Asian Girls | Dota Guide and Strategy

Introduction

First of all, I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read my guide. This is my first guide, but I’m trying to write the best guide I can. I’m writing this guide because Viper is one of my favorite hero, however this guide is lacking of pictures because there’s nothing really to show because killing with viper is quite simple so I guess words can explain. Any suggestions or constructive criticisms are welcome.

Table of Contents :

A. Hero Overview

B. Skill Descriptions

C. Skill Builds

D. Item Builds

D.1. Core Item Build
D.2. Core Item Build vs Spellcasters / Disablers
D.3. Alternative Items
D.4. Other Items
D.5. Why Vanguard and Lothar’s Edge?
D.6. Orb Effects

E. General Gameplay Walkthrough

E.1. Early Game
E.2. Mid Game
E.3. Late Game

F. Other Strategies

F.1. Animation Cancelling (With Poison Attack)
F.2. The Use Of Viper Strike
F.3. Wind Walk Distraction
F.4. Chasing with Wind Walk

G. Viper With Others DotA Heroes

G.1. Good Allies
G.2. Worst Enemies

H. Miscellaneous Tips

I. Replays

J. Final Words / Note

A. Hero Overview

Pros :

1. Great Harasser
2. Great 1 vs 1 Hero
3. Great Ganking Hero
4. Superior Lane Control
5. Superior Slowing Skill
6. Built-in Spell Reduction

Cons :

1. Low mana for a mana-dependant hero
2. Can’t do much when defending
3. Not much to do in team battles
4. Rather item dependant late game
5. No Escape Mechanism
6. Public enemy #1

Author’s Note :

Viper is one of the best harassers + 1 vs 1 hero in DotA (if not the best), Viper uses his Poison Attack and high base damage to harass the living hell out of your enemy to establish a total lane control, Corrosive Skin gives you somewhat harassing immunity (poison + speed reduction to physical attackers and magic reduction), and the ultimate Viper Strike, simple, yet deadly. When the time you reach level 6 your lane opponent mostly will be dead. Late game Viper uses frenzy to crush his enemies with uber equipment he got from killing heroes, thus made him public enemy #1.

B. Skill Descriptions

Frenzy ®
Increases attack speed for 20 seconds, at the cost of taking additional damage.
Level 1 - 25% increase, 5% damage taken increase.
Level 2 - 50% increase, 10% damage taken increase.
Level 3 - 75% increase, 15% damage taken increase.
Level 4 - 100% increase, 20% damage taken increase.
Mana Cost: 80/ 90/ 110/ 130
Cooldown: 40

I’m not a big fan of frenzy, since it requires good equipment to achieve its true potential. Do not get Frenzy until at least you got Lothar’s Edge (which is mid-late game).

Poison Attack ©
Coats Viper’s attack with poison. Slows movement and attack speeds and lasts 2 seconds.
Level 1 - Slows speed by 10%, deals 6 damage per second.
Level 2 - Slows speed by 20%, deals 12 damage per second.
Level 3 - Slows speed by 30%, deals 18 damage per second.
Level 4 - Slows speed by 40%, deals 24 damage per second.
Mana Cost: 20
Cooldown: 4/3/0/0

Your bread and butter skill, it allows you to harass, slow, kill etc. It is your main source of killing heroes because of it’s slow, a 20 mana cost, 0 sec cooldown skill that slow your opponent for 40% sounds so wrong, you can even autocast it, though that’s not the best way to do it. So NEVER autocast it. This won’t help you farming by the way.

Corrosive Skin (E)
Viper’s body is covered with poison. Any unit that attacks it becomes infected. Reduced movement and attack speed and minor damage for 3 seconds.

Level 1: 5% reduction, 5 damage per second, 5% magic reduction.
Level 2: 10% reduction, 10 damage per second, 10% magic reduction.
Level 3: 15% reduction, 15 damage per second, 15% magic reduction.
Level 4: 20% reduction, 20 damage per second, 20% magic reduction.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A

This skill rocks, in terms of both the poison and the magic reduction. This skill makes your enemy nukers cry because they can’t even bring you to ¾ hp and makes physical attackers whine because everytime they attack you they got poisoned. Level this skill first if you are facing nukers, otherwise best gotten mid-game.

Viper Strike (V)
Strikes with a vicious bite, slowing movement and attack speeds significantly and dealing poison damage over time.
Lasts 5 seconds.
Level 1 - Deals 60 damage per second and slows speeds by 40%.
Level 2 - Deals 100 damage per second and slows speeds by 60%.
Level 3 - Deals 145 damage per second and slows speeds by 80%.
Mana Cost: 125/ 175/ 250
Cooldown: 80

Alright, your ultimate, this is the skill that makes your hero feared by ANY hero, mostly physical attackers. 80% ias and ms slow will make Razor and Clinkz cry because not only they’ll attack like a baby but also drastically slow their MS ~no one’s getting away~. Simple, Fast, Furious and DEADLY.

C. Skill Builds

1. Poison Attack
2. Stats / Corrosive Skin
3. Poison Attack
4. Stats / Corrosive Skin
5. Poison Attack
6. Viper Strike
7. Poison Attack
8. Stats / Corrosive Skin
9. Stats / Corrosive Skin
10. Stats
11. Viper Strike
12. Corrosive Skin / Stats
13. Corrosive Skin / Stats
14. Corrosive Skin / Stats
15. Corrosive Skin / Stats
16. Viper Strike
17. Frenzy
18. Frenzy
19. Frenzy
20. Frenzy
21-25. Stats

Skill Build Explanation:

This is the standard skill build we will use, the 5 points of stats will solve your hp/mana problems. If you’re facing heavy nukers swap the 4 first stats with Corrosive Skin, it will help together with your regen item, Poison Attack is the Core of kill, harass etc. therefore it’s maxed first, get Frenzy when you at least get your damage items, which is most likely level 17++, Viper Strike is maxed a level 6, 11, and 16, no doubt about this.

D. Item Builds

D.1. Core Item Build

+ Core Items

Lothar’s Edge

+21 Damage.
+10 Agility.
9 seconds Wind Walk 21 seconds Cooldown 125 Mana Cost.
15% MS+ and 50 backstab damage when under Wind Walk.

Blade of Alacrity (1000) + Claymore (1400) + Recipe Scroll (1400) = 3800 Gold

To move in and out of combat, helps in chasing, escaping, ambushing, ganking etc, also gives you a nice amount of agility and damage, all packed in one package, this is the best item for Viper both from function and price. Must get item in both builds.

Vanguard

4 HP regeneration/second
Add 250 HP
65% to block 35 damage (Physical)

Stout Shield (300) + Ring of Health (875) + Vitality Booster (1100) = 2275 Gold

Used mainly to solve the downside of Frenzy, the extra damage taken. Vanguard enhance your survivability, the damage blocked allows you to tank damage from creeps when you harass your enemies, also allows you to Tower-dive to chase enemies without problems and the +4 regeneration is much needed early game.

Boots of Travel

+90 move speed
Teleport Ability 75 mana cost 60 seconds cooldown 4 seconds cast time

Boots of Speed (500) + Recipe Scroll (2200) = 2700 Gold

Boots of Travel is essential for chasing and ganking for a hero with slow movement speed like Viper, not mention the insanely useful teleport ability to ganking and pushing. I don’t choose Treads because you have Frenzy (the IAS doesn’t stack), there are some exception, however. I suggest buy BoT after you at least have your 1st damage item, could be Sacred Relic or Demon Edge because in some cases when you get BoT first the enemy already sticks together and entering pushing mode, you won’t have time to farm, trust me (especially after 6.42 version).

Total Costs : 3800+2700+2275 = 8975 gold

Optional (as replacement for Vanguard) :

Linken’s Sphere

Disentangle (Blocks most targetted spells) Passive 60 seconds cooldown
+6 HP regeneration/second
+150% mana regen
+15 All Stats

Perseverence (1775) + Ultimate Orb (2300) + Recipe Scroll (1425) = 5500 Gold

Linken’s Sphere to solve your health and mana problems, with this you don’t need to worry about running out of mana when spamming poison attack and frenzy not mention the Disentangle ability so you can negate your enemies disable when trying to chase them. As a replacement for Vanguard, get this if you have excess gold. The best survival item for Viper. Heart is not recommended because Viper is not a tanking hero, also HoT doesn’t give stats and Mana regeneration, which makes Linken is better.

+ Additional / Damage Items

When it reached late game you will realize that the lethality of your poison is lessened, that’s why you have to use frenzy now, which means you have to buy damage items to maximize your damage output.

Radiance

+60 damage
+8% Evasion
Immolation Passive 400 AoE Burn nearby enemies for 40 damage/seconds

Sacred Relic (3800) + Recipe Scroll (1525) = 5325 Gold

Radiance gives a lot of damage and 35 immolation damage which helps in team battles and synergize well with your slow, meaning you can burn your enemies while chasing them. The Immolation (which helps in team battles) makes this item your first priority, however saving for 3800 can sometimes pretty difficult or someone already get this on your team (the Immolation doesn’t stack). In that case get Monkey King Bar instead.

Monkey King Bar

+75 damage
+15% increased attack speed
30% chance for 100 bonus damage and stop channeling spells

Demon Edge (2600) + Quarterstaff (1150) + Recipe Scroll (1650) = 5400 Gold

Monkey King Bar is an alternative to Radiance. However, this item is stronger than Radiance in term of 1 vs 1, also pawns chanellers and town portals abuser. In case you already got Radiance and Butterfly. Works best with Frenzy, this is the item you must get.

The Butterfly

+30 Agility
+30 Damage
+30% Attack Speed
+30% Evasion

Eaglehorn (3400) + Quarterstaff (1150) + Recipe Scroll (1800) = 6350 Gold

The Butterfly is a great item for any agility hero, especially those who most likely is going to be focus fired. OMG it’s buffed in 6.42. 30% evasion will make you even harder to kill, the +30 Agility and 30% IAS+ are going to make you into somewhat a psycho-bird, all those increase for only additional 400 gold on recipe? God bless you, this is the item you MUST get after Radiance / Monkey King Bar. Sure, the evasion don’t stack with Radiance but hey, does anyone even care about that ?.

Buying Order :

- First grab your starting items, it could be Ring of Regeneration and some tangoes or a stout Shield.
- If you are farming well I suggest rush to Sacred Relic, if not just concentrate to finish your Lothar’s.
- It’s situational here, if you think you can survive without Vanguard use chicken to bring Lothar’s parts.
- Complete Lothar’s Edge or Radiance if you bought Relic already or
- Complete Vanguard / Linken Sphere.
- Buy Boots of Speed
- Complete Monkey King Bar.
- Complete Boots of Travel AFTER Radiance or Monkey King Bar.
- Complete The Butterfly.
- Complete your last item, could be MKB or Radiance.

Grand Total = 3800 + 2275 + 2700 + 5325 + 5400 + 6350 = 25850 Gold

D.2. Core Item Build vs Spellcasters / Disablers

+ Core Items

This is the second primary build, although rarely used. If you’re up against too many casters / disablers you can’t do anything except to be disabled and get nuked to death (even if you have Corrosive Skin the two sexy combo of Maiden + Slayer will kill you before you can even say “Viper Strike”. Sure, this build may be weaker and more defensive than the first but since most casters have low HP this isn’t really a problem.

Lothar’s Edge

+21 Damage.
+10 Agility.
9 seconds Wind Walk 21 seconds Cooldown 125 Mana Cost.
15% MS+ and 50 backstab damage when under Wind Walk.

Blade of Alacrity (1000) + Claymore (1400) + Recipe Scroll (1400) = 3800 Gold

To move in and out of combat, helps in chasing, escaping, ambushing, ganking etc, also gives you a nice amount of agility and damage, all packed in one package, this is the best item for Viper both from function and price. Must get item in both builds.

Hood of Defiance

+8 HP/sec.
30% spell reduction

2 x Ring of Regeneration (750) or Ring of Health (875) + Planeswalker’s Cloak (650) + Helm of Ironwill (950) = 2350 Gold

Hood of Defiance is a new item which gives +8 HP regen AND 30% Spell Resistance (sweet, a free lvl 3 Spellshield for you), though +8 regen is not the primary purpose it still a plus consider you lost +4 regen from Vanguard.

Spell Reduction Issue

The Hood of Defiance Spell Reduction STACKS with your corrosive skin IF and ONLY IF you buy this before taking 1 skill point at level 1 Corrosive Skin. Since this is a cheap item (unlike previous version Aegis), you will have gold to buy it when you’re in 1 or 2 level before the time to take Corrosive Skin.

Black King Bar

+10 Strength
+18 damage
Avatar Ability (Magic immunity) 10 secs duration 80 secs cooldown 150 mana cost

Ogre Axe (1000) + Broadsword (1200) + Recipe Scroll (1600) = 3800 Gold

Black King Bar perfectly blocks any incoming disables, meaning you can whack them to death and laugh because they can’t do nothing to stop you. Get this if you’re up against many disablers, but if there are only casters with no disable spells you can skip this item and just buy Hood of Defiance.

Spells that goes through Avatar

Purge, Culling Blade, Doom, Reaper Schyte, Omnislash, Sunder etc.

Boots of Travel

+90 move speed
Teleport Ability 75 mana cost 60 seconds cooldown 4 seconds cast time

Boots of Speed (500) + Recipe Scroll (2200) = 2700 Gold

Boots of Travel is essential for chasing and ganking for a hero with slow movement speed like Viper, not mention the insanely useful teleport ability to ganking and pushing. I don’t choose Treads because you have Frenzy (the IAS doesn’t stack), there are some exception, however. I suggest buy BoT after you at least have your 1st damage item, could be Sacred Relic or Demon Edge because in some cases when you get BoT first the enemy already sticks together and entering pushing mode, you won’t have time to farm, trust me (especially after 6.42 version).

ZOMG Where The Hell is My Linken?

I do not encourage Linken in this build because it’s too damn expensive, also if you’re missing the Disentangle ability think back about it, a 60 sec cooldown spellblock will not help you against mass combo disable (hex, shackles, impale etc.) that’s why I replaced Linken with Black King Bar.

+ Additional / Damage Items

For anti Spellcasters I only recommend 2 damage items since the other slot is already taken by BKB (if you get it).

+ Monkey King Bar

+ The Butterfly

Buying Order :

- First grab your starting items, it could be Ring of Regeneration and some tangoes.
- If you get nuked that badly (which mostly happen if you follow the second build), use chicken to bring your second RoR and Defiance parts.
- Complete Hood of Defiance.
- Buy Blade of Alacrity and Claymore.
- Complete Lothar’s Edge.
- Buy Boots of Speed
- Buy Black King Bar if Disable become an Issue, otherwise get Demon Edge.
- Complete Monkey King Bar.
- Complete Boots of Travel.
- Complete The Butterfly.
- Complete your last item, could be Black King Bar or Radiance.

Of course, I don’t expect you to buy all items in both builds above, just in case the game drags along you will have the idea of what items to buy next.

D.3. Alternative Items

For some players that having trouble farming early-mid game, don’t worry, there are some alternatives :

Power Treads

+60 movement speed
+30% increased attack speed

Boots of Speed (500) + Gloves of Haste (610) + Recipe Scroll (420) = 1530 Gold

You know why treads are bad? Because treads doesn’t synergize with frenzy but if you’re having trouble farming early-mid game which means you DON’T HAVE FRENZY YET this item is not a bad choice. Definitely cheaper and easir to buy, this item will help you farm and still, get kills. However, say goodbye to the teleport ability.

Hand of Midas

+35% attack speed
Transmute (Instantly Convert Creep into Gold) 75 mana cost 95 seconds cooldown

Gloves of Haste (610) + Recipe Scroll (1400) = 2010 Gold

Same with power treads, the IAS+ doesn’t synergize with frenzy but this item will help you greatly early-mid game to buy more powerful item because it has the TRANSMUTE ability which converts creep into gold instantly.

Below is the list of which creeps you can convert and the gold given :

1. Centaur Khan - 236
2. Polar Furbolg Ursa Warrior - 230
3. Polar Furbolg Champion - 203
4. Ogre Magi - 168
5. Druid/Necro (before upgrade) - 143
6. Satyr Soulstealer - 136
7. Ogre Mauler - 134
8. Treant/Ghoul (before upgrade) - 133
9. Kobold Taskmaster - 132
10. Druid/Necro (after upgrade) - 119
11. Giant Wolf - 118
12. Forest Troll High Priest - 110
13. Treant/Ghoul (after upgrade) - 109
14. Forest Troll Berserker - 108
15. Centaur Outrunner - 100
16. Kobold Tunneler, Gnoll Assassin - 92
17. Satyr Trickster - 66
18. Kobold – 44

For more information read the Neutral Creep Guide by MrX

D.4. Other Items

Sange & Yasha/Desolator/Maelstrom : Poison doesn’t stack with Maim/Corruption/Chain Lightning.

Satanic/Heart of Tarrasque looks nice because it adds great amount of HP and Lifesteal but I do not encourage this item because you’re Agility hero that supposed to kill, not a Tank that supposed to tank damage. Also Lifesteal doesn’t stack with your Poison Attack if you autocast it.

Mekansm is not your job to carry, leave it to Chen/Lich.

Eye of Skadi does not stack with yours, and its way too expensive, get Linken instead if you want the +Stats.

Cranium Basher : Omg you’re ranged, leave it to Troll / Slardar.

Guinsoo is nice if only your primary attribute is INT, it’s expensive too.

Manta Style actually is pretty nice but Feedback doesn’t stack so leave this item.

Dagon is useful if your teammates keep Ks-ing you . Just joking, NEVER get this item.

Refresher Orb is dumb because your mana won’t even support double Viper Strike/Dagon.

Afghanistan Scepter won’t let you do Viper Strike that damages 3k hp/sec and slows 600% .

D.5. Why Vanguard and Lothar’s Edge?

I write this section because a lot of people thoughts about the need of these two items. Some of them suggest to rush damage items, here we go:

+ Vanguard

Mostly you guys think this item is not needed at all. Let me ask you, with 2 Base Armor and Extra Damage Taken from Frenzy, how long do you think you will last if your enemies focus fire you (which mostly happen). Even if you do a lot of damage it’s pointless if you get killed in 3 secs. Also when you Tower-dive or attacking a tower you won’t get hurt so much if you have Vanguard and +4 regen never hurts did it? It helps you regain health back faster after you Tower-dive / attacking. For some reason Vanguard is so hated in this forums, wonder why? (I know some of you guys just told this item is useless blahblah before even TRYING it).

Quote from talkinkorean from his Death Prophet Guide

That’s why he also mentioned Vanguard as the Core items and I totally agree with it.

+ Lothar’s Edge

Many people ignore this item because they just want to rush for the damage items. Well that’s okay but let me describe what Lothar’s give you

21 Damage.
10 Agility.
9 seconds Wind Walk 21 seconds Cooldown 125 Mana Cost.
15% MS+ and 50 backstab damage when under Wind Walk.

With the price of 3800 (Blade of Alacrity 1000+Claymore 1400+Recipe 1400) ~ Easy to make.

Sure, the price is 1500+ higher than crystalys for example, but crystalys only offer +36 damage and low critical while Lothar’s actually give +31 damage, slight IAS, and the Wind Walk ability. Sure, gem/wards counter this but I rarely seen people buy gem just to counter Viper with Lothar’s. Also even if they can see you, they can’t catch you because of MS+ which helps in both escaping and chasing. If you rush into damage item, you can get it earlier but you haven’t got frenzy at this point so it can’t maximize your fullest potential. Those nice benefits which makes me suggest this as the CORE items.

D.6. Orb Effects

Why i don’t include items with orb effect in my build?

Because ALL orb effects sucks with Viper, here’s the complete list :

- Some people suggest lifesteal to viper (HotD, Satanic etc.). If you do that, you’ll lose your orbwalking ability, which sucks.
- “Mostly Feeback” means if the target has mana, the feedback will take effect, otherwise the other effect will take place. Since heroes will at least have a single point of mana left feedback will override it.

E. General Gameplay Walkthrough

E.1. Early Game

Grab Ring of Regeneration (both builds) or Stout Shield if you’re build #1 and some tangoes + some clarities. Any lane works well for Viper, just don’t choose lane that farthest from secret shops. If you’re confident in your ability ask for solo (watch your enemies first. Don’t cry later when you suddenly face Maiden+Slayer in mid )

Use the standard farming method, I prefer last hit because you won’t push too far and you won’t get a problem if you want to chase your enemies for a kill. Your first main goal is build Vanguard / Lothar’s / Defiance ASAP. Depending on your situation determines which to get first. Early/Mid game is where Poison Attack shines, cast in on your enemies whenever you have a chance, but once you’ve reached almost level 6 start conserve your mana, make sure you have at least 170++ mana (for viper strike and a few poison attack hits). Once you hit level 6 pretend to be passive, let the hero get closer to your tower. When the hero is at least 1200 range from his tower immediately Viper Strike, followed by normal attacks, after 5 seconds use Poison Attack and MOVE CLOSER, don’t attack until poison attack cooled down then cast it again (this is called animation cancelling) and you’ll probably hear FIRST BLOOD!

Once you’ve reached level 7 here is when the torture begins, spam poison strike brutally to your opponents, abuse the 0 second cooldown (remember not to autocast), actually the 0 sec cooldown begin at level 5 but you want to get ready killing at level 6 so do it when you reach level 7

Keep farming/harassing your enemies (remember do not overharass that you forget your farming) and do some ganking with your allies (0 sec cooldown skill which slows by 40% is pretty much for ganking). After you finished your Vanguard/Lothars/Defiance and already have Boots soon you will reach ..

E.2. Mid Game

Once you get at least Lothars and Boots leave your lane, GANK every hero you see and make them fear you, however if that’s not possible just continue farming, remember not to push too deeply into enemy base because as you killing people they’re going to hate you and when they see a viper is pushing too far alone they probably will do 5-man gank and you’re history, it’s better to do neutral creeping sometimes. Also if you suspect the enemy is buying SENTRY wards buy a gem and destroy it, you don’t want to screw your escaping route with it.

By this point the enemy should be begin to gank your allies / you, watch the minimap and warn your allies if there’s a missing hero. Just be careful when you want to kill someone, make sure their friends is visible on the map (at least 2-3 heroes), you don’t want to be surprised when you approach a hero then suddenly his allies coming from the inside fog of war and turn the hunter into hunted. You HAVE to finish BKB if there’s a lot of disablers and prepare to construct MKB or Radiance because soon you will enter…

E.3. Late Game

This is the period when the lethality of viper strike is lessened (in terms of damage, not the slow), you have to rely on your physical attacks now, luckily you already have frenzy by now. Both team now usually stick together in order to push and destroy racks. When your team is pushing you should pushing on the different lane, spreading the enemy concentration. You can tank and take down the entire wave of creeps with Damage Block from Vanguard + Immolation from Radiance + Poison Damage from Corrosive Skin.

With MKB + Frenzy you can take down towers fast and If you’ve played right (A lot of harassing, forcing enemy to heal in their fountain, a lot of killing, successful gank etc.), your team should be ahead in items and levels. That should be the deciding factor in team pushes. If your team has the advantage, constantly pressure your opponents by pushing in. If you think the enemy consisted of mostly late-gamer you should finish the game as soon as possible before they get stronger (I don’t know what will happen if your team have to fight horribly fed late-game Magnataur). If your team did something wrong and your opponents are stronger in levels and items, try to kill your opponents one by one before pushing (though this may be hard). If they’re ahead in levels and items, a 5 on 5 team battle can ruin your team even if you’re playing well.

Coordinate well with your team (viper is good at attacking but not in defending your base so you should set your team in “Attacking Mode”), finish your damage items, do a final push and end the game. Note: if you do well killing a lot of people early/mid your team should have no problem winning the game.

Final Items :

Conclusion

Play Viper conservatively early game. Buy additional items if you need a specific counter. Never hesitate to get wards or a gem (don’t be afraid to bring a gem) against Bounty Hunter, clinx, or SA. Watch the map, you can almost 100% win in 1 vs 1 but not in 1 vs 2. And always assist your allies if they need help. Don’t push too hard early game, you’ll get ganked. And as always, Harass the living hell out of your enemies but take caution not to overharass that you forget your farming, remember one thing : Viper without good items is a TRASH late game, also your team usually depends on you as you’re carry hero, so bear that in mind.

F. Other Strategies

F.1. Animation Cancelling (With Poison Attack)

This is a basic Warcraft III technique which can be applied to any unit that is capable of attacking, especially hero with arrow-spells (Viper, Clinkz, Silencer).

Important Note : I’m talking about manual casting with Poison Attack since, Viper’s normal attack animation is fast already.

An attack in Warcraft 3 consists of three stages.
In the first one, the unit performs an animation and at the end of this stage, the actual attack is released (the projectile is fired for ranged attacks and the damage is dealt for melee attacks). Giving any command at this stage will cancel the entire attack and no damage will be dealt, so all you can do during this stage is waiting.

In the second stage, the animation is continued but this animation serves no purpose at all since the actual attack has already been performed. Basically the unit does nothing at all.
In the last phase, your hero waits until the cooldown of his attack is over. If you previously gave the command to attack a unit, then you will move towards that unit in this stage, but if your target is in range, absolutely nothing will happen.

The latter two phases are completely useless, so you want to make use of them by moving your character, then attacking again as soon as your attack’s cooldown is over. So as soon you see the green poison orb is being shot MOVE closer to the enemy and issue another command (manual cast poison attack again). Thank god each of your cast slows for 40% so actually it’s easier doing this compared to Silencer etc. This is which makes Viper is so feared, actually you can kill a careless enemy hero without using viper strike, watch your mana though.

If you do this properly, you can shoot at almost full speed while still moving at decent speed, so this makes chasing much easier.

Here’s some quick screenie :

I know, it will be 10x easier teaching people to do animation cancelling with replay, I’m still working on the replay though, till then just enjoy the screenie xD.

F.2. The Use Of Viper Strike

Viper Strike is an incredible powerful slowing spell, both in movement speed and attack speed. Viper Strike slows so HARD as if the target is stunned. If you’re attacking enemy from behind look what your opponent do, if he tries to running in the opposite direction of you (which is most pros do) Viper Strike ASAP then MOVE very close to enemy hero but don’t overlap him (chances he’s going to turn around and make you look dumb) and start whacking. If he’s running towards you, you can make sure he’s a noob and you probably don’t need to chase him because he will take a lot of hits while running past you. If he’s a non-spellcaster hero and he retaliates, good for you, you already got your kills.

Here’s some screenie :

F.3. Wind Walk Distraction

Pop-in and Pop-out from Combat (Another use of Lothar’s)

Similar tactics to Bone Flecther’s Backstab tactics.

Requirements:

- Lothar’s Edge (duh).
- At least your first damage items.
- Not too many disablers / AoE damagers in enemy teams.
- Good allies, of course.
- If you know your opponents have gem/sentry don’t even think about doing this.

What I mean Wind Walk Distraction is, in team fights, you charge into your enemies, pretending you’re gonna tank your teams and they will surely focus-fire you (well if they don’t they’re dumb anyway). When you begin to take damage immediately Wind Walk before you got disabled (practice,practice) and go behind your enemies, the enemies will get confused (well not really but mostly if someone is focused on one thing and suddenly that thing vanished they will at least lose concentration even just one bit).

This is where your teams do the job, cast their spells, disable, etc. (good coordination needed). Once your enemies begin to retaliate immediately pop out (if you can wait until at least 8 secs, incase you got focus fired again the windwalk is almost ready) this will confuse them and hopefully throw their spells to different target, minimizing the damage your teams taken. Somehow if they focus-fire you again just Wind Walk again, the cooldown is pretty short (21 secs-8 secs=13 secs). All you have to do is stay alive for 13 secs if they focus fire you again (vanguards helps a lot there) or if not enjoy killing those bastards from behind and make sure no one is getting away (that’s why you need your first damage items).

F.4. Chasing with Wind Walk

No one is getting away ~ Another proof that Lothar’s pawns

What do you think a Lothars is? An escape mechanism? Well that’s true but theres on more you forgot, which is another Chasing Tools. Say, you misclicked when you orbwalking or when you chase your enemies you got blocked by enemy creeps, fear not, IMMEDIATELY Wind Walk and charge to your fleeing enemies (while you’re windwalked you can pass through creeps and heroes), don’t worry about the distance, as long they don’t move with 522 Movespeed you will still be able to chase them. Why, you ask? Well if you’re Windwalked you got movement speed bonus, which is 402 with Boots of Speed and 448 with Boots of Travel so with increased movespeed plus going through objects no one will escape from you.

Screenshot :

G. Viper With Others DotA Heroes

G.1. Good Allies

Actually, Viper doesn’t need allies to kill his enemies but Viper can works with almost anyone, preferably disabler, so you don’t have to chase-for-the kill. Also with friendly disabler you can activate frenzy and don’t have to worry about the increased damage taken, for example :

Fiend’s Grip, Impale, Frostbite, Hex, Shackles etc. will make your life easier

G.2. Worst Enemies

+ Disablers

They are your best friends and your worst enemies, not only they makes you ineffective in team battles but also because you can’t chase them because simply they’ll just disable you and run away / teleport, in this case BKB pawns all.

+ Blinkers

They blink away even if they are being slowed.

+ Tanks

They have too much HP for you to take down with poison and viper strike, hopefully you got your damage items before they’re getting too fat.

+ Lord of Avernus

Lord of Avernus is probably the most annoying enemy, he can’t do much to you but it’s very unlikely you will be able to kill him 1 vs 1, Aphotic Shield removes most negative buffs (say goodbye to your poison). Even if you save Viper strike for last Borrowed Time will just dispel it away.

+ Juggernaut

Be VERY careful if you’re chasing this guy, he will pretend running away from you, and when you two are alone.. ZAP, he’ll Omnislash your ass and when you both at red he’ll start Blade Fury (immune to all your poison) and whacks you into oblivion. But if you see he already used his Omnislash he’s a freekill, just run alongside him if he cast Blade Fury and kill him when it ends.

+ Moon Rider

Same with juggernaut, if you two are alone most likely she’ll turn back and cast eclipse, though you have corrosive skin it still HURTS. Ah well at least she can’t do Blade Fury.

+ Doom Bringer

Doom pawns you, you can’t chase him if you’re doomed nor you can’t do anything if he doomed you in team battles, just hope he’s stupid enough to doom you first before Lvl? Death because your Linken will block Doom.

+ Enchantress

Your only rival in lane control thing, her impetus really hurts and when you both are worn out she’ll just cast Nature’s Attendant to heal herself, something that viper doesn’t have. Also her Enchant+Untouchable makes you wanna cry if you’re trying to chase her.

H. Miscellaneous Tips

- NEVER autocast Poison Attack, it will drain your mana pool even if you have Linken, thus that’s not the best way to use it.
- Use Viper Strike as your first move whether your opponent wants to fight / escape.
- Don’t try to chase someone for a long time, as his allies may be coming after you.
- Before you got your BoT try to stock Scroll of Town Portal, makes ganking / retreating much easier.
- Communicate well with your team, don’t assume you win the game by yourself just because you killed a lot of people, no matter how strong you are you’ll never win 1 vs 5 fight.
- If you see your ally is about to be ganked teleport to help him, but if it’s already too late you may as well don’t do it since it can also lead you to death.
- Use Windwalk when enemy team are focusing on you in team battles and immediately pop out again and whack them again.
- Poison Strike OVERRIDES all orb effects when autocasted, but if manual casted only Lifesteal and Feedback will works (but they don’t stack each other).
- Purge and Repel DOES NOT remove Viper Strike, however if the target is already Repelled you won’t be able to cast it to him.
- Again, the objective in DotA is to destroy World Tree / Frozen Throne, there’s no point where you got lots of kills but your Tree/Throne is destroyed, bottom-line, YOU LOST!.

I. Replays

1.20 Replays, it shows how to harass, kill, chase, ww tactics etc. (a lot of leavers, unfortunately)

_Viper__Zeus_3vs3_Beyond_Godlike.w3g ( 268.62k )
Number of downloads: 552

viper_lotsa_leaver.w3g ( 315.73k )
Number of downloads: 221

Viper_pawnage.w3g ( 795.69k )
Number of downloads: 383

New Replays, i manage to get ALL items i specified above, this is originally my clan match but it turned to an intense match, once i get bkb the game is pretty much over.

J. Final Words / Note

Whew, finally finished it. Again, this is my first time writing a guide so any comments and criticisms are welcome. Sorry for the lacking of pictures and if you have any disagreement, please state out and do give your reasons why. Sorry for any grammar mistake and thank you.

This post has been edited by Cressy: Apr 16 2007, 07:38 AM