Introduction:

This guide better viewed through the guides section, not forums.
Discuss first. Rate later. Should you find something wrong in the guide, ask me, and I'll explain.

Visage. I call her the heart of the team. Alone she is quite vulnerable, but with her team of minions and allies, she may withstand a lot more. Her story, however, reflects her dangerous personality. I chose her(yes, In my opinion, Visage is a she) because she is my favorite hero for a long time. Not only that, she also greatly fits my play style and character. For the purpose of this guide, I’ll call her Fluffy. That’s because both your enemies and your friends love to hug her =)

Some people disregard her as boring, requiring to farm. This is partially true, but those players more experienced will notice her true potential - the potential of becoming a multi-role hero.

If you’d ask me what kind of role Fluffy has, I’d answer she is mainly a carry with great pushing powers with potential for support/tanking. While some heroes have their role set from the beginning to the end, Fluffy can play a few roles well, a few not that well as others, but in the end- it’s all up to the team’s needs.

Necro’lic (Visage) changes over the versions

Credit goes to Anura for his guide.

Play Fluffy if:

You face lots of AoE.
Your team could use a little bit of everything.
You love to be a jack of all trades– Kill, tank, support,chase – you can do all that.
If there is no hero with too strong soloing capabilities.

Lane Picking:

Jungling – Possible since level 6’sh. Earlier, not recommended.

Dual Laning – Unfortunately, Fluffy is greedy when it comes to farming level 6 and onwards, and until that time her slow is somewhat unreliable for just one ally. Her slow is just meant to be for focused attacks. Therefore, unless it is a competitive game where tougher solo's are taken and your lanemate usually roams or jungles, soloing is recommended.

Soloing – Recommended. You got the lanestaying capability, a powerful attack to harass with, summons to harass with and with you can scout and you can stay away from danger easily if necessary. In four words – Fluffy can solo well.

Skills information:

To not delay, I'll only post facts that are not posted/noticable on the link.Click me.
What else you might want to know?

Grave Chill:
It's also targettable on creeps excluding ancients.

Soul Assumption:
Does not pass to images.
It triggers not only from hero and creep deaths, but also summon deaths, such as images, dominated creeps and necronomicons.

Gravekeeper's Cloak:
Does not pass to images.
The heal is not spread, but passed to allies in the area.
The 25% damage reduction comes from the heal to herself as well.

Raise Revenants:
When you level up Raise Revenants, the weaker revenant in level is always replaced when maximum revenants are reached.
Stats of revenants:

Piercing damage does 150% damage against unarmored armor, therefore it's good against creeps.
They are unarmored types, so they are most quickly killed by Piercing damage and therefore, are dealt a lot of damage by creeps as well. Piercing damage is dealt by most creeps and summons.

Skill Build

Level 1 Soul Assumption
Level 2 Grave Chill
Level 3 Soul Assumption
Level 4 Grave Chill
Level 5 Soul Assumption
Level 6 Raise Revenants
Level 7 Soul Assumption
Level 8 Grave Chill
Level 9 Grave Chill
Level 10 Gravekeeper's Cloak
Level 11 Raise Revenants
Level 12 Gravekeeper's Cloak
Level 13 Gravekeeper's Cloak
Level 14 Gravekeeper's Cloak
Level 15 Stats
Level 16 Raise Revenants
Level 17-25 – Stats

Skill build explanation:

Everyone may agree that Raise Revenants should be raised at level 6, 11 and 16. That’s a good skill. Fact.
The build posted above is most all-round. You max Soul Assumption as early as level 1 because Grave Chill won’t save you nor will it open you opportunities to an occasional First blood gank. You start off with very low damage and you can’t let that harm your early effectiveness in lasthitting and thus, farming. Therefore, we max Soul Assumption first.

Grave chill is maxed second. This, coupled with proper ranged harassment, may grant you one or two kills against your lane opponent. Some may argue that against an AoE soloer such as Rhasta or Krobelus, maxing Gravekeeper’s Cloak is better. If you deem it wiser, then do that, and max Grave Chill last. Do note however, that this might harm your early-mid ganking capabilities and such build requires you to get more strength and health based items to make Gravekeeper’s Cloak effective.

Note: You may take 1 or 2 points of stats or Gravekeeper's Cloak instead of Grave Chill for early survivability boost. This is recommended in competetive games.

Gravekeeper’s Cloak is taken last, because its effectiveness is based on how much damage you can take(and you can take more than if you’d take it earlier) and is used mostly in team battles, so your allies may benefit from the heal.

Item Build:

Starting Items:
1)

This by far is the 2 most economic ways to make the best out of the 603 gold you are given.

Core Items:

and

As for the 3 options, read on to Follow-ups.

Where is the Early Survivability?

Because of the fact that Fluffy tends to go for the top tier items with her powerful farming skills and because of her Gravekeeper's cloak, she doesn't always have to buy survivability items. Should you require further survivability, feel free to make 2 Bracers or Mekansm. Mekansm just gives everything a Fluffy needs for survival, not to mention it synergises with her. Other items are not recommended. You would want to get those top-tier items with as little delay as it is possible.

Boots choice:

A BoT Is unnecessary for chasing because of Grave Chill. It also desynergises with your revenants, because they don’t tp with you. You also don't require the positioning nor the phase from Phase boots. Therefore, the only option here is Treads of your preferred type(STR recommended) for a DPS boost.

No Bottle/Magic Wand?

Why is there no Bottle or Magic Wand? Shouldn’t solo mids take it?
Yes, it’s a common stereotype that a solo mid hero takes Bottle or Magic Wand.
Bottle isn't taken because she's not a ganker and in critical situations, revenants are there to tank. Leave it to a roamer.
Wand isn't taken because she is isn't HP/MP dependent.

Necronomicon 3 VS Desolator

Read here for mathcraft.

Things not counted in the mathcraft include damage from other allies, as well as mana burn from Ranged necronomicon and endurance aura to allies.

In my humble opinion Necronomicon 3 wins in Magic-damage and gank-based lineups, while Desolator wins mostly in (non-invis heroes)pubs, where majority of the damage is physical and with some lethal physical-dominant lineups. If it's mixed, then choose between cheap DPS boost for everyone- Desolator, or a mix between mobility, ganking and pushing power - Necronomicon. It's up to you and your team.
Here is a point comparison.

Desolator:
Pro’s
-Grants Damage and a 5(!) second -6 armor debuff. Your allies and revenants benefit from it.
Con's:
-Gets ineffective at late-game due to the fact that people get more armor.
-Grants no survivability or anything else whatsoever.

Necronomicon 3 :
Pro’s
-Grants more(yes, more!) damage than Desolator alone with revenants.
-Great against invis.
-Grants survivability and intelligence
-The Endurance aura works for you, your revenants, all your summons and images and your allies
Con’s
-Necro 2 is POOR
-Requires a little bit of micro.
-It is 950 gold more expensive
-The advantage in DPS is for 35 seconds on 90 seconds cooldown, so for 55 seconds you are better off with farming.

Take the one you think will benefit your team better.

Follow-ups:

You got 3 options:

1)

Balanced.
Assault Cuirass works better than Desolator because it synergises better with both necronomicons and the revenants, giving more total dps and pushing power. Desolator isn’t taken last because it’s inefficient by that time due to people having more armor. Eye of Skadi is suggested for general survivability/dps mix.

2)

More efficient midgame in terms of DPS, gradually loses effectiveness, so you become more of a pushing tank late-game, rather than a killer.

3)

Defensive, farm-based.
Ricer(luxurious) build. You can rush it and farm it up, becoming a crazy pushing/leveling/farming/killing machine. You could use the IAS, you can sure farm HoM below 12-15 minute with such a gain that without it, you would take around the same time to get Radiance. Best used with multifarming. This build is highly offensive and recommends a bit of survival items or a team to protect you, because overall most teams won’t allow you to farm up that much without your team's support. Use at your team's acknowledgement in competetive games.

When to select what build?

The first and the second builds are dependant on your team and your enemy team. If your team relies on DPS more than magic, Desolator is suggested. Necro 3 otherwise. If your enemy team has low armor(6-10) on average, Desolator is better, while Necro is better for the armor-heavy teams.
Radiance build is suggested when you have the conditions to farm more or less uninterrupted for the first 20-25 minutes of the game.

Luxuries/situational items:

Heart of Tarrasque
I don’t recommend this as a first major item unless your team's real tank doesn’t do his job well or your team wants you to take that role late-game. You, despite having Gravekeeper’s cloak, work much better as a carry. Works well along with items dedicated only to damage, such as Radiance and after other followups.

Radiance
With the first 2 builds, a radiance is most likely the best damage item choice to be bought after completing all of your follow-ups. The damage itself isn't really that amazing, but you buy it for the burn aura that kills a lot of creeps around, boosting your health and damage greatly.

Eye of Skadi
A luxurious alternative for Desolator. The stat boosts are nice although not all of them are needed and the slow is beneficial should you prefer a chaser Fluffy.

Blademail
Optional for Build 3, because of pure synergy. Radiance makes people want to attack you, while Blademail grants them a proper thank you for daring to do that.

Eul’s Scepter of Divinity
Initially it may seem that Guinsoo is a better option, but there are games where you are just so focused that your farming skills are really hampered. The MS bonus and a disable proves it's worth often in such situations.

Guinsoo’s Staff of Vyse
This item is when your team lacks disables. Fluffy is capable of farming it up and using it well with revenants, so it would be a good choice overall if it wasn’t for the gold wasted for the intelligence overkill.

Black King Bar
No-brainer when you're chain disabled. Use it with a tp scroll for an almost guaranteed escape.

Rejected items:

Orchid Malevolence
This item works well and has a good buildup, but it grants you 0 survivability and you don’t need its intelligence. The 5 seconds would just scare your enemy away – this is too situational on you. Best to be taken by your ally.

Khadgar’s Pipe of Insight
You may want that against caster teams for even more anti-AoE, but It’s better off on someone else.

Vladimir’s Offering
You might have thought the 15% Bonus Damage might sound awesome on Revenants, but otherwise it gives you nothing of value. You got mekansm for early armor. It doesn’t even stack with Cuirass’s bonus armor. Lifesteal doesn’t pass to you or images, nor will you make any use of the regeneration. Convince an ally to take it.

Strategy section:

In this section I will show you a few common tips on how to use her skills.

Grave Chill:

Harassment
Even though it may not always kill, taking your target to around 1/2 HP will set his or her psychology to avoid you a bit more, and therefore let you do more lasthitting/denies.

To Gank/Use in team battles
Simple and no brainer, yet many seem to cast it in wrong moments or on wrong heroes. Generally you would like to cast this on a running away enemy(best if you just happen to cross his/her way). Second priority goes to the most speedy physical dps enemy(think Troll for example) for more mobility around the battlefield.

To kill your solo opponent
If you happen to get your lane opponent to around 2/3 to 1/2 total HP, try to get close with your revenants. In short, hug your rival when you’re casting Grave Chill on him. This extra distance is vital before the enemy realizes he has grave chill on him and tries to run away. Then, just auto attack your enemy with yourself and your revenants. You should have just enough hits. If you wouldn’t have all revenants and wouldn’t be close enough, your birds would lose 1 to 3 hits because they will have their attack cancelled due to the too long distance. Should your enemy still has the buffs when you’re near the tower – have no fear – you are free to tower dive in expense for 1-3 of your revenants.

To Escape
Your movement speed is more than slow’ish, so your only last-resort escape is using Grave chill on someone and run. Mekansm is also there to help you a little, so best to activate it as soon as you’ll be missing the 250 hp, so the enemies might be discouraged in chasing you. Note – You may use it on (jungle)creeps in such critical situations, should you be chased by long-range disablers, for example.

Revenants:

Signature skill of Fluffy. Once you get it, always try to have a maximum number of them around. Note, that if you level the skill up, the revenants don’t level up, so you must do the whole cycle all over again so that weaker revenants are replaced. If you can’t learn to separate your heroes from your revenants, Fluffy is not for you. You may use them in different ways:

Multifarming, multipushing
Every time you go to a shop, die, or have to push back 2 lanes from your base when it is besieged, separate your hero from the revenants completely. Or if you have to go to the side shops, while the creep battle is a bit further away. Take that group of revenants as flying ranged creeps – they are vulnerable even to creeps, though – do mind that. The farming/pushing boost to yourself and team is often more significant than you think.

Chasing
When you are seperated from your revenants. While chasing a target, many players simply right click their foes with revenants. This is a wrong approach. You have to remember that your little batmans are flying, therefore instead of blindly following your foe, take shortcuts to places you think they might go. This works when he tries to escape through sides, not directly to base.

Juking and anti-juking
Because of the fact that Revenants are flying units, they see through trees. What does this mean for the enemies? Once you get revenants, a target cannot escape you or your team via trees or obstruct your team's spells by fog of war. What does this mean for you? While a target is busy juking YOU through trees or click-swarming you through the revenants that obstruct their vision, you can use your revenants to bash your target. Who knows, you might not only escape, but might even turn the tide of the duel.

Scouting/Patrolling/counter-ganking
In the older versions you could abuse your revenants to attack rune/aegis. This is no longer possible. Therefore, the remaining uses are average scouts. When being mid, check the rune positions each 2nd minute for your team’s roamer with bottle or yourself. When being Top or Bot lane while you cross it, have 1 or 2 revenants scout the closest jungle and come back to you. To do this, shift queue – Select one revenant, shift click a location and then right click your hero. Release Shift. The revenant will go to the selected spot and come back to you, regardless of your position, making you aware of coming danger. Send 4-5 of them to all corners of the map should someone dare to say “all miss” – most likely you’ll just have to send one – to Roshan. This one is recommended for level 6 and 11 because by then your revenants will be weak and you'll replace them quickly anyway.

This is an example map with possible routes of your Batmans for all things mentioned above. As you can see, the blue spots are the rune spots and the Roshan spawn. Try to check those as often as possible. For a tip, remember that a rune spawns each 2nd minute(2m, 4m, 6m, etc) and Roshan spawns 10 minutes after he first dies. Other ones involve checking trees for hiding enemies, checking your sides, checking jungle spots or simply granting you more side vision(pseudo-unobstructed vision). They are not entirely necessary to be good at Fluffy, but they enhance your team's efficiency and your safety. Feel free to develop your own scouting/anti-gank routes.

In ganks
While it is common to use your slow, you may use this mindgame – Approach your hero to a lone target. Make sure you can do it close to a jukable spot(couple of trees) so it won’t backfire. It’s a bait so the hero attacks you. If he doesn’t, back up. If he does, encircle your enemy from the backs/sides with revenants. He won’t escape because of the slow.

In ganks tip 2
Ordering your revenants to attack and then quickly casting Grave chill on your enemy is more efficient than casting Grave Chill first, followed by a group attack. This proves its worth mostly in early-game though.

Pushing tip
The so called tower-cycling trick. Allows you to attack the tower with your revenants without being targetted by the tower when your creeps are engaged in battle (which happens, if you attack normally)

Made by Niss3

Pushing tip 2
A typical Fluffy player backs up when his revenants are began to be attacked. This is correct only as long an enemy hero(es) is nearby. Each of your Revenants can take around 3-5 hits, which is around 5 seconds. what this means, is that you shouldn't your push there, but spawn a new Revenant to continue the push.

Best allies

Good examples involve:

Heroes with beneficial auras

Vengeful Spirit with her Command Aura.

Heroes with -armor debuffs

Slardar with his Amplify damage. Dazzle with weave.

Heroes with skills that make use of many units around

Dirge with his Soul Rip and Tombstone.

Heroes with skills that make use of many corpses around

Earthshaker with his Echo Slam.

Other summoners

Broodmother with her spiders.

AoE healers

Dazzle with his Shadow Wave.

Worst enemies

There are 3 heroes you should generally never EVER take Visage against.

Axe

You have 6 summons and yourself. Your damage comes from sheer attacking. He doesn't even have to do anything - he just kicks your ass.

Earthshaker

As much as a great ally and counter you are to him, he can really mess up your entire team with just one click of his ult. You might survive, but your allies will be reduced to, well... nothing. Since the sight nerf on revenants, relying on you hitting him before he daggers in is way too risky. Have him on your team or ban him(CM).

Dirge

All of his skills work superb against you. STR reduce, which reduces effectiveness of your gravekeeper. Soul rip that benefits from your revenants presence. Zombies that spawn near each of your revenant. And an AoE ult that just puts a "I'm defenseless, gank me pls" sign all over you.

Mass disables+nukes/Mass early gankage

Being like a slow war machine, she is very prone to ganking. This is arguably the reason Fluffies seperate from their teams early on and farm up to the moment the gank phase is over and whole-team battles start. A dual stun lane isn't a lane of your dreams, take my word on it.

Suggested lineups

Earthshaker Top
Dazzle Top
Vengeful Spirit roaming
Rhasta solo mid
Visage solo bot

Optionals: Replace Dazzle with Lion. Replace Vengeful Spirit with Dark seer(jungle)/Dirge(lane with Visage). Replace Earthshaker with Slardar.

This lineup relies on pack-hunting with Venge's combo along with ES's and Rhasta's disables - should all else fail, Dazzle and visage can slow them down. This lineup also emphasized mid to midlate pushing. The most ouch comes from ES's Ult from all the corpses lying around, as well as Dazzle's Ult combined with Rhasta's ult, Vengeful Spirit's damage(aura benefits wards as well) and Visage's Revenants. So it's a nice disable, push, and dps mix. Balanced.
Feel free to suggest better/other lineups ^^

Replays:

ADC09 Regular Season Round 1, Game 1, Razer.CGC vs Digi Resurrection

Summary
CM mode. Enchantress takes boots early and jungles bot, while Visage goes solo bot. Together, they get FB around 1:45. A lot of early-harassing and because of that, furice takes 2 points of stats early instead of early Soul Assumption. Lots of ganking between Dirge + Warlock and Enchantress + Visage. Around 20 minute, Furice seperates from his revenants. Thanks to separating them, he solo’s bot jungle while his allies gank and his revenants farm and push down lanes and by that, + Hand of Midas by around 12sh minute, he gains a total of 7,2 unspent gold(1 death not included) by 35 minute. At 40sh minute he gets a really nice mindgame kill. Pushing all the time independently from the team, he gains a total of (OMG) 10000 gold at around 45 minute, where the game ends. Shows the impossible farming potential of Visage.
Item Build
Typical Ricer build: Headress of Rejuvenation, GG branches, Hand of Midas, Treads, Radiance, HotD.

ADC09 Regular Season R1 (MCiTY vs Mski)

Summary
A classic Visage. Solos top with occasionally Lion helping out in tougher situations. Does not separate revenants nor does he really engage in team battles not in his lane, which could be bad in a public game but here, that was meant to be his job.

Item Build
This is the main part about the classicness. 2 bracers, boots, mekansm, desolator, heart In making. Solid.

ADC09 PH Semi-Final (Mski-DotA vs DI) (1.23)

Summary
Use Version Switcher in tools forum to access this replay. As above. Lanes with Earthshaker. Takes 1 level of stats against necro’s + lion’s harassment. Does exactly the same strategy as above – push to win – let others do the gank job.

Item Build
As above, but without heart.

Credits:
FunnyWarfare. For being funny.
C�no, Robzor and JaCKaSS_69 for mechanics help.
The forum for a few strategy tips.

Questions I won't answer

Quote:

Visage is a male!?

To be added:
Necro 3 Replay
Moar strategy tips