Venomancer

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.

Recommended items
Starting items:
 * and  allow you to stay in lane longer without going back to the fountain.
 * gives you some armor while laning, and can be upgraded to a from the side shop.
 * As a support, purchasing the  is essential for your team.
 * 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 once at level 1 drains more than half of your mana pool.

Early game:
 * should be purchased if you have enough gold to do so at the 3 minute mark. Giving your mid the ability to retrieve needed items more easily, as well as bottle crow as necessary, are essential to giving your team a major strategic advantage.
 * provides good regeneration, especially if you are laning against opponents who keep casting their abilities.
 * are important to get early on Venomancer, as his base movement speed is quite low. More mobility allows you to position yourself for your spells, particularly getting within range to cast.
 * solves most of your problems in the early game. It gives flat mana regeneration, which is useful due to Venomancer's low base intelligence, as well as good attributes and some armor. The mana regen allows you to place s without running out of mana, and the armor aura can also help you push lanes more easily due to giving your lane creeps more survivability.
 * s 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.

Core items:
 * gives attributes and regeneration: it is always handy to have this item for emergencies.
 * are a good purchase as the extra attributes can be used either to increase your intelligence to make casting easier or to increase your strength to give you more survivability. Additionally, the bonus attack speed helps you with applying to enemies with your attacks.
 * greatly increases the killing potential of : it can deal tremendous amounts of magical damage to the entire enemy team, making it perfect for initiations when assisted by teammates.
 * s are a core requirement as a support. While you can place Plague Wards to scout enemy movement, they are limited in vision, duration and sight range, and can be far more easily spotted and destroyed.
 * is necessary on virtually all heroes, but is important in Venomancer's case due to his ability to show up to teamfights to cast his nukes and slows, and defend a tower and counter-push at the same time. As well, his low mobility and lack of escape abilities means that having a TP scroll on hand at all times should be the case.

Situational items:
 * provides attributes and armor for Venomancer as well as the item's active, Magic Weakness, which increases the effectiveness of all of Venomancer's spells and even his passive. Though not as powerful as Aghanim's Scepter regarding Poison Nova, it is much cheaper and easier to build. Combining both can result in an astounding amount of damage over time, and also benefits teammates if you have a caster-heavy lineup.
 * gives a lot of mana regeneration, some movement speed and intelligence, eliminating your mobility and mana issues almost entirely. It also makes positioning for casting your spells easier by disabling an opponent for a short time, and can be used to temporarily save yourself after casting Poison Nova amongst the middle of the enemy team.
 * is the best choice if you are your team's main initiator. Use it to position yourself before casting Poison Nova and/or Venomous Gale.
 * gives more damage, more attack speed and a useful escape mechanism. You can also use its ability to initiate on the enemy team and cast your ultimate.
 * is a very expensive item and generally not recommended when playing as a support. It drastically increases Venomancer's attack speed and damage, as well as giving him evasion and a small amount of armor, allowing him to weather physical attacks better and apply Poison Sting to multiple targets over a short amount of time.
 * solves all of your mana problems and gives you more physical damage per second. Additionally, the silence can be used to disable enemies, which is useful both as a semi-carry and support.
 * gives Venomancer more overall stats, as well as movement speed. Its active can be used to remove debuffs from yourself, and the illusions can assist in applying slows to enemy targets.
 * gives Venomancer stats across the board, and the increased movement speed can offset his low mobility somewhat. The extra attack speed also helps him apply his Poison Sting more easily.
 * is a highly expensive item, but can give Venomancer many strong benefits. The item grants increased HP and mana, as well as additional mana regen, giving Venomancer more staying power. More importantly, the cooldown reduction allows Venomancer to place Plague Wards much more frequently, and the spell lifesteal combined with his powerful damage-over-time spells, particularly Poison Nova, give him immense survivability in any fight as he can regenerate health almost as quickly as he takes damage.
 * is a stronger permanent investment but also risks surrendering the gem to the enemy if they can successfully kill Venomancer.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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.