Hey guys, I've got a decent amount of free time at work, so I thought I'd try and revive the guides Archaos had been putting together. Figured I'd start with a hero I play a lot, Viper. Input would be great! If people like these, I'll write a few more for a few other heroes I play pretty often.

As with any skill build, this is all SITUATIONAL!! Too many players follow skill/item builds exactly instead of seeing what they're team needs.

Viper


Viper is a mid-game carry that requires moderate levels of farm to be useful.

Skills:

(Q)Poison Attack- Just what it sounds like. Adds poison to attacks (10/16/22/28 per second) as well as a 10%/20%/30%/40% slow.

(W)Nethertoxin (Passive)- This makes Viper extremely dangerous. Basically, Viper deals more damage the more injured a hero, unit or tower is.

(E)Corrosive Skin (Passive)- Makes Viper a bit more tanky and helps a bit with escaping in the mid game. When Viper's attacked he deals damage, as well as slowing his attacker.

(R)Viper Strike- Viper's Ulti. Basically just a really strong Poison Attack. It's a larger slow (40/60/80%) as well as a larger DPS (60/100/145) over 5.1 seconds. The cooldown is relatively short (80/50/30/*12) as is the mana cost (125/175/250/*125) especially with a Scepter.

Skill Build:
(S=Stats)

1. Q 7. E 13. E 19. S 25. S
2. W 8. W 14. E 20. S
3. Q 9. Q 15. S 21. S
4. W 10. W 16. R 22. S
5. Q 11. R 17. S 23. S
6. R 12. E 18. S 24. S

In my opinion, you must absolutely have level 3 Poison Attack before you get your ulti. At level 3 your poison attack has no cool down. Coupled with your Viper Strike, you should be able to kill many of the hard carries (Void, AM, etc.) due to your slow, and the poison over time.

Items:

Viper's item build emphasizes early game tank followed by DPS. He doesn't need a ton of farm to be very useful. Here's the build I like to go with (going to try the new item codes):

[item=1] ->[item=34]x3 -> [item=36] -> Wraith Band (no item ID) -> [item=335] -> [item=206] -> [item=368] -> [item=339] -> Butterfly -> [item=273] -> [item=342]

Basic Play Style

Viper is strong mid game hero that needs relatively little farm to be very successful. Much in the vein of Drow, Viper is a right click hero.

Viper can easily solo a lane, but works best in a dual lane with a support with a dedicated stun like VS. Early in the match, Viper should be both last hitting and harassing the lane with Poison Attack. It's a relatively strong attack early on and will force them to use their regen items.

Once you hit 6, it's killing time. Ideally, you can get your Viper Strike off, followed by a stun from a support, and you can just spam your orb to kill them. Throughout most of the mid game, enemy heroes will melt. Nethertoxin makes Viper ideal for helping to clean up heroes trying to run. Most guides suggest Power Treads on Viper. If my farm is going well and I get a quick Vanguard, I'll usually go phase boots to make up for how slow Viper is.

In the late game, Viper's ult will melt carries. Having Aghanim's Scepter will allow you to spam Viper Strike as well as Poison Attack making sure that your team gets the kills they need.

Viper's biggest strength in the late game is once again to help catch fleeing heroes as well as quickly take out supports.

Hope this helps!

just 1 addendum:

in your item build i consider getting ult orb before yasha in the manta build. (however this is situational)
if you need more health or notice yourself low on mana, get the ult orb first.

Completely agree. I usually hold off, since the Vanguard usually gives me enough survivability, but yeah, there are definitely times where the Ulti Orb is the way to go.