The Visage Buide Guide Dota 2 6.81b

It is one thing to animate a corpse from beneath the ground. It is another to rip a soul from beyond the veil.

This will cover his skill set, item build as well as the basic micros required and more. Visage is my favorite hero and I hope you'll get to enjoy him as much as I do or at least get to play him decently.

Introduction

Surprisingly enough, he can even be played as an additional carry. Visage is considered a top tier pick in the pro scene and is most often played as a support. The first time I tried Visage, I had no idea how to play him, couldn't chain my stuns and always let my familiars die. Hopefully after this guide, this won't happen to you. After my first game, I still wanted to give this hero a shot and quickly got hooked. Currently I have played 70 games with him with a win rate of 70% with a KA/D ratio of 4.22. Practice is the key to becoming a good Visage.

 Role

Visage, the bound form of Necro'lic, is a ranged intelligence Hero whose traits are unusual when compared to most Intelligence heroes; he can be a Ganker, Tank, or Nuker. Resilient and ruthless, Visage is a highly aggressive hero thanks to his great Strength and Gravekeeper's Cloak which allow him to soak up surprising amounts of damage. This is especially true from attacks mounted by Heroes who try to chip at his health with spells and burst damage without committing to a protracted engagement. This unholy gargoyle thrives in the midst of large battles, where the abundant pain and suffering in the air charges his Soul Assumption: allowing him to fire off huge bursts of magical damage in rapid succession. Additionally, Visage's proficiency with auto-attacks is augmented by his ability to absorb the attack and movement speed of his foes with Grave Chill. Finally, his versatile ultimate, Familiars, is arguably one of the best scouting utilities in the game while also being excellent sources of damage and AOE disables. Utilizing his Familiars to their fullest requires constant split attention and good positioning to avoid feeding their large bounties to an enemy Hero. With a legion of ghostly gargoyles, incredible toughness and fast attacks, Visage sows terror and agony; relentlessly hunting poor souls and leading them in the shackles of death to the gates of the Underscape

 Skills Abilities

 Grave Chill

Grave chill is a single target ability that steals the attack speed and movement speed of your target and gives it back to you

Soul Assumption

This is your Nuke. It does damage for each charge you have. You gain charges whenever ANY hero around a 1375 radius of you takes damage. You can deal up to 410 Dmg when you cast it fully charged! This is almost a FREE lvl 2 Dagon. Don't forget that you lose those charges if you don't cast them by 6 seconds.

 Gravekeeper's Cloak

This is what makes you tanky. Visage has crappy base armor (0 at lvl 1) and a magic resistance of only 10 %. With this skill you get 4 layers that give you armor and magic resistance. However, you lose these layers the more damage you take and these layers take time to recover.

Summon Familiars

 
Your ultimate ability makes you summon a set of two familiars. These familiars are magic immuned, can fly over all terrain but give a really small vision on the map. Just like the Cloak mechanic, the more you attack with them, the less damage they deal. They get stronger with each lvl of your R and the cooldown to summon them gets reduced as well. Keep in mind that they are worth 100 gold each if killed by opposing heroes.

Stone Form

Each familiars gets the ability to go into stone form. When used, they deal damage around a small radius and stun all units in this radius. While in stone form, they regain all their health and are invulnerable. Then after 8 seconds they can move again. After using this stun, you need to wait 20 seconds to use it again.

Skill Build

Grave chill is then used as your main escape mecanism or as a slow for a kill in a lane. With this, you will outrun any other hero since no one buys boots lvl 1. Think of yourself like a Weaver when you're level 1, you're squishy and Grave Chill is your defensive Shukushi.

Then I start maxing out Soul Assumption. This is your primary source of damage. You can spam it to secure kills and harass. Use it to help get kills early on but try not to waste it since it takes a lot of mana. Soul Assumption deals ridiculous amount of damage which is why I take it over Grave Chill and the Cloak.

Taking a level of Gravekeeper's Cloak at lvl 4 is really important as well since by this time enemy heroes start to get their items and hit harder. Basically, it keeps you alive.

You must take your ulti on lvl 6, 11 and 16. You get twice the impact on the game, there's no reason not to take it.

Max Grave Chill after maxing everything else because lvl 1 Grave Chill is super effective and it's still the same move/attack speed drain no matter the level.

I never change build even if I go other roles than support. Yes, you could max the Cloak since it scales really well but then again, you won't have any source of damage.

Item Build

STARTING ITEMS

• Courier or Wards
• Ring of Protection (solves the 0 base armor issue and you can turn it into a Ring of Basilius)
• 1x Salve
• 1x Tango (being really squishy early game, you should always keep your HP up)
• 1x Clarity (you'll need it after you start using W)

Aka your basic set of regen. 

EARLY GAME

• Boots (get boots before anything else is a good idea since you've got only 290 movement speed)
• Ring of Basilius (even if your lane mate has one already, you'll understand why)
• 1x Wards (when they restock)
• Magic Stick (if things are really getting difficult, otherwise I stick it most of the time)

CORE ITEMS

Medallion of Courage

The thing about Medallion with Visage is that since you're quite tanky with Gravekeeper's Cloak, the debuff you get from it isn't as significant as the minus armor you're putting on your enemy. Plus, since armors are lowered, you and your target take extra damage thus giving you more Soul Assumption charges. You can also use it to take down Rosh with your team quicker. In sum, it's the synergy with Soul Assumption and the fact that you will kill targets quicker that make it a core item. Also cheap and easy to make, just disassemble your Ring of Basillius and take The Sage's mask with the Chain Mail and Recipe. Keep the Ring of protection or sell it.

Power threads

Gives attack speed thus allowing you to get charges quicker for W) OR Arcane boots (if no one has them already
 Mekansm (you should be the one getting the mek since you can also heal your Familiars)
  
MID TO LATE GAME

• Gem (if your team is ahead, get it on yourself. Chances are, you won't be the main target in fights. Also, more map control so more ganks.)
• Rod of Atos (I go Rod either if we're losing or if I can get it really fast and also get Aghanim's. This is an incredible slow that will help you land your familiar stuns. Grave chill + rod + fam. stuns is just mean)
• Force Staff (this one is optional, use it defensively to save teamates, I skip it unless I'm losing)
• Aghanim's Scepter (allows you to summon 3 familiars. That's a looooot of stuns and damage, just don't take them for granted, it's still 100 gold each. Get the point booster first, it'll help you spam more spells and stay alive longer.)
• Scythe of Vyse (if your team needs one to shut down the carry)
• Shiva's Guard (slows everything around you, makes it easy to land stuns)

THE CARRY ALTERNATIVE

You should start with a ring again but you can add iron branches instead of the courier/ward.
CORE:

• Phase or Power threads (up to you. You want attack speed + stats or you want to chase?)
• Maelstrom that you'll turn into Mjollnir (the more you hit fast the faster you obtain charges, lightnings trigger those charges for W as well)
• Assault Cuirass (think medallion but on their entire team + gives you tankability)
• Eye of Skadi (if you're not winning by now, this is a great final item. I do not recommend rushing it unless you have an insane early game and can get the point booster and an ultimate orb quickly. This item is pretty expensive.)

The main issue with the carry build is mana but you can just sit there and auto attack everyone while stunning with the familiars.

Gameplay

This section will cover basic strategies, ability combo, chaining stuns and micro-ing.

What you should be doing on the map

• Before hitting 6: I usually go safe lane and support our main carry. You should be able to pull for him and pull over to other camps as well. If ever someone comes close, just Grave Chill him/her and back away to the tower. Don't be shy, use that lvl 1 Grave Chill, it saved me so many times and gave me first bloods.
• Ward the river to help your solo mid rune control.
• Don't let your carry die and YOU MUST BE THERE TO HELP if he comes to gank your lane, spam that W.
• After hitting 6: Time to roam around and gank! Always put your familiars ahead of you in case you bump into someone, use them to check runes but try to keep em close. Always hide them in trees before iniating. If they see a familiar, forget about it, gank's over. Push towers after a successful gank or if no one's in the lane. Your familiars hit hard.
• With sentries you can use them to deward on high grounds. Basically, assume map control and be there for your team

 CONTROLLING YOUR FAMILIARS

This is what scares most people when playing Visage since they tend to avoid heroes requiring micro. I'd say Visage is one of the easiest hero for it. Yes, you get 3 units but you usually keep the familiars in pair.
Here's what I do. I use the control groups command and the shift control group key.
First, select your hero then hit CTRL and 1. This is your hero control group.
Then, select ONLY THE TWO familiars then hit CTRL and 2. This is your 2nd control group for your familiars only.
Finally, select your hero and the familiars and hit CTRL and 3. This is your 3rd control group for your 3 dudes.
NOTE: Since 2-3 patches ago, all the control groups you set are saved in the Steam Cloud for the hero you played. So, if you're playing Visage and you bound those control groups, you don't have to do it again every game!
Now how do you move with all those? If you're in lane and you don't care if the other team knows your familiars are here, just press 3 and control all three. If you're staying in lane and want to send your familiars somewhere else, hit 1, move your hero, hit 2 then move your guys. Double tap the number to get your view on the selected units. The element of surprise is key. When you come for a gank, let your familiars hidden in trees and always send them in first and try to stun with them as soon as possible. Then, go in with your hero, Q + W and auto attack with all 3 units.
OR you can reverse this, start with grave chill, then land the stuns. This works best when you bump into someone or they spotted you.

CHAINING STUNS

This is where your shift key comes in handy. To chain stun, hit 2, control your familiars and when they're close enough to your target or over them, hit Q for the first familiar. Quickly, hit the TAB key, this will select the one that hasn't stunned yet, hit Q again. Your 2nd familiar will then stun using stone form. You should always focus on stunning heroes who are channeling like Witch Doctor's ult. For maximum effectiveness, try to hit the 2nd one right before the first stun wears out. Try not to leave your familiars in stone form when they're surrounded by enemies, they'll most likely get killed. To avoid this, use the SHIFT key to queue commands so that right after they stun, they'll hide somewhere.

 WHEN YOU DIE

This is what I love the most about Visage. When your hero die, you still get to play using your familiars and you can do a lot of stuff. First, you can push the lane where you died, use their stone forms when to regain their maximum attack. Get that gold, son. Secondly, you can pursue low HP enemies and get kills, most people underestimate the familiar damage output. Thirdly, scout the map, spot runes, check the rosh pit, etc.. Fourthly, deny your towers. I've done it loads of times, just keep your familiars hidden and make sure their damage is high enough, once the tower get below 130 hp, pop out the familiars and go for the deny. You can even deny yourself if you're still alive. It happened to me recently, I got doomed and just denied myself.

PLAYING OFFLANE

I go carry visage more often then offlane Visage. You're nowhere close to a Clockwerk or Weaver offlane. You can't contest much farm but you can still stand there and suck exp, just use Q whenever someone comes close. Avoid dying as much as possible. You should leave the offlane once you hit 6.

Fun fact: you can use the fact that your familiars are magic immune to counter spells like Lich's bouncing ult and Witch Doctor's cask. Once they bounce on the familiars, just isolate them away in the woods. Careful though, because this is a double edged sword, some people in pro plays got maxed Windranger Shackled because their familiars were too close.
  

Friends/Foes

Friend

Basically anyone that can help you land your stuns and anyone that can benefit from your slow and stuns. He fits in almost any lineup, that's why he's so often picked in competitive but here are a couple examples.

• Crystal maiden (frostbite into stuns is deadly)
• Lina (she will help you with your stuns and you will help her as well. She will grant you a bunch of charges for W)
• Luna (luscent beam can give you just enough time for your familiars and her ult synergizes perfectly with soul assumptions.)
• Bane
• Earthshaker (your familiars fly over his fissure)
• Carries with stuns, CK, alchemist, lifestealer can also benefit from your slows etc...

Foes

I'll talk from personal experience. These are the heroes I usually hate playing against. Basically any AOE physical damage cleave and silencers.

• Axe (his spins affect your familiars so if anyone attacks him with your familiars close to him, you just gave him 200 gold. He basically renders your familiars close to useless on him)
• Weaver (His geminate attack is a pain to play against. If the Weaver is any good, he will focus your familiars, he eats them so fast. It's highly frustrating)
• Bristleback (for the same reason as Axe. His quills are physical damage and will eat out your familiars. Also, he's so tanky, your W and Q won't do much on him.)
• Luna (Glaive bounces)
• Death Prophet (for some reason, her ult deals physical damage. It doesn't any make sense since it's ghosts, don't ask me why. Since it deals physical damage, say bye to your familiars if they're close to her ult.)
• Razor (His lightning storm can also affect your familiars since it's physical damage. Plus, his passive will remove your grave chill buff as well as shoot you lightning bolts when you throw him your soul assumption. Ouch.)
  then all the ones with silences like silencer, etc.. it's just frustrating since you can't do much but to auto-attack. I'd say his BIGGEST WEAKNESS is killing his familiars.