Strategy
Gameplay[]
| Playstyle | |
|---|---|
| Vengeful Spirit is a very strong and well-balanced support who specializes in roaming, ganking, and disabling. She possesses a basic disable and nuke in Magic Missile that can bounce to a secondary target if the Aghanim's Shard was acquired. Wave of Terror lowers enemies' armor, provides vision, and deals a small amount of damage, which makes it useful as a scouting spell. Vengeance Aura provides bonus basic attack damage to allies while also being able to create an illusion of Vengeful Spirit whenever she dies if an Aghanim's Scepter was acquired. Her ultimate, Nether Swap, allows her to swap positions with a hero, which can result in swapping with an enemy for a gank, or a teammate to save their life (often at the cost of hers). Unlike most other casting supports, her skill set emphasizes physical damage over magical, allowing her abilities to be useful in the late game. | |
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
Support[]
- Vengeful Spirit is often picked as a Support with her main purpose is to help her allies secure kills easily with her wide array of powerful spells.
Carry[]
- Sometimes Vengeful Spirit is played as a semi-carry due to her abilities benefitting well when combined with powerful items.
- Common carry build items for Vengeful Spirit includes Black King Bar and Hurricane Pike.
- Although squishy and lacking mobility, when picked the right items and talent, she could become a formidable semi-carry.
Ability Builds[]
| Generic Vengeful Spirit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 25 | |||||
 |  | |  | |  | | | |  | | | | | | |  | | | | |||||
Talents[]
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| -18s Nether Swap Cooldown | 25 | +16% Vengeance Aura Base Damage Bonus |
| Wave of Terror Steals +20% Of Reduced Damage And Armor | 20 | +200 Magic Missile Damage |
| -2s Magic Missile Cooldown | 15 | -5 Wave of Terror Armor |
| +125 Magic Missile Cast Range | 10 | +200 Nether Swap Enemy Damage |
Tips & Tactics[]
General[]
- Because of her combination of disables and debuffs, Vengeful Spirit is an excellent roaming partner, as she can reliably stun an enemy and reduce their armor, setting them up for being finished off by teammates. Her lack of meaningful damage output and more than one disable means that she must rely on her teammates to land follow-up stuns and kill the target, however.
- Unlike most casting-focused supports, Vengeful Spirit benefits from an innately high strength and agility growth, giving her plenty of HP and armor. This means that, despite her sacrificial nature, she is very resilient against all types of damage, and under unusual circumstances can transition into playing as a semi-carry.
- Vengeful Spirit is a very item-independent hero, and can greatly contribute to fights and ganks even with only a few basic items. Combined with her strong ganking prowess, she should focus on constantly roaming and engaging the enemy, singling out key targets for elimination to buy time and space for her team.
- Due to her skill set, Vengeful Spirit benefits from building support utility items that grant her team an advantage in fights. Her ability to displace heroes with Nether Swap means that she benefits greatly from building mobility items that help her initiate, and her low base intelligence ensures that she must purchase mana items to allow her to cast her spells more regularly.
Abilities[]
Magic Missile[]
- Magic Missile is a basic unit-targeted nuke that stuns and deals damage to the target.
- Because it is Vengeful Spirit's only damage nuke, Magic Missile is a good spell to max out first, as magic damage is more powerful in the early game when heroes have small HP pools.
- Beware that Magic Missile has a very high mana cost relative to Vengeful Spirit's mana pool, and will deplete more than half of it at level 1. The target for Magic Missile must be chosen with care, as wasting the spell on a failed gank will set her back greatly.
- Magic Missile is a reliable stun since it will home in on its target, however it also has a very short disable duration that allows its target to act earlier. This makes Magic Missile a strong initiating stun, but also means that it requires follow-up disables from allies in order to ensure a successful kill.
- Magic Missile is capable of bouncing to a secondary target if Aghanim's Shard was acquired, therefore effectively doubling her disabler potential during teamfights.
Wave of Terror[]
- Wave of Terror is a long-ranged spell that decreases enemy armor while dealing minor damage.
- Wave of Terror is a good candidate for maxing out early in a game, since its armor reduction can soften up enemies to weaken them against physical damage. It is a strong spell at all points in the game, since physical damage becomes a stronger factor in teamfights in the late game.
- Combined with Magic Missile, Wave of Terror is a strong set-up ability that damages and debuffs a gank target after they are stunned. The combination of stun, damage, and armor reduction from both abilities will greatly weaken an enemy, making them much easier to kill by Vengeful Spirit and partners.
- Despite its narrow width, Wave of Terror has an extremely long cast range, capable of inflicting its debuff on targets from far away. This allows Vengeful Spirit to get off the debuff very reliably, inflicting multiple enemies with armor reduction before the start of a teamfight.
- While it deals a very small amount of damage, Wave of Terror's long cast range allows it to be used to deal player-based damage at long range. This allows the spell to be used to put an enemy Blink Dagger on cooldown, burn their Healing Salve or Clarity, and numerous other effects.
- Wave of Terror provides vision over its travel path, allowing the spell to be used to scout enemies in the fog of war. Combined with its ability to put Blink Dagger on cooldown, Vengeful Spirit can use it to scout out hidden initiators and foul their attempts to initiate on her team. As well, the vision and damage can be used to reveal enemies inside of treelines, particularly useful for hunting down split-pushers like Tinker, Nature's Prophet and Broodmother.
Vengeance Aura[]
- Vengeance Aura increases right clicking damage for any ally hero around her.
- Upon acquiring Aghanim's Scepter, whenever Vengeful Spirit dies, an illusion of her spawns in her place. This illusion can cast spells and moves faster, thus enabling Vengeful Spirit to partake in fights even after death.
- The Vengeance Illusion spawns with all of its abilities off cooldown, allowing her to immediately cast Nether Swap or Magic Missile again after dying. In some cases, intentionally getting killed can allow Vengeful Spirit to contribute more to a fight.
Nether Swap[]
- Nether Swap, Vengeful Spirit's signature ability, allows her to immediately reposition herself and a target hero, enemy or ally.
- Despite its simple mechanic, Nether Swap is an extremely flexible spell, allowing Vengeful Spirit to use it for a variety of purposes. Good use of Nether Swap requires impeccable positioning on Vengeful Spirit's part, but can make or break crucial teamfights and engagements, and in the right circumstances can outright win a match.
- The most basic use of Nether Swap is to displace an important enemy hero, immediately placing them in the middle of Vengeful Spirit's allies and effectively securing a guaranteed kill in the right circumstances. Similarly, it can be cast on an ally who has been caught by the enemy team, bringing them to immediate safety at the cost of her own life.
- In the early game, try to utilize the environment and architecture to your advantage, when allies alone cannot guarantee a kill. For instance, positioning Vengeful Spirit within attack range of an allied tower before swapping with an enemy will bring them inside of the tower's range, which can be followed up with by Magic Missile to increase the number of tower attacks they are forced to take.
- Nether Swap pierces spell immunity and interrupts channeling abilities, making it a strong spell even if it is not used to explicitly gank an enemy or save a teammate. For instance, an Enigma who is channeling Black Hole can be immediately interrupted from a distance even if he has an active Black King Bar. The same applies to Freezing Field, Death Ward, and so on. Additionally, Nether Swap can be cast to immediately break Flaming Lasso if cast from a great enough distance.
- Keep in mind that Nether Swap can be combined with other forced movement items and abilities. For instance, Force Staff can be used to push Vengeful Spirit back to safety after swapping out an enemy, and similar results can be obtained with an allied X Marks the Spot.
- Nether Swap can also make unreliable disables and nukes easier to land by allies, with good communication and timing. For instance, standing on top of a large Techies trap or in the path of an allied Sacred Arrow or Meat Hook can allow allies to instantly secure kills using Nether Swap.
- Be careful about Vengeful Spirit's positioning prior to casting Nether Swap, and which heroes to cast it on. Placing an enemy initiator or disabler in the middle of Vengeful Spirit's team can allow them to initiate on them with abilities like Ravage or Echo Slam. Pick your target with care, and always be sure that Vengeful Spirit herself is in a position that allies are capable of exploiting prior to swapping an enemy in.
- If being pursued by multiple heroes, Nether Swap can be used as a juking spell. By targeting it on the furthest enemy hero, Vengeful Spirit can cause the nearest pursuers to overshoot due to a sudden change in direction, giving her extra time to escape in a different direction.
- Nether Swap deals damage to an enemy target, narrowing their escape routes by disabling Blink Dagger-based items.
Items[]
Starting items:
- Tango helps Vengeful Spirit sustain during the laning phase, preventing her from returning to base due to enemy harassment.
- Clarity is crucial for replenishing Vengeful Spirit's mana from casting Magic Missile during early ganks, as her small base mana pool means that she will run completely out after one or two casts.
- Iron Branch is a cheap way to improve Vengeful Spirit's attributes, particularly her HP and mana, both of which are lacking in the early game. It can be used to build Magic Wand later.
- Observer Ward are crucial for purchasing regularly as a support hero. Map vision provides intelligence about enemy movements, and is particularly useful for Vengeful Spirit given her ability to roam and get kills on lone enemies.
Early game:
- Regular Stick is a useful pickup never.
- Boots of Speed are essential early on for Vengeful Spirit, as the improved speed will allow her to escape deadly situations, as well as quickly get within range to stun them with Magic Missile.
- Pavise provides protection against physical damage with its damage barrier, allowing Vengeful Spirit to give herself or a teammate an advantage when trading blows.
Mid game:
- Magic Wand is a useful pick up for completely different reasons from Regular Stick. Its attribute bonuses are very useful on low-farm supports, and the actual charge storage allows Vengeful Spirit to instantly replenish a large fraction of her HP and mana, enough to stay in a fight long enough to make a greater difference.
- Power Treads increase Vengeful Spirit's attack speed. The ability to switch attributes allows her to either give herself more HP for survivability, more mana for casting her powerful spells, or more damage and attack speed for damage output.
- Solar Crest builds from Pavise and heavily enables an allied carry in battle. Shine can combine with Nether Swap for high defensive utility with the stacking barriers or with Wave of Terror to pair with the attack speed bonus.
- Force Staff is a cheap support item that is very useful on Vengeful Spirit. It can be used to re-position her in order to cast her abilities particularly Magic Missile and Nether Swap. It can also be used to escape from failed fights or ganks as well as save nearby allies, or push enemies into your grasp. It also improves her mana pool, allowing her to cast her spells more often in fights.
Late game:
- Aether Lens increases the size of her meager mana pool, allowing her to cast her spells more easily, and provides mana regen for improved sustainability. Boosting the cast range on all of her spells allows her to stun enemies with Magic Missile from farther away, and debuff more enemies with Wave of Terror. But most importantly, it increases the cast range of Nether Swap, allowing her to displace enemies from long distances.
Situational items:
- Tranquil Boots are a powerful alternative option for a roaming Vengeful Spirit. The increased movement speed allows her to roam more effectively, chasing down enemies more quickly to stun them. The passive HP regen can replenish any HP lost during an engagement, allowing Vengeful Spirit to be ready for another gank shortly afterward.
- Arcane Boots is a good support item that helps Vengeful Spirit and any roaming partners to cast their spells. Increasing the size of Vengeful Spirit's mana pool reduces the strain of casting Magic Missile and Nether Swap, and the active can allow her to replenish her own mana pool and that of teammates, whether they need their spells to function in teamfights or to kill gank targets.
- Blink Dagger is extremely strong in the hands of Vengeful Spirit. While it cannot be used to trap enemies on impassable terrain with Nether Swap, it greatly increases her mobility and lets her quickly get in position to stun an enemy or swap a key target. It also greatly improves her roaming potential as she can traverse over cliffs and trees while hunting for targets.
- Desolator is a powerful carry item that boosts Vengeful Spirit's damage output. Combining the attack modifier with Wave of Terror and Medallion of Courage can reduce a target's armor by up to 19, which can be enough to bring down even the tankiest heroes.
- Butterfly is an expensive but strong luxury item for a carry build. The item drastically increases Vengeful Spirit's physical damage output, particularly when combined with Wave of Terror, and provides evasion to make her harder to focus down in engagements.
- Manta Style increases Vengeful Spirit's carry potential further. It improves her overall attributes, particularly her agility, and improves her movement speed for better mobility. The active allows her to remove debuffs from herself while also creating illusions to confuse the enemy; as well, the illusions can carry Vengeance Aura to benefit her team even while she herself is not within range.
- Aeon Disk enhances Vengeful Spirit's survivability and ability usage with health and mana. Furthermore, the strong dispel, status resistance, and damage reduction gives her a much higher chance of survival when swapping herself into a group of enemy heroes.
- Drum of Endurance gives Vengeful Spirit all-around attributes for a cheap price, and the active provides increased movement and attack speed for both herself and nearby allies, allowing Vengeful Spirit and her team to chase down enemies during ganks, or escape from pursuers.
- Glimmer Cape is a strong utility item on any support hero. Vengeful Spirit can use it in conjunction with Nether Swap to help ensure that an endangered ally survives, and cast on herself can improve her ganking ability as she can approach targets invisibly before disabling them with Magic Missile.
- Soul Ring is a cheap mana item that improves Vengeful Spirit's ability to roam independently. It gives her health regeneration, allowing her to sustain her HP more easily without going back to base. The active allows her to draw on her HP pool for immediate mana, useful for getting the mana she needs to cast Magic Missile and Nether Swap.
- Urn of Shadows is a useful roaming item that gives Vengeful Spirit many powerful benefits. The bonus strength and mana regen give her more HP and help to maintain her mana pool. Charges can be easily obtained through successful ganks, and the charges can be used to heal herself or allies, synergizing with Nether Swap in keeping teammates alive, or can be used to add additional Pure damage in a gank, increasing the odds of success.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity can be a cheap utility item that serves multiple purposes, both in teamfights and ganks. The intelligence and mana regen bonuses will solve all of Vengeful Spirit's casting problems, and its movement speed boost allows her to position herself for casting spells or chasing down enemies more easily. The active can be used to temporarily disable secondary enemy targets while her team focuses down the primary target, or can be cast on herself to provide temporary invulnerability after a successful Nether Swap while also dispelling debuffs.
- Assault Cuirass is a very strong semi-carry item that drastically boosts Vengeful Spirit's team damage output. The increased armor will make her extremely resilient against physical damage, while the attack speed bonus allows her and nearby allies to further capitalize on Vengeance Aura's bonus damage. The enemy armor reduction can further reduce their resistance to physical damage alongside Wave of Terror.
- Scythe of Vyse is a powerful ganking item that can help to secure guaranteed kills. While expensive, Scythe of Vyse provides an instant hard-disable that can be combined with Magic Missile to pin down gank targets reliably. The increased intelligence and mana regen also solve all of Vengeful Spirit's mana issues.
