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 isn't lethal and won't 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 doesn't 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.

Tips

 * 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 will 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. Because of its disable potential, at least one early level is recommended, if not the first spell you take.
 * Venomous Gale is one of the best ranged slows at level 1. 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 will render you unable to cast any other spells for some time unless you have a Clarity or other form of mana regen.
 * Keep in mind that Venomous Gale deals no damage over time at level 1. Therefore, if you want the spell to do more than apply a small amount of initial damage and slow its victims, at least one additional level should be taken.
 * Try to keep Venomous Gale off cooldown unless it is absolutely needed. Its cooldown is quite long, and you may need to use its slow on enemy heroes when an unexpected situation arises.
 * applies a movement speed slow and damage over time to Venomancer's attacks, allowing him to use his right-clicks as a form of disable. Half of the damage from this ability (but not the slow) is also applied to Plague Ward attacks.
 * Poison Sting deals small amounts of damage and the slow scales poorly, however it has a very long duration at max level, allowing it to deal a surprising amount of damage over time. The ability is best used to apply a "permanent" movement speed slow to all enemy heroes in a fight or gank, reducing their ability to chase or escape.
 * 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. As such, make sure to regularly attack enemy players with your right-clicks in order to inflict player damage on them.
 * Poison Sting is not a Unique Attack Modifier, and as such it can be combined with other slow modifiers such as to give your attacks increased slowing power.
 * 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 will drastically increase the amount of damage you can do to them, as they will all be 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 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 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 when 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, and they will attack targets 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.
 * 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 will cost 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 will 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 will concentrate their firepower and reduce the amount of damage you take, plus it 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 neighboring 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, constantly put Plague Wards ahead of them to maintain sight. They can also help slow the enemy by blocking their path.
 * 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.
 * Unless you have teammates who can follow up, do not use out of spite if you are about to be killed, as the cooldown is very long and it will 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 will then reduce 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.
 * Other items not listed under Situational items can be useful to Venomancer's kit:
 * 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.
 * 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're 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 almost mandatory for a frail support that is being focused down by the enemy team constantly. As it prevents you from suffering Physical damage, it can give you enough time to cast Poison Nova and Venomous Gale on the enemy team, increasing your teamfight contribution.
 * 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 will permanently solve 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.

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.