Viper Mid Lane - No nonsense early-mid game dominance

Viper is my best hero having a 73% win ratio with him and I have used him to climb up 400MMR recently.

+1 for this guide this is pretty much exactly how I play and build Viper.

Just to reinforce what has already been said. Ring of Aquila is a great pick up early on and handles any mana issues you might have from harassing with Poison Attack. Also Mekansm is great on Viper. I have never had any mana issues and this also alleviates some pressure from your supports having to buy what is an expensive item for them. By the time you pick it up your mana pool should be large enough to handle it as long as you aren't wasting mana spamming your Q on creeps and such. Another tip to expand on that is to pop your Mekansm early in a fight. I notice some supports wait till your team is really low on HP than use it to try and get the most out of the heal. I found popping it early and topping players off ensures you have mana for it, your team benefits more from the armor bonus, and you have started the cooldown so you have the possibility of using it a 2nd time in the fight.

My build typically goes like this Ring of Aquila--> Phase Boots--> Drum of Endurance--> Mekansm--> Aghanim's Scepter

Drum might be kind of redundant with the Ring but I like grabbing it and phase's to compensate for his slow movement speed. Also that extra attack from it's active is nice in early lane ganks when your teammates are involved.

You might want to consider adding Heart of Tarrasque to the 'Too Much Money' section. I agree with Peppo that Viper is best played in a tanky role and the more HP you have the more damage you dish out from your Corrosive Skin as well as giving you more time to do right-click damage. I think BKB is really situational if you are playing him as a tank since popping a BKB usually forces the other team to focus on your teammates which kind of defeats the purpose of what you want Viper to do. I find that once I pick up a heart, if the game isn't already over, that I'm extremely difficult to kill and if they do take me out they got melted by my teammates in the process.

Again great guide and there are a few tips in here that I picked up and will have to try out. thanks.

I'm okay with the strong attack but when you use too much mana, your ability to get "Godlike" just fades away

Thank you for the feedback TenshiN.

The reasoning behind the Wraith band instead of bracer is for the build up to Aquila, as I personally find in the mid role to get a few mana problems levels 3-6 and also ring benefits me more than drum however I can see the validity of the drum in situational circumstances (Which has been pointed out to me in the comments) So I have added it as situation item.

I like Orchid on Viper a lot as a single ganker role but as a team fight presence which I tried to angle this guide towards I prefer aghs just for the range and slow which is so crucial to shut down those hard hitting carrys before they can pop their BKB or after it doesn't really matter but far enough away for them to reconsider jumping into the fray. Also it works out to be vipers biggest DPS item overall.

Great Guides yourself btw

cheers

I would say replace the starting Wraith Band with a Bracer, as i find that Viper benefits more from that little extra HP than even the complete Aquila.
Also, if the enemy team has more than 1 hero with a built-in escape ( Queen of Pain, Weaver, Bounty Hunter...), i would advice getting Orchid Malevolence instead of Aghanim's Scepter. I personally dislike Aghanim on Viper, but i see how it could work.
A fine guide on my favourite hero, +1

updated to fix 4 points in ulti and to also add a situational +MS build

thanks for the feedback, we run tusk/clock (bottle) off with a viper mid it completely wrecks people

First guide for viper ive seen in a LONG time that is truly good.
+1 and such, wouldve +1ed just for Mek. I also really appriciate the fact
that you understand that viper doesnt really benefit from a bottle, and
your offlaner most definetly does. Tusk with a bottle and Viper on mid
is a combo to be feared.

Only qualm is that i think Drum should at least be listed as an early situational.

Nerf life pls

Nerf Invoker pls

Miss-clicks happen :p

4 points in ult OP!

i think I good combo of both toxin and skin works really well in the mid lane, if I was safe lane farming I would agree with you 100% but grabbing that extra level in skin means that the opposing mid cannot trade with you at all (as soon as they do its a double slow rape fest) If you are against a weak mid laner then by all means grab some toxin as your Q should be enough to keep them out.

Thanks for your feedback