Venomancer

Plague Ward
Ward
Level	1
Duration	40
Health	120/230/340/450 ( 300/575/850/1125)
Health regeneration	0.25
Armor	0
Magic resistance	0%
Status resistance	0%
Attack damage	12/21/30/39‒14/23/32/41 ( 31.5/54/76.5/99‒33.5/56/78.5/101)
Acquisition range	600
Attack range	600
Base attack time	1.4
Attack speed	100
Attack animation	0.3+0.7
Projectile speed	1900
Turn rate	0.5
Collision size	24
Vision range	800 (G)
Bounty	15/17/19/21
Experience	20/25/30/35
Model scale	0.8
Notes	Applies Poison Sting on hit

Venomancer 19 + 2.1 24 + 2.8 19 + 1.8
Magic resistance	25%
Link▶️ Movement speed	280
Link▶️ Attack speed	115
Turn rate	0.6
Vision range	1800/800
Attack range	450
Projectile speed	900
Attack animation	0.3+0.7
Base attack time	1.7
Damage block	0
Collision size	24
Legs	0
Gib type	Goo

Hero

Strategy

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 time. 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.

Bio[]

Lesale Deathbringer, the Venomancer

▶️ "No necromancer shall raise what the venomancer puts down."

Lore:

In the Acid Jungles of Jidi Isle, poison runs in the veins and bubbles in the guts of every creature that scuttles, climbs or swoops between fluorescent vines dripping with caustic sap. Yet even in this toxic menagerie, Venomancer is acknowledged as the most venomous. Ages ago, an Herbalist named Lesale crossed the Bay of Fradj by coracle, searching for potent essences that might be extracted from bark and root, and found instead a nightmare transformation. Two leagues into Jidi's jungle, Lesale encountered a reptile camouflaged as an epiphyte, which stung him as he mistakenly plucked it. In desperation, he used his partial knowledge of the jungle's herbal bounty, mixing the venom of the (swiftly throttled) reptile with the nectar of an armored orchid, to compound an antidote. In the moments before a black paralysis claimed him completely, he injected himself by orchid-thorn, and instantly fell into a coma.

Seventeen years later, something stirred in the spot where he had fallen, throwing off the years' accumulation of humus: Venomancer. Lesale the Herbalist no longer—but Lesale the Deathbringer. His mind was all but erased, and his flesh had been consumed and replaced by a new type of matter—one fusing the venom of the reptile with the poisonous integument of the orchid. Jidi's Acid Jungles knew a new master, one before whom even the most vicious predators soon learned to bow or burrow for their lives. The lurid isle proved too confining, and some human hunger deep in the heart of the Venomancer drove Lesale out in search of new poisons—and new deaths to bring.

Voice:

Dave Fennoy (Responses)

Abilities[]

Venomous Gale

▶️

▶️QE

Ability
Target Point

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Launches a ball of venom in a line, poisoning enemy units so that they take both initial damage and damage over time, as well as suffering slowed movement. Venomous Gale deals damage every 3 seconds over its duration.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 800 (

1200)

Max Travel Distance: 850 (

1250)

Gale Radius: 125

Initial Damage: 50/75/100/125

Number of Instances: 5

Damage per Instance: 15/45/75/105

Move Speed Slow: 50%

Duration: 15

Number of Plague Wards: 2

21/20/19/18 (

15/14/13/12)

125

Causes Venomous Gale to summon two Plague Wards when it impacts an enemy hero. Increases travel range by 400.

Slow persists and attempts to damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

modifier_projectile vision: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_venomancer_venomous_gale: Dispellable with any dispel.

A concoction of various stings, poisons, and toxins gathered from the jungles of Jidi Isle, victims surviving it are rare.

Notes:

The gale travels at a speed of 1200, taking 0.71 ( 1.04) seconds to reach max distance.

With the travel distance and gale radius, it can hit units up to 975 ( 1375) range away.

The movement speed slow decreases over time. Hit units regain 1% of their movement speed in 0.3-second intervals, starting 0.3 seconds after the debuff is applied.

A unit with less than 25% of its maximum health can be denied when it has the Venomous Gale debuff on.

After the initial damage, it deals damage over time in 3-second intervals, resulting in overall 6 damage instances.

Venomous Gale can deal up to 125/300/475/650 damage to a single unit (before reductions).

The debuff from successive casts does not stack, only the duration is refreshed.
- This means the initial damage is not dealt again, since it only applies upon debuff creation.

The projectile has 280 radius flying vision. This vision does not last.

With Aghanim's Shard, Venomous Gale spawns 2 Plague Wards based on its current level around each hit enemy hero, including clones, excluding illusions.
- The wards are placed within 100 range of every enemy hero affected, on opposite sides of each other.
- If Plague Ward is not learned, no wards are spawned.
- In Ability Draft, Plague Ward must be drafted as well for them to spawn.

Poison Sting

WT

Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical
(HP Removal)

Adds poison damage to Venomancer's normal attacks and slowing movement speed.

Damage per Second: 6/14/22/30

Plague Wards Damage Percentage: 50%

Move Speed Slow: 8%/10%/12%/14% (

16%/18%/20%/22%)

Duration: 6/9/12/15

When Venomancer is affected by Break, his Plague Wards cannot apply Poison Sting either.

Modifiers

modifier_venomancer_poison_sting_applier: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_venomancer_poison_sting: Dispellable with any dispel.

modifier_venomancer_poison_sting_ward: Dispellable with any dispel.

The paralytic sting of the creature which caused his transformation now belongs to the Venomancer.

Notes:

The damage from Poison Sting is flagged as HP Removal, so it does not trigger any on-damage effects.

The damage ticks in 1-second intervals, starting immediately as the debuff is placed, resulting in 6/9/12/15 damage ticks.

The debuff from successive attacks does not stack, only the duration is refreshed.

Can deal up to 36/126/264/450 damage (before reductions).

Plague Wards' attacks apply Poison Sting based on its current level on enemies as well.
- If Poison Sting is not learned, no debuffs are applied.
- The Poison Sting applied by the wards uses a different modifier than Venomancer. These modifiers do not interfere with each other.
- However, the wards' debuff neither applies damage nor movement speed slow, if the enemy is also affected by both debuffs.
- The wards' Poison Sting can deal up to 18/63/132/225 damage.

Plague Ward

▶️EW

Ability
Target Point

Summons a plague ward to attack enemy units and structures. The ward is immune to magic. Wards gain the Poison Sting level from Venomancer, dealing 50% of the full damage.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 850

Ward Duration: 40

5 (

3.5)

20/22/24/26

Modifiers

modifier_kill: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_magic_immune: Dispellable with death only.

modifier_plague_wards_bonus: Dispellable with death only.

A mixture of his old herbalist talents and newfound toxic mastery creates a living embodiment of plague.

Notes:

Plague Wards automatically attack enemies within their attack range, using ◉ Standard auto-attack rules.
- It is possible to manually give the wards an attack target with A or Right Click an enemy in range.
- With Unified Orders with Ctrl, Ctrl+ Right Click an enemy in range commands all wards to attack the target.
- It is also possible to stop the wards from attacking with S (only works when the auto-attack option is ◎ Never).

Plague Wards' attacks apply Poison Sting based on its current level on enemies as well.
- Poison Sting notes fully apply.
- The damage source of the wards' Poison Sting is Venomancer, meaning certain on-damage effects (e.g. Damage Return) react on the Venomancer rather on the wards.
- In Ability Draft, Poison Sting must be drafted for the Plague Wards to apply Poison Sting on attacks.

The wards' attack damage is not reduced by damage block.

Plague Wards have a lower target priority than units and heroes, so they are attacked by towers and lane creeps last.

The wards gain their spell immunity through a buff, so it is possible for enemies to ‼ Ping it to display its remaining duration.

Poison Nova

▶️

▶️RV

Ability
No Target

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

A spreading ring of poison that does damage over time to enemy units around Venomancer. Poison Nova cannot deal lethal damage; targets will be left with at least 1 health.

Cast Animation: +

Radius: 630 (

1270)

Nova Width: 255

Base Damage per Second: 20/30/40

Max Health as Damage per Second: 2%/2.75%/3.5% (

3%/3.75%/4.5%)

Duration: 20 (

25)

140/120/100 (

100/80/60)

200/300/400

Increases damage and decreases cooldown.

Places debuff on spell immune enemies. Does not deal damage to spell immune enemies.

Modifiers

modifier_venomancer_poison_nova_thinker: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_venomancer_poison_nova: Dispellable with death only.

In the Acid Jungles, creatures releasing noxious poison to their attackers is common; Venomancer spreads this plague beyond the Jidi Isle.

Notes:

Interrupts Venomancer's channeling abilities upon cast.

Poison Nova's ring expands with a speed of 500.

With the travel distance and width, Poison Nova can hit units up to 885 ( 1525) range away .
- Despite Poison Nova having a width, units between the ring and Venomancer are still affected, even when not within 255 width of the ring.

Deals damage in 1-second intervals, starting immediately as the debuff is placed, resulting in 21 ( 26) instances.
- Poison Nova's damage over time is not lethal. It does not drop affected units below 1 health from its damage ticks.
- Can deal up to 420/630/840 + 42%/57.75%/73.5% of maximum health ( 520/780/1040 + 52%/71.5%/91%) damage to a single unit (before reductions).
- With Aghanim's Scepter, can deal up to 420/630/840 + 63%/78.75%/94.5% of maximum health ( 520/780/1040 + 78%/97.5%/117%) damage to a single unit.

The debuff from successive casts does not stack, only the duration is refreshed.

Talents[]

Hero Talents
2.5x Plague Ward HP/Damage	25	+640 Poison Nova AoE
-1.5s Plague Ward Cooldown	20	+5s Poison Nova Duration
+8% Poison Sting Slow	15	12% Spell Lifesteal
+175 Health	10	-6 Venomous Gale CD

Notes:

The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.

The spell lifesteal talent stacks additively with other sources of spell lifesteal.
- Heals for 2.4% from non-hero units. Treats creep-heroes as creeps and does not heal off of illusions.

Recent Changes[]

Main Article: Venomancer/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.30c

Reduced agility gain from 3 to 2.8.
Talents:

Level 25 left talent: 2.6x

Plague Ward health/attack damage reduced to 2.5x.

7.30

Reduced base agility and gain from 26 + 3.2 to 24 + 3.
Increased health regeneration from 0 to 0.25.
Rescaled Poison Nova damage per second from 40/65/90 to 20/30/40 + 2%/2.75%/3.5% of max health.
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Rescaled Poison Nova damage per second from 75/100/125 to 20/30/40 + 3%/3.75%/4.5% of max health.
Talents:

Level 10 left talent changed: +100 attack range ➜ +175 health.

7.29

Increased base attack damage from 16-18 to 18-21.
Increased turn rate from 0.5 to 0.6.
Reduced Poison Sting movement speed slow from 9%/11%/13%/15% to 8%/10%/12%/14%.
Poison Nova
- Increased radius from 575 to 630.
- Increased duration from 18 to 20.
Talents:

Level 10 left talent changed: +12s

Plague Ward duration ➜ +100 attack range.

Level 15 right talent changed: +100 attack range ➜ 12% spell lifesteal.

Level 15 left talent: +10%

Poison Sting movement speed slow reduced to +8%.

Level 20 left talent changed: 12% spell lifesteal ➜ -1.5s

Plague Ward cooldown.

Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

Tango regenerates health, allowing Venomancer to stay longer in lane without going back to the fountain.
Healing Salve restores health as well.
Clarity 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 Venomous Gale once at level 1 drains more than half of your mana pool.
Observer Wards 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.

Early game:

Magic Stick provides good regeneration, especially if you are laning against opponents who keep casting their abilities.
Boots of Speed 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 Venomous Gale.
Sentry Ward is 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.

Mid game:

Magic Wand gives attributes, and health and mana restoration for emergencies.
Power Treads 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.
Force Staff 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.
Town Portal Scroll 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.

Late game:

Aghanim's Scepter greatly increases the killing potential of Poison Nova: it can deal tremendous amounts of magical damage to the entire enemy team, making it perfect for initiations when assisted by teammates.

Situational items:

Veil of Discord 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.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity 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.
Blink Dagger 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.
Shadow Blade 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.
Butterfly 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.
Orchid Malevolence 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.
Manta Style 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.
Drum of Endurance 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.
Octarine Core is a highly expensive item, but can give Venomancer many strong benefits. The item grants increased HP and mana, 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.
Gem of True Sight is a stronger permanent investment but also risks surrendering the gem to the enemy if they can successfully kill Venomancer.
Arcane Boots 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.
Ghost Scepter 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.
Glimmer Cape 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.
Rod of Atos gives Venomancer a lot of health, a lot of intelligence to increase the size of his mana pool, and a long range root that can help him with initiating and ganking. The active allows Venomancer to set up his Venomous Gale.
Shiva's Guard 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.
Scythe of Vyse 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.

Gameplay[]


Roles:	Support Nuker Initiator Pusher Disabler
Complexity:	★☆☆
Playstyle:	In his panic, the herbalist Lesale injected himself with a crude antidote, made from the nectar of an armored orchid, and the venom of the reptile that had just stung him. He fell comatose, and a lurid transformation began spreading through his body. Seventeen years later, a strange creature arose from the jungle floor. It infected other living beings by its very touch, and spewed Venomous Gales to slow and poison escaping prey. Part reptile and part orchid, what remained of Lesale's human mind now works to plant Plague Wards, living sentinels that defend its perimeters with acid spit. Foes who approach too close are sprayed with a noxious Poison Nova, ensuring that even those who get away eventually succumb to the Venomancer's many toxins.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio[]

Responses

Sounds

History[]

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment[]

Trivia[]

Venomancer's name, Lesale, may be a reference to "Le Sale", which is French for "The Dirty" or "The Nasty".
In 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.^[1]
Venomancer's response ▶️ "It's in my nature." likely alludes to the animal fable The Scorpion and the Frog, in which the scorpion answers to why it stings the frog in the middle of a river, drowning them both.