Venomancer

Venomancer 18 + 1.85 22 + 2.6 15 + 1.75
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 120 516 1066 1748 1990 +0.25 +2.05 +4.64 +7.69 +8.82 Mana 75 255 543 903 1023 +0 +0.75 +1.98 +3.45 +3.99 Armor 0 3.67 9.73 16.07 18.57 Magic Resist 25% % % % % Damage Block - Damage 19 21 41 43 77 79 115 117 130 132 Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.72/s 0.93/s 1.16/s 1.24/s Attack Range 450 (800) Attack Speed 100 (1.7s BAT) Attack Animation 0.3 + 0.7 Projectile Speed Move Speed 285 ( 315) Turn Rate 0.4 Collision Size 24 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 ( 800) Gib Type Default Internal Not Provided

Lesale Deathbringer the Venomancer is a ranged agility hero who is focused on dealing damage over time and slowing enemies down. While unassuming due to his mediocre stats and low attack range, he can inflict surprising amounts of gradual damage with his poisonous abilities if left alone. Venomancer can unleash a Venomous Gale to infect enemies in a straight line, drastically slowing them while dealing damage over time. His attacks are just as hazardous thanks to his lethal Poison Sting, which adds a toxic effect to his normal attacks, poisoning opposing Heroes for a great amount of damage over a duration. Plague Ward lets him summon a sentient ward to a targeted point, which attacks enemies or structures. While weak on first use its power grows in numbers, which means the more the wards are placed the deadlier they become. This gives him good versatility, providing vision, pushing power, and a helpful block, preventing enemies from running away when trapped in a sticky situation. Venomancer's most dangerous ability is Poison Nova: though it is not lethal and does not kill an enemy by itself, the damage it inflicts is tremendous, the duration is very long, and its wide area of effect makes it difficult to avoid. It is mostly used to initiate battles, since Poison Nova cannot quickly inflict damage but rather degrades its targets over time. When combined together, the Venomancer is a powerful killing machine, like a virus, slowly killing enemies with venom and poisons. Despite being considered by most players as a support, because of his slowing capabilities, extra ward vision, and being item independent, this does not hinder his power to gank and kill enemies, especially in the earliest parts of the game, and with enough kills, farm, and domination, Venomancer can transition into a semi-carry, with formidable venomous power and deadly specialties.

Bio

Lesale Deathbringer, the Venomancer

▶️ "No necromancer shall raise what the venomancer puts down."

Lore:

In the Acid Jungles of Jidi Isle, poison runs in the veins and bubbles in the guts of every creature that scuttles, climbs or swoops between fluorescent vines dripping with caustic sap. Yet even in this toxic menagerie, Venomancer is acknowledged as the most venomous. Ages ago, a Herbalist named Lesale crossed the Bay of Fradj by coracle, searching for potent essences that might be extracted from bark and root, and found instead a nightmare transformation. Two leagues into Jidi's jungle, Lesale encountered a reptile camouflaged as an epiphyte, which stung him as he mistakenly plucked it. In desperation, he used his partial knowledge of the jungle's herbal bounty, mixing the venom of the (swiftly throttled) reptile with the nectar of an armored orchid, to compound an antidote. In the moments before a black paralysis claimed him completely, he injected himself by orchid-thorn, and instantly fell into a coma. Seventeen years later, something stirred in the spot where he had fallen, throwing off the years' accumulation of humus: Venomancer. Lesale the Herbalist no longer—but Lesale the Deathbringer. His mind was all but erased, and his flesh had been consumed and replaced by a new type of matter—one fusing the venom of the reptile with the poisonous integument of the orchid. Jidi's Acid Jungles knew a new master, one before whom even the most vicious predators soon learned to bow or burrow for their lives. The lurid isle proved too confining, and some human hunger deep in the heart of the Venomancer drove Lesale out in search of new poisons—and new deaths to bring.

Voice:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Abilities

Venomous Gale

▶️QE

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Launches a ball of venom in a line, poisoning enemy units so that they take both initial damage and damage over time, as well as suffering slowed movement. Venomous Gale deals damage every 3 seconds over its duration.

Cast Animation: 0+0.57

Cast Range: 800

Max Travel Distance: 850

Gale Radius: 125

Initial Damage: 25/50/75/100

Damage over Time: 10/40/70/100

Move Speed Slow: 50%

Duration: 15

 21/20/19/18

 125

A concoction of various stings, poisons, and toxins gathered from the jungles of Jidi Isle, victims surviving it are rare.

• The gale travels at a speed of 1200.

• Can hit units up to 975 range away (850 travel distance + 125 radius).

• The projectile has 280 radius flying vision. This vision does not last.

• The slow decreases over time. Hit units regain 1% of their movement speed in 0.3 second intervals.

• A unit with less that 25% of its maximum health can be denied when it has the Venomous Gale debuff on.

• Deals the initial damage upon hitting enemies, and then deals the damage over time in 3 second intervals, resulting in overall 6 damage instances.

• Venomous Gale can deal up to 75/250/425/600 damage to a single unit (before reductions).

• The debuff from successive casts does not stack, only the duration gets refreshed.

Poison Sting

WT

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical
(HP Removal)

Adds poison damage to Venomancer's normal attacks, slowing movement speed.

Damage per Second: 6/12/18/24

Move Speed Slow: 11%/12%/13%/14%

Duration: 6/9/12/15

The paralytic sting of the creature which caused his transformation now belongs to the Venomancer.

• The damage from Poison Sting is flagged as HP Removal, so it does not trigger any on-damage effects.

• The damage ticks in 1 second intervals, starting immediately when the debuff is placed, resulting in 7/10/13/16 damage ticks.

• The debuff from successive attacks does not stack, only the duration gets refreshed.

• Can deal up to 42/120/234/384 damage (before reductions).

Plague Ward
Summoned Ward
Health 120/230/340/450 +0.25 ⤷ 300/575/850/1125HP This unit has no mana. Level 1 Duration 40 Armor 0 Magic Resistance 0% Status Resistance 0 Attack Damage ▶️ Piercing 12/21/30/39 ‒ 14/23/32/41 ( 30/52.5/75/97.5–35/57.5/80/102.5) Attack Range 600 Acquisition Range 600 Attack Speed 100 • 1.4s BAT Attack Animation 0.3+0.7 Projectile Speed 1900 Turn Rate 0.5 Collision Size 27 Bound Radius 24 Vision Range (G) 800 Bounty 15/17/19/21 Experience 20/25/30/35 Abilities Spell Immunity Poison Sting

Plague Ward

▶️EW

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Damage
Physical

Summons a plague ward to attack enemy units and structures. The ward is immune to magic. Wards gain the Poison Sting level from Venomancer, dealing 50% of the full damage.

Cast Animation: 0+0.63

Cast Range: 850

Ward Duration: 40

 5

 20

A mixture of his old herbalist talents and newfound toxic mastery creates a living embodiment of plague.

• A Plague Ward automatically attacks the closest enemy unit within its attack range.

• It is possible to manually select an attack target for a Plague Ward.

• It is also possible to stop them from attacking by ordering them to stop, however this only works when the auto-attack option is turned off.

• The Poison Sting from the Plague Ward does not stack with the one from Venomancer. Instead, it places its own separate Poison Sting debuff, which deals no damage when Venomancer's Poison Sting debuff is active.

• The damage source of the wards' Poison Sting is set to be the wards themselves, and not Venomancer.

• Plague Wards have a lower target priority than units and heroes, so they are attacked by towers and lane creeps last.

• The wards gain their spell immunity through a buff, so it is possible for enemies to check the buff and guess how long it will last.

• The wards' attack damage is not reduced by damage block abilities.

Poison Nova

▶️RV

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Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

A spreading ring of poison that does damage over time to enemy units around Venomancer. Poison Nova cannot deal lethal damage; targets will be left with at least 1 health.

Cast Animation: 0+0.87

Radius: 575

Nova Width: 255

Damage per Second: 30/55/80 ( 60/85/110)

Duration: 16

 140/120/100 ( 140/120/60)

 200/300/400

Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:

Increases damage and decreases cooldown.

In the Acid Jungles, creatures releasing noxious poison to their attackers is common; Venomancer spreads this plague beyond the Jidi Isle.

• Interrupts Venomancer's channeling spells upon cast.

• The ring expands with a speed of 500.

• Poison Nova can hit units up to 830 range away (575 travel distance + 255 width).

• Despite the nova having a width, units between the ring and Venomancer still get hit, even when not within 255 width of the nova ring (such as blinking into the area some time after the spell is cast).

• Deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting immediately as the debuff is placed, resulting in 17 instances.

• Does not tick when affected units turn spell immune, so that Blink Dagger is not disabled.

• Poison Nova can never kill a unit. It does not drop affected units below 1 health from its damage ticks.

• Can deal up to 510/935/1360 ( 1020/1445/1870) damage to a single unit (before reductions).

• The debuff from successive casts does not stack, only the duration gets refreshed.

Recommended items

Template:Recommendeditems

Equipment

Venomancer Equipment (expand sets) Sets Acid Hydra Aktok's Domain Aktok's Glory Corruption of the Virulent Krait Fatal Bloom Ferocious Toxicant Molokau Stalker Nacreous Stag Venomous Deathbringer Verdant Predator Head Cult of Aktok Plague Wards Splattering Forcipule Taunt Taunt: Bananadancer

Tips

• Venomancer is a support hero who can deal tremendous damage over time with his spells. He also possesses strong push and counter-push potential in his Plague Wards, allowing him to defend towers and high-ground as well as take enemy towers by himself.
• While his spells possess a large amount of raw nuking power, Venomancer lacks immediate killing power, and does not have any hard disables. Always attempt to kill enemies with the aid of teammates, as they can stun the enemy and finish them off in situations where the foe may otherwise easily escape.
• In general, Venomancer should be played as a pushing support who provides utility to his team, rather than as a fighter, due to his general frailty and low movement speed. As such, many of the more expensive recommended luxury items that focus on physical damage output should not be built at all, as they provide little comparative benefit and do not synergize well with Venomancer's skills. Instead, focus on building mobility and utility items that help your team without requiring you to jump into the fray outside of casting your spells.
• As an agility caster, Venomancer suffers from severe mana problems. It is recommended to focus on increasing the size of your mana pool and purchasing mana regen items when possible. Due to the high mana cost of Poison Nova, you need to carefully manage your mana so that you can cast it in a teamfight.
• Venomous Gale applies a strong slow on any enemies it hits, significantly reducing their movement speed.
  • Venomous Gale is one of the best ranged slows at level 1, cutting enemy movement speed in half if it successfully lands. This makes it extremely powerful with just one value point in the laning stage. If you have a tri-lane that has reliable damage output, putting Venomous Gale on a target can ensure a First Blood on the enemy's off-laner.
  • Beware that Venomous Gale costs 125 mana, and your mana pool is only 195 at level 1. As such, missing your Venomous Gale during the laning stage renders you unable to cast any other spells for some time unless you have a Clarity or other form of mana regen.
  • Be mindful that an enemy hero afflicted by Venomous Gale can be denied by their allies, preventing Venomancer and his team from profiting from their death. Try to prevent enemies from escaping if they are affected by the spell, or try to ensure that their teammates cannot arrive in time to help them.
• Poison Sting applies a movement speed slow and damage over time to Venomancer's attacks. Half of the damage from this ability, as well as the full slow, is also applied to Plague Ward attacks.
  • Because it applies a slow and deals magical damage over time with each attack, Poison Sting is a good spell to max out early on. Venomancer can use his attacks to harass enemies and deal large amounts of damage without having to expend mana, and the slow stacks alongside Venomous Gale, meaning that even a single value point can greatly increase Venomancer's disable potential.
  • As both the damage and duration of the spell increase in tandem with levels, Poison Sting deals exponentially more damage as it is leveled up. Combined with Plague Wards, it is possible to place a "permanent" movement speed penalty and consistent damage over time on enemy heroes in the area.
  • Remember that the damage from Poison Sting itself is not recognized by the game as player damage, and thus enemies can still use their Blink Daggers or regen items even while under the effects of its damage. Make sure to regularly attack enemy players with your right-clicks in order to inflict player damage on them.
  • Be careful when trying to apply Poison Sting to enemy heroes with your attacks. Venomancer's attack range is quite short, so it is easy to accidentally put yourself out of position.
  • When killing creep waves or neutral camps, attack each creep once at the beginning to apply the Poison Sting debuff to all of them. This drastically increases the amount of damage you can do to them, as they all are taking damage over time right from the beginning, increasing the net amount of damage you do.
  • The idea behind leveling this ability to boost the effectiveness of your Plague Wards is that it allows them to deal the damage over time after you have left them in place and moved on. When using them in active pushes or defense, Venomancer can apply his own Poison Sting to enemy creeps, overriding that of the Plague Wards. But if he needs to go elsewhere after deploying a cluster of wards, or cannot get close to creep waves due to the risk of being initiated on by enemies, then they can benefit from Poison Sting and whittle down creep waves more effectively.
• Plague Ward is Venomancer's signature ability, allowing him to place a large number of wards in a short duration that augment his firepower and provide vision.
  • Plague Wards deal weak damage in sparse numbers and at early levels, but their power becomes significant once 3 or more skill points are placed in them and they are massed in one location. If you are employing an early push strategy, it is wise to max Plague Wards first in order to put as much cheap Physical damage on the field as possible.
  • Venomancer's attack range can effectively be increased by 1000 by casting Plague Wards at their maximum range. While Venomancer's attack range is only 450, he can place Plague Wards up to 850 range away, which can attack targets up to 600 range away, boosting his striking range to 1450.
  • Plague Wards deal Piercing damage, which means that they deal increased damage against lane creeps but are less effective against towers and siege creeps. They are best used to quickly remove lane creeps from the field so that friendly creep waves can more easily reach the enemy tower.
    • When pushing a lane, try to place your initial wave of Plague Wards just outside of the enemy tower's attack range. This way, you can safely mass them in order to make short work of the enemy's creep wave as they approach, as well as delay the creep wave at that location and give your creeps time to move forward.
    • Once your creep wave moves forward to attack the enemy's tower, only then should you place your second wave of Plague Wards within range to attack the tower. Without cover, the tower can make short work of your Plague Wards, preventing you from massing them. Try to place your ward cluster on the opposite side of the enemy tower, in the direction of the enemy's base, so that they attract the enemy creep wave's aggro and hold them in position, preventing them from attacking your creeps and defending the tower.
  • Due to how frail they are and how little damage they do at level 1 and 2, it is not recommended that you cast Plague Wards too frequently during the laning stage, as they will only provide gold and experience for the enemy. As well, while they are spammable and cost small amounts of mana, placing enough to cause any meaningful amount of damage costs significantly more mana.
  • If farming jungle camps with Plague Wards, avoid placing them as the ability comes off cooldown inside the camp itself. This reduces the amount of damage that the wards can do, and can block the camp from spawning if the wards persist at the minute mark. Instead, place a cluster of wards outside of the camp and then aggro the creeps into your wards. This concentrates their firepower and reduces the amount of damage you take, and allows you to use the same ward cluster to work down two or even three neighboring camps simultaneously by pulling them into one location where the wards can attack them and automatically aggro them back with the poison damage.
  • Use Plague Wards constantly in order to provide vision of your surrounding area, especially when across the river and inside enemy territory. You can use them to scout out areas behind trees and up cliffs to ensure that enemies cannot initiate on you easily.
  • When chasing an enemy that is attempting to run away, constantly put Plague Wards ahead of them to maintain sight. This also helps in applying constant Poison Sting damage, slowing their movement speed, and potentially blocking their pathing.
  • You can place Plague Wards within juke paths to block the enemy team's movements if you are fighting in the jungle. This can be used to either stop the enemy from juking by closing off the path that they want to take, or to prevent them from pursuing you after passing through a narrow path by blocking it.
  • Remember that you can control your Plague Wards as immovable units. This can be useful if you want to change attack targets, stop a Plague Ward's auto attack or deny friendly creeps and runes, and even destroy the Aegis of the Immortal.
• Poison Nova is a tremendously powerful debuff that can deal large amounts of magical damage to the enemy over time.
  • While it lacks immediate punch and does not contribute much to a fight at the start, Poison Nova can put its victims at extremely low health after a few seconds, securing kills and allowing your team mop up and take map objectives afterward.
  • Beware that Poison Nova is easily Venomancer's most expensive spell, and casting it can be very costly. Try to manage the mana that you expend from your other spells carefully, as spending too much mana may result in being unable to use your ultimate in a teamfight.
  • Even if the enemy activates spell immunity before you can cast your ultimate, keep in mind that the debuff is still applied to them, and they start taking damage immediately once their spell immunity expires. While spell immunity effectively wastes a few seconds of your ultimate, it can still deal a lot of damage to them.
  • Unless you have teammates who can follow up, do not use Poison Nova out of spite if you are about to be killed, as the cooldown is very long and it does not result in any kills unless the enemy is affected by other damage-over-time debuffs. The only exception to this is if you have Aghanim's Scepter and are level 16 or higher, as the cooldown is then reduced to below your respawn duration.
  • Remember that Poison Nova can never bring an enemy below 1 HP by itself. Therefore, you should try to apply Venomous Gale or Poison Sting to your opponents immediately before or after casting Poison Nova, as both debuffs last as long as Poison Nova itself and can help guarantee that they do not survive the Poison Nova.
• Other items not listed under Situational items can be useful to Venomancer's kit:
  • Clarity is highly recommended in the laning stage, as Venomancer is highly dependent on casting spells in order to be effective. Venomancer's base mana pool and intelligence growth are quite poor, and casting Venomous Gale once at level 1 drains more than half of your mana pool.
  • Sentry Wards are crucial on Venomancer as a support item. As he can place Plague Wards through terrain and fog of war to get vision, he can easily place Sentry Wards alongside them to de-ward enemy Observer Wards. Since Plague Wards are summoned units, he can "set and forget" them after finding an Observer Ward, rather than risk getting ganked by staying to de-ward. Gem of True Sight is a stronger permanent investment but also risks surrendering the gem to the enemy if they can successfully kill Venomancer.
  • Arcane Boots are highly recommended on Venomancer, as his ultimate costs a large amount of mana and his mana pool is otherwise extremely limited. As a support, you also help your team by being able to replenish their mana as well as your own, allowing you to cast your spells more often.
  • Force Staff is useful on Venomancer if you are having trouble farming a Blink Dagger. The increased mana pool helps greatly with his ability to cast spells, and the item's active ability serves as a useful escape mechanism on a frail hero without escape abilities.
  • Ghost Scepter is very helpful for giving Venomancer protection against physical damage. It can be used to buy yourself some time if you are jumped on by the enemy team in a gank or teamfight, or allow you to survive long enough to cast Venomous Gale after using your ultimate.
  • Glimmer Cape can be a very useful utility item. The magic resistance gives Venomancer survivability against magic nukes, while the attack speed facilitates the utility of Poison Sting. The active can be used to initiate with Poison Nova if a Blink Dagger or Force Staff is unavailable, and can be used to shield yourself or a teammate from magic nukes, or as an escape tool if the enemy has no detection.
  • Rod of Atos is a relatively cheap item that gives Venomancer a lot of HP, a lot of intelligence to increase the size of his mana pool, and a very long range slow that can help him with initiating and ganking. The active, when combined with Venomous Gale, allows Venomancer to slow an enemy down to minimum movement speed.
  • Shiva's Guard is expensive, but provides Venomancer with many strong benefits. It gives him a much larger mana pool to use, allowing him to better utilize his spells, and gives him armor for resisting physical damage. The auras add to his ability to slow enemy heroes, and the active can be used in conjunction with Poison Nova to slow enemies enough to catch them in its radius, as well as add an additional movement speed slow on top of Venomous Gale and Poison Sting.
  • Scythe of Vyse is a very farm-intensive item to purchase, however it permanently solves all of Venomancer's mana issues while also giving him an instant hard disable that he can cast on the enemy in a teamfight, even in the late game.

Trivia

• Venomancer's name, Lesale, may be a reference to "Le Sale", which is French for "The Dirty" or "The Nasty".
• In Warcraft DotA, Venomancer's hero model was a hydralisk. Hydralisks are a ranged combat unit of the Zerg, an alien race in Blizzard Entertainment's RTS game Starcraft. Hydralisks are a very common and well-known image in Blizzard games.

Update history

Template:Update History

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Replaced abilities

Shadow Strike

QD

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Hurls a poisoned dagger which deals large initial damage, and then deals damage over time. The poisoned unit has its movement speed slowed for a short duration.

Cast Animation: 0+0.51

Cast Range: 400

Initial Damage: 50/70/70/100

Damage over Time: 10/20/40/50

Move Speed Slow: 50%

Duration: 15

 22

 90/105/120/135

A concoction of various stings, poisons, and toxins gathered from the jungles of Jidi Isle, victims surviving it are rare.

• This ability was replaced by Venomous Gale in the 6.58 gameplay patch.

• The projectile travels at a speed of 1200 and can be disjointed.

• The slow deceases in 1 second intervals, slowing the target by 50.0%/40.8%/32.7%/25.9%/20.1%/15.5%/11.7%/8.7%/6.4%/4.6%/3.3%/2.3%/1.6%/1.1%/0.7% on each second.

• A unit with less that 25% of its maximum health can be denied when it has the debuff on.

• Deals the initial damage upon hitting the target and the damage over time in 3 second intervals, resulting in overall 6 damage instances.

• Can deal up to 100/170/270/350 damage to the target (before reductions).

• Successive casts refresh the slow and damage over time durations and deal the initial damage again.

Gallery

• 

  Concept art

• 

  Model and icons before November 21, 2013 Patch

See also

• Venomancer responses
• Venomancer sounds
• Toxic Gaze
• Venoling