some of the damage of powerful ultimates like Juggernaut's Omnislash.

GHOST SCEPTER: Ghost Scepter gives a little bit of stats and is an essential item against dangerous carries that depend on physical damage. Even though Enchantress has Untouchable, it will do nothing against carries like Ursa and Clinkz, or even a Phantom Assassin with Black King Bar, for instance. There are also certain abilities like Omnislash that will ultimately kill you if you're targeted by it and have no way to defend yourself, which is why you must keep this item in mind. Be very careful not to use it if you're about to be hit by nukes, though, because you can be killed by them as ghost form increases the magic damage you receive.

LINKEN'S SPHERE: Linken's Sphere is a great defensive item to build when the enemy team has many strong targeted spells in their arsenal. The sphere's Spellblock forces the enemy team to waste at least one spell on you in order to deactivate the barrier (which refreshes every 13 seconds), thus providing very useful utility. Also, heroes like Legion Commander – who rely on their strong single-target ultimates – will have to think twice before using them on you as their skill can go to waste. MAELSTROM: Maelstrom is a cost-effective item that increases your damage by a good bit and allows ranged heroes that don't have any sort of area damage to have a way to clear through lots of units. It is greatly recommended to build it against Nature's Prophet, Broodmother, Phantom Lancer and heroes alike. It also improves your farming potential and synergizes very well with attack speed items. Can be upgraded to Mjollnir later on but isn't extremely necessary. MONKEY KING BAR: Monkey King Bar is a good offensive option for the huge attack speed and damage it gives you, but is mostly looked upon because of its ability to let you deal more easily with enemies – specially carries – who have finished their evasion items (such as Butterfly), or already have evasion skills (the most common example is Phantom Assassin). Another good thing is getting rid of the annoying uphill miss chance. PIPE OF INSIGHT: Pipe of Insight can be upgraded from Hood of Defiance if nobody else on your team intends to build it and you feel your team will need it very much. It gives good health regeneration and magic resistance in an aura — all of which Enchantress appreciates — but its great active is mandatory for going high ground against the likes of Tinker and Zeus, by protecting both your team and your allied units against their annoying magical damage. It also does wonders in teamfights against those heroes. SILVER EDGE: Silver Edge gives very good all-round stats, damage and attack speed — making it a good offensive item for Enchantress — but it is mostly looked upon because of its active ability, as it allows you to temporarily disable annoying passive abilities that would otherwise be very troubling to deal with. Killing a Spectre or Bristleback is infinitely easier without their passive abilities to back them up, which is what makes this item to important in certain games. Return to ContentsReturn to Itemization Early gameMid gameLate gameCommunication In this chapter we'll go over the peculiarities that evolve around playing Enchantress and also most other heroes, providing a general guideline of what to do to achieve success in your matches, such as individual, group and map mechanics, awareness and communication. Even though it may vary depending on the hero lineups and the flow of the game, the early game usually represents the time span between the start of the match and when the first towers begin to go down. It consists mainly of the laning phase, where heroes gather against each other at the lanes and struggle for gold and experience. A few elements are pertinent to this stage: BOUNTY RUNES: The first concern of both teams when the game starts is to secure the initial Bounty Runes that spawn at 00:00 on the game clock at a small spot located near each team's shop and also at the entrance of each side's jungle: These runes are of utmost importance because they give every allied hero 40 gold — increasing by 2 for each minute passed — regardless of who picked it up. Evidently, this can give your team a good gold lead depending on how many runes are picked up, which means that they are very looked upon by both teams and often result in confrontations to contest them. Enchantress doesn't offer any sort of reliable disable to hinder her enemies from acquiring runes — a mere slow doesn't impede them from clicking the runes — which is why she must rely on teammates to contest them, and very rarely will be able to do it by herself. If you have one or two allies with you, you can wait until the clock is near 00:00 and risk approaching the enemy rune spot to get their rune while keeping an eye on yours, too (waiting is important because you don't want to stay too long there as you can lose a lot of health and have to back off — the rune is your only interest). If you're lucky, you can even score a kill, given you have enough damage (don't hesitate to level up Enchant if you think it'll be worth it). In case it's their team that'll be attempting to steal your rune, be wary. If they have heroes like Shadow Shaman and Ursa, back off immediately, as you'll definitely not want to stand near them in any way. On the other hand, in case they have heroes that don't deal very heavy damage early on or lack hard disables — like Necrophos — you can just pop Nature's Attendants, keep hitting them, and spam click your rune when it is time. Hopefully you'll be able to get it and back away to your lane. After that, these same bounty runes will spawn every five minutes. It is strongly recommended that as the clock approaches their spawn time, you immediately leave your lane to wait in their spot before someone else gets it from you (enemy supports, more precisely). Remember, it's not only from yourself that you'll be keeping this gold away from if you lose the rune, but also from your teammates! POWER-UP RUNES: Bounty Runes may not be your only concern, though. In case you're filling the Mid Lane, the runes you'll be paying attention to are the Power-up runes — instead of gold, they grant a variety of buffs to the player that picks them up, depending on what rune is picked. They spawn at 2:00 on the game clock at both sides of the river, and every two minutes after that. They spawn randomly at one of these two locations until the 40 minute mark, after which they spawn simultaneously at both locations: NAME UTILITY DESCRIPTION Arcane Arcane Rune allows Enchantress to better spam Impetus, greatly increasing her harass potential. This is also very relevant as the game progresses, as you will be spamming Impetus a lot and can often find yourself lacking mana, so this rune will help you with that. Decreasing the cooldown and mana cost of her Nature's Attendants is also not something to deglect, considering it's a spell of such a slow return. Reduces the cooldown and mana cost of all abilities and items by 30% for 50 seconds. Double Damage Increasing your base damage can be very useful early on, as you'll be able to be more agressive by abusing your autoattacks in lane — they'll really hurt! This will also assist you in last hitting more consistently as you'll kill the creeps more easily, which you can use to your advantage in case you want to push the lane and damage the enemy tower. However, the Rune of Double Damage won't be very useful for you in late game, as it serves a right clicker carry much better, and your main source of damage is of spell type. Increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute by 100% for 45 seconds. Haste Rune of Haste is most better by the moment you have Impetus, as you most certainly can score a kill by ganking any of the lanes with your ridiculous speed. This will get much easier if they have squishy heroes and you can count on your allies' disables (even though most of the time Enchant suffices). Increases movement speed to maximum for 22 seconds. Illusion Rune of Illusion's utility isn't so clear as that of the other runes, but that doesn't mean it's useless. Its uses can include assisting with last hits, creep stacking, baiting the enemies' abilities, scouting the dark areas of the map and learning information about jungle stacks and support rotations, denying and scouting runes, harassing, etc. Whatever you do, don't just throw your illusions around or leave them standing at the rune spot. Conjures 2 illusions of your hero which deal 35% damage and last 75 seconds. Invisibility Rune of Invisibility is also another rune that can help you with ganking, allowing you to remain veiled from enemy sight provided they have no sentries to reveal you. But you can also pick it to explore the enemy territory without being seen, or even to save yourself from getting killed, if you're that lucky. Increases movement speed to maximum for 22 seconds. Regeneration Rune of Regeneration is loved by everyone because it's like an oasis amidst the desert. You can refresh yourself from any damage with it — after a teamfight, a Roshan attempt, a gank or a lane skirmish. If you know you're 100% sure you will get it, you can pop your abilities before you do so, as it also replenishes your mana. Regenerates health and mana to maximum for 30 seconds, but is cancelled by damage from any hero. Enchantress has no reliable way to contest runes as was previously mentioned, but you may want to punish the enemy mid laner if they go for them. By slowing them with Enchant you'll be able do deal a good chunk of damage — even more if you already learned Impetus. This will make them think twice before trying to get them. Be specially wary and don't forget to alert your team if you're against the likes of Lina, for instance, and she just happens to have gotten an Invisibility or Haste rune, as she is a popular ganker and that can easily set up kills for her team. After acquiring the runes, the laning phase will start, evidently. The most important aspect that you must keep in mind about this stage is the position of the creeps in the lane — where they'll meet and where they'll go to. Maintaining the creep equilibrium is crucial for your success because your objective is to remain safe from enemy ganks while being able to farm properly. For that reason, you should always try to keep the creepwave approximately in the middle of the lane, so you are never too far from the safety of your tower, but also not too close to prevent the creepwave from being hit by it. There is a multitude of tools to assist you in mantaining the creep equilibrium: CREEP BLOCKING: As soon as the first creepwave leaves the base, you can start this process. Creep blocking is accomplished by physically blocking your creeps' path with your hero so they take longer to reach the middle of the lane. Since your creeps move more slowly, they will meet closer to your tower, which is exactly what we want to mantain our safety, while making it riskier for the enemy to farm: In the video preview, we can see PSG.LGD's Chalice blocking his creeps. In the Mid Lane, being able to stand on your side of the river to last hit is valuable. The high ground allows you to see your opponent's side of the river, and for ranged heroes, that avoids the 25% uphill miss chance. Creep blocking is not restricted to the first wave, though. Players often resort to this if they feel the lane is too pushed to the enemy side and there's no way to bring it back. For instructions about how to creep block with precision and the best way to practice it, you can read this amazing article. LAST HITTING & DENYING: By only getting the last hit on the enemy creeps when farming instead of constantly damaging them, you impede your creepwave from killing the enemy's too fast and from shoving your lane forward — which is something you definitely don't want. It is specially important not to damage the enemy team's ranged creeps as though they are squishy and easy gold they're the creeps that deal the most damage, helping to push the wave towards your tower. Of course, even if you're last hitting, you should always consider that by getting the last hit on any lane creep you will naturally push the lane, since you are an additional damage source on the wave. What you should do to solve this is to attack your own creeps to deny them: by doing this, not only you'll prevent the enemy laners from getting gold, but also a good chunk of their experience will be lost, giving you a good advantage. For that reason, you should always try to deny as many creeps as possible. Of course, not only lane creeps can be denied, but also towers and other allied units, once they fall below a certain percentage of health: creeps and siege units at 50% and towers at 10%. PULLING: Pulling is the act of redirecting your lane creeps towards a neutral camp (the large camp, preferably) and having the entire creepwave to be killed by it. This is usually done when your creepwave is too pushed and you want to reset the creep equilibrium, allowing you to farm without being too exposed: This process also allows you to possibly deny XP and gold to your lane opponents, provided you are able to stop them from farming the pulled creeps. If you are in the Safe Lane (jungling), you might want to ocasionally pull for your carry if the lane is pushed. Keep in mind that in this situation you won't be able to pull the lane creeps directly to the large camp because of the way the routes are designed. What this means is that in order to kill the entire creepwave you'll have to do a process called creep stacking: It consists of attacking a creep in the neutral camp in order to draw their aggro so you can pull them out right before the spawn time (every minute), creating another group of neutral creeps in the same spot and making them stack. Only then you'll be able to pull the lane creeps there. Killing the entire creepwave is important because otherwise you'll end up having more creeps stacked in the next wave (as the creeps will leave the jungle and go back to the lane) and it will make it eventually push and bring your carry by the enemy's tower. Instead of stacking the small camp, there is an alternative way to ensure that your creepwave is killed in its entirety: As we can see, you can pull again from the small camp towards the large camp just as the neutral creeps are about to die. This is known as connecting the pull, double pulling, or chain pulling. Be wary, though, that heroes like Earthshaker have blocking abilities, and they can very easily mess up your chain pulling if they are aware you're doing it. Be discreet. When pulling, you should try to deny all your creeps while farming the neutral creeps for the extra gold income and experience. This is why pulling is usually done by a support, as it allows them to farm a little bit without leeching experience from their carry. However, not all times welcome pulling. If the enemy creepwave is just about to push towards your tower, you definitely won't want to pull your creepwave, as it'll make it much more harder for your carry to farm considering he'll have to tank the enemy creepwave. Also, this can hurt your tower a lot if he's not willing or can't tank the creepwave. Often times, you WILL want to pull without killing your entire creepwave: if you are antecipating that your team will want to push and take a tower, the extra creeps in the wave can be of help to this task. By courtesy of redditor jerseydevilz, here is the detailed time markings for attacking when stacking and pulling in patch 7.20's map: Ganking represents the act of visiting your allies' lanes with the intent of killing the enemy heroes and getting an overall experience and gold advantage. Of course, that presumes that you are discreet, be careful not to be seen, or otherwise use some form of stealth — you can't gank heroes by randomly walking straight to their faces! If you're jungling, this will be your primary focus in the early game as your actions can be quite game-changing. As you can see, Smoke of Deceit is an unparalled ally when gaking, as it allows you to go unseen by any enemy wards (which are frequently placed in all of the lanes — specially the Mid Lane — if they have a decent support). Also, it keeps you veiled until you are very close to the enemy, which makes you much more sneakier than if without it even if there are no wards. Another precious tool when ganking are the jungle creeps you can obtain with your Enchant ability: many of them have good stuns and roots, or just add to the overall damage of your gank, allowing you to more easily secure a kill. If you're successful on your ganks, you can significantly slow down an enemy carry's farm or help a teammate recover a difficult lane. In some cases, you can even take down a tower right after it. These factors get even more important if you are facing a team that is strong in the late game, as you'll really need to have a solid start to prevent them from getting any consistent advantage. Ganking is not exclusive to the support/jungler role, though. You can also gank if you're playing as core, as soon as you hit level 6 and you spot a good opportunity to get a few kills: usually if the enemy is pushing too deep or if there is a skirmish going on. Impetus will REALLY hurt with your level and farm advantage, specially when targeting enemy supports, so getting a kill in these situations is almost guaranteed with just a simple Town Portal Scroll. Return to Gameplay The mid game is often considered to be the stage of the game where the first towers start to go down and teams usually start to group together to teamfight and contest objectives such as towers, creep stacks, map vision and Roshan. Also, cores start to get their big items by this stage. Regarding the mid game, there are some elements to consider: Each time you hit an enemy creep, you're pushing the lane. Damaging the enemy creepwave will naturally cause yours to end up killing theirs faster, which will eventually cause your creeps to stack provided they are not killed, contributing to the building of larger allied creepwaves. It is evident that pushing is what leads a team to win the game. By accumulating allied creeps, you can take down enemy structures with more ease, which in turn gives your team gold advantage, more space, opportunities and also oppresses the enemy team inside their own territory. Also, pushing puts pressure on the enemy team by forcing them to defend their towers. This is an effective way to counter carry heroes, because they require some time and farm to become effective. Of course, there are slow and fast ways to do this. Attacking the creepwave, in the mid game, is considered to be a slow way to push because you can only hit one creep at a time and your attack damage isn't that high. Unfortunately, Enchantress has no area damage to help her clear waves of creeps fast, which is why she has trouble pushing on her own. On the other hand, her Enchant ability is a great tool for helping her to push. By dominating a neutral creep in the jungle, you are able to clear the lane creeps much faster (some of them have nice area damage abilities) while also causing more damage to the towers as these creeps have a naturally higher attack damage and can tank more tower hits. If you happen to come accross a wave with a siege creep, don't hesitate to dominate it! They do wonders against towers if they're able to stay there and hit them for a while, and if you have two of them, you can almost certainly bring a tower down with your team. Of course, be cautious to not let your creeps die: constantly move them around and out of harm's way so you can make the most use of them. Items like Blight Stone can make you even more effective in that task by lowering the towers' armor and making you and your team hurt them even more. Drum of Endurance's active increases your allies' (including creeps) attack speed by a good margin and is also a great tool for taking down structures. Maelstrom makes you clear waves of creeps faster because of the chain lightning, but for Enchantress it is usually bought when the enemy is the one pushing towards you, which is another thing she struggles with. Deciding when to push is a very important task. A few scenarios can contribute to this decision: DEAD ENEMIES: This one's very obvious. A tower or barrack needs heroes to defend it, otherwise it will go down in no time. After a teamfight or an important pickoff around the map where you have key enemy heroes killed, you can go straight to pushing a lane, as contesting your team's push with a hero disadvantage can be costy for the enemy team. This factor is often what impulses teams to pop a Smoke of Deceit and go deep in the enemy territory in search of kills. IMPORTANT ULTIMATES: If you have heroes like Enigma and Tidehunter in your game, you might want to ask yourself if their ultimates are available or not. It can be disastrous if you're pushing and your team falls victim to a Black Hole, so it's important to be aware of that and perhaps delay the intended push. If you do insist on doing it, make sure the area is very well warded, as having vision of possible initiations before they happen is very important. Likewise, if it's your team that has important ultimates available, it might be a good idea to advance as teamfights can easily turn to your favour. BIG ITEMS: The ideal time to push is usually when important items are acquired by your team — like a Black King Bar on a carry, for instance. This increases the chance of a potential teamfight resulting in success for your team by a good margin. Support items like Mekansm or Pipe of Insight are also sometimes crucial for pushing — the latter being a special case as it's mandatory against the likes of Zeus and Tinker, specially for going high ground. Teamfighting is the term used to describe a fight usually involving 3+ heroes from both teams. It is not a goal on it's own: it's usually something that happens as a consequence of a strategic movement seeking an objective. Having a good teamfight is crucial because your team commits resources to it, and because it has very high impact on the networth of the heroes involved. Dying will cost you experience and gold (because you'll be dead and not farming), aswell as give opening for possible towers being taken down by the enemy, or even Roshan. That can very well cause a harsh imbalance in the game flow. When teamfighting, keep in mind the following: POSITIONING: In teamfights, Enchantress' role is usually to deal as much damage with Impetus as she can. That will require you to always try to stay at the back of the fights, away from melee carries (which might be a hard thing to do against a Phantom Assassin, for instance). Luckily, you can count on items that help your positioning for that, such as Hurricane Pike. A defensive use of it should always have priority over the offensive use. Increasing your attack range with this and Aghanim's Scepter helps out a great deal too, because you'll be a lot more safer to attack. Keep in mind not to overcommit to kills, though: it's not worth to kill yourself to kill someone else instead, unless it's the hard carry. I know how tempting it can be to chase the enemy in an area with no vision just to land that last Impetus hit, but Enchantress suffers a lot from being killed because she isn't quite the fast farmer. You'll be much more valuable to your team by staying alive. USE OF YOUR ABILITIES: There is more use to Enchant than it might seem at first. Surely it's a very potent slow, but in teamfights you'll want to preserve it for its useful basic dispel, unless it happens to be a pickoff and your team is dependent on it to get the kill. If you are against a Necrophos, for instance, do not use Enchant before he uses his Ghost Shroud: you can dispel it with a pressing of a button, and continue to hit him if you save your spell for the right moment! The same goes for Windranger's Windrun, which saves her life very frequently. USE OF ITEMS: In teamfights, there are also other important priorities: popping Dust of Appearance on heroes that have invisiblity tools is a MUST, as you definitely don't want them to escape because you forgot to use it. Always keep a Dust of Appearance in your inventory if those heroes are present in the match so you don't have to blame your teammates later. Trust me, they won't buy it. If you happen to have a Pipe of Insight or similiar supportive items, do NOT forget to use them! You can save your teammates' lives with a well-timed barrier against a heavy magic damage line up. Items like Eul's Scepter of Divinity and Hurricane Pike also deserve their fair share of attention: remember, always prioritize saving someone than initiating with it. Return to Gameplay Ah, the late game. It's the stage of the game that is beyond the rest. Basically, heroes cannot be alone on the map since all of the cores are strong enough to kill them and are potentially dangerous. This phase is when decisive teamfights and base pushes occur, possibly leading to the end of the game. In late game, the carries usually get all of their core items and max their skills. Magic nukes become way less useful (the health of important heroes get really high compared to an average magical nuke). Then there is also the ultra late game where basically everyone is six slotted and nearly max leveled, which means gold and XP difference doesn't really matter anymore. Usually the team composition (who has the hardest carries and the better teamfight potential) decides the outcome of the game. Enchantress fulfills the role of glass cannon in this stage: she can deal tremendous amounts of pure damage that hurts even the tankiest of the carries, but at the same time, she can be killed extremely easily: most heroes will already have Black King Bar to go through Untouchable and Nature's Attendants won't do much against strong burst damage. What this means is that you'll have to pay extra care with your positioning, and never wander off without your team to back you up. Dying in this stage will cost you a buyback, and if you don't have it, well... You'll risk putting your team in a very dangerous spot, having you unavailable for quite a long time. To be minimally useful, you should have your fair share of defensive utility items: Black King Bar, Ghost Scepter, Aeon Disk, etc. Before pushing high ground to win the game, your team will probably want to take Roshan. Enchantress is an ideal tank for roshan with her passive and healing, making your team able to kill him while taking minimal damage. On the other hand, she isn't the best suited to carry the aegis: she won't be going high ground as she can hit towers from quite a long range and the hard carry will make a much better use of the extra life. Always save the necessary gold for buyback. This mechanic is very decisive nowadays; the teams with the better timed buybacks usually win the game in the late game. Return to Gameplay Communicating with your teammates is one of the factors that carry the most weight when determining the success of your matches. Dota is not a single player game, which means that no matter how skilled you are, you can't win by yourself and you will depend on your teammates! With that in mind, the game offers a multitude of tools to help you better communicate with your teammates and make them colaborate with you. While it's valid to either type or use the voice chat, both of these platforms actually tend to be more of a place where people express their frustrations rather than provide constructive commands. The chat wheel, with its preset lines, redirects your points into more actionable goals, allowing you to give concise and direct commands. But the chat wheel is more than just a tool to tell your teammates that your lane opponent is missing from the lane. It can manage team morale, tilt your enemies, and help your team to relax in a stressful game. The positioning lines of the chat wheel are straightforward, which is a good thing. Most of the time you won't need too many from this list, as just a few commands will do to get the job done. "Get back!" is one of the most important commands. It quickly alerts your team that it's not a good idea to continue advancement, and that retreating should be considered. Other variations that might be similiar include "I'm retreating!" and "Careful!", but there's no need to dedicate a chat slot to them. "Go!" is another good one, and self-explanatory enough. "Stun now!", "Initiate!", and "Attack now!" are too specific and you'll end up barely ever using them, so there's no need to consider them at all. A similiar line which is also useful is "Get ready", as it prompts your team to fall in line, and it’s particularly useful if you’re either anticipating a gank or initiating one as it decreases the chance of a teamfight unfolding incorrectly because teammates are out of position. I also like "On my way" because it gives a sense of security to your teammates that you'll come to their aid or that you'll join them for an objective. However, this line is also covered by a ping command, which will be covered following. This useful article lists everything that can be achieved by holding alt and left clicking on different spots of the interface. As you can see, this useful utility substitutes most of the "Status", "Enemy", "Lane" and "Items" commands, so you can scrap them out of your chat wheel. Possible exceptions include "Help!", "We need wards", "We need detection", "Re-use courier" and "Deward please", as they have their utility and can't exactly be emulated through the ping commands. Alt clicking on the map or directly on the screen will create a ping alert with an exclamation mark. You can hold alt and slide the mouse to different directions while clicking to change the type of ping, which can include: "On my way", "Retreat", "Enemy has vision", "We need vision" and "Attack". It's important to emphasize that alt clicking on the game clock is important not only for Roshan death timings, but for creep pulls, tracking ultimate cooldowns and specially for the runes. Remind your teammates to check the bounty runes every five minutes, and if necessary you can use the command "Check runes please" from the "Misc" lines. Something that isn't specified in the article and is very useful is that by holding both alt and ctrl and clicking an item in the shop, you can make suggestion about purchasing it. This is very good when you're feeling your team needs key items like Pipe of Insight. You can't play perfectly every match: sometimes you'll be prone to make mistakes, and that's fine! However, people can't really handle mistakes too well, specially in a highly competitive game like Dota. What that means is that to prevent the uncomfortable downward spiral of fingerpointing that usually happens in times like these when you've made a bad decision or fed the enemy team, it's often a smart idea to try to make the situation smoother with the "Flavor" lines in the chat wheel. Lines like "Game is hard", "Space created" and "I immediately regret my decision" are agreeable, funny remarks that can be used after dying or making something stupid, and helps your team to relax and to bring everyone back to the same page, rather than letting the moment linger. Return to ContentsReturn to Gameplay As noted, to properly play Enchantress you must shine through your early and mid game, being as much as aggressive as you can without dying, as losing your advantage is extremely detrimental. To be successful in the Offlane or Midlane, you just have to get as much experience and farm as you can, while surviving the enemy harass. I'm sure that won't be a problem for you! If you are able to do that, you'll have enough gold to buy a few items and be consistently impactful through the match. Similiarly, if you are jungling, you'll want to make sure your allies are being helped in their lanes instead. You'll want to be really annoying with ganks and your creeps, even if that means getting a little behind in levels. Do not be the kind of jungler that sits in the camps farming all day, because that's not what your role is for. Enchantress has too much potential to be wasted like that. When laning phase is done and teamfights start to happen, group up with your team and bring your creeps to assist in pushing lanes. Always stay in the back of the teamfights, looking for key targets to be easily taken out by your Impetus (usually they're squishy, isolated or in bad position). And... that's it! If you've read up until here, I hope I helped a little bit with your understanding of this amazing hero. She's not the kind that you'll first pick into any team, but she really excels in the right circumstances. Thanks for reading! On a special note, a few people contributed heavily to the construction of this guide, so they deserve to be named here: Dopatwo: For granting me permission to use his lovely and super cute art as the cover of my guide! Domingos: For motivating me to write the guide in the first place, and giving me many tips (check out his great Underlord Guide by the way). Leo: For helping me with my builds and with general coding. Hades: For always being available to answer my questions and to update the database. Archives: For giving me tips about the guide design and general information. Candril: Words cannot express how grateful I am for your help, with content, art, and everything else. This guide is yours just as it's mine, my most cherished. <3 Many other guide authors here in Dotabuff (specially ChiChi and evilandrex) whose guides provided me with very useful information. Dates and information of any significant change made to this guide will be documented in this section, beggining from the moment of its publication. 2018 May May 15th: Guide published. July July 29th: Updated skill descriptions to match hero's changes up to patch 7.19. Updated stats to match hero's changes up to patch 7.19. September September 1st: Updated stats to match hero's changes up to patch 7.19b. September 6th: Minor design changes. Minor corrections. September 28th: Rewrote the "Picking" section. Updated stats to match hero's changes up to patch 7.19c. Added information texts in the "Strengths & weaknesses" section. October October 1st: Added a list of all dispellable buffs in the "Enchant" section. Modified the Changelog layout. October 11th: Revamped the "Picking" section. October 13th: Replaced the video previews of the hero's abilities. November November 10th: Listed Infused Raindrops, Aeon Disk, Ghost Scepter, Maelstrom, Pipe of Insight and Silver Edge in the "Itemization" chapter. Organized the items in the "Itemization" chapter in alphabetical order. November 26th: Created the "Gameplay" chapter. Updated stats to match hero's changes up to patch 7.20c. Removed Ring of Aquila from the "Itemization" chapter and edited it accordingly. Updated the "Itemization" chapter to match the changes from patch 7.20. November 30th: Finished the "Gameplay" chapter. Updated the list of dispellable buffs in the "Enchant" section. December December 4th: Updated Phase Boots in the "Itemization" chapter.