Dota 2 mek viper

General DiscussionImproving my Viper

As can be seen from my profile, my Viper stats are currently very bad (mostly due to the fact that Viper was one of the first heroes I played when I started Dota 2). I’m looking to bring these up, and would like some information as to how to do this. I’ve read the Viper guide featured on the forum page, and having watched more pro games I’ve realised I should build more towards “tanky viper” rather than “dps viper”.

In terms of items I’ve always built treads and aghs, should I switch treads for phase for better mobility? Should I pick up a yasha before aghs to help with movespeed and a bit of right click damage? I’ve tried experimenting with orchid before with mixed results, should I consider this before/after aghs?

Any (serious) feedback would be greatly appreciated

Serious answers Mek. its awesome for viper gives him exactly what he wants which is some durability in the early game, and it helps the team. the aghs is great after the mek personally i like treads when im doing mek into aghs, but if i have to try and be more of a 1 role which in my opinion viper is not his best at i tend to shift to a phases>Manta>Whatever build just for the dps output

Dont be afraid to max Corrosive skin before poison attack either, though in my opinion nether toxin should always be maxed before both of those. lets you hit VERY Hard early on

also no shadow blade vipers a hero that thrives from taking damage with his passive it makes him so much tankier then you would think combined with the mek, i mean obviously you dont want to get instantly popped but shadow blade brings you nothing to the table but an escape

Orchid ive found is a situational item, I think your better off just going for aghs almost always first. I find that a linkens is usually fine as well but if its a ton of magic a BKB is needed but a linkens is a nice touch to survivability

I Find myself after mek treads aghs usually deciding between manta and linkens. Both are good manta is a more aggressive item choice and linkens more of a safe item i tend to get linkens more simply for the survivability it offers but manta lets your bring down towers right quick

Yeah I’ve done a lot of theory crafting involving mek, should I just rush it straight after boots upgrade? Obviously viper can farm relatively well so early mek will be great

I know it might sound weird, but i will literally often times just go straight mek (assuming your on the midlane.) you can usually finish it around level 6-7 if your doing well and you take the mek and grab a tp and get to a lane and have them push in aggressive so you can bring in the heal usually.

TL:DR I Usually pure rush the mek, though getting brown boots first is probably ok seeing as vipers a slow mofo.

I have to agree with him, although IMO treads into mek is 100x better than mek into treads. Treads gives you fantastic killing power and much needed early hp.

My typical build is treads mek aghs and then you have a ton of options.

Need disable? Viper is one of the best halberd carriers, a great sheep holder, and does pretty good with atos/orchid

Need to carry? Typical bfly/AC/satanic/dae/mkb/bkb/manta shit. Keep in mind viper likes attack speed more than damage, my go to item for carrying is usually bfly, maybe with yasha first.

I feel manta is a bit wasted since the illusions don’t get his damage steroid, just the tanky one (nobody gets manta on AM for the spell shield illusions, they get it for 3x mana break)

IDk, I feel like boots into buckler gives you enough survivability that armor + a little stats is good, But anyway point is crits are fun with viper because the nethertoxin does add more damage to the crit which is always fun!

Ring of Aquila always. This gives you +18 damage, and some decent stats for 985G. You can have this after a minute easily. This is how you absolutely dominate mid. Nethertoxin is dependant on you being able to get people down below 60% health before it really starts to hurt and snow ball too. If you go straight Mek you will be sacrificing some damage and early on you don’t really need it nor have the mana pool for it.

Phase after ROA, the phase is really handy for catching fleeing heroes for a death toxin hit. Also Viper is pretty damn slow and the +24 damage is great for wearing people down. ROA + PB = + 42 damage. Treads are an option too, but I always feel Viper is just so slow he needs the phase. Your choice.

From here on Viper is very situational, and by that I mean it completely depends on what your team is doing and how well you are farming/dominating. Mek is great on Viper, but it is not really money well spent if a support is already building it. That kind of cash puts you half way to Aghas or an outright Yasha, and could buy you a Perseverence for a build into Linkens. There are better items for armor and regen on Viper if he doesn’t need the Mek active.

I think the biggest factor for items from here depends on how well your carry (1 role) is doing. IMO if your carry is really sucking balls you can continue down the tanky/CC build with aghas, but you have to ensure you babysit your carry a bit and get them back in the game. The reason being is that tanky Viper lacks DPS from the mid-late game onwards, but has a great ulti. Your carry has to be able to capitalise on this for your build to work, else you are going to go later game and your build will lose its effectiveness without a team to work with it. By then it will be too late for you to change into DPS Viper and you’ll just get pissed off at watching your team die and eventually yourself as the other team work through your 3k+ hp pool.

If you think there is no way back for your carry, then you may have to go with some DPS and get ahead more. I’d say the same if your team has no pushers either. Tanky Viper is so slow to take towers down or anything for that fact. In this case you have to go more aggressive and take the 1 role from them through your ability to farm items much quicker. If you are really farming quickly I think Bracer/Drums into Yasha and Crystalys make a good start to stop you falling off in DPS in the late-mid game. Your Nethertoxin should still be fairly effective at this point.

TLDR;
Mek -> Agahs -> HoT is my favourite on Viper but if you don’t think your team can do the job then you have to go with some DPS early on instead.