Why Viper has a 53% win rate right now

Viper has always been a very tough hero to lane against. His first 5-10 minutes are absurdly strong relative to what most of the other heroes can do, so he generally starts to build a networth lead very early on.

To counter this, you must gank him. But that is not easy to do. In Dota 2 patch 7.35b, players have lots of methods to help each other and escape death. From Observer Wards that detect enemy movement, to teleportation scrolls.

Viper is a tanky hero. So if you don’t chain-stun him, he will just teleport to base. Or, if he gets help from his allies, he might turn the gank around and get multiple kills.

How to play Viper and what makes the hero strong

Viper’s abilities were modified a bit in Dota 2 patch 7.35, making him a lot stronger than before. Nethertoxin doesn’t apply the Break mechanic anymore, but it does slow attack speed by 30 – 60. In the laning phase, that’s all you need to discourage opponents from engaging in trades with you.

Viper Strike, the hero’s ultimate, now applies Break and has a cast point of 0.2s instead of 0.3s. The difference can be felt immediately if you’re a Viper player. More importantly, it applies a 60% slow at level 1 instead of a 40% slow. That’s a massive difference in the early game because it guarantees easy kills.

If you use your ultimate on a target and it doesn’t teleport away, that target has no chance against you, especially if we’re talking about a melee hero.

Viper’s Poison Attack, despite costing a lot of mana (24), slows movement speed by 12% and magic resistance by 10% per stack at level 4. And you can apply 5 stacks! The effect lasts for 4s. It also deals 4 – 16 damage per second, so a total of 64 extra damage at level 4. By the time you’re level 7, nobody wants to fight you 1v1.

Corrosive Skin gives Viper +25% magic resistance and 32 – 128 retaliatory damage over 4s for every hit he takes. In the laning phase, putting a few points in this ability will guarantee that your opponent will not want to hit you unless he has a lot more HP or excellent HP regen.

When playing Viper, you should buy items that make you tankier and more mobile. Mobility is Viper’s weak point, but you can solve this issue with a Hurricane Pike, a Blink Dagger, or a pair of BoTs. Manta Style is also an excellent choice.

Header: Valve