Silencer

Nortrom the Silencer is a ranged Intelligence hero who can be played as a Support, Carry or Initiator. He is one of the minority of Intelligence heroes who truly benefits from Intelligence items and is effective against Heroes who rely mostly on spells, as he can silence them while stealing their Intelligence and adding it to his own. He is a notorious anti-caster hero who can disrupt the magical abilities of his enemies and cripple spellcasters throughout the game. Curse of the Silent causes enemies to lose health and mana until the end of the duration or until the enemy casts a spell. Last Word places a curse on Nortrom's target that damages and silences for a long duration if the target casts a spell. If the target does not cast a spell before the curse's duration ends they will be damaged, silenced, and disarmed. Glaives of Wisdom is a Unique Attack Modifier that deals a percentage of Nortrom's intelligence as pure damage. Nortrom's ultimate, Global Silence, silences all enemy units on the map for a few seconds. A well-timed Global Silence can be used to save yourself or an ally, initiate a teamfight, or ruin the enemy's initiation.

While it used to be a passive component of Glaives of Wisdom, Silencer himself now has an innate passive ability. Intelligence Steal permanently steals the intelligence of enemy heroes that die near him and adds it to his own. This rewards his presence in teamfights, also making his Glaives ever stronger as the battle goes on.

Tips

 * The large radius on Curse of the Silent makes him a very strong harasser.
 * Curse of the Silent is great against heroes like Tiny or Pudge that require a lot of mana to cast very early on.
 * Take at least one level of Glaives of Wisdom early game. This can be used to harass by Orb Walking.
 * Silencer can be considered a counter-initiate hero, because of his high disruption with Global Silence. Use this knowledge to completely cripple enemies that could do anything dangerous to your team.
 * Against heroes that have low mana cost abilities, it's best to let them expend mana before you cast Curse of the Silent, as it is your main source of damage early game.
 * Silencer is able to become a carry via high intelligence coupled with Glaives of Wisdom, whether he gains that intelligence by kills or by items.
 * Last Word, now an active skill, curses his target to be faced with unfortunate consequences, if they cast a spell during the debuff duration, they will be silenced and damaged, this is perfect for breaking the spell combo of his enemies like Tiny and Tinker. If they don't cast a spell until the duration. they will still be silenced and damaged, but they will also be disarmed, this works well with Curse of the Silent and Global Silence, and it's crucial for enemy carries who rely on their physical attacks, as they can't attack or even cast spells for a long time.
 * Last Word effectively gives the enemy a choice - cast a spell, likely wasting mana due to bad timing or a lack of player-targets for the spell, or don't cast a spell - and be disarmed in addition to the silence.
 * A Dagon can be purchased by Silencer, adding powerful burst damage to his arsenal and increasing his intelligence. This along with Silencer's other nukes can easily kill most enemies early game.
 * With Last Word no longer a passive, it's ideal to build a Black King Bar and/or a Linken's Sphere against him now as he can no longer passively break the spell combo of his foes, it's crucial against heroes who use their combo with a stun or any form of disable.
 * If Silencer is fighting against Outworld Devourer, it is possible that Outworld Devourer's Sanity's Eclipse will be ineffective against Silencer as long as Silencer's Intelligence can surpass Outworld Devourer's due to his innate Intelligence steal.

Trivia

 * Silencer, along with Death Prophet and  Io, had his costume and ability colors changed to a different color. Silencer's change was probably made to vary from  Dragon Knight, who shared nearly the same color palette as him.
 * Unlike most heroes, Silencer's attack projectiles actually use the model of his equipped cosmetic weapon.