the only way to play viper.. (WIP)

Introduction

..is as a support. You can choose to play it as a carry with underwhelming DPS or a tank with underwhelming survivability but it is in a 4th or 5th role where Viper truly shines. This guide purely demonstrates my opinion and my experience of course, because Viper barely bathes in the light of competitive play and is mostly used by newbies who decide they can upgrade to pressing two buttons from Skeleton King's single active skill. In a few brief chapters I will attempt to convince you of its viability in today's metagame.

In both dual-lane and trilane setups Viper is able to perform all the functions requisite of a support - harass, babysit, assist in kills and gank neighbouring lanes - all with minimal farm and a level deficit. To those who regard the concept of a support Viper as an impractical impossibility, there are numerous advantages to using it over traditional top-tier supports like Nyx Assasin, Twin Headed Dragon, Vengeful Spirit and Wisp:

• Trade hits in lane advantageously thanks to DOT from its orb, bonus damage from nethertoxin and damage return from corrosive skin. Most other supports with their low armour and EHP burn through their regeneration by trading hits early.
• Harass without drawing creep/tower aggro by using its orb attack instead of auto attacks. Most other supports will be bitten by enemy creeps while trading right-clicks which not only wastes your HP but pushes the creep equilibrium away from your carry's comfort zone.
• 600 casting range of poison attack prevents enemy from free-farming. Most other supports are either melee or have inferior range on their attacks.
• Constant application of MS/AS slow from level 5 onwards helps set-up kills for your carry and protect him from incoming ganks. Most other supports lack the same initiation range or disable durations.

The potential of Viper as a support hero becomes extremely obvious when paired with farming carries with early-game killing potential e.g. Chaos Knight, Lifestealer, Tiny, Sven etc. which have hard slows or stuns. The main disadvantage of Viper is its lack of AOE which leads it to struggle against illusion heroes and heavy push/anti-push strategies. However it still remains an extremely viable support in most situations.

Skills

As with most item and level independent supports, Viper's main assets lie in its skillset. This is where it derives its innate killing potential, teamfight contribution, raw damage and tankiness. Because this guide is less an introductory walkthrough than a radical rethink of a misplayed hero, I will briefly cover each skill to explain its value and usage.

Poison Attack

This is Viper's bread and butter utility skill. The imperative is to reach level 5 on your hero ASAP so that you can exploit the 0 CD orb-walking options on your level 3 skill. Your killing potential is almost as high as it will ever be once you add your 3rd skillpoint because without an adequate escape mechanism no enemy should be able to escape you. This also helps your lane partner initiate by closing the distance between him and your opponent. You should be diligent in using this skill to harass the enemy and denying him the opportunity to last hit at ease. Remember that its range is greater than your auto attack range and that unlike your opponent's right clicks your orb attack will not draw creep or tower aggro. Always use this to your advantage to win your lane.

This, along with Viper's ultimate, makes it a potent support even lategame because of its anti-carry potential. If the opponent's carry lacks range Viper can easily kite it, reducing its mobility and by extension its teamfight contributions. The AS and MS slows from its skills stack, severely crippling strong enemy carries like Gyrocopter, Lifestealer and Luna which do not have the best attack ranges in the game.

Nethertoxin

A pseudo-steroid skill that beefs up Viper's right clicks without relying on damage items. An Anti-Mage gets 38 bonus physical damage from its mana break, Spectre gets 65 bonus pure damage from its desolate, while Viper gets anywhere between 40 and 160 bonus physical damage from this. As you set-up kills in-lane or while ganking around the map, the power you rack up from Nethertoxin increases with each slow you apply on him, compensating for the lack of levels or items at the early-mid stages.

As of several patches ago the bonus damage does not kick in for friendly creeps i.e. Nethertoxin does not make it easier for Viper to deny the opponent. However it still does speed up Viper's solo pushing and jungling capabilities slightly.