The Enigmatic Void - A Guide to Enigma

Introduction

Welcome to my second guide featuring the game breaking creature of the void: Enigma

You should consider playing Enigma in the following situations:

Your team could utilize two solo lanes
Your team has strong AoE synergy
You are confident in initiating
Your team has solid team work
You have reasonable micro skills


You should not pick Enigma if:

Your team only has one viable solo hero
You don't want to initiate
Your team seems to have poor communication


Enigma is a ranged intelligence hero, with a gamebreaking ultimate which drastically changes the texture of a team fight. This guide will focus on playing Enigma as a jungle hero and the mechanisms for best maximizing his farm and subsequent usage of his skills.

Contrary to some belief, Enigma is much more than just his ultimate, and this guide will cover my views on the most effective use of this hero. All feedback is much appreciated.

Skill Descriptions and Build

Q: - Malefice is a targeted stun which when applied does a minimal amount of damage and provides a 1s stun every 2s for its duration. At level 4, this skill activates a stun 3 times over it's duration. This skill is very potent for breaking channeling and continuously disabling a target over 6 seconds at level 4. The damage, while minor, is very useful for early game ganks as well. It is a little mana hungry as it scales (110, 130, 150, 160) with level, and should be saved for escapes and ganks.

W: demonic conversion - Demonic Conversion is the skill that allows you to farm quickly and efficiently in the jungle as well as push towers throughout the game. The spell spawns 3 Eidolons at the location of target non-hero unit, and after these Eidolons attack 6 times, they split in two. This split fully restores their HP. These little guys can tear through the jungle if played with some minimal micromanagement - leading to a hefty amount of gold at early levels. If you are forced to go into a lane, they are also a pretty effective way of getting last hits and pushing lanes and towers. The mana cost of these Eidolons is quite high at early levels (170), and it is important to manage your mana well in order to effectively jungle with these units.

E: - Midnight Pulse is an underutilized spell that can provide massive AoE damage if well placed throughout the entirety of the game. The spell drops an area of dark magic in a 400 AoE which drains a scaling 3/4/5/6% of enemy HP per second as long as they are within the AoE. This effect lasts for 8 seconds, and when paired with your ultimate can tear off almost half of an enemy's HP. The damage from this spell, while magical, does go through magic immunity. Also, trees within the AoE of the spell are immediately destroyed, making this a great spell for team fights in the forest where juke spots can be eliminated.

R: - Black Hole is one of the single most gamebreaking ultimates available in DotA 2. This spell summons a black hole at a target location and completely disables all enemy units within a 375 AoE pulls them together over the course of 4s. This spell also provides some small magical damage/second over its duration. Black Hole works on magic immune targets, and allows your team 4 free seconds to have their way with everyone caught in your ultimate. Keep in mind: This ultimate is channeling. Therefore, it is paramount that you catch as many people in it as possible in order to maximize team damage and minimize the possibility of you being quickly stunned out of your ultimate.

Skill Build
1. Demonic Conversion
2. Malefice
3.Demonic Conversion/ Malefice
4. Malefice/Demonic Conversion
5.Demonic Conversion/ Malefice
6. Black Hole
7.Demonic Conversion/ Malefice
8. Malefice/Demonic Conversion
9. Malefice/Demonic Conversion
10. Midnight Pulse/Stats
11. Black Hole
12. Midnight Pulse/Stats
13. Midnight Pulse/Stats
14. Midnight Pulse/Stats
15. Stats
16. Black Hole
17-25. Stats/ Max Midnight Pulse followed by stats

Skill Build Discussion

So unless you are very confident you can get off a gank at level 1, pick up Demonic Conversion as opposed to Malefice. This will allow you to effectively jungle at level 1 and quickly pick up levels 2 and 3. At level 3, you should be able to make an important decision on what style of game you intend to play based off of opposing lanes and your team's performance. If your nearest solo lane is struggling and having a hard time, you might wish to max Malefice before Demonic Conversion in order to provide a longer stun duration to assist with ganks. If your solo lanes seem like they can handle themselves, then max Demonic Conversion before Malefice in order to expedite your farm. You should pick up Black Hole at every available level, and use it to get kills from level 6 on. Early on in the game, when team fights are not occurring regularly, it is perfectly fine to use your ultimate to catch even one hero and lock them down for 4 seconds. You will have to be more judicious about your ultimate usage as the game progresses, but at level 6 you should not hesitate to use your ultimate to ensure a kill for your team.

Once you hit level 11, you can make another skill choice based upon the texture of the game. In general the combination for your skills should be to look for an opportunity to use Midnight Pulse on a group of heroes, and then follow up with an ultimate at that location to maximize damage. However, you will quickly learn that the enemy team is going to be gunning for you at every opportunity. You will rarely run across a scenario where you have the freedom to drop down Midnight Pulse and your ultimate before you are chain stunned and destroyed. If you feel that you will not be able to actually use Midnight Pulse, opt for stats in its place so that you may gain some much needed survivability. Caution though: Midnight Pulse is a great skill with a lot of utility in both its damage and its ability to clear a wide area of trees. I suggest at least one level in this skill, although I commonly max it before picking up stats.

Item Build

+ / >>> Boots >>> / + >>> / >>> / /

Item Build Description

To start out you should pick up a complete Ring of Basilius and either a tango or a health pot - which is up to your preference. The reason you want ring early is for the additional armor it provides your Eidolon's. It will allow them to take more of a beating and makes a substantial difference in your ability to farm.

From these items, you now have a decision to make:

Rush Blink Dagger

OR

Pick up some form of boots before your Blink

Again, this is largely up to preference and how effective of farm you are getting. At high levels of play, people will come after you in the jungle to try and disrupt your farm. If this happens, you may be better off getting Power Treads for survivability, Boots of Travel for mobility, or Arcane Boots for additional mana. No matter what, Blink Dagger is the first major item you MUST pick up. It is core. There's no debating this. The ability to jump on top of the enemy team from a safe distance and catch everyone in a 4 second complete disable is too good to pass up. There is a reason it is so big :)

Next you will either want to pick up Black King Bar or ]]linken's sphere]] in order to minimize the potential for you to get stunned. Generally, Black King Bar is preferred to Linken's Sphere, but there are some heroes with superior magic stuns in which a Linken's Sphere may be worth picking up.

After these core items, there are a number of paths you can take:

Necronomicon - Provides true sight at level 3 for pesky stealth heroes and allows you to deal some damage even while channeling your ult.

Scythe of Vyse - Additional crowd control is never a bad thing, and this item gives nice stats to help counter those dangerous late game carries.

Orchid Malevolence - Not as strong as sheep stick, but it is useful for shutting down heroes with a BKB and providing damage amplification.

Bloodstone - If you are managing to stay alive and your team is dominating, then this can make you very, VERY hard to kill. It is extremely situational however, and should be picked up with cation.

Shiva's Guard - Provides additional armor and some AoE damage to help you avoid being so easily decimated post-ultimate in team fights.

Blade Mail - Blade mail is a curious item in that it doesn't provide you with a lot of core stats that you want, but it is simply a fact that you WILL be focused throughout the game. This can be a good mechanism for discouraging attackers. Another useful defensive item is Ghost Scepter

Refresher Orb - A favorite for many players. Possibly the only thing better than one Enigma ultimate that catches their entire team...is 2 :D

Items to avoid

dagon - You aren't a nuker. You specialize in large-scale, nasty team fight damage. Don't piss off your carry by KSing with dagon.

Radiance - I've seen this several times and I must discourage picking it up. The idea being that you cast midnight pulse and then hop in with your ultimate and the radiance aura and deal massive AoE damage. The problem lies in the cost of the item. You might as well buy a refresher orb for the cost and just cast your ultimate twice.

Hand of Midas - Some people like to pick this up to augment their farm early...however it costs almost as much as a Blink Dagger. Seeing as how Blink Dagger can help you single handedly turn around games, I would say it takes higher priority early on.

Any carry/heavy DPS items are obviously discouraged

Jungling

So when jungling there are several important things to remember:

1) Be cognizant of the lanes. If someone from the lanes near your jungle leave, there is a good possibility they are coming to disrupt your farm. Just because you don't have to last hit or deny does not mean you should not stay vigilant. Also, look for opportunities to gank and help your solo lane land kills to augment his farm. If their lane is pushed up to far, pull the neutral camp closest to the lane into the lane in order to help them control the lane. This utilizes a technique caused stacking described below.

2) Stack and pull. Stack, stack, stack! This is what allows you to get gold at an absurdly high rate. The mechanism for stacking revolves around the fact that creep waves will spawn every minute unless their spawn is blocked. So, if you pull creeps out of their camp at ~:54 then new creeps will spawn at this position and you can get more gold out of each creep camp. It is possible to stack a camp up to 3 times, and you can pull multiple camps at once with some practice. When you pull creeps from the closest neutral camp to the short lane (top lane dire, bottom lane radiant) - be sure that you have already stacked it once first. This will completely deny the creep wave, moving the lane into a more favorable position for your ally. Pulling can be done at either ~:16 or ~:47.

3) Ward. While it is imperative that you get your Blink Dagger as soon as possible, you may find it necessary to put up wards in your jungle if the enemy makes a concerted effort to disrupt your farm. This is an investment to secure your farm, if someone doesn't do this for you...do it yourself.

Once you have your Blink Dagger you should look to move out of the jungle to help push towers and initiate team fights. You should be in all team fights if possible because of the power of your ultimate, Malefice , and Midnight Pulse. Mid-late game you should be looking to push and force team fights whenever your ultimate is up and look to ward in order to support your team.

Powerful Allies

- His ultimate in combination with your ultimate will end a team fight before it's begun. His position control with fissure also helps isolate dangerous heroes for you to initiate on.

- If he uses his ultimate and catches a large number of heroes, you should look to immediately follow up with your ultimate to completely crush the enemy team.

- Another hero who's ultimate synergizes well with yours.

- This ultimate in combination with yours will kill everyone.

Other strong allies:
Zeus Kunkka Storm Spirit Warlock Tidehunter Leshrac Crystal Maiden Ancient Apparition

Enemies to Fear

- Clockwerk is a very dangerous opponent for Enigma because of the number of ways in which he can shut you down. The range on his hook makes it nearly impossible for you to initiate before he does without him cancelling your channel. His Battery Assault will ministun multiple times, minimizing channeling time if he casts it before you use your ultimate on him. His Power Cogs can wreck your team positioning and make it impossible for you to land an effective ultimate. Simply put, he is one hero you do not want to face.

- Similar to Clockwerk, the range on her arrow makes her devastating if she is not caught in your ultimate. The 5s stun will ensure that your channel is not only broken, but that you will face the full fury and hatred of their team directly afterwards.

- Rain of Chaos will rain on your parade of Black Hole fun. the massive AoE stun will not only counter your ultimate, but also allow a turn around on your entire team.

Other dangerous heroes:

Bloodseeker Drow Ranger Vengeful Spirit Pudge Kunkka Earthshaker Beastmaster

Conclusion

I hope you all enjoyed my guide! Go forth and make your enemies fear the void!