The Best Offense is a Good Defense

Love the mek viper build, +1 to this guide.

By the way, viper actually has terrible base damage, but excellent attack animation and projectile speed to compensate with it. Nethertoxin basically gives him the extra damage he needs to lasthit.

Excellent guide. I've been Godlike for quite some time with your setup :D
+1

Thanks for the ups!

I do not build Sange and Yasha very often, principally because other items take midgame priority (you can get an Aghanim's Scepter for about the same cost). But it's really not a bad option for you. I'm not sure if you've ever pulled the "disassemble the sange and yasha" trick, but if you're buying that item making it into a manta and HH is very cost- and slot-efficient.

I really like this guide - it subscribes to my views on Viper and gives an alternative view for others to understand the strengths of Viper.

I have been using him a lot recently and he has become one of my most successful and deadly heros (last night having my opposing team slam me for playing an "OP" Hero) - I certainly prescribe to the fact that Viper does not need items, in my view he has 4 core items that i always build to first (occassionally foregoing hood for Mek if there are more physical right clickers than magic : Magic Wand, Power Treads, Hood of Defiance and Aghanim's Scepter - after that , anything that both adds to his tankiness and/or his damage output (I do like Sange and Yasha for both of these reasons).

I usually get Scepter by 22-28 mins and this is where Viper starts to shine - his ultimate every 12 secs from a safe distance is just so devastating with all of his other skilss - and if you get to opposing teams base it can keep them pinned back.

1+ from me !

Fixed! Thanks

The video about Orb walking is in there twice? o.O

The rest: +1

@Tenshin

I think Soul Booster is a pretty good item but not ideal unless you plan to build it into a Bloodstone, which you're not going to do.

But you are right that staying in lane/spamming your ult is the way to go. So I see two routes for dealing with the mana needs: offensively, you go for a Orchid Malevolence, which synergizies with your ult quite well. defensively, you go for a Linken's Sphere.

@wulfstan quite well put. When I build viper this way I tend to tune my build based on the enemy tem comp. If you are dealing with a lot of single-target spells/nukes I go for the Linken's. If I have a lot of enemy AOE/Disables I go for a BKB or a Pipe of Insight.

I agree here.Linken's is awesome on Viper.Also you could mix it up with an Hood agaist a heavy nuking team.

Wouldn't Perseverance be better? Builds into a Linken's, can get an early RoH from the side shop, it'd be virtually impossible for anyone to harass you in-lane without wasting mana.

By the way, Soul Booster is strangely good on Viper, as it both increases tankiness and helps you with sustaining your mana to spam your ultimate and stay on lane.

Nice. Never thought of using Mekansm instead of Vanguard and it is easier to build since it is broken into three parts. +1

Edit it in the skillbuild.Meanwhile,this gets a +1 from me.