Introduction
“With vim and venom.”
Venomancer is a ranged agility hero that is typically played as a support/utility hero. He is one of the strongest lane supports in the game, capable of dishing out considerable harassment, contributes enormous amounts of AoE damage to teamfights, and is a strong pusher/anti-pusher.
Although he lacks the lockdown of a stun - something that most support heroes are notable for - two of his abilities do feature strong slows.
Venomancer's complete character profile can be found here.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Great babysitter/lane support
- Strong push/anti-push
- Amazing AoE teamfight damage
- Good slow
- Item independent
- Wards can be used to scout
Cons
- Slow move speed
- No hard lockdown
- Squishy
- Requires levels
- Small mana pool but high mana cost abilities
Item Build
Venomancer is best played as a 4th (ideally) or 5th (less ideal, but viable) position support/utility hero. Although item independent he does need levels in order to become the scary teamfight damage dealer that he is typically picked to provide.
Starting Items
If you're splitting support duties with another player on your team then you can go for this starting build:
Observer Wards or Courier, a set of Tangos, a Healing Salve, Ring of Protection and 1x Iron Branch
Otherwise, your starting items will probably look like this:
Observer Wards, Courier, a set of Tangos, a Healing Salve, and 1x Iron Branch.
Early Game
Make sure that your team has a Flying Courier when it comes off cooldown at the 3 minute mark, and make sure that Observer Wards are always kept on cooldown. Hopefully the other support (if there is one) will help you out here.
Get basic Boots of Speed as quickly as possible.
After that, an early Ring of Basilius is fantastic on Venomancer, supplying you with extra mana regen for Venomous Gale, additional damage to make your lane harass even stronger, and an aura for you lane ally.
Finally, upgrade any Iron Branches you have into a Magic Wand.
Core Items
Again, ensure Observer Wards are bought up as soon as they’re off cooldown.
As support Veno it's best to get Arcane Boots. You'll be able to more liberally use your relatively high mana cost Gale and/or spam Plague Wards and will also provide mana for your team. Arcane Boots are also essential if you’re to get your ultimate and other abilities off together in teamfights.
Your first big ticket item should probably be a Mekanism. If the other support (assuming there is one) on your team is building into a Mekanism then you can skip straight to one of the luxury items listed below instead. Similarly, if there's a core on your team which will often build Mekanism (such as Viper), ask them if they intend to do so - again, if they are then you can skip it for something else.
If no one else is working towards a Mekanism then it should be your top priority. It will give you some survivability and good stats, but most importantly you can give your entire team 250 burst healing during teamfights. If one team has a Mek and the other doesn't then that team typically has the edge in teamfights.
Luxury Extensions
After you have your core you’re free to pick from a variety of different items. What is best will depending on the exact circumstances in your particular game, but solid all-round choices on Venomancer are:
Aghanim’s Scepter – The best luxury item on Veno is Agh’s. Venomancer is often chosen above other supports because of his ability to bring huge amounts of AoE damage to teamfights thanks to Poison Nova. The Aghanim’s upgrade is fairly considerable; as well as substantially increasing its damage over time, it also extends the duration and lowers the cooldown.
So Aghanim’s is a no-brainer – on top of a nice buff to your ultimate it also gives you good stats. The problem is it’s really damn expensive for a support. If someone else is going for an early Mekanism, however, then Agh’s becomes a lot more affordable, especially if you’re a 4th position utility hero instead of a 5th position hard support.
Force Staff – Build guides on the internet for Venomancer will often emphasis a mobility item like Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade for Veno, as they allow him to get into the middle of teamfights and get his Nova off at the optimal moment. I’ve listed those items as situational, because they provide you with less utility for your team than something like Force Staff. They’re more semi-carry Veno oriented (especially Shadow Blade), which isn’t really a role Veno excels in (although it is popular in non-competitive Dota).
Instead, I’m recommending Force Staff. It’s not quite as good a positioning tool as those other two items but it helps make up for your innate vulnerability and lack of mobility, and gives you team-wide utility. Force Staff itself is a very versatile item that has defensive and offensive uses. It can be used to escape if you're caught in a bad position, or to pursue a fleeing enemy. And it can be used not only on yourself, but also on teammates and enemy heroes. Finally, specifically on Veno, it allows you to Force Staff yourself into the middle of teamfights in order to get off your ultimate is necessary.
Drums of Endurance - Drums is a great item to transition into once you have your core up and running but aren’t flush enough to afford a big ticket luxury item. Cheap, cost-efficient, and easy to build into, it gives you great stats gain for its cost as well as increased mobility thanks to the move speed aura. It also doubles up as a support/utility item, by giving your team move speed and attack speed auras. You can never go wrong with Drums.
Ring of Aquila – If you built a Ring of Basilius in the laning stage then a Ring of Aquila is a cost-efficient item to upgrade into. Alternatively you can go for Vladmir’s Offering, especially if your team has a melee carry, which provides more utility to your team than an Aquila.
Eul’s Scepter of Divinity - Sometimes called the poor man's Scythe of Vyse. Unlike Scythe the target cannot be attacked whilst trapped in the Cyclone, but it will take an enemy (or ally) out of the fight for 2.5 seconds. Good to use on allies with mobility skills currently on cooldown to buy them some time, or to use on an enemy carry that you want to take out of the fight for a short while. More directly, it will give you a very nice move speed boost and will put an end to any mana problems you may still be having.
Orchid Malevolence - It gives you a great boost of damage, attack speed, and mana. The added mana and mana regen allow you to use your abilities more liberally and the active 'Soul Burn' will allow you to silence an enemy hero and deal significantly more damage for its duration. The other great thing about Orchid is that it's really easy to build into.
Necronomicon – Great if you’re part of a pushing line-up or your team is struggling to break the base, it synergises well with your natural base-sieging/pushing power. Also a great item for teamfights and for countering any invis enemy heroes.
Heaven's Halberd - A good anti-carry item thanks to giving you 3.0-4.5 seconds of disarm, and it will also give you a nice health boost and general survivability. A very underrated support item.
Pipe of Insight - If you didn't buy the team's Mekanism earlier on then consider getting a Pipe as a luxury item for your team. If you did buy the Mekanism then it's very risky getting Pipe as well - it's inadvisable to have both on one hero, doubly so when that hero is as squishy as Veno.
Ghost Scepter - Will give you some much-needed survivability. If you find that you're easy pickings for the enemy DPS'ers and at risk of feeding more than helping your team then get a Ghost Scepter. It will give you 4 seconds of physical invulnerability, which will feel like an age to the enemy carry who should probably be hitting higher priority targets instead. Between this and Force Staff you'll be a real pain to kill.
Situational Items
Sentry Wards, Dust of Appearance, Gem of True Sight – all-important detection. You’ll need at least one of these in your inventory if the enemy line-up features an invis hero. Sentry Wards will also allow you to deward rune spots, and Gem will give you superior vision going into the mid and late game.
Smoke of Deceit – If you roam with another support in the early stages of the game a Smoke will allow you to do so more quickly and without being spotted by enemy wards. Smoke will also come in handy in the post-laning phase if your team wants to gank as 5.
Skill build
There’s no ‘right’, or even optimal way to build Venomancer. It all depends on the situation on the ground and how you intend to play him. I will detail two popular builds that work well in my opinion.
‘Pusher’
The pusher build is the one currently favoured in the competitive scene. A single point is invested in Venomous Gale at level one in order to gank the enemy offlaner early on. Here Gale is used for its slow purposes, not its damage, and since the slow does not scale with levels just a single point suffices.
After that Poison Sting is maxed first and Plague Ward straight after. With Plague Sting you deal a deceptively high amount of damage over time (30/90/180/300) which allows you to maintain your lane harass, whilst having Plague Wards maxed by level 10 ensures you’re able to push (or defend against a push) early on. These two abilities synergise so well together now that Plague Wards are given the level of Poison Sting you have.
If you find there’s little to do in the lane (either your harass is ineffective, or the offlaner has abandoned the lane) then Venomancer is capable of jungle using his Plague Wards (position them between two camps and attract aggro towards the wards). If you find this to be the case then you can max Plague Wards first and Poison Sting second.
Although I have listed Poison Nova as being taken at level 6, this is actually situational. It has such a high mana cost (and you have such a small mana pool) that you may not be able to use it unless you first have Arcane Boots. On the other hand the damage it deals over time is enormous, and so if you do anticipate early teamfights it’s in my opinion advisable to get it at level 6 even if you don’t have Arcane Boots. In such a situation try to conserve enough mana for an emergency Nova at any time.
‘Lane Killer/Combat’
The lane killer/combat build is my personal favourite build in Veno, but it has always been the less popular one in general. This is even more so the case since the 6.79 patch, which buffed Plague Wards significantly. Nonetheless, I still feel it’s viable as it builds on Venomancer’s early strength as a lane support and damage dealer, and so I will detail it here and leave the option open for you to consider.
This build maxes Venomous Gale first and Poison Sting second. It’s all about achieving and then maintaining lane dominance and developing strong ganking potential. With it, your goal is to either secure kills or to force the enemy offlaner outside of even experience range (and so give your own carry complete freefarm). Ideally you’ll only want to do this in trilanes or if you have a jungler, so that a third hero can ensure your creep wave is held back by stacking and pulling.
An early Ring of Basilius is advisable/core with this build (even ahead of Boots of Speed). With it, you’ll be able to use Venomous Gale whenever an enemy comes in range and then harass them away with Poison Sting. It will often be easy to net kills this way, so long as your carry is willing to follow up on your initiation.
Plague Wards are gotten at level 8, but they are not to be cast liberally. A level 1 Plague Ward is just easy gold for enemy heroes. Instead, they are used to chase, or to ensure the Poison Sting damage over time is dealt for as long as possible on an enemy who is unlikely to risk coming back to kill the Ward. If you force an enemy to retreat you can use the superior range that a Plague Ward gives you to get a Poison Sting DoT off. They also serve as useful scouting abilities. Cast them into fog of war if you suspect an enemy gank or want to acquire extra vision.
Again, although I have listed Poison Nova as being taken at level 6, this is situational for the same reasons as noted in the ‘Pusher’ build description above.
Gameplay Tips
When combined with a disabler in the early laning stage you should be able to net an early kill, thanks to the incredible slow of Venomous Gale and the potency that Poison Sting lends to your auto-attacks early on.
Try to periodically right-click attack any enemy heroes in the lane, even if this means taking some creep aggro, so that your Poison Sting’s damage over time slowly eats through their health pool (and, in turn, their consumables).
Venomancer is a decent anti-Black King Bar/spell immunity hero. Although the damage from his abilities is blocked by spell immunity, the slows from Venomous Gale and Poison Sting are not blocked by spell immunity and the debuffs from them also linger through immunity.
Once you have the mana to support it (and they are sufficiently levelled so that they’re not just free gold for the enemy team) constantly spam Plague Wards to give your team extra vision. Wards have an impressive sight range of 1200 units in the day and 800 at night, and last 40 seconds, making them good pseudo-Observer Wards.
When pursuing fleeing enemies keep casting Plague Ward ahead of them. This will make it harder for them to juke into fog of war because of the vision they provide and will also slow the enemy because Plague Wards receive the passive buff from Poison Sting (11%/12%/13%/14% movement speed slow).
Plague Wards are especially good in large numbers. If your team is attempting Roshan, sieging an enemy building, or defending against a push, spam Plague Wards in the vicinity to make it difficult for the enemy team to bring the fight to you.
| Tip: Plague Wards can be used to block off certain narrow chokepoints like ramps or juke spots in trees. This makes them useful for blocking off enemy retreat or for protecting yourself/an ally from pursuit. This can be especially handy if being dove under your own tower. |
Try to make sure you always have enough mana to cast a Poison Nova, should a teamfight erupt nearby. Nova is optimally used to initiate teamfights or whenever several enemies are packed close together. Avoid randomly throwing it out as you’re about to die at lower levels as the cooldown is very long. However at level three, or if you have an Aghanim’s Scepter, it is worth throwing out if you’re about to die because the cooldown is sufficiently reduced.
Last Updated - Patch 6.82.
