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Healing Salve
Tango
Ring of Protection
Circlet
Power Treads
Ring of Aquila
Magic Wand
Mekansm
Town Portal Scroll
Mjollnir
Black King Bar
Town Portal Scroll
Butterfly
Monkey King Bar
Daedalus
Scythe of Vyse
Manta Style
Town Portal Scroll
Boots of Travel
Heart of Tarrasque
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2 | 10 | 12 | 13 |  |
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3 | 4 | 5 | 7 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
A note about myself: I'm currently 4.2k mmr and have been playing since dota 1 (took many year long breaks). My viper often does very well in games and I have been requested by a couple of people to make a guide.
Viper is a naturally tanky hero (via corrosive skin) with very high early-mid game carry potential. One of the major "setbacks" people complain about the hero is that he falls off during the late game because he does not have a damage boosting ability or stun. However, this guide and build aims to alleviate that concern and ensure that viper is the strongest hero in the game from start to finish.
The skill build and itemization of viper aims to outplay your opponents. In other words, you do not need to be too agressive in the lane other than harassing with your poison attack (Q). However, when the other team tries to be agressive, you can easily turn the fight into 2-3 kills.
I think viper is strongest in an agressive trilane with a stun. You can secure easy kills this way and also keep down an enemy (most likely melee) carry underfarmed. Viper is also a strong mid, but I think there are several other heros that can benefit more from the lane and rune uses.
Please keep in mind, DOTA is a situational game. This guide is not a "cookie cutter" way to win every game (though you will win most). Your skill and item builds will have to differ depending on what is needed to secure kills early or help your team survive. However, this generic build is pretty strong.
This skill build aims at maxing corrosive skin. Corrosive skin is one of the best abilities in the early game as it does TONS of damage to enemy heros and provides you extra tankiness that they are not accounting for when they are trying to gank or kill you.
I first level poison attack to be able to orb walk enemy heros in the lane to assert lane dominance. This is important as you want to instill fear into your opponent. They will be forced to play more passive allowing you to secure easy last hits. However, be sure not to drain your mana pool at lvl 1, a couple poison attacks and normal right clicks should do the trick.
I then level nethertoxin at level 2 so that last hitting is easier. Hard carries need farm and early last hits are a necessity.
I then max corrosive skin. However, if you are looking for a kill before level 6, you may want to get 2 levels of poison attack (after at least one level of corrosive skin) Assuming you understand how to orb walk, you can easily get kills this way.
The starting items aim to provide you enough regen in the lane until at least level 6. Most of the time if you are asserting your lane dominance, you will not even need to use that much regen. Getting a quick Ring of Basilius allows you to have enough mana regen to orb walk effectively. Then, power treads + wand give you more survivability and attack speed to kill heros. Finishing your aquila gives you additional hp and damage before you rush into mekanism, which will give you a good burst heal to continue to outplay your opponents.
The previous items or "early game" viper is a pretty standard build. The next item, however, is one that I think is ABSOLUTELY VITAL for viper to become that late game threat. Without it, viper "falls off" and is "useless" late game: Mjolnir. This item is pretty much made for viper.
Viper is a: slow farmer, slow attack speed without items, single target, and a tank.
Mjolnir: increases farming speed, increases attack speed, provides huge aoe damage, mjolnir active item allows for those hitting viper to get damaged for an additional 200 damage. In a normal fight you can get 2-3 of these procs, which is 200*(2 or 3)*(4 or 5 heros) = 1600-3000 damage. Additionally, all of your aoe pretty much incidentally kills supports OR gets them low enough that your nethertoxin damage is already amplified even more.
Once you get your Mek + Mjolnir, you are in your most effective stage of the game (add a bkb and you're even stronger, but keep in mind other heros will have items as well). You WANT TO take team fights. Nobody will realize how much damage you do until you get a triple kill, ultra kill, rampage.
Many people complain that the difference between maelstorm and mjolnir is not that great, but Mjolnir greatly improves viper's attack speed (which is lacking without it) and also the extra electric bounces are clutch for getting kills of fleeing heros. Additionally, on use proc is great as mentioned above.
After the Mjolnir, you will either want to get a Black King Bar / Butterfly / MKB. Most likely, BKB will increase your survivability more. If an enemy hero has a butterfly, you will want to get an MKB. After that, it really depends on what your team needs for fights:
Burst: Crits
Disable: Hex
Tank: Heart / AC
Remember, you can sell your mek once it gets to 60 mins.
I am personally not a huge fan of Aghanim's. I have not included in the core part of the guide because we are aiming to make viper a hard carry. However, DOTA is a situational game and sometimes Aghanim's is the correct item choice.
Let's go over the benefits of Aghanim's
1) Increases the range of Viper Strike (from 500) to 900
2) Decreases the cooldown of Viper Strike from (80/50/30) to 12 seconds.
3) Decreases the manacost of Viper Strike from (125/175/250) to 125.
While it may seem that all these three benefits makes Aghanims a MUST, the practical / in-game reality of the benefits are kind of diminished. Most DOTA teamfights are not going to last more than 12 seconds, so you will only get 2 Viper strikes off in some teamfights... but not many. Also, by that point the enemy carry will already be dead (if you are focusing them) and you will be using viper strike on a support, who you would probably be able to kill anyways. I do think that the biggest upgrade of Aghanims is the range. This provides you a HUGE initiation / pickoff range. If your team is lacking in a frontline tank / initiator aghs may in fact be a good item.
Most players think that Aghanims is good when the enemy team has melee carries. However, the opposite is true. Aghanims is good when the enemy team has ranged carries - you get additional range to get to them so they cannot kite you (e.g., sniper, drow, etc.)
However, in comparison to other items that you could get (e.g., mjolnir) you are losing a TON of dps. I think that if you do in fact decide that Aghanims is a necessity in your game, get a maelstorm, then an aghs, then finish the mjolnir. The maelstorm will greatly increase your farming speed so that you do not fall too far behind the enemy carry.
As mentioned before, you are aiming to outplay your opponents. Just farm early game and always carry a tp. After you get your mek you can farm the jungle pretty effectively with corrosive skin. When you get your maelstorm you should be consistently taking advantage of the jungle. It is free gold. If your team complains about you farming, ignore them, just make sure to show up to team fights and get triple kills there. A viper with a gold lead is vital to carrying the game.
During teamfights, make sure you use your viper strike on the enemy carry / right clicker. This will slow down their dps and keep your team alive. You want to play kind of like a sniper. *****The longer you stay alive in fights, the more damage you will do****** Sit in the back and right click. You can place your mjolnir proc on your tank (axe, centaur, etc.) if you think that will provide more total damage.
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