To Oppose Me is to Deny Death: A Guide to Visage

Preface

Please read the entire guide before commenting or voting and not just the item/skill builds...thank you!

Introduction

Hey Guys! And welcome to my in-depth guide on one of the tankiest and most dangerous intelligence heroes in the game: Visage. He is notorious for his unique yet surprisingly well rounded skill set. His Q is dually a disable and a speed buff for Visage. His second skill, his W, is one of the most spamable and effective single target nukes mid game. Visages only passive skill, his E, is personally why I adore him so much. At max level it gives him a bonus 20 armor and an extra 64% magic resistance. Although it can be removed via player damage, it greatly increases visages tankability and resilience. And finally, Visage is blessed with a fairly unique ultimate, giving him 2 (3 with Septer) summons that will survive indefinitely, unless your horrible with micromanagement (like me :P). Each is also given an AoE stun which can be used from cancelling chanelling abilities to stunning a fleeing enemy. Visage starts of fairly week in most scenarios. He really shines, however, during mid-late game teamfights, where he leeches of damage delt in the area while spreading confusion with his Familiars. In this guide, we will take a look at his skills, common item and skill builds, game play, and finally friends and foes

Pros / Cons

Pros
Good disable/stun
Very effective in long teamfights
Extremely resilient and tanky for an intel. hero thanks to his passive
Unlike many casters, he is effective at all stages of the game
Can be as farm dependent as you'd like

Cons
Stuns are difficult to land
Can get squishy if focused on
Micromanagement required :P
Easy to play, difficult to master

Skills

I have already briefly touched on Visage's skill set in the introduction. But here we will take an closer look into the logistics of each skill. If you would like further information about the specifics of these skills. click here

Grave Chill: (Q)

This is spell mainly serves two purposes: slow one guy and makes you faster. As you can imagine this is a pretty effective gank initiation, slowing the target by 32%, and in tern making you faster by 32%. Simple huh? An overlooked aspect of this skill is that it also drains the attack speed of the target by 64%, thereby making you attack faster. Although Visage isn't much of a right clicker this can be very significant, especially if cast early in a teamfight on the enemy carry. At its max lvl, a 6 second reduced attack speed is huge on auto-attackers such as Drow Ranger or Lifestealer. As you level up this skill, the mana and duration increase.

Soul Assumption: (W)

Now this is why Visage is so feared in large, drawn-out teamfights. If there is enough pain and suffering in a radius around Visage, he has the potential to deal 410 magic damage every 4 seconds for only 140 mana if maxed out (keep in mind Lina's level 1 ultimate deals 450 damage for 280 mana on a 70 second cool down). However, this is a slippery skill because the damage delt is not consistent, but works on a charge system. One nuke can deal a measly 20 damage while the same nuke fully charged can deal 400+ damage. Let me explain. The base damage for the skill is 20. However, for every 110 damage delt by anyone and to anyone in a 1375 AoE, Visage gains 1 charge. Over time this charge will be dispelled but can be stacked up to 6 times. This mean that if during a teamfight 660 damage is delt within a short period of time, at max level all 6 charges will be filled. When released, each charge will deal 65 damage. Therefore, the damage from Soul Assumption can be summed up by the following: Damage = 20 + 65(# of charges). For those of you who like algebra, lets say x is 4 charges...20 + 65(4) = 280 damage without considering magic resistance. Oh...and the best part. THIS SPELL IS ON A 4 SECOND COOL DOWN. If one has enough mana, during a prolonged teamfight Visage can easily deal at least 3-4 fully charged Soul Assumptions. 410 damage every 4 seconds is not to by trifled with, making Visage a mean killing machine mid game. And with a range of 900, you can easily pick of fleeing or wounded heroes. As you level up this skill, the max number of charges increases, from 3 up to a total of 6 at level 4.

Grave Keeper's Cloak: (E)

This is one of my favorite passives as far as armor goes. It has the potential to give Visage and extra 20 armor and 64% magic resistance. While this sounds OP, the armor and magic resistance are not consistent (i'm sensing a theme here). This skill starts out with 4 layers, each having a bonus 5 armor and 16% magic resistance at level 4. However,every instance of player damage Visage receives removes 1 layer. It takes 6 seconds to recover each layer. This is perfect for high burst damage heroes who can't really follow up with more damage or heroes who like to chip away at a hero's heath slowly, as the layers restore very quickly at level 4. Therefore, the first instance or damage is reduced significantly, but as Visage takes more and more hits, it gradually goes down. This does however make Visage very tanky early in the teamfight. If he becomes focused down however, he won't last very long. As this skill increases in level, the armor and resistance of each layer increases, as well as the cool down for layer restoration

Summon Familiars: (R)

This is one of the few skills that falls under the category of summoned units (watch out for a Hand of Midas or a Diffusal Blade :P). When cast, two blind, flying units called, you guessed it, Familiars rise up out of the ground, ready to do your bidding. Initially, the have a very high bonus damage with 7 charges, maxing out to 154 damage. But each time they auto-attack, a charge of bonus damage is removed until there is no bonus damage and a base damage of 10 remains. These Familiars also have a very handy Q skill, known as Stone Form. After a long 1 second delay, they drop to the ground, stunning all near by units for 1.5 seconds at max level. They remain in stone form for 8 seconds, during which they are invulnerable. Their health is also regenerated very rapidly and their bonus damage is fully restored back to 7 charges. These summons have a lot of utility, from scouting ruins to chasing down enemies with their higher movement speed, to even cancelling powerful ultimites with their stuns. However, these Familiars will not simply attack your foes without your attention, and require careful micromanagement to, for example, chain stun an opponent. As you increase the level of this skill, Familiar speed, hp, bonus damage, stun duration and damage all increase. With Aghanim's Septer you receive three Familiars instead of two

Skill Build Justification

My personal skill build may seem very different form conventional skill builds. Here I will make my case. As listed above, I max out Grave Keeper's Cloak by level 8. The reason I level this skill up so consistently is because of how well it scales. For the first three levels it doubles its effectiveness. For example, a level 2 Grave Keeper's Cloak gives 2 armor per stack (total of 8 armor). But level 3 gives a 100% increase in the armor per layer to 4. The same ratio also applies to the magic resistance. Lets compare that to Grave Chill. At level 1 the debuff is applied for 3 seconds, the next level is 4 seconds, 5 and so on. That's only a 1 second increase per level. Although this is a great skill, you get the most bang for your buck when maxing your passive. Besides, a 3 second slow is huge early on. Increasing it by 1 second really isn't going to do much. "But Nicnac!" you may ask, "What about Soul Assumption! You just said its an amazing nuke. Why wouldn't you max that first?" Well, this skill does scale a little better than Visage's Q. Just one stack increases the damage by 65, which is fairly significant. However, where are those charges coming from? "In teamfights?" Very good! And teamfights are in short supply early on in pubs. A few early points are good just so it remains effective but it's potency is revealed during teamfights, when you get to around level 10 or so. Now this build is my standard build but it does not apply in every situation. If your not really taking any damage or harass, than why increase your armor? Every game is different and you should play accordingly.

Roles

As far as certain roles within a team, Visage can fill many gaps left by your incompetent allies:

Nuker

: Visage has one of the meanest and lowest cool down nukes in the game when it come to non-ultimites. Soul Assumption does insane amounts of magical damage. Again, the damage output is not consistent so its not OP.

Ganker

: Visages disable Grave Chill is a very effective ganking tool, even at level 1. 3 seconds of slow for the enemy and 3 seconds of speed boast for you can make for a nice surprise initiation on an out numbered opponent. His nuke is also charged as your allies focus on the enemy. Even a roaming visage can be effective as his skills are powerful from the get go.

Tank

: Although unusual for an intelligence hero, Visage can make for a great tank thanks to his passive, Grave Keeper's Cloak. He can soak up surprising amounts of physical and magical damage. If one builds additional tanking items, he can really be a force to be reckoned with.

Semi-carry

: This may surprise many people but Visage can actually make a very nice semi-carry. In order to do this you need two things: an excess of supports (2-3) such as Lich, Crystal Maiden, or Earthshaker and one hard carry such as Faceless Void or Spectre. The first reason is so that Visage can focus on number one in securing last hits and not dying and losing all of that hard earn cash. The latter is because Visage cannot carry supper late game. Even with his durability and high damage nukes, auto-attacks will eventually catch up with him.

Support

: Along with being able to dominate the mid-early late game, Visage also has the potential to play very supportively, letting the other guy get the last hits and helping the team out with wards and such. His well rounded skill set is really all he needs to have a great game. Sure items are fun and they help but when you have 3 hard carries on your team, well, they need the farm more than you.

Gameplay

(Coming Soon!)

Item Build

There are two main builds as far as items go: Semi-carry or Supportive

Semi-carry

Contrary to popular belief, Visage can actually partially carry the game with the help of a hard carry. I mean he can't out right-click a Drow Ranger but in his own way he can carry his team along during the mid-early late game thanks to his well rounded skill set. For a semi-carry Visage to be effective, he has to build upon his crazy high armor from his passive. In the end, a few nukes won't carry the day. But if a farmed Visage can with stand enough of a beating, you can spam a lot of those nukes, stuns and slows, which can lead a team to victory if managed correctly. First off, where does Visage get most of his damage? His 410 damage Soul Assumption. In this case he needs two things: mana and time. Ok the mana thing is obvious, but what about time? In order to spam his nuke, Visage needs to be constantly in the area, feeding off the damage around him. Well, most likely some of that damage is coming for him. What is the solution? Armor! And lots of it. With enough damage reducing items, coupled with his passive, he has all of the time in the world to nuke the heck out of his opponents. Therefore, this skill build centers around armor and tanking items.

Starting

Alternate Mid Build

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Nothing really surprising here. Just basic regeneration, a Ring of Protection to build into your Ring of Basilius, and a few branches for stats and to build into a wand. Yes I know this is almost identical to the default item build. Hey, sometimes, Valve knows what they're doing ;)

If you end up as a mid, just take a set of Tangos and a Clarity so you can rush your bottle and get ganking when the time is right

Early Game

Again, pretty straight forward...Boots! Obviously you need these. The Ring of Basilius is a nice item early one. Gives minor regeneration AND some armor. A Magic Wand for its life saving potential. Gives good stats and regen for the price. Here you can kind of deviate a little. If your starting your Medallion of Courage early than pick up a Chainmail. But if your team needs a heal and regen aura, an early Mekansm can do wonders. If that's the case than pick up the Headdress. If you end up going mid however, a bottle should be plenty for as far as regen wise. You may consider skipping the RoB and a wand and get straight into your core items.

Core

At first I was kind of skeptical at Power Treads for this hero but it actually makes sense. Extra attack speed synergizes well with drain from Grave Chill and the stats give a nice mana/hp boast. Next up is the Medallion of Courage. Now we are starting build into items that focus on mana and armor. And this item fits this description perfectly. More mana, more armor...for only 1000 gold? Sign my up! And as always, a Mekansm is an amazing item for your team. Extra armor, regen, and a burst heal. Always pick this up whether your a hard support or semi-carry alike. At this point we are heading into more semi-luxury items but they are still very important. I like to pick up a Shiva's Guards next. Its a great item with very high armor, lots of mana, and some good teamfight presence. Make sure you spam that active ability people. Finally, we have a Rod of Atos, one of the most under used and underestimated items in the game. You get an insanely long range disable for an active, an extra 250 hp to beefen you up, and +20 intelligence for only around 3000 gold? Again a really nice pick up. A nice strat is to first use the active ability, cripple, from long range. As you gain ground on your enemy cast Grave Chill to extend the disable. By now you and your team should be right on top of him and beating the **** out if him.

Late

Hopefully, the game shouldn't have gone this long, as your effectiveness begins to diminish. It really doesn't matter which you get first...it just depends on the situation. If your still dealing with a lot of right-clickers, go Assault Cuirass. The aura is also a great benefit to your team. If you seem to be getting focused by magical damage, a Heart of Tarrasque would be great to boast up your hp and make you a tank with wings. If you end up getting both...your pretty much impervious

Situational

A lot of you might be wondering why I have Aghanim's Scepter as merely a situational item. Mainly because...I just personally don't like it. It means one extra Familiar to worry about. But it does give the potential to deal a 9 second AoE chain stun. Have the Familiars' stuns ready and your ult off cool down. Use each Familiar and use their Q ability every 1.5 seconds. Just as the stun is about to were off, drop another on them. Once each Familiar is in stone form, re-summon them and repeat the process. But honestly, who has the concentration and the right situation to stun someone for 9 seconds? Next up is the Ghost Scepter. This is a great item if there are to many right-clickers other opposing team. I mean your pretty durable but if a farmed Anti-Mage and Riki are both pounding at your with auto attacks, you screwed. If you find this happening more often than not than this item is the way to go. Now for the mother of all intelligence disables: the Scythe of Vyse, other wise known as the Sheep Stick (why not pig stick? i don't know). It has the power to turn any hero into a helpless pig for 3.5 seconds. Great mana regen, stats, and the active is to die for. Don't hesitate to pick this up the situation allows. Finally, we have an Eye of Skadi. This is not picked to often as a luxury yet in my opinion it has one of the best orb effects in the game. Now although it has been nerfed when it comes to ranged heroes, a 3 second slow per attack is nothing to be trifled with. It also has amazing stats but is pretty pricey.

Support

In some ways, a supportive Visage is just as effective as a semi-carry. By letting your harder carry last hit properly, you set yourself up for a nice late game while still being almost just as effective as you would be with a lot of farm. Visage kind of has the flexibility that many other heroes lack in that he can do without a lot of farm and rely on his skills, or he can farm up and dominate mid game. Generally, as a supportive Visage you will either be baby sitting or tri-laning. In either case you'll want to give last hits to the other guys. This build centers around have little to no farm while getting the most bang for your buck.

Starting

Nothing new here except for one thing...the chicken and the wards! If one support gets wards, you get the courier. If one support gets the courier, get wards Simple huh? If no body gets the courier or wards, man up and buy both. It may hurt your early game but it can vision and a chicken can make the difference. Once again, you are there for the other guys, not just yourself like a selfish Lone Druid who spends the whole game looking out for number one

Early

Wow big surprise...boots! Next up again with the Ring of Basilius. Its pretty cost effective with mana regen and some armor. And never leave this point in the game without your trusty Magic Wand. Oh! And don't forget to upgrade to a Flying Courier at some point

Core

Again, Power Treads are a great option but if your going more supportive and your team needs the mana then Arcane Boots may be the way to go. A Force Staff is a great item all around. Some regen and intelligence, with an active ability with a thousand and one uses. Great for escapes or helping your team mate out of a pickle. And of course, get your Mekansm. Both you and your team benefit greatly and it is very cost effective.

Situational

Generally, when playing a supportive Visage, you won't really have a lot of extra dough laying around. But if you are doing well with assists and some extra farm here and there, here are a few items worth considering is the situation permits. A very common support item is a Eul's Scepter of Divinity. The active has a variety of uses and the loads of extra mana for a low price helps. Again, for the price, a Rot of Atos is a viable option as well for both tankiness and intelligence. Another very under used item is the Veil of Discord. This item is great if you have a lot of casters and intelligence heroes on your team. Casting the active in the middle of a team fight can be huge especially with big initiations like Ravage and Echo Slam. The use of a Ghost Scepter is even more effective when Visage takes on a supportive role. Since you lack farm and items, you are much more squishy and therefore more susceptible to to focus fire by the enemy carry. This item easily remedies this problem for a short time. Allowing you to escape or for reinforcements to arrive. And finally, a Necronomicon is a very interesting item to pick up. First of the stats are pretty descent but the summoned units are great for pushing, invis. units, and team fight presence. Unfortunately, controlling the necro units AND your Familiars is very difficult and I am partial to use this item only in extreme situations and if you are amazing at microing

Counters, Friends, and Foes

This seciton is dedicated to heroes who have great synergy with Visage's skill set, are countered by Visage, or are counters to visage

Countered by Visage:

Keeper of the Light other wise known as KotL, excels at delivering extremely high magic damage in bursts over long intervals. This is perfectly countered by our gargoyle. Every single time KotL uses is Illuminate (which has a 10 second cool down), most likely all 4 layers of Grave Keeper's Cloak will be up, with a 6 second cool down per layer. This greatly diminishes any impact Kotl can do throughout the game.

This principle applies to other casters with spamable nukes with medium-high cool downs such as Windrunner with her Power Shot, Lina with, well all of her spells, and Shadow Fiend with his Shadowrazes. Basically any hero with high harass potential, especially in lane. Additionally, heroes with high initial burst damage are countered, both physical and magical. Heroes such as Templar Assassin with Meld burst damage and Tiny with his wombo combo fit this category

Although he is not exactly a counter to these heroes, he does very well against heroes with powerful, high damaging initiations. For example, After Enigma casts his Black Hole, Visage's soul charges are maxed out and ready to target this squishy initiator. Plus, with his Familiar's stun, he can interrupt this initiation, sparing his allies from harm. The same idea can be compared to other high damage initiations such as Tidehunter or Sand King

Friends:

As explained in the counters section, Visage works well in large initiations. But who said they had to be the enemy's. Visage's skill set is perfect for high damage initiations on both sides, feeding his Soul Assumption. Again, Tidehunter, Sand King, and Enigma synergize well with his W

Another element that Visage greatly benefits from is an ally that can land a reliable stun, allowing his Familiars to land easy chain stuns. Heroes such as Sven, Skeleton King, and Chaos Knight all fit the boot.

Foes

There are several types of heroes that are potential counters to our friend Visage. One of these are those who can easily escape from his Q. Two major counters arise: Dark Seer with his Surge and Centaur Warrunner 's Stampede

Visage also has no real escape except for the extra move speed from Grave Chill. Therefore he has a hard time getting away from heroes like Storm Spirit and Anti-Mage. And with Anti-Mage's Mana Break...it would probably be best not to pick Visage when you see an enemy Anti-Mage on the other team.

Other counters to Visage are those who can soak up all of his magical damage from Soul Assumption. Pudge, I'm looking at you. And basically anyone who commons builds Hood of Defiances or Pipe of Insights

Those who can deal pure damage also have an easy time ripping through all of that armor you have accumulated from items and Grave Keeper's Cloak such as Pudge (again), Silencer, or Spectre

Finally, some obvious counters to Visage are those with long silences such as Silencer (again), Doom Bringer, Death Prophet, and Night Stalker. One final shout out to Shadow Demon. With his Shadow Poison slowing removing layers of Grave Keeper's Cloak with its very low cool down and his countless disables, Shadow Demon leaves Visage crippled and disadvantaged


This list is a work in progress and i'd love any other suggestions as potential friends or foes

Summary

Well, Thanks for joining me on this journey into the world of Visage. I know I'll get some trolls here and there but I'm really interested in your feedback. Please comment below with any arguments, ideas, suggestions, or spelling/grammatical errors. Also, if I messed up with any math or how certain game mechanics work please let me know as well so I can correct them If you enjoyed this guide than please up-vote. If not please explain why before down-voting