Silencer
Hero
Silencer
    19 + 2.7
22 + 2.4
25 + 2.9
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Nortrom, the Silencer, is a ranged intelligence hero who can be played as a support, carry, or initiator. He is one of the few intelligence heroes that truly benefit from intelligence items and is effective against heroes that 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. Arcane Curse slows and causes enemies to lose health for a set duration, but increases with each spell the enemy casts, forcing them to either wait and cast no spell until it expires, or cast spells and prolong the debuff and thus take more damage. 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 duration ends the effects are the same. Glaives of Wisdom is an active attack modifier that deals a percentage of Nortrom's intelligence as pure damage, as well as steal intelligence with every attack. On top of that, the glaives also allow him to permanently steal the intelligence of enemy heroes that die near him or are directly killed by him, adding it to his own. This rewards his presence in teamfights, also making his glaives ever stronger as the battle goes on. 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.
Contents
Bio[edit]
Nortrom, the Silencer▶️ "Enemies should be seen and not heard."
Lore:
Part of the seventh and final generation of a carefully designed pedigree, Nortrom was bred by the ancient order of the Aeol Drias to be the greatest magic user the world had ever seen. He was the prophesied one, the culmination of two-hundred years of careful pairings, a war-mage who would bring glory to the order, and destruction to their sworn enemies, The Knights of the Fold.
Raised with other young mages in a hidden cantonment among the hills of the Hazhadal barrens, the order's preceptors waited for Nortrom's abilities to manifest. While the other students honed their talents with fire, or ice, or incantatory spells, Nortrom sat silent and talentless, unable to cast so much as a hex. As the day of final testing approached, he still hadn't found his magic. In disgust, the preceptors berated him, while the children laughed. "You are no mage," the head of the order declared. Still, Nortrom did not slink away. He entered the day of testing and faced down the young mages who had mocked him. And then his preceptors learned a valuable lesson: a lack of magic can be the greatest magic of all. Nortrom silenced the young mages one by one and defeated them in single combat, until he alone stood as champion of the Aeol Drias, in fulfillment of the prophecy.
Raised with other young mages in a hidden cantonment among the hills of the Hazhadal barrens, the order's preceptors waited for Nortrom's abilities to manifest. While the other students honed their talents with fire, or ice, or incantatory spells, Nortrom sat silent and talentless, unable to cast so much as a hex. As the day of final testing approached, he still hadn't found his magic. In disgust, the preceptors berated him, while the children laughed. "You are no mage," the head of the order declared. Still, Nortrom did not slink away. He entered the day of testing and faced down the young mages who had mocked him. And then his preceptors learned a valuable lesson: a lack of magic can be the greatest magic of all. Nortrom silenced the young mages one by one and defeated them in single combat, until he alone stood as champion of the Aeol Drias, in fulfillment of the prophecy.
Voice:
Abilities[edit]
Curses the target area, causing enemy heroes to take damage and slowing their movement speed. Anytime affected enemies cast a spell, the duration is increased.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.37
Cast Range: 1000
Radius: 425
Damage per Second: 16/24/32/40 (
46/54/62/70)
46/54/62/70)Move Speed Slow: 9%/12%/15%/18% ( 29%/32%/35%/38%)
29%/32%/35%/38%)Base Duration: 6
Penalty Duration: 5
20/ 14/12.6/11.2/9.8)
125/
Slow persists and attempts to damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.Modifiers
modifier_silencer_curse_of_the_silent: Dispellable with any dispel.Nortrom's lack of incantations is less of a problem for him than it is for his adversaries.
Notes:
- Whenever an affected unit casts an ability, the duration is increased by 5. This effect has no stack limit.
- Fully ignores toggle abilities, active attack modifiers and the abilities listed here.
- If an affected unit gets silenced, the duration is paused until the silence expires.
- However, the slow and damage are not paused while silenced and still slow and continue to tick.
- Successive casts of Arcane Curse fully stack, always placing an independent debuff.
- Deals damage in 1-second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is applied, resulting in 6 (+5 per penalty) instances.
- Can deal up to 96/144/192/240 + 80/120/160/200 per penalty ( 276/324/372/420 + 230/270/310/350 per penalty) damage to a single unit (before reductions).
- Can deal up to 96/144/192/240 + 80/120/160/200 per penalty (
- The sound effect played on every damage instance is only audible to the affected unit's player.
Silencer enchants his glaives with his wisdom, dealing additional damage based on his Intelligence. Silencer temporarily steals his target's intelligence with each hit.
Cast Range: 600 ( 700)
700)Permanent Intelligence Steal Radius: 925
Permanent Intelligence Steal: 2 ( 4)
4)Intelligence as Damage: 15%/35%/55%/75% ( 30%/50%/70%/90%)
30%/50%/70%/90%)Temporary Intelligence Steal: 1/1/2/3
Temporary Steal Duration: 10/20/30/40
Bounce Search Radius: 600 Number of Bounces: 1 Bounce Attack Damage as Damage: 50% 0 15
Causes Glaives to bounce once towards the closest enemy unit, dealing 50% of Silencer's attack damage. Bounce range is 600.
When disjointed by the primary attack target, it does not bounce. When disjointed by a secondary target, the disjointing unit is not registered as hit, meaning the attack can immediately bounce on it again if within range. A disjointed bounce still counts towards the max bounces.
Illusions cannot steal intelligence.Although the status buff is copied by illusions, the stolen intelligence is not copied.
Modifiers
modifier_silencer_glaives_of_wisdom: Undispellable. Persists death. modifier_silencer_glaives_of_wisdom_buff: Dispellable with death only. modifier_silencer_glaives_of_wisdom_buff_counter: Dispellable with death only. modifier_silencer_glaives_of_wisdom_debuff: Dispellable with death only. modifier_silencer_glaives_of_wisdom_debuff_counter: Dispellable with death only.Although lacking in traditional incantations, Nortrom's pedigree of the Aeol Drias gives him uncanny wisdom, which he applies to physical combat.
Notes:
- The cast range of Glaves of Wisdom is based on the attack range of the caster.
- The cast range can be further increased by other attack range bonuses. However, it is not affected by cast range bonuses.
- The level 20 talent bonus attack range talent increases the cast range to 700.
- The bonus damage is dealt in a separate damage instance, and counts as spell damage.
- This means it is not affected or considered by anything that works with attack damage.
- This also means that it fully works with spell damage amplification and spell lifesteal.
- Deals its damage before the attack damage is applied, but still depends on the attack hitting the target.
- Checks Silencer's intelligence upon projectile hit, so changes in his intelligence while the projectile flies affect its damage.
- Steals intelligence before applying its damage, so it does affect Glaives of Wisdom's damage right away.
- Cannot reduce enemy intelligence below 0, but Silencer always gains the full amount of intelligence, no matter how much the target has left.
- Cannot steal intelligence from illusions or from Meepo Clones, but can steal from Tempest Doubles.
- The target effectively loses 12/12/24/36 mana and 0.05/0.05/0.1/0.15 mana regeneration (and 1/1/2/3 attack damage if it is an intelligence hero).
- Vice versa, effectively increases Silencer's mana, mana regeneration, and attack damage by the same amount per cast.
- Also reduces the target's current mana by 12 per stolen intelligence, instead of keeping the current mana percentage.
- Effectively removes 12/12/24/36 current mana from the target. This lost mana is returned upon the debuff expiring.
- Unlike the target, Silencer keeps his current mana percentage upon gaining and losing the intelligence.
- Each attack places a new hidden modifier buff/debuff on both Silencer and the target. This means their durations are independent from each other.
- The counter modifiers on both Silencer and his targets show how much intelligence they gained or lost.
- Upon death, the dying hero's intelligence restores back to its normal values, while the other party keeps the changed intelligence values for the remaining duration.
- Permanently stolen intelligence is directly removed from the enemy's base intelligence and added to Silencer's base intelligence.
- It does not matter how an enemy hero within the radius dies, Silencer always steals its intelligence.
- Silencer also always steals intelligence when he deals the killing blow on an enemy hero, regardless of distance.
- However, Silencer needs to be alive as the kill happens to steal the intelligence.
- Cannot steal intelligence from illusions or hero clones. When killing Meepo or his clones, only the main Meepo gets intelligence stolen.
- Cannot reduce enemy base intelligence below 1. Silencer also does not gain intelligence from heroes that are at 1 intelligence.
- Enemy heroes effectively lose 24 ( 48) mana and 0.1 ( 0.2) mana regeneration (and 2 ( 4) attack damage if it is an intelligence hero).
- Vice versa, effectively increases Silencer's mana, mana regeneration, and attack damage by the same amount per stack.
- The permanent intelligence steal is not retroactive, it cannot gain charges from kills and deaths before Glaives of Wisdom is learned.
- With Aghanim's Shard, the Glaives of Wisdom bounces towards the closest enemy unit within 600 range of the attack target.
- The bouncing glaive travels at the same speed as the leading attack's projectile, and is affected by projectile speed changing effects as well.
- Does not perform instant attacks. The projectile is entirely spell-based.
- This means they do not trigger any attack modifier or on-hit effects, and ignore evasion. However, damage block affects them.
- Their damage counts as spell damage, however, they ignore outgoing spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.
- The glaives deal damage based on the damage amount calculated for the leading attack. Attack damage amount is calculated upon attack begin.
- This means it works with Critical Strike and Quell, since these are included in the initial damage calculations.
- This also means that it does not matter how much damage the attack actually did to the target, since that part is being calculated on projectile hit.
- It also means that other conditional attack damage bonuses like a Javelin proc are not included, since these happen later as well.
- The bouncing glaive still applies the intelligence-based damage separately, and steals intelligence of its target as well, if it is a hero.
Last Word
Enchants a target, providing vision of them and causing them to be damaged and silenced if they cast a spell or if the enchantment timer expires. Deals extra damage based on the difference in intelligence between Silencer and the target.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.47
Cast Range: 900
Base Damage: 120/160/200/240
Intelligence Difference Multiplier: 1.5/2/2.5/3
Initial Debuff Duration: 4
Silence Duration: 3/4/5/6
Radius: 650 22/ 15.4/12.6/9.8/7) 100/
Causes Last Word to become an AoE ability. Does not attempt to damage or silence if initial debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled. Silence persists if silence debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.
Blocked upon cast. Not blocked when upgraded.Modifiers
modifier_silencer_last_word: Dispellable with any dispel. modifier_silencer_last_word_disarm: Dispellable with any dispel.Nortrom ensures that spells uttered by his opponents will be their last.
Notes:
- When the target casts an ability during the 4 seconds initial debuff duration, the target gets damaged, then silenced, and then the cast ability takes effect.
- Although the silence happens first, the ability's effects are already queued up, therefore the silence does not prevent the target from casting the ability.
- However death does stop the ability, meaning if the damage from Last Word is enough to kill the target, the cast ability does not go off.
- This also means that damage negating spells like Refraction and abilities that provide spell immunity do not block Last Word's damage.
- Does not trigger on toggle abilities, active attack modifiers and the abilities listed here.
- Triggers on channeling abilities, but waits for the channeling to stop first.
- With Phase Shift, Last Word only applies its effects when the ability is canceled by the player prematurely.
- This means if Phase Shift expires on its own, Last Word's damage and silence are not applied.
- When the initial debuff expires, it still damages and silences the target.
- Last Word first applies the debuff, then the damage.
- If the target has no intelligence, only the base damage is applied.
- The initial debuff provides shared vision over the target for its duration.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Last Word turns into an area-targeted ability, so that it cannot directly target units anymore.
- Can target invisible units and units inside the Fog of War.
Ability
No Target
No Target
Affects
Enemies
Enemies
Silencer stops all sound, preventing enemy heroes and units on the map from casting spells.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.37
Radius: Global
Duration: 4.5/5.25/6
130/ 91/80.5/70) 300/Modifiers
modifier_silencer_global_silence: Dispellable with any dispel.With a shock to the ground, all magic and sound pauses, and Nortrom fulfills his prophecy.
Notes:
- The silence affects spell immune, invisible and invulnerable creeps, summons and heroes. Does not affect hidden units.
- The sound effect of Global Silence which plays on each enemy's hero has the highest sound priority in the game.
- This means it heavily tones down other game sounds for enemies, making it basically the only sound they can hear during the silence.
Talents[edit]
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| 30% Cooldown Reduction | 25 | +15% Glaives of Wisdom Damage |
| +20% Arcane Curse Slow | 20 | +100 Attack Range |
| +2 Intelligence Steal | 15 | +30 Arcane Curse Damage |
| +20 Attack Speed | 10 | +6 Armor |
Notes:
- The attack range talent also affects the cast range of Glaives of Wisdom.
- The cooldown reduction talent stacks multiplicatively with other sources cooldown reduction.
Recent Changes[edit]
Main Article: Silencer/Changelogs
Version
Description
- Arcane Curse
- The damage is no longer stops ticking when the debuff duration gets paused by silence.
- Reduced damage per second from 16/26/36/46 to 16/24/32/40.
- Reduced Last Word mana cost from 115 on each level to 100/105/110/115.
- Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Fixed Glaives of Wisdom bounce's non-glaive damage being reduced too much.
- Talents:
- Level 10 right talent: +5 armor increased to +6.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Increased Last Word radius from 600 to 650.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Silencer:
- Causes Glaives of Wisdom to bounce to the closest enemy unit within 600 radius, applying its effects and dealing damage equal to 50% of Silencer's attack damage.
Recommended Items[edit]
Starting items:
- Tango sustains Silencer's health in lane; as a support, he can also share the item with his team.
- Healing Salve also restores health to Silencer or an ally.
- Clarity allows Silencer to harass enemies with his abilities as needed.
- Null Talisman provides damage for securing last hits and denies and amplifies the damage from glaives.
Early game:
- Magic Wand has all the benefits of Magic Stick, along with providing stats and greater charge storage. As Silencer is quite vulnerable to enemy attacks even as a carry, burst HP regen is always helpful.
- Boots of Speed help Silencer get close enough to use abilities, and potentially get kills or assists to enjoy Intelligence Steal.
- Wind Lace also provides movement speed boost. Additionally, it can build into Eul's Scepter of Divinity or Drum of Endurance.
- Town Portal Scroll transports Silencer to fights in order to steal early intelligence.
Mid game:
- Witch Blade is the best first item for Silencer giving him intelligence, armor, attack speed and perfect passive that synergies with passive effects of glaives.
- Power Treads provides Silencer with attack speed and appropriate attributes, particularly strength to give him more health. The ability to switch attributes can help with spell casting and outputting damage.
- Hurricane Pike can be used on himself or a teammate as an escape mechanism or him to close the distance upon a fleeing enemy, or can be used to push an enemy out of position. Also, it improves his attack range and allowing him to finish off an opponent with four glaives at long range.
- Orchid Malevolence is a powerful item to build on a carry Silencer, synergizing with all of his spells. Orchid is the only item which gives a large amount of int, mana regeneration, attack speed, and attack damage in one spot, and they're all things Silencer needs if he wants to be an effective carry.
- Arcane Curse's duration pauses when silenced, so a third source of silences increases the effectiveness of this spell, and increases the likelihood of being able to apply a second curse, before the first wears off.
- Glaives of Wisdom get more damage and more attack speed, plus Orchid's active will amplify all the damage done during its duration.
- Last word's biggest weakness is the 4 second delay before damage and silence is inflicted, allowing ganked targets to cast an escape spell. By using Soul Burn, then Last word, the delay duration becomes a benefit, as it provides True Sight over the target for the full duration, and continues into a total of 11 seconds of silence without using Silencer's ultimate.
Late game:
- Bloodthorn, upgraded from Orchid Malevolence, provides additional critical strike and True Strike to counter evasion and bring down even the tankiest heroes.
- Scythe of Vyse provides a strong disable. It also gives intelligence and strength, as well as powerful mana regeneration to sustain his abilities.
- Black King Bar greatly increases Silencer's survivability with strength and spell immunity so he can continue to output damage without worrying about enemy disables.
Situational items:
- Drum of Endurance suits an offensive Silencer in the early game, increasing the power of pushes with attack speed and improving his ability to chase enemies with movement speed.
- Glimmer Cape, a support item, grants invisibility and magic resistance to Silencer and allies so they can escape.
- Blink Dagger is a powerful mobility tool, no matter what role Silencer is played in. As a support he can easily position himself to cast his disables on the enemy, as well as use it to evade enemy ganks. As a carry, it gives him strong positioning, allowing him to move quickly into a fight to attack after disabling the enemy with his ultimate. Or to simply blink in to steal intelligence from dying enemy heroes.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity increases movement speed and mana regeneration so Silencer can make plays on the map. The active Cyclone can disable enemies, remove debuffs from yourself, and make yourself temporarily invulnerable.
- Rod of Atos provides both intelligence and strength, as well as a root to catch enemies out of position, or to hold them in place so Silencer can retreat.
- Shiva's Guard increases Silencer's survivability against physical damage while also granting him more intelligence to fuel his abilities and attacks, making it a well-rounded item. The slow can also help chase down fleeing enemies more easily.
- Nullifier synergizes well with silence so enemies cannot use abilities or items, while being slow every time an attack land on them.
- Refresher Orb, an ultimate late game item, enables Silencer to inflict a 12 seconds silence at highest level that pierces spell immunity and invulnerability, shutting down enemy heroes who rely on using abilities in team fights. It also refreshes items so he can use Black King Bar or Bloodthorn a second time, improving survivability and damage output.
Gameplay[edit]
| Roles: | Carry Support Disabler Initiator Nuker |
|---|---|
| Complexity: | ★★☆ |
| Playstyle: | Two hundred years of selective breeding had produced Nortrom, the prophesied war-mage that would bring glory to the order of Aeol Drias. Therefore, disgust and disappointment followed when it was found that the boy could cast not even a hex. Yet, on the day of final testing, Nortrom would have the Last Word. His arranged opponents fell under an Arcane Curse, draining their health with each incantation made. Then, there was Global Silence. Not a gasp or whisper escaped their lips as Nortrom finished off each challenger with his multipronged Glaives of Wisdom. At that moment, it became clear to all watching: The absence of magic can be the greatest magic of all. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- Unlike most heroes, Silencer's attack projectiles actually use the model of his equipped cosmetic weapon.
- Like Death Prophet, Omniknight and Io, Silencer received a color palette change, changing his model and icons, having his former red armor replaced with violet.
- Before his palette change, newer players would occasionally mistake Silencer for Dragon Knight, and he would sometimes be referred to as "The other Dragon Knight". Even after the palette swap, some older players may refer to him as "Purple Dragon Knight".
- Silencer's spell sound effects are based on some of his voice lines. Arcane Curse debuff sounds is based on "▶️ Curse you!", Last Word is based on one of his laughing lines and Global Silence is based on ▶️ this.
- Chen is a member of the Knights of the Fold which would make him an enemy to Silencer based on Silencer's background. Despite this, there is no dialogue between the two heroes.
Gallery[edit]
Splash artwork
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
