Dazzle/Guide

General

 * Due to Dazzle's potent defensive abilities, teamfights tend to last longer than usual.
 * Dazzles abilities require him to be close to his teammates at all times.


 * Dazzle is a support hero most well known for his ability to save his teammates from death as well as his physical damage-focused spells. His item-independent nature allows him to be played as a hard support and remain effective at all stages of the game.
 * Like most intelligence support casters, Dazzle suffers from poor strength and agility, rendering him very weak against all types of damage and making him an easy kill. However, his strength is that he has very high intelligence growth, meaning that he greatly benefits from building scaling mana regen items that maintain his mana pool and facilitate continued use of his low-cooldown spells.
 * Like all other casting-focused heroes, be particularly mindful of silences that the enemy may attempt to cast on Dazzle during engagements. As a hard support, Dazzle will not always have the gold to purchase items to dispel debuffs from himself, so long-duration silences can easily prevent him from casting his spells to save his teammates in fights.
 * Because of his ability to save teammates from certain death, Dazzle greatly benefits from building items that aid in his positioning or allow him to cast his spells more easily. As well, this ability to save teammates' lives also means that Dazzle himself may become a priority target for the enemy team to eliminate from the battlefield. Mobility items can kill two birds with one stone, allowing Dazzle to re-position to cast his spells on his teammates, or to quickly escape enemy attempts on his life.


 * Poison Touch deals an increasing slow on a target enemy, then deals physical damage over time.
 * Poison Touch is a strong ganking spell, as its respectable cast range and slow duration can allow allies to quickly close in to land stronger disables on a gank target. At least one value point is recommended in all situations, as the slow can also be useful for fending off enemies trying to pursue teammates.
 * At max level, Poison Touch inflicts a 1 second stun on its target 2 seconds after the projectile impacts. While this prevents Dazzle from easily interrupting enemy channels (particularly Town Portal Scroll), the spell's cooldown eventually reduces to less than half of the initial 15 seconds, allowing the debuff to be active on an enemy at all times.
 * Due to its damage over time nature, Poison Touch can be useful for inhibiting enemy Blink Daggers. Even if they create enough distance to escape immediate incoming damage from Dazzle and his team, their Blink Dagger will be disabled for at least 13 seconds after the spell is cast. However, be mindful that Poison Touch itself deals no damage for the first two slow instances, so try to inflict the target with a source of player-based damage prior to casting Poison Touch.


 * Shallow Grave, Dazzle's signature spell, places an unpurgeable buff on an ally that prevents them from dying due to damage for the next 5 seconds.
 * At least one value point in Shallow Grave is recommended no matter how Dazzle is skilled. The ability to prevent an ally's death for 5 seconds can completely change gank and teamfight outcomes, allowing a teammate to survive a situation in which they would otherwise die.
 * In general, it is best to cast Shallow Grave on a target just before they receive a killing blow. Casting Shallow Grave too early can waste some of its duration on a teammate who still has some health left, as the spell is only truly useful if it prevents damage that would otherwise kill the target. However, be mindful that the spell has a longer cast animation than the rest of Dazzle's abilities, require 0.4 seconds to cast instead of 0.3. Keep in mind the enemy team's composition and their ability to deal sudden burst damage, and when in doubt casting earlier is better than later.
 * Shallow Grave is Dazzle's most expensive ability, costing 150 mana at all levels. While leveling it up will not increase its mana cost, doing so also means that the rest of Dazzle's abilities will be weaker at each respective level. Know when to prioritize leveling Dazzle's other spells first, depending on the situation.
 * When deciding when to level up Shallow Grave, keep in mind how active you expect both teams to be throughout a match. If the enemy has a gank-heavy lineup and intends to make numerous attempts to take early teamfights or kill your teammates in ganks, maxing out Shallow Grave early can frustrate their attempts to secure kills, buying your team time and space to farm up items to defeat them later. If your team expects to take the initiative and fight early on against a greedy farming lineup, Shallow Grave can be left at a single level and saved during calculated ganks and fights, allowing Dazzle to expend his skill points on other offensive spells.
 * Keep in mind that Shallow Grave can be cast offensively as well as defensively. Holding Shallow Grave in reserve can allow teammates to dive enemy towers in the early game and extend farther than otherwise possible, in the knowledge that Shallow Grave can be cast to cover their retreat.
 * Be mindful that allies affected by Shallow Grave are only prevented from dying during the spell; when the duration ends they are left with however much health they have and can be easily finished off by pursuing enemies. Try to use healing abilities and items on teammates just before the spell expires, but not too early so as not to waste the heal during the spell.
 * Combined with a Town Portal Scroll, Shallow Grave can be used as an escape spell provided that the enemy has no interrupting disables. If Dazzle or an ally encounter a hopeless situation and the enemy has expended their disables, casting Shallow Grave and then teleporting back to base can be a life-saver; enemies will be unable to kill or interrupt the target during the teleport channel, and they can emerge back at base and heal back to full health. However, beware of damage-over-time spells like that could otherwise finish the job in the fountain, as well as global damage nukes that can finish off low-health targets before they can fully recover like  and.
 * Because it uses the pre-heal mechanic, Shallow Grave will always set a target's health to be exactly 1 point higher than any damage instance that would otherwise kill them. This means that while will still continue to reflect damage during the buff, it also means that damage from abilities like  can still be spread to the target's allies.
 * The cast range of Shallow Grave increases with each level; it starts out the same range as your normal attack, but at level 4 goes to almost twice that distance. Higher levels of Shallow Grave not only reduce the cooldown, but allow Dazzle to save his allies from farther away.


 * Shadow Wave instantly heals the target allied unit alongside a number of other allied units in an area, while dealing physical damage in a small radius around each heal target.
 * Despite its small numbers, Shadow Wave is a very strong healing spell as its extremely low cooldown allows it to be spammed over short periods of time and heal multiple allies at once. Maxing it out early can give Dazzle's team a strong survivability advantage in early teamfights while simultaneously increasing his physical damage output.
 * Each ally healed by Shadow Wave will deal an instance of damage in a small radius around themselves. This means that if multiple allies are clustered around an enemy unit at melee range, that enemy will be hit with multiple instances of physical damage. This makes Shadow Wave a very strong offensive spell when combined with teammates who can summon crowds of units to attack enemies at melee range, such as, and.
 * Because it heals and damages in larger numbers with crowded allies, Shadow Wave is particularly strong at defending and pushing lanes due to lane creeps being present in large numbers and fighting at melee range. A single cast of Shadow Wave can deal significant damage to enemy creep waves, allowing Dazzle to destroy a single wave in two casts of the spell.
 * If not targeting himself, Dazzle is always added as a unit for healing and damaging for Shadow Wave. This can be useful for adding an extra instance of damage in fights and ganks, provided that Dazzle can position himself close to the enemy target, and can be useful for bouncing Shadow Wave's damage to enemy ranged and siege creeps when pushing lanes.


 * Weave applies a buff to allies and a debuff to enemies within its radius, increasing allied armor and decreasing enemy armor over time.
 * Weave is a very strong teamfight ultimate since it can hearten allies for battle before a teamfight or give the enemy pause before they engage. As the respective buff and debuff cannot be purged by either side, the enemy will be unable to counter its effects should they decide to fight, and allies will get progressively stronger or enemies weaker the longer a teamfight progresses.
 * Due to its gradual nature, it is best to try to cast Weave as early as possible before teamfights, as the armor shift is very small at the start of the spell's duration but grows to become extremely impactful after just a few seconds.
 * Because it is most impactful after it has run its course for at least a few seconds, Weave can only practically be cast either on Dazzle's team to buff allied armor or on the opposing team to weaken enemy armor; it is inadvised to attempt to cast Weave when both teams have already engaged in battle as it will have minimal effect. If the enemy has strong survivability or Dazzle's team has good physical damage output, casting Weave on the enemy will take away their survivability advantage or allow Dazzle's allies to capitalize on their stronger carry potential. However, if the opposing team has strong damage output or Dazzle's team has weak armor, placing the buff on Dazzle's team can allow them to engage in fights undaunted. Always take the respective team compositions and gold/experience leads into account when deciding who to most profitably cast Weave on.
 * Weave's wide radius makes it the perfect spell for breaking up Roshan attempts by the enemy team. As Roshan's pit is very cramped, it is easy to hit the entire enemy team with the debuff while revealing the inside of the pit. This can either force the enemy to break off and retreat, or risk being destroyed and losing the Aegis to Dazzle's team.

Items
Starting Items:
 * Iron Branches are cheap and provide cost-effective stats. They can be used to build into other useful items, or can be dropped in-lane to boost the healing power of a Tango.
 * Two Clarities allow Dazzle to replenish his mana in-lane, which in turn sustain his spell-casting. It is particularly important for Dazzle since his ability to restore allies' HP with makes him a very powerful support in the laning stage.
 * Healing Salve and Tango are important basic health regen items. They allow Dazzle to survive against enemy harass damage so that he is not forced to retreat out of lane and leave his lane partner vulnerable.
 * Animal Courier should always be purchased at the beginning of the round by a support.

Early Game:
 * Magic Stick gives Dazzle burst HP and mana regen, both of which are very important on a casting support. Staying alive long enough to cast one more spell in a fight can make a significant difference.
 * Boots of Speed is crucial to purchase as early as possible on all heroes. In Dazzle's case, positioning is crucial for being able to cast his spells, and the additional movement speed allows him to chase down foes after inflicting them with.
 * Urn of Shadows has great synergy with Dazzle's abilities. It provides extra strength for more HP, as well as a small amount of scaling mana regen that allows him to take advantage of his high intelligence growth. The Urn charges allow Dazzle to heal teammates alongside Shadow Wave, or to add more damage during ganks and fights.

Core Items:
 * Magic Wand is a useful upgrade to Magic Stick, and can be completed from already-purchased Iron Branches. It provides extra attributes, important on a hard support, and gives Dazzle increased charge storage to greatly increase his survivability and longevity in fights.
 * Arcane Boots is the best boots item to purchase for Dazzle. It improves the size of his mana pool, allowing him to cast more spells, and allows him to replenish the mana of himself and his teammates, further boosting his ability to support his team.
 * Medallion of Courage greatly synergizes with Dazzle's abilities, all of which deal Physical damage. It provides additional armor for survivability and scaling mana regen, while the active can work alongside to further augment allies' armor or further debilitate that of his foes.
 * Observer Wards should be purchased regularly as a support. Providing map vision for your team greatly increases the amount of information they have with which to make gameplay decisions, allowing them to engage in fights on their terms or to avoid enemy ganks.
 * Town Portal Scroll should be carried at all times. Dazzle's ability to turn the tide of teamfights, especially with a well-placed, can literally save teammates' lives, which can make or break fights and even matches.

Situational Items:
 * Mekansm is an important support item that should always be purchased on one team member. It provides Dazzle with all-around attributes as well as armor, and allows him to further heal his teammates alongside Shadow Wave, lengthening their lifespans in fights.
 * Scythe of Vyse is a very powerful item to purchase on any support hero, gold permitting. It provides all-around attributes as well as a large amount of intelligence and mana regen, increasing Dazzle's overall resilience and ensuring that he will never run out of mana. The Hex allows him to hard-disable a target enemy at range, greatly improving his contribution to teamfights.
 * Shiva's Guard is a good utility item that increases Dazzle's teamfight contribution. It provides Dazzle with a large amount of armor, boosting his survivability, as well as intelligence to increase the size of his mana pool. Freezing Aura reduces enemies' attack speed, debilitating their ability to harm Dazzle's team with physical attacks, while Arctic Blast deals damage and slows in an area around Dazzle, stacking alongside Poison Touch and allowing teammates to more easily group around them for an offensive casted Shadow Wave.
 * Aghanim's Scepter greatly boosts the power of Weave, alongside giving Dazzle all-around stats. The increased Weave radius allows Dazzle to more easily inflict enemies with the debuff, and can potentially allow him to cast it on both allies and enemies simultaneously. The increased armor shift rate will more quickly give teammates more survivability or more quickly destroy that of the enemy, allowing Dazzle's team to engage in fights earlier during the ultimate and spend more time fighting foes under a strong advantage.
 * Pipe of Insight is a situationally strong utility item that further improves Dazzle's ability to protect his team. As he can already protect them against Physical damage with Weave, protecting them against Magical damage with Barrier will give the enemy very few openings with which to harm Dazzle's allies. The vastly improved HP regen and magic resistance also make Dazzle himself much harder to eliminate in fights, allowing him to always be ready to protect his teammates.
 * Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a very strong utility item that can be obtained relatively cheaply. The improved intelligence and powerful scaling mana regen allow Dazzle to easily cast his spells whenever he needs to, while the improved base movement speed helps with positioning and chasing down or fleeing enemies. The active allows Dazzle to give himself temporary invulnerability while also purging debuffs from himself, or can be used to disable enemies while removing buffs, particularly if they are attempting to chase down and kill one of Dazzle's allies.
 * Drum of Endurance is a cheap and easily built item that grants all-around stats. The aura boosts Dazzle's mobility and gives his team extra movement and attack speed in fights, and the active can further increase his teamfight contribution.
 * Flying Courier should be purchased as soon as possible by a support, gold permitting. A flying courier is much harder to kill by the enemy, and can facilitate delivery of items to Dazzle's team much more quickly.
 * Guardian Greaves can be upgraded from Arcane Boots and a purchased Mekansm. Besides eliminating the mana cost of the Mekansm component, Mend can instantly remove debuffs from Dazzle. The Guardian Aura greatly boosts the survival of Dazzle's team, particularly when they are at low health, giving Dazzle a larger window with which to cast Shallow Grave.


 * Dazzle can benefit greatly from building various items to aid his team in different ways.
 * s are important to purchase alongside Observer Wards, for taking away enemy map vision or spotting out invisible enemy heroes. Blinding the enemy to your team's movements allows you to use your spells to greater effect, particularly casting Weave on an unsuspecting enemy team.
 * improves Dazzle's survivability in the face of overwhelming physical damage. Besides providing all-around attributes, it temporarily renders him immune to physical damage, allowing him to buy himself time to cast his spells.
 * is a good utility item that helps Dazzle to further protect his teammates. Besides boosting his magic resistance slightly to provide survivability against magic nukes, using the active on a teammate who is being focused can buy them time to run away while greatly boosting their magic resistance. It can also be combined with Shallow Grave, greatly improving Dazzle's chances of successfully saving a teammate's life.
 * is a good utility purchase that can be obtained through disassembling Arcane Boots. Besides improving the size of his mana pool, the item provides increased HP regen, ensuring that Dazzle's HP is always full. As Dazzle's spells greatly depend on positioning, boosting the cast range of his abilities allows him to much more easily protect his teammates, and prevents enemies from easily jumping on him when he moves in to cast.
 * is a very strong support purchase that further augment's Dazzle's protective capabilities. It improves the size of Dazzle's mana pool while also providing HP regen for self-sustain. Besides allowing him to quickly re-position himself to cast his spells, casting the active on a fleeing teammate that is under the protection of Shallow Grave can immediately push them to safety, further guaranteeing their survival.
 * , while expensive, is an expensive but strong positioning item that greatly improves Dazzle's mobility. Being able to instantly jump in to cast Poison Touch or Shallow Grave greatly improves Dazzle's ganking prowess and ability to save teammates from death, and in a pinch can allow him to evade enemy attempts to kill him.
 * , upgraded from Medallion of Courage, greatly improves the item's effectiveness in all areas. The increased mana regen further allows Dazzle to take advantage of his high intelligence growth, while the evasion component further improves allies' survivability against enemy auto-attacks.
 * is a strong utility support item that improves Dazzle's survivability and disabling potential. It greatly improves Dazzle's HP pool while also providing a large amount of intelligence to improve his mana pool. The active allows Dazzle to greatly slow enemies from long distance, and can be used before or after Poison Touch to severely restrict an enemy's movement speed for a long period of time.
 * is an expensive but situationally strong utility purchase that improves Dazzle's teamfight and pushing contribution. The item improves Dazzle's strength and intelligence for more HP and mana, and summoning Necronomicon Warriors can give his team more physical damage output during fights, particularly as Dazzle can further improve their damage output with an enemy-targeted Weave.
 * allows Dazzle to further protect his teammates alongside his innate spells. The item increases Dazzle's armor, improving survivability, and gives him bonus HP and mana regen to provide self-sustain. Echo Shell allows Dazzle to dispel debuffs from a target ally and bounce enemy unit-targeted spells back against them. It can discourage enemies from casting spells against important allies, or can be combined with Shallow Grave to help improve survivability.
 * greatly improves the utility of Weave, as Dazzle can either instantly double its effects on allies or enemies, or place the buff and debuff simultaneously ahead of a major teamfight. As well, staggering the use of Weave can also allow Dazzle to double up on other powerful spells and items in teamfights, such as Shallow Grave. It also drastically improves Dazzle's mana regeneration, ensuring that he will never run out of mana to cast his spells.
 * Under unusual situations, Dazzle can be played as a semi-carry, and utilize the "Dazzolator" build to stack armor shred items to inflict tremendous physical damage to the enemy.
 * is the most recommended boots item for the Dazzolator build. The increased attack speed allows Dazzle to better utilize his right-clicks for farming and fighting, while attribute switching can give him whatever attribute is required for the situation.
 * is a relatively cheap item to purchase and greatly increases the lethality of Dazzle's physical attacks. Increasing his attack damage while also causing his attacks to reduce enemy armor allows Dazzle to make quick work of enemies, particularly when combined with an enemy-targeted Weave or Solar Crest.
 * is a useful supplement after acquiring Desolator. It improves Dazzle's strength, providing more HP for survivability, and increased damage and attack speed to make his physical attacks even more potent. The increased attack range combined with the attack speed allow Dazzle to "tag" multiple enemies with Desolator's armor reduction
 * , while expensive, greatly increases Dazzle's offensive potential. By improving his attack speed, Dazzle can take advantage of his high intelligence growth to utilize his highly damaging physical attacks, while the armor greatly improves his physical survivability. The enemy armor reduction aura stacks alongside Weave, causing all allied physical attacks to deal tremendous damage.