Venomancer · Soft Support (pos. 4)
Venomancer for Beginners
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This guide is assembled by the site from match data and the game's own information — nobody wrote it by hand. Official and community guides appear alongside it when they exist.
Overview
Venomancer is a ranged Universal hero that Valve tags as Support, Nuker and Disabler. It is played mainly as Soft Support (pos. 4): 55% of the public matches we measured, by starting lane and starting items. In this guide you play it as Soft Support (pos. 4): your job is to help your offlaner win the hard lane, rotate for kills and make space with your spells. Venomancer is of average difficulty: learn the basics below and it rewards you quickly.
Strengths
- Takes towers quickly: Valve lists it as a Pusher.
- Heavy magical burst: Valve lists it as a Nuker.
- Clear job in the team: help your offlaner win the hard lane, rotate for kills and make space with your spells.
Weaknesses
- Low base armor (0): vulnerable to physical harass early on.
- No escape in the kit: without good positioning and vision, Venomancer is easy to catch.
Build cheat sheet
Pick the build that fits what you want to do this game.
Builds
Simple build
When to use it
The most-bought items without the situational ones: buy them in this order and focus on playing the hero.
Where it's played
Picked before the game: the main lane first, then the alternatives.
244%146%- OfflaneMain46% of matchesOff lane next to your offlaner, as Soft Support (pos. 4).
- Safe lanePriority 244% of matchesSafe lane next to your carry, as Hard Support (pos. 5).
Starting items
Core items
- 1Spirit VesselYour first big item.
- 2Glimmer CapeSecond: buy it right after.
- 3MekansmThird: completes your core.
Boots
Late game
Skill order
Max order:Plague Ward›Venomous Gale›Snakebite
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Talents by level
- 2.5x Plague Ward HP/DamageSnakebite Undispellable25
- +100 Snakebite Initial Damage-2s Plague Ward Cooldown20
- +75 Noxious Plague Spread Radius+10% Poison Sting Slow15
- -5s Venomous Gale CD15% Poison Sting Health Regen Reduction10
Abilities
- Venomous Gale21 / 20 / 19 / 18s95 / 105 / 115 / 125 mpLaunches 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.
- Duration
- 15
- Initial damage
- 25·50·75·100
- Damage per tick
- 10·40·70·100
- Slow
- -35%·-40%·-45%·-50%
- Projectile speed
- 1200
- Snakebite20 / 18 / 16 / 14s70 / 80 / 90 / 100 mpVenomancer summons a Spawn of Aktok to sink its fangs into a target, dealing magic damage and applying a toxin that does damage every second. When the target attacks while infected, they take the initial damage again.
- Initial damage
- 40·70·100·130
- Damage per second
- 10·20·30·40
- Duration
- 6
- Plague Ward5s24 / 26 / 28 / 30 mpSummons 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.
- Duration
- 40
- Ward hp
- 150·250·350·450
- Ward damage
- 16·24·32·40
Poison StingPassiveVenomancer's attacks slow enemies and deal damage over time.- Duration
- 4.5
- Damage per second
- 9
- Movement slow
- 8%
- Noxious Plague100 / 90 / 80s200 / 250 / 300 mpInfects an enemy with a plague that does damage on application then slows the target and deals damage over time based on their maximum health. When the debuff ends for any reason, all debuffs from Venomancer on the initial target and the plague are spread to nearby targets. Additional spreads beyond the first do not deal impact damage.
- Duration
- 4
- Initial damage
- 150·200·250
- Max health damage
- 2%·3%·4%
- Slow
- 50%
- Spread radius
- 700
- Spread count
- 2
Most played skill order
The most played order in the last 44 professional matches with this hero. Highlighted levels are the points spent on talents.
Max order:Plague Ward›Venomous Gale›Snakebite
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Strategy
1What Venomancer does
Venomancer is a ranged Universal hero that Valve tags as Support, Nuker and Disabler. It is played mainly as Soft Support (pos. 4): 55% of the public matches we measured, by starting lane and starting items. Its ultimate is Noxious Plague.
2The basics
In this guide you play it as Soft Support (pos. 4): your job is to help your offlaner win the hard lane, rotate for kills and make space with your spells.
- Vision: a ward in the right place saves more lives than any spell.
- Positioning: you are the easiest kill on the map, so stand where the enemy can't reach you first.
3Common mistakes
Most new players lose games with the same few mistakes. Avoid these and you'll already be ahead:
- Taking last hits from your carry.
- Placing wards during the fight instead of before it.
- Standing in front of your cores in fights.
4Your first games
Position 4 starts in the off lane with your offlaner: harass the enemy carry, block or pull their camp when it helps and look for the first rotation to mid once the runes spawn. Use the simple build in this guide and don't worry about situational choices yet.
Tips
- Vision: a ward in the right place saves more lives than any spell.
- Positioning: you are the easiest kill on the map, so stand where the enemy can't reach you first.
- Check the minimap every few seconds: most deaths come from heroes you didn't see coming.
- Learn what Noxious Plague does before anything else: it's the ability that wins fights.
Changelog
- Guide created for patch 7.41.
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