Viper Strategies

Gameplay

"You've failed the acid test."

In the deep dark caverns of the Nether Reaches, there is a race of flying reptiles ,which is called Netherdrakes, and has been living there for several eras since the tectonic shift happened and trapped them inside. This race is famous for their powerful poison and acids that can melt away any metals. And among the race, Viper is the well known Netherdrake as his desire for dark magics. Although the door to the outside world was closed millions of years ago, he somehow managed to free himself and get out of the Nether Reaches. By then, this deadly creature was captured by the elderly mage who wanted to tame and kept him as a pet. 

As the craving for magic was so strong, Viper obeyed and succumbed to the master in order to learn the spells. But soon, he was fully aware of how powerful his toxins are, comparing to the few spells. The acid drooling from Viper quickly melted down the metal cages, he sprung out of the control of his master, spitted the poison right in the eye of the old spellcaster and flew away as a sign to the world that he had a new master.

In-game, Viper is described as: 

“Launching deadly poison from a distance, Viper poses a grave threat to whomever he targets. As his various toxins eat away at an enemy's health and slow their movement, Viper simply does what he does best: he keeps adding more poison.”

Ability Builds

• Strength: 21 + 2.4 each level;

• Agility: 21 + 2.5 each level;

• Intelligence: 17 + 2 each level;

• Health: 620;

• Health regeneration: + 2.1 each second;

• Mana: 279;

• Mana regeneration: + 0.85 each second;

• Damage: 48 - 50;

• Amor: 1.5;

• Magic Resistance: 25%;

• Turn Rate: 0.6;

• Attack Range: 575;

• Projectile speed: 1200;

• Attack Animation: 0.33+1;

• Movement: 275;

• Sight Range: 1800/800;

• Base Attack time: 1.7 seconds per attack;

• Damage Block: 0;

• Collision size: 24.

Talents

Notes:

The attack range granted by talents affects the Poison Attack’s cast range.

The spell lifesteal granted by talents can stack up with other spell lifesteal.

• Non-heroes units and creep-heroes will be healed for 1.6%. Does not heal off illusions.

The health granted by talents expands the health pool and the current health will remain.

The attack damage granted by talents is raw attack damage.

• Illusions don't get this bonus damage. Furthermore, most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects don’t affect bonus damage from talents.

Tips & Tactics

General

In this build I will focus on guiding you how to play Viper in the mid lane. For level 1, we should add one point in Nethertoxin as It is useful to clear the creeps quickly and to harass if the opponent is a melee hero. Then the first ability I recommend you max out is Poison Attack as it increases both magical and physical damage amount.Besides, the slow effect can be useful while chasing the enemy. Also, in the laning phase, you can easily harass the enemy heroes.

The second ability to max out is Corrosive Skin due to the magical resistance it grants and the DPS damage and slow debuff it can cause. Nethertoxin is your last priority. Although this ability is great and useful due to the AoE and DPS damage it can cause, it is really easy to dodge and get out so you should place only one point on this skill in the early game.

Abilities

Poison Attack

Poison Attack (Unit Target, Magical)

Effect: Viper breathes out the toxic toward the target which causes damage per second, slows the enemy and reduces magic resistance. The attack can be stacked up to 5 times.

Mana cost: 20/22/24/26

Cooldown: 0

Max Stacks: 5

Range: 600/640/680/720 (Talents: 700/740/780/820)

Damage per Second per Stack: 4/8/12/16

Move Speed Slow per Stack: 6%/8%/10%/12%

Magic Resistance Reduction per Stack: 3%/5%/7%/9%

Duration: 4

Upgradable by Aghanim’s Shard:

• Armor Reduction per Stack: 1
• Building Damage Percentage: 40%
• Max Stacks: 8

Notes:

Undispellable

The cast range of Poison Attack depends on the Viper’s attack range.

• When the attack range of Viper increases, the cast range increases too. However, the cast range of Poison Attack won’t be changed by cast range bonuses.
• The talent bonus can increase the cast range to 700/740/780/820.
• No matter whether Poison Attack is casted automatically or manually, it still depends on the Viper’s present attack range.

When the targets get hit, they receive the debuff and the following attacks also stack.

• The amount of stacks can be seen by everyone on the map.
• The total stack duration will be refreshed every new attack the target receives.

The detail of movement speed and magic resistance reduction which is caused by Poison Attack with the number of stacks on each level:

• Level 1: 6%/12%/18%/24%/30%/36%/42%/48% movement speed and 3%/6%/9%/12%/15%/18%/21%/24% magic resistance.
• Level 2: 8%/16%/24%/32%/40%/48%/56%/64% movement speed and 5%/10%/15%/20%/25%/30%/35%/40% magic resistance.
• Level 3: 10%/20%/30%/40%/50%/60%/70%/80% movement speed and 7%/14%/21%/28%/35%/42%/49%/56% magic resistance.
• Level 4: 12%/24%/36%/48%/60%/72%/84%/96% movement speed and 9%/18%/27%/36%/45%/54%/63%/72% magic resistance.

Each Poison Attack deals damage every 1 second right after the debuff is applied which means there will be 4 damage instances in total

The detail of damage per second and total damage which Poison Attack deals with the number of stacks on each level:

• Level 1: 4/8/12/16/20/24/28/32 damage per second and 16/32/48/64/80/96/112/128 total damage.
• Level 2: 8/16/24/32/40/48/56/64 damage per second and 32/64/96/128/160/192/224/256 total damage.
• Level 3: 12/24/36/48/60/72/84/96 damage per second and 48/96/144/192/240/288/336/384 total damage.
• Level 4: 16/32/48/64/80/96/112/128 damage per second and 64/128/192/256/320/384/448/512 total damage.

The debuffs will be applied first on the target then the damage.

Poison Attack affects enemy units only, does not affect allied units and wards.

With the upgrade from Aghanim’s Shard, Poison Attack can apply damage and debuffs on buildings.

• The amount of armor reduction is 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8 per stack.
• The percentage of magic resistance reduction is 24%/40%/56%/72% when the stack is full.
• According to the percentage of magic resistance reduction above, the total damage that this spell can deal on the buildings is 63.49/143.36/239.62/352.26.

Nethertoxin

Nethertoxin (AreaTarget, Magical)

Effect: Viper splits out the poison at the targeted area causing damage to the enemy units in that area. The longer they stay in the affected area, the more damage they receive. Besides, all the passives of the units will be disbaled while they are in this area.

Cooldown: 14 (Talents: 3)

Cast Animation: 0.2+0.5

Cast Range: 900

Mana Cost: 85

Radius: 400

Min Damage per Second: 15/20/25/30

Max Damage per Second: 80/100/120/140

Max Damage Duration: 4

Damage Interval: 0.5

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Duration: 8

Notes:

Undispellable

The flying speed of Nethertoxin’s projectile is 2000.

The debuffs and damage of Nethertoxin are provided in the form of aura.The debuff will last for 0.5 seconds.

Nethertoxin deals damage every 0.5 second right after the debuff is applied which means there will be 17 instances in total.

Each 0.5 seconds the enemies spending in the affected area, they will receive damage by 4.06/5/5.94/6.88, which means the damage the enemies receive per instance:

• Level 1:7.5 / 11.6 / 15.6 / 19.7 / 23.8 / 27.8 / 31.9 / 35.9 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40 / 40
• Level 2: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50
• Level 3: 12.5 / 18.4 / 24.4 / 30.3 / 36.3 / 42.2 / 48.1 / 54.1 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60 / 60
• Level 4: 15 / 21.9 / 28.8 / 35.6 / 42.5 / 49.4 / 56.3 / 63.1 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70 / 70

If the enemies standing in the affected area for the whole spell duration, the damage they receive is 533.75/670/806.25/942.5 damage.

Whenever the enemies leave the area, the damage value will be reset. If they re-enter the area, it will count again.

Nethertoxin’s debuffs do not stack with multiple instances.

The damage affected units do not increase accordingly when this ability is leveled up.

• If the debuffs are applied after this spell is leveled up, the ;latest damage values will be applied too.

Corrosive Skin

Corrosive Skin (Passive, Magical)

Effect: Viper oozes the contagious toxin to cover his body that deals damage and reduces the attack speed of anyone attacking him. Besides, Corrosive Skin also increases his magic resistance.

Max Proc Distance: 1400

Magic Resistance Bonus: 10%/15%/20%/25% (Talents: 20%/30%/40%/50%)

Damage per Second: 8/16/24/32

Attack Speed Slow: 8/16/24/32 (Talents 16/32/48/64)

Duration: 4

Notes:

Magic resistance bonuses from Corrosive Skin can be stacked with other sources of magic resistance which are granted by items or allied units.

The total percentage of magic resistance Viper receives after using Corrosive Skin is 33%/36%/40%/44% (Talents 40%/48%/55%/63%).

If the attacking units are within 1400 range, they will receive damage and reduce in movement speed.

Corrosive Skin is the spell that has the no-reflection flag which means the damage it deals can not interact with other no-reflection flag damage.

• Any damage is flagged HP Removal does not react with Corrosive Skin.
• If the damage is dealt by the other things not by the caster (e.g: Proximity Mine, Death Ward). The Corrosive Skin is not triggered and does not affect the caster.

Corrosive Skin deals damage every 1 second right after the debuff is applied which means there will be 4 damage instances in total.

The total amount of damage that spell can cause is 32/64/96/128 damage (before reductions).

The procs of Corrosive Skin does not stack even when the same enemies attack Viper consecutively, but the debuff duration is refreshed.

Buildings, wards, invulnerable and allied units won’t be damaged or debuffed by Corrosive Skin.

Viper Strike

Viper Strike (Unit Target, Magical)

Effect: Viper flaps his gruesome wings towards and releases two glowing projectiles that reduces the target movement and attack speed while dealing the damage per second. The slowing effect fades away over time and ends at the same time with the poison effect.

Cast Animation: 0.3+ 0.53

Mana cost: 100/150/200

Cooldown: 50/40/30

Cast Range: 500

Damage per Second: 80/120/160 (Talents: 160/200/240)

Move Speed Slow: 40%/60%/80%

Attack Speed Slow: 40/60/80

Duration: 5

Upgradable by Aghanim’s Scepter:

• Cast Range: 900
• Mana cost: 125
• Cooldown: 10

Notes:

The flying speed of Viper Strike is 1200.

The slow will fade away which means the movement and attack speed of the targeted units will be recovered by 0.3%/0.4%/0.5% and 0.267/0.4/0.533 respectively.

If using Viper Strike on the same target many times, its effects do not stack but the debuff duration is refreshed.

The particle effect on Viper’s wings works as a visible indication for everyone that this spell is being cast.

Items