The Underdog Hero - Silencer

Intro To Silencer

Before we proceed with the guide though, this is not the perfect guide you are looking for playing Silencer. In DotA, you need to adapt to different situations and not all of the recommended item builds mentioned here are applicable to all. Being able to assess and adapt to the situation is the key to high level play.

If you have played DOTA 1 (Dota Allstars - Warcraft TFT) around 2006-2010, then you must know how infuriating it is to lane against Nortrom - The Silencer. Also you know how fun it is to troll people while controlling the hero. If you don't know yet, well, there you have it.

Silencer is a Carry/Support hero in DotA 2. He is considered as carry due to his mid to late game presence with his Global Silence and the very hurtful Glaives of Wisdom. Able to silence heroes around the map, he is able to counter ganks as well as reset teamfights to his team's advantage even without being there.

PROs

+ Great harassing spells
+ Permanent INT steal
+ Deals Pure Damage
+ Global Silence
+ Awesome Voice acting

CONs

- Low HP pool
- Low armor
- Spells don't scale well into late game
- Mediocre stat growth
- His model sucks.

Laning with Silencer

Personally, I like to play mid-lane Silencer. Why? You get to lvl6 early that's why. Having Global Silence early lets your allies easily engage on their enemies thus securing kills. The trick to using Global Silence is communication. Inform your teammates that your ult is ready and they can start engaging on their opponent. Once the fight starts, cast your Global Silence and they would just die with minimal contest.



As always, creep kills and denies will win your lane. An early level on Glaives of Wisdom will let you last hit creeps much easier as well as harassing your opponent out of the lane.


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Control your lane with mind games against your enemy. The recent change to Last Word has become the most annoying skill partnered with Curse of the Silent. It's either your enemy casts a spell to remove the Curse and receive 300 damage OR lose all his mana and receive 300 damage afterwards... wait. It's a lose-lose situation for the enemy![/color] That's how powerful Silencer is in general.

If you have reached lvl7 and the opponent is still lvl5 or have killed mid once, congratulations! You've won Mid-Lane and you can proceed to the next chapter - Team Fights and Ganks.

Team Fights and Ganks

Silencer has 3 objectives in a team fight he is included in:

1. He must cast Global Silence once the team fight starts.

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2. He must cast Last Word and Curse of the Silent on a KEY DISABLER.


3. He must steal all int from the heroes he's killed.


If you're able to fulfill all 3 objectives, you have secured your late game DPS from the INT you have collected.


NEVER EVER INITIATE TEAM FIGHTS. Why? You risk dying first and thus not able to steal the enemy's INT. During team fights, be in the general area where your team is. Not too far from attack range and not too near to get hit by AoE spells. Basically, positioning in a team fight is key. Instead, have the heroes above initiate for you.


Ganking on the other hand is different. Ganking (for me) refers to killing an enemy hero who's isolated from the majority of the opposing team. Ganking with Silencer is quite difficult that's why I recommend Rod of Atos core on him. A 4 seconds slow with 1200 range is valuable in any gank attempt.

Late Game

Late game is where Silencer's skills wear out - Last Word is only useful because of the silence and pacification and Curse of the Silent is no longer effective. However, this is also where Silencer becomes the DPS.

If you have participated in atleast 3-5 teamfights or killed/assisted killing 15-20 heroes, you should have around 30-40 stolen INT. Now with my calculations (Core items + 40 stolen INT) you will be dealing around ~270 damage with each auto-attack, ~150 would be pure damage.

By this time, you should have completed your core items, at least 1 situational item like Black King Bar or Force Staff, and building one of your Luxury items

Preferred Late Game Setup:


If you are being focused all the time:

And if you're really fed:

Enemies

Natural Prey to the Silencer:

If you are very familiar with DotA heroes, the heroes in this list are mostly heroes with one or two active skills and have a very low mana pool. These are heroes which Silencer loves to play with as he can drain mana and hp with Curse of the Silent and nuke them with Last Word.

The strategy against these heroes is simple: cast Last Word until their HP is around 50%-60%. Once they are around that range, cast Last Word and Curse of the Silent simultaneously. Don't chase them but rather keep them out of EXP range.

Personal Note: Pudge is the best hero to lane against. Try it out, you will have fun too.

Natural Enemies of the Silencer:

Outworld Destroyer is the perfect enemy and lane buddy with Silencer. Outworld Destroyer steals INT and has a higher INT gain than Silencer. He does not require any mana regen items and he can out DPS late game.


Rubick as well, if he steals your Global Silence or Last Word, your team cannot afford any mistakes during teamfights.


Nyx Assassin, he's a big pain in the ***. The higher your INT, the more mana burn hurts. Stay away at all cost. If you are laning against him, you might have a hard time because of his Spiked Carapace reflecting the Last Word damage. He also has decent HP regen so its hard to bring him down.


Medusa is easily counterable, just keep her from farming her items and you'll be fine. A farmed Silencer can never beat a farmed Medusa. Atleast have a disabler when fighting Medusa or bring someone with mana drain/burn.


Anti Mage, you know what hes capable of. Keep your distance from this hero.



You will see that this list has almost 1 skill in common - Mana burn/steal. Once Silencer loses mana, he's basically useless. Keep Silencer away from these heroes as they can man up and just kill Silencer.

Closing

Thanks for reading my guide for Silencer. Hoping for constructive criticism as this guide is not nearly perfect. Also for the newbies out there: In DotA, you need to adapt to different situations and not all of the recommended item builds mentioned here are applicable to all. Being able to assess and adapt to the situation is the key to high level play.

Credits

Thanks to GabeN for getting their hands on DOTA2
Thanks to Valve for making awesome games

Changelog:
03/17/2013 - Posted Guide
03/16/2013 - Start guide, Clean up