Introduction
“My form collapses into being.”
Enigma is a ranged intelligence hero who is famed for two things: 1) Being the most efficient jungler in the game. And 2) For having one of the most powerful teamfight abilities in the game, in the form of Black Hole.
You can find Enigma's detailed character profile here.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- The most efficient jungler in the game
- Strong pusher will Eidolons
- Decent anti-pusher with Midnight Pulse
- Has a good stun
- Incredibly powerful teamfight ultimate
Cons
- Very mana hungry/dependent
- Very lengthy cooldown on ultimate
- Can sometimes struggle to have much teamfight impact outside of Black Hole
- Relies on teammates to follow up on his initiation
- Requires good game sense, timing, and positioning skills
- A lot of pressure to land the perfect Black Hole
- There are a number of direct counters to Black Hole
Item Build
Enigma is almost always played as a jungler, although it’s not unheard of to lane him in the offlane, using Eidolons to get last hits and harass the enemy laner. It’s rare though, and virtually unseen in public matchmaking.
So you’ll likely be jungling. Enigma is the most efficient jungler in the game – not only can he jungle extremely quickly, he can do so without needing to take hits from creeps (like Axe of Lycan), thanks to his Demonic Conversion ability.
Starting Items
Enigma’s starting items are very unique. You don’t need any health regeneration in the jungle, but you need to overcome to high mana cost of Demonic Conversion, so it’ll often look like this:
- 3x Clarity, 1x Sage’s Mask
You may be required to help out on supporting duties (Enigma is often thought of as a secondary, greedier support on the team – so a 4th position player), in which case purchase a Courier or some Wards. If not, all the better; grab the recipe for your Soul Ring straight away.
Early Game
Your first item is a Soul Ring OR, if you don’t want to go that route, a Ring of Basilius.
The former is better at supplying you with sufficient mana to use Demonic Conversion whenever it’s off cooldown. The latter doesn’t require you to harm yourself in the process of acquiring mana, and will make your Eidolons tankier, but it lacks burst mana and so you may need a secondary source of mana regeneration (Arcane Boots) or will need to return to base at some point.
Next up, grab some basic Boots of Speed and then consider which upgraded boots you’re going to go for.
You can round off your early equipment with a Magic Wand if you want, although it’s much less useful on a jungler than a laner, so you can put it off until later when you actually start teamfighting, or skip it entirely.
Core Items
Blink Dagger is your high priority item. Often it is bought naked (i.e. before you upgrade your boots, so all you have are brown boots and a Soul Ring), although a greedier option is to upgrade your boots first.
Once you have your Blink Dagger you should be looking to gank with it. Rotate to the lane you think is best suited for a gank and try to organise a gank with your team. Blink Dagger > Black Hole > Malefice, with a little follow up from your allies, should net a kill most of the time.
Don’t worry about blowing your Black Hole on a single target at this point in the game (although if you can get the kill without doing so, all the better) – the laning stage is probably still in full swing and teams haven’t begun to group together to push or teamfight yet, so you won’t be needing that Black Hole off cooldown for an all-important teamfight.
As the mid game approaches, however, think carefully about whether you really want to commit a Black Hole to a single target – if it’s the enemy carry it may be worth it, if it’s not then it may be better to let that enemy live than to use your Black Hole only to be without it come the next major engagement.
For upgraded boots you have two options at this stage: Arcane Boots (great mana regeneration and will beef up your mana pool, allowing you to use your abilities freely) or Power Treads (for the stats).
I usually go for Arcane Boots because Enigma is such a mana hungry hero, and the utility they provide your team is great too. It does leave Enigma quite squishy, though, so Power Treads are definitely worth considering if you’re feeling very vulnerable.
Finally, your core is complete once you finish Black King Bar. The spell immunity from BKB will allow you to ensure you get off a full duration Black Hole without it being interrupted by a stun.
There are some abilities in the game that disable through spell immunity, however, so BKB is not a surefire way of getting a full duration Black Hole off, but it will prevent most stuns from interrupting you and for this reason it is considered core. Its importance varies from game to game, depending on the enemy line up.
Key heroes that can interrupt Black Hole through BKB if they position themselves correctly are: Vengeful Spirit, Clockwerk, Bane, Doom, Anti-Mage, Axe, Beastmaster, Faceless Void, Medusa, Magnus, Necrophos, Treant Protector, Warlock and Naga Siren. So if the only disable the enemy team has is from one of these heroes, BKB is pointless, and you’d probably be better served by a Linken’s Sphere or by simply rushing your luxury items instead.
Luxury Items
Refresher Orb – An all-in on your ultimate, because that’s basically what you’re buying a Refresher Orb for. Either to allow you to cast your ultimate twice (if you get off a great initiation) and deal a whopping amount of magic damage and an 8 second disable in a 500 unit radius, or to have as a back-up in case a teamfight takes place soon after you’ve already used your ultimate.
Refresher Orb makes Enigma an absolute teamfight monster in public matchmaking and will make for a very scary late-game presence. Since Black Hole goes through Spell Immunity there is no direct counter to it outside of certain hero abilities either, outside of really cautious positioning from the enemy team.
Aghanim’s Scepter – Aghanims gives you some good stats - +10 all stats, 200 health, and 150 mana –but the main reason you’re purchasing it is for the buff it grants your ultimate.
Aghanim’s Scepter adds Midnight Pulse damage to your Black Hole. This effect also stacks with your ordinary Midnight Pulse (essentially allowing for two Midnight Pulse’s at once, if you manage to cast it).
Once you factor in the minimum base magic resistance for heroes in the game, an Enigma casting Black Hole on a single enemy already affected by Midnight Pulse will deal a massive 42% of that hero’s maximum health and an additional 420 damage over its full duration, assuming both abilities are maxed.
Situational/Utility Items
The following can all be considered post-luxury luxury items (if that makes sense!). They are items that will bring something to teamfights and base pushes, even if they don’t actually increase the potency of Enigma’s innate skillset.
Some are also situationally important (such as Mekanism), and may actually need to be prioritised ahead of your luxury items and even some of your core items in certain games.
Mekanism – Enigma’s efficiency in the jungle means he can potentially get a quick Mekanism. If your team seriously needs an early Mek then Enigma is a potential purchaser.
It’s unusual in public matchmaking, but not all that uncommon competitively (for similar reason Nature’s Profit will also sometimes go Mekanism in competitive Dota). It is very situational though.
Drums of Endurance – Drums of Endurance are a good utility option because they give your team bonus attack speed and move speed auras, whilst at the same time giving you plenty of stats and being easy to build into. If no one else on your team has a set of Drums yet, they make for a good pick up for your team, even if you’re now heading into the late-game.
Vladmir’s Offering – Yes, you’re ranged, so you won’t get the lifesteal bonus from Vlad’s, but if you’re going Vlads you’re not buying it for yourself, you’re buying it for your team.
Vladmir’s Offering is great to pick up if you want to provide utility for your team as you already have your core and luxury items. Even if your team doesn’t consist of any melee heroes the bonus damage and armour will still benefit your allies. If your team does have a melee core and no one else has purchased one then it’s an even stronger purchase.
Pipe of Insight – Not an ideal pick-up if you bought the team’s Mekanism (having both on one hero is very risky), but always a good item to have if the enemy team has any magic damage (which they almost certainly will). Quick rule of thumb: go for it after your core and core luxury items if you didn’t buy a Mekanism earlier.
Shiva’s Guard – It gives you utility for the team, thanks to the AoE Arctic Blast and slow aura for enemies, gives you a nice chunk of armour to increase your tankiness, and will give you a big intelligence boost. It’s also important to note that its active can be used whilst Enigma channels Black Hole without interrupting the Black Hole, potentially making his ultimate even more devastating than it already is.
Overall, a very solid post-luxury item on Enigma.
Boots of Travel – Great for the late game, when you need to free up a slot which would otherwise be taken up by a TP Scroll. With this, you combine your Boots and TP Scroll slot into one, allowing you to put a slot to better use if you’re about to become 6 slotted.
Necronomicon – Great if you’re part of a pushing line-up or your team is struggling to break the base. Also a great item for teamfights (combined with your ultimate they should be able to do a lot of work) and for countering any invis enemy heroes.
Scythe of Vyse – Strong mana regeneration and yet another, potent disable. Very costly, but can potentially have a huge impact in teamfights.
Ghost Scepter - The go-to item if you find the enemy team is able to bring you down quickly with physical damage (typically in the form of right-clicks). Most often this will be the enemy carry taking you out of the fight quickly with a few auto-attacks.
Ghost Scepter will buy you a clutch 4 seconds of physical immunity, which gives you time to create distance between yourself and the enemy carry or at the very least buys your team 4 seconds of distraction time.
Skill Build
Malefice is a stun which deals moderate magic damage. It is skilled second but maxed first in most cases. Malefice stuns the chosen unit 3 times over six seconds. Each stun lasts 0.25/0.5/0.75/1 second and deals 25/40/55/70 magic damage for a total of 75/120/165/210 magic damage.
Although each strike only stuns for a moderate length of time – 1 second at level 4 – the fact that it stuns 3 times over a 6 second duration makes it much more effective than it may at first appear. Units will be able to move during the downtime, but each brief stun will pause and disrupt their actions.
Demonic Conversion is an ability that destroys a neutral creep and summons 3 minions called Eidolons to fight for Enigma. It is skilled first, and brought up to levels 2/3 asap, but is maxed last most of the time.
Demonic Conversion is what allows Enigma to jungle, and the effectiveness of the Eidolons, as well as the fact that they spawn and convert from neutral creeps whilst giving that gold and experience to Enigma is what makes him such an efficient jungler.
The Eidolons last 35 seconds, and the ability’s cooldown is also 35 seconds. Each Eidolon will split and multiply if it manages to attack 6 times. This will restore its health and briefly increase its duration. Additional levels increase their health, damage, armour, and movement speed.
Midnight Pulse is a large AoE ability which deals damage based on the unit’s max life to any units within its area of effect. It is skilled last but usually maxed second.
Midnight Pulse covers a 600 unit AoE and will stay in place for 11 seconds, dealing 3/3.75/4.5/5.25%% of any units’ max life per second that they remain within the Midnight Pulse, making it a potentially potent damage over time ability but only so long as enemy units or heroes remain within its radius.
Black Hole is Enigma’s ultimate and his trademark ability. It is always skilled (levels 6, 11 and 16). Black Hole allows Enigma to create a Black Hole on the map. Any units caught within its sphere of influence will be disabled and will be pulled towards the centre of the Black Hole. It deals magic damage over time, with the damage increasing the closer to the centre of the Black Hole the unit(s) get.
It is one of the best teamfight ultimates in the game. It covers a 400 unit radius, deals good damage over time, and completely disables any enemies caught by it, even if they are spell immune.
Gameplay Tips
Malefice is a solid stun and nuke, and great at disrupting enemy movements and ability usage. Always use it to cancel TP Scrolls or channelled abilities if possible.
Malefice is somewhat good set-up for Midnight Pulse. A Maleficed enemy will struggle to quickly move out of its AoE, so you can get in some good damage on them using this combo.
As your Eidolons will multiply if they manage to get off 6 attacks, and by multiplying they regain all of their life, it is important that you micro them at early levels in order to keep them alive long enough to multiply. This will make your jungling much faster. Failure to micro them at level 1 especially will set your jungle timing back noticeably.
Eidolons are great at pushing, much like Nature’s Prophet’s Treants. They last a lengthy 35 seconds, deal good damage, and multiply after 6 attacks. In the mid and late game you can use them to help push out creep waves without putting yourself at risk.
| Important: Make sure you keep an eye on their progress if using them to remotely push lanes. They grant a decent experience and gold bounty – 12 experience and 22-36 gold each - so you don’t want to feed them to enemies. If you see an enemy approach the creep wave that is capable of quickly clearing your Eidolons, be sure to pull them back. |
Don’t under-estimate the damage from Eidolons. Each one deals an average of 20/28/38/47 damage. If you have 6 Eidolons each set of attacks will be dealing 120/168/228/282 to the enemy hero. In early and mid-game engagements this can be the difference between a kill and a failed gank/teamfight.
| Tip: Most people don’t realise that you can use Demonic Conversion on Catapults. This is a great way of quickly dealing with enemy catapults and will secure you a nice experience and gold bounty. |
After a successful gank try to push the lane early on using your Eidolons if you spot the opportunity to do so. The same applies to Roshan – Enigma enables a team to take on Roshan much earlier than would ordinarily be possible.
Demonic Conversion’s cooldown is the same as the ability’s duration (35 seconds). However, if your Eidolons happened to multiply their duration will have been slightly extended, allowing you to use Demonic Conversion on one of your Eidolons.
Midnight Pulse has a large 600 unit AoE, making it great for delaying enemy tower or base pushes. Cast it slightly in front of the tower in question to force enemy heroes to hold off attack your buildings – not many people will decide to stick it out.
Midnight Pulse is also great at putting teams off attempting Roshan. If your own team isn’t quite yet in position to contest it, casting Midnight Pulse in the pit from the high ground will again force enemies to either tank substantial damage or to back off.
| Tip: Midnight Pulse destroys trees where it’s cast. Use it to clear out huge chunks of trees if an enemy hero is attempting to duke a gank, or if you suspect enemy heroes are lying in wait behind trees. |
Ideally you want to cast Midnight Pulse before using Black Hole. In reality, Enigma’s quite lengthy cast animation and the already-difficult task of landing a perfect Black Hole makes this impractical most of the time. Nonetheless, if you feel confident you can get both off without interruption or without the enemy team moving away quickly enough, definitely combine the two abilities.
Key heroes that can interrupt Black Hole through BKB if they position themselves correctly are: Vengeful Spirit, Clockwerk, Bane, Doom, Anti-Mage, Axe, Beastmaster, Faceless Void, Medusa, Magnus, Necrophos, Treant Protector, Warlock and Naga Siren. If the enemy team has one of these heroes on it you should either not pick Enigma, or you should attempt to always catch them in the Black Hole. If you don’t, in all likelihood they will interrupt it.
Another hero to watch out for is Rubick. Since Black Hole is a channelled ability, it is extremely easy for Rubick to steal it and then use it against your team (there’s nothing worse than Rubick stealing your ultimate and putting it to better use than you did!). So again, if the enemy team has a Rubick you should either simply not pick Enigma, should always aim to get Rubick in your Black Hole (a somewhat unreasonable expectation, given that he is generally played as a low priority support and will hang back in an attempt to steal your ultimate), or will have to carefully time your Black Holes when he is already dead or when his Spell Steal is not off cooldown.
| Remember: Black Hole deals significantly more damage (double) to units the closer they are to the centre, so your aim is to both catch as many enemy heroes as possible in your ultimate AND to catch them as close to the centre as possible. |
Although Black Hole’s cooldown is notoriously lengthy (200/190/180 seconds), don’t be too afraid to commit Black Hole to secure an early kill when ganking from the jungle early on – it is unlikely that you’ll need it again before it’s off cooldown anyway, and a successful gank can be critical to your team’s early laning success. If you see the opportunity to ensure a successful gank, take it. In the mid and late game, however, you should be saving it for teamfights.
Last Updated - Patch 6.82.
