Disclaimer: No responsibility is taken for competetive play... actually I don't take responsibility for your non-comeptetive plays either Viper is quite an item-independent hero that can flexibly wield a variety of items. However, survivability is an issue with him, so he is item-dependent in this one aspect. He also has nice DPS, which can be chosen to be maximized as well. The "Dodge" Viper item build is a balanced build concept that provides survivability and DPS simultaneously and cost-effectively. The recommended core items provide protection in ways other than raw HP and regen, turning you into a "Dodge" Viper, rather than a Tank Viper or DPS Viper. Strengths: [+] very strong early and mid game [+] amazing lane control - harasses well and synergizes with lanemate [+] great farmer due to high damage for last hitting [+] great DPS [+] innate slow ubituitously useful for ganking, saving allies, and yourself. Weaknesses: [-] effectiveness wanes in the end game [-] no escape mechanism, thus item dependent for defense [-] fragile and susceptible to stun -> nuke -> dead [-] no stun, thus countered by teleportation Roles: Babysitter Supporting Chaser Tank Early Carry Late DPS

Poison Attack Nethertoxin Corrosive Skin Viper Strike (extra - suggested icon changes) Level 1 - Poison Attack 1 Level 2 - Nethertoxin 1 Level 3 - Poison Attack 2 / Nethertoxin 2 Level 4 - Nethertoxin 2 / Poison Attack 2 Level 5 - Poison Attack 3 Level 6 - Viper Strike Level 7 - Nethertoxin 3 Level 8 - Nethertoxin 4 Level 9 - Poison Attack 4 / Corrosive Skin / Stats Level 10 - Poison Attack 4 / Corrosive Skin / Stats Level 11 - Viper Strike Level 12 - Corrosive Skin / Stats Level 13 - Corrosive Skin / Stats Level 14 - Corrosive Skin / Stats Level 15 - Corrosive Skin / Stats Level 16 - Viper Strike Level +17 - Stats 1st - You will find that Poison Attack lvl 1's harassing ability is much more useful than than Nethertoxin lvl 1's last hitting augmentation. You have full HP so you should harass, instead of staying fully passive and only trying to last hit. 3rd - Get Poison Attack if the 1 sec cd is beneficial enough that you're being aggressive. Get Nethertoxin if you'd rather focus more on last hitting and farming up early on. Level 5 is the earliest you can get lvl 3 Poison Attack for orb walking, so whichever skill you get at lvl 3, it will both lead back to the same at level 5. 6,11,16th - Viper Strike taken whenever possible. It's useful for increasing the amount of HP you can leave on a hero, finishing off windwalkers, and the lowered cooldown is invaluable as well. 9th - - Poison Attack 4 Get it. it makes your orbwalking more powerful. - Stats One stats at lvl 9 and Poison Attack at lvl 10 is an option for the extra nudge of survivability. Basically, the inevitable stats of lvl 15 gets to cut in line, and everything is maxed by level 16. - Corrosive Skin Should be maxed soon afterwards, by lvl 15 most of the time.

(3,000-4,500 gold) - approximate total cost Early-Game: "You never know when things will go to 5h17, so always keep some TP around." - gwho Wraith Bands / Bracers - Stat boost is necessary for Viper, who is fragile. Multiple Wraith Bands is a cost-effective way to boost damage of ganking agility heroes that shine in the early-mid game. A couple of Bracers, on the other hand, will more effectively provide you the HP boost you so need. Bottle - is the best source of regen on Viper. He's a ganker, and he uses all runes well. One slot, 600 gold, fast regen, and a measure against mana burners, makes bottle more effective and cost-efficient than other early regen items. Which Boots? Viper is one of those heroes that can wear any boot depending on the circumstances. Rule-of-Thumb Method: more Tankiness/ moderate dps boost/emergency mana -> Power Treads. chasing plus raw dps -> Phasers team has travels/ heavily gank oriented play / money to spare -> Travels Power Treads - I would say that treads are the most optimal on Viper most of the time because it gives the much needed HP, and you don't have to forego an offensive boost. The attack speed boost is better on you than attack damage because you get to Activate Nethertoxin more, which is far more substantial DPS. (see section 6-8 Synergy Formulas) Phase Boots - Costing 50 more than treads, phasers is a pure offensive/chasing augmentation. Travels - Good for maneuvering and ganking. Lacks stats, so use travels to get richer by killing and beef up with that gold. Scroll of Town Portal - Get as needed. Scrolls become his early escape mechanism so 135 gold is definitely worth it. You're a good farmer, and it's used to be where you need to be for ganks. Ensured Teleportation: once you get BKB, avatar -> teleport prevents interruption. Wards: - Runes help your ganking and field-staying a lot, so warding a rune spot will be greatly beneficial. Also, wards can prevent your squishy death against surprise ganks. You are fragile and have no escape mechanism. The general skill of watching who is missing is important. (see section 4. Play Strategy: "Staying Safe") You aren't carry, so you can be one to put up the money for wards.

One item out of the mid-game picks is usually enough. Choose according to your situation and gameplay. Mid-Game Picks: Late-Game Picks: Lothar's Edge - Strong offensive boost. Good for entering battle, and fleeing. Good players will dust you, though. In that case go with other items. Caveat: - If you break invisibility with manual-casted Poison Attack, you will not get the 125 backstab bonus damage - If you break invisibility using auto-cast, you will get the 125 backstab bonus damage, but you will not slow (but you still consume mana for the Poison Attack) - Therefore when breaking invisibility, get about 400-300 range from the target (so that you will be within range for the second attack that slows him) and either: 1) do a regular attack to get the bonus damage, and then proceed to manual cast slow; 2) auto attack all the way to get the same effect as #1. - Bottle is a must-have early on for supporting the mana cost of using it frequently or for entry and escape in one battle. - Also, get Treads instead of Phasers. Lothar's already gives you increased movespeed and zero-collision. Manta Style - is a great item on Viper because - images benefit from Power Treads' IAS, as well as stats and movespeed. - All stats benefit Viper well. - combined with beefy items, images are pretty hard to kill. Offensively it's decent (criticals applied, raw damage and Nethertoxin NOT applied) - image splitting helps you survive when running away. - timing the activation of image splitting allows you to dodge a spell. - Rune checks, since Viper makes good use of them. Caveat: * Images receive Treads' stats when you split image. AGI - It is almost always best to choose Agility mode. Images in battle are mainly used for the extra DPS (and of course the initial guessing game). Since they die pretty fast if enemies decide to kill them, the extra HP doesn't do much in battle. It's usually better to squeeze out as much DPS as you can from them. STR - But if you are using it defensively when fleeing, or when scouting, you will want them to last a tiny bit longer. INT - Images can't use spells or Poison Attack so extra int is useless. * Switching after you split images won't affect images. * Images can't change stats even if you click on their power treads. * For more image information (see section 6-5: "Images"). Black King Bar - Spell immunity covers Viper's greatest weakness (in a non-tank build) - stuns - allowing you to finish off heroes before running back, and preventing getting chain stunned. The extra damage is a thank you. Butterfly - DPS + Evasion. Just one of the best items on Viper. Evasion is another qualitatively different addition for survivability, as are the other core items.

Depending on how your game is going and on situational needs, you can lean towards more offensive items or defensive items as deemed fit. Rounded: DPS Class: Survivability Class: Necrominicon - The golden rule for Necrominicon is that it synergizes with slow/stun for your minions to dish out damage. Viper is probably the only agi hero that synergizes so well with this str/int item. Necrominicon can actually be core; it's merely not a "dodge" style item because it provides little survivability. Normally, your allies act as your necrominions, but getting necrobook works well with or without your allies. It can even allow you to solo gank at times. All your strength and intel needs are covered by necrobook so skip Bracers and Wraith Bands. Assault Cuirass - Because your effectiveness wanes in the late-game, Assault Cuirass is a smart route to take, supporting the rest of the team with the positive and negative auras to shift the tides towards your team's favor. Armor and attack speed adds to DPS and survivability at the same time. -Also, IAS is a way to increase DPS of on-attack triggers like Nethertoxin and Critical. Even if you can't actually increase the numbers of Nethertoxin, by attacking more frequently, you use it more, thus increasing your DPS. Monkey King Bar - The best counter to Viper is to simply TP out. Viper with an MKB removes this as an option against him. Truestrike and tons of damage makes for a good late-DPS Viper. Orchid of Malevolence - can be of more use to your team by weakening tanks, as your effectiveness wanes in the late-game. The silence is ever-so-useful, synergizing quite well with Viper as a chaser, since he can prevent his target from blinking or windwalking away. It's a good substitute for Butterfly if you would rather have trade 30% evasion and +30 attack speed (the one from agility) for silence and damage amplification on a single target. You get 20 less damage than butterfly nominally, but damage amplification makes up for it, on one target, on whom your allies can pound too. Crystalys / Buriza - Buriza would be the best item to maximize single target DPS. Another good point is because Crystalys is cheap, the primary effect (critical) can be obtained more quickly, rather than having to wait for the entire gold amount for the effects (like with MKB). Critical synergizes very well with DPS that's already high. Getting Hyperstone before finishing Buriza is a pitstop well worth it. (If you're going for Assault Cuirass, don't make a pitstop for Crystalys, since your aim would be to support your team, more so than sharpen your own sword.) Heart of Tarrasque - With the change in 6.63 it's a questionable item for survivability during battle. not sure yet. sorry for the incompleteness, but U'm just being honest.

Blink Dagger - If you were to play as one that really specializes in picking heroes off, the maneuverability can really pay off. You will be lacking in survivability, you may want some items to compensate either before or after getting Blink Dagger. Or this may not be necessary if your allies have innate abilities that can provide you the survivability (see section 5. Relationships: "Synergizing Allies") Khadgar's Pipe of Insight - great when Viper is support and your team is facing lots of AOE spells. Vangaurd - I feel kind of bad listing Vangaurd as situation because it is many times core in other builds, and is a solid item all around, except that it does not follow the Dodge-Viper concept of simultaneous augmentation - building up Viper's offense and defense in one economic swoop. However, HP, regen, and physical damage block is a wonderful package on Viper, complementing Corrosive Skin nicely. The best situations for getting Vangaurd are: 1) if you're making a fully dedicated tanking Viper (Corrosive skin against magical and Vangaurd against Physical - very nice); 2) if you plan on getting an expensive damage item next, like Radiance or MKB. Why? The build-up of those expensive damage items can take long, leaving you with little survivability boost for that long. Also, Nethertoxin and Poison Attack serve just fine early-mid game for doing his job of killing heroes and assisting ganks.

If you will not act as early carry, lane with your team's carry and baby sit him, using your lane controlling abilities.

Opt to solo middle with a bottle if you will be playing early-mid game carry. It will be important that you do not die at all, as you will want to be ahead for the mid-game ganking, armed with level 3 slow, and your ultimate ASAP. As you put up great pressure against your laners, there can be a swift moment, when maybe you are in too deep or too overconfident, giving your enemies the opportunity to stun or nuke you. It will set you back, wasting all the harassing and gain that you have made so far, and rob your team of their powerful early ganker.Playing carry and being a few levels above everyone else will help your ganking immensely. Viper Strike is important to early ganking.

-Because Poison Attack is a spell, it will not aggro creeps, and gives you an additional 25 range to your 575 for an effective range of 600. You can be close to the creep line, and keep enemies farther away, while making it easier for you to last hit. (see section 6-6: "Creep Aggro")

-There will definitely come times when you are chased backwards. If they do not pursue you until you die, they will inevitably turn around. When this happens, watch carefully for that moment they disengage and turn around and Poison Attack him with your best reaction speed. This scenario is always a freebie hit that you can land, provided they don't have any tricks up their sleeves. If you react quickly, you can even get in another attack or two on top of that using animation cancel/orbwalk, putting you ahead in damage exchanged and making them regret chasing you.

Even though Viper is very good at making someone feel like they are totally boxed in, there are surprisingly lots of counters to Viper. When playing Viper, the key is to recognize them, and keep yourself out of such situations preventatively, with:

1) Map awareness agianst getting ganked. Surprise nukes is Viper's strongest counter and biggest weakness. This is largely preventable with map awareness, knowing who is missing, and with wards - observers if they are windwalkers.

2) Maintaining distance when laning. Maintaining distance is the method of staying safe when up agianst opponents that you know will instantly convert you into gold and experience if you get clipped with a stun. (i.e. Rhasta + a DPS/nuker You know once you get caught, that's it.)

3) Knowing when potential death-dealers are "tied-up" in big battle situations. If you watch good replays, it will seem like Viper has no trouble walking into the heat and killing a hero. It actually isn't as simple as that. The reason he was able to do so was because potential threats against Viper have beeen tied up in one way or another and the Viper player was aware of his pre-occupation.

Example:
-An enemy Blood Seeker is chasing your ally who is low health. He will want to make the kill, regain his health he will lose in the chasing process, so he will not go for you. This leaves you free to help your ally by slowing Blood Seeker, or engaging the rest of the enemies in the big fight.

Maintain distance and stay safe by avoiding focus fire and having your teammates initiate. Close in and "dive in" when heroes are at low health and you can finish them using maximized Nethertoxin damage, or slowing them long enough for your team to help.

How to use Viper Strike:
Maxed out, it only has 30 seconds cooldown and 725 damage over time(543.75 after 25% reduction). So:

- when enemy HP is low and might get away (run speed, blink, invisibility, etc.) to kill him with the DOT, even if he does blink away.
- in 1vs1 situtations, as a surprise nuke to throw off their sense of whether they can win the fight or not
- for the greater slow (up to 80%) for letting your team pound the target.

This is the most foundational skill of playing Viper well, because he is a support DPS chaser whose fearsome weapon is slow. (see section 6-3: "Animation Cancelling / Orb Walking" to learn how to do it)

Using the points mentioned above, and knowing that your era of dominance will come to an end, you should gank gank gank whenever possible in order to make the most of your "timed life" and give every ounce of advantage to your team.

Your late game role is much the same role as Mid-Game: to slow and pick off weak heroes. But the battlefield has become more intense, and you are not as dominant as you were early and mid game. Therefore you will have chosen whether you will be a glass cannon, support, or a tank. But luckily in the case of the dodge viper build, you will have reasonable survivability as well as DPS. But you require finesse and good timing that comes with awareness. So you are by no means invincible; your enemies can pop you in a blink if you are not careful. The best thing to do is to stay alive and contribute DPS and focus fire, doing everything you can to avoid focus fire yourself. The only exception may be is if you can take down the enemy carry. You can defend, sweep through neutral creeps, and take on Roshan with pretty good speed. Viper is a great farmer, and even more insane late game, and 1-2 minutes bench time can make a huge difference in your gold to dominate the late game with amazing items.

Damager-Disablers:
(The Two-Timers)

Due to your slowing ability and fragility, heroes that can dish out fast damage and have strong disables simultaneously make the best allies and and worst enemies.

Powerful Two-Timers

These heroes have a strong mix of both damage and disables, making them fearsome ganking partners and most feared enemies of Viper at the same time.

• Lion has two disables and two nukes, topped off with mana drain.
• Tauren Chieftain's moves are awesome for both initiating and finishing off your slowed target. Mad range, mad nuke, and mad chase-killing ability.
• Mirana can cloak a whole army, catch up and kill your slowed target, stun, and simply leap to impassable terrain, countering your slow.
• Anub'arak Hussein Obama has incredible nukes and the element of surprise. Also an annoying mana-burn that really works against you. He can shut out your ealry and mid game shine-time due to these factors.

Strong Disablers


Silencers + DPS

Ally - prevent deadly spells on you. Also nice DPS to combine with slow.
Enemy - With slow, fragility, and no escape mechanism, all you have is your DPS. You become useless in your role to slow enemies and become a glass cannon. Their DPS can work against you as well.

Burst-Nukers


Ambushers

If they calculate that they can survive the DPS duel in a 1 vs. 1 situation, or if it's 2v1, then the decision to engage is totally in their hands and you don't have an escape mechanism.

Chasers/Durable Attackers


Enemy - These are also pretty durable, so they can usually walk up to you and kill you, if you don't have backup nearby. They all usually outlast you 1vs1 situation.

Base bonus damage starts off as 2/4/6/8 damage for enemy HP = 100% to 80%, and doubles for each 20% HP the target is missing. -Nethertoxin only works on enemy units (enemy heroes, enemy creeps). Does NOT work on neutral creeps or allied units. -Against creeps, the bonus is halved. As you can see, you do more damage the lower your target's health is. This skill really casts you as one that picks off weak heroes, and Poison Attack allows you to slow healthier heroes down to eventually kill them.

Animation Cancelling is an micro control technique for attacking by giving a new command after the point of actual attack. Doing it results in your hero not going through the aesthetic animation sequence AFTER the the point you actually attacked, allowing your to utilize that time to do other things earlier, rather than stay stationary unnecessarily. The most common usage is to enhance chasing. Orb Walking is simply Animation Cancelling with an added spell/ orb effect on every attack - when you use Poison Attack instead of regular attack. How to Animation Cancel / Orb Walk: 1) Give the attack command. 2) Wait for the actual attack point. 3) Immediately after the attack point, give another command (usually the move command) to cancel the portion after the attack point - called backswing animation. Giving a new command any time during the backswing animation is fine, but the closer it is to the attack point, the more time you will save. However, if you do it any earlier than the attack point, it will force you to complete the backswing animation, and you lose out. -When chasing, give the move command in the predicted path your target is running. -When backing up, but not completely fleeing, as in lane micro or neutral creeping, give the move command between 90 and 180 degrees, instead of 180 degrees backwards. This reduces the turning time, while getting you out of the enemy's attack range. Works best if you have high move speed or higher move speed than your target. 4) Attack again, repeating #1-3

Viper's Poison Attack lasts two seconds. When getting another orb/attack modifier on Viper, you use the minimum attacks necessary for perma-slow and use the other attacks for the other orb. Some secondary orb effects can require some highly polished mechanical skills. High attack speed is especially helpful for using multiple orb effects with Viper. To utilize both Poison Attack and lifesteal together, you must toggle auto-cast to swtich between one orb and the other - could be challenging. Lifesteal (MoM, HotD, Satanic - Vlads does not conflict, but useless to ranged units anyways), & Feedback (Diffusal Blade). - Auto-casting - Poison Attack - Manual casting (becomes useless) - lifesteal/feedback - No casting - lifesteal/feedback To utilize Poison Attack and critical together, you can auto-cast to critical when it doesn't slow, OR use manual-cast to slow when desired. Critical & Bash - Auto-casting - crit/bash when it procs, Poison Attack when it does not (still consumes mana and shows attack animation when crit / bash procs, even though it does not slow) - Manual Casting - Poison Attack - No casting - crit / bash chance Chain Lightning and Desolator - can be used with manual-casted slow alternatingly, but chain lightning is outdone by Radiance, and corruption is outdone by critical and other DPS items. They can work, but non-orb substitutes have the edge over them. -Maim and Skadi Don't ever get them; Poison Attack and Viper Strike slow at a higher percentage.