
Status: 8/19/2009: Guide is under major revamp the next couple of days, both visual and content, bare with me!
I wrote this guide during 6.59d, I believe that there should be changes made in the 6.6 era.
Darchrow - The Enigma
Malefice:
Your core chasing ability and stun, use this to initiate in ganks. 6 Seconds of small stuns will grant you and your allies a lot of free hits. Good getaway ability as well.
Demonic Conversion:
Since the change in 6.59, Enigma's farming ability has gone up the roof. Not only the eidolons are great for farming, but they hit hard enough to become lethal early and mid game.
Midnight Pulse:
Combo this with Malefice or Backhole, and your enemies take 36% (after reduction) of their maximum health. When using this ability, Always combine this with a slow or disable (Fissure, Stun, Cold Arrows etc.) 25 second cooldown does not make this spammable.
Blackhole:
Most devastating skill. 500 Aoe of silence and damage. 4 seconds of Silence.
Ability Choice:
1 Conversion 1
2 Malefice 1
3 Conversion 2
4 Malefice 2
5 Malefice 3 / Conversion 3
6 Blackhole 1
7 Malefice 4 / Conversion 3
8 Malefice 4 / Conversion 3
9-10 Midnight Pulse 1,2
11 Blackhole 2
12-13 Midnight Pulse 3,4
14-15 Stats
16 Blackhole 3
17- 24 Stats
25 Conversion 4
Comments:
Get conversion first to farm. At level 5, If you can either rush Blink Dagger by leveling conversion, or level Malefice to deal more damage in a gank.
Early Game, Roaming Prerequisites
Warding:
Enigma's is the designated ward bitch, since he is support and farms well early game. Warding jungle can lead to safe farming, being warded by enemies lead to impossible ganks and being killed. Learn more from the ward guide Here.

Advanced Warding
Jungling:
For most part of your early game, your source of income is farming in the jungle and killing heroes. Enigma works best in jungle, an explanation in FAQ below. My guide does not teach you "How to be a Pro Jungler", but however, here are a few tips I can offer.
1) Micro the Eidolons - its not hard like Chen and Beastmaster
2) Don't get damaged - Centaur's stun, Furbolg's claps, Sytar's Shockwave, or just tanking neuts. Knocking off clarity potion effect is not good.
3) You can use demonic conversion on eidolons itself, hence you can farm the mud golems even when your eidolons are expiring.
Advanced: Roaming in Enemy Jungle:
Map Awareness:
Map awareness is crucial in your early game. Your main purpose is to gank the adjacent lanes, at the very least keep them from leveling and farming. Watch the positioning of the enemies, it may be a difference between a clean double kill or a fail gank.
*Pictures Here*
Don't rely allies to call missing, watch the minimap at all times. When in doubt, move back and send eidolons at entrance points. If you send two in early game, opponents will get hurt trying to farm the eidolons, they will quickly realize it is not worth the effort.
*Pictures Here*
Rune Control:
Other than using wards, Enigma can send one eidolon at the rune spot, requires some timing. Enigma is not so rune dependent, priority goes to "Rune Whore" allies. Enigma can get a bottle if the mid hero(es) are more or less "denying" runes rather than a "Rune Whore"-type hero. See Bottle's justification below
Pulling Creeps:
You won't run out of mana with clarity potions, but if it happens then pull the creeps at bottom sent / top scourge. Also, you can save mana, force creep wave closer to your own tower, and then gank.
Advanced:
While you are jungling one camp, send another eidolon to the "pull spot" and pull neutrals to lane. This requires more micro, timing of the eidolons. You will benefit from faster leveling and farming
Starting Items:
Enigma mainly needs mana regeneration bonus, Enigma's has a decent int growth, hence a large mana pool. There are no standard to this, it really depend on your style and preference.
Other Early Game Items
Core Item #1: Kelen's Dagger:
After you get your void stone and/or sobi(s), farm straight for blink. This item is core on enigma. Positioning Midnight Pulse is key to ganks, while positioning Blackhole is key to big fights.
Upgrading Footwear:
Core Item #2 & #3:
Optional and Situational Items:

Rejected Items:

Personal Builds:
These are builds that I try to these builds
Item Questions/Challenges:
Questions
Pub Stomp Build:
Okay, not everyone here plays clan war, vouch leagues or even open leagues, so I will talk about 2 pub builds that I go with enigma. Personally, I wouldn't play enigma in a pub because many pubbies are unaware of blackholing, even if you ping. A lot of misclicks during blackhole, stacking stuns etc. etc. etc.
Biggest Mistakes that a lot of Enigma Makes:
Major Mistakes
Minor Mistakes
If u blink and get stuck in trees, use your midnight pulse to get out.
Good Initiators:


Most Devastating Blackhole Butt Buddies:
















I will not explain the obvious ones.
Decent Allies - Self Explanatory










Enigma's most feared heroes:

Convertible and non-Convertible Creeps:
Countering Enigma: Coming Soon

Landing that Fucking Blackhole:
In general, when deciding to cast blackhole, consider these factors:
1) How many are missing on the minimap?
2) I can only get some heroes (ex. 3 of 4 or 2 of 3), will it be an issue?
3) Can I safely cast Midnight Pulse before blackhole?
Then conclude by asking, what is the chance that I can land an uninterrupted blackhole?
4) Even if I land a good blackhole, what is the chance that my team can kill X of them? (aka, are you teammates around?)
At different interval of the game, blackholes are used differently.
Replays:
I watched quite a bit of Enigma replay in High level scrims and IDEC. I will post some in the next few days for both patch 1.23 and patch 1.24.
Thank You and Credits - Coming Soon
I welcome feedback and critiques, keep them coming!
Miscellenous:
I wrote this guide during 6.59d, I believe that there should be changes made in the 6.6 era.
Characteristics:Abilities:
Roamer, Jungler and Ganker
Pros and Cons:
[+] Works very well with many AOE heroes
[+] Good AOE Damage.
[+] Good Gank Hero.
[+] Can be the game breaker with a perfect blackhole.
[+] Can jungle right at 30 seconds.
[+] Able to out level and farm solo hero early.
[+] Item independent aside from his blink.
[-] Long attack animation.
[-] Channeling ultimate.
[-] Fragile.
Statistics: Link to Complete Statistics
![]()
![]()
17 + 2.1 14 + 1.0 20 + 3.4
Affiliation: Scourge
Damage: 42 - 48
Armor: 4
Movespeed: 300
Attack Range: 500
Attack Animation: 0.4 / 0.77
Casting Animation: 0.3 / 0.51
Base Attack Time: 1.7
Missile Speed: 900
Sight Range: 1800 / 800
Comments:
His STR and INT growth is one of the highest for ranged INT heroes. He doesn't run out of mana easily with a few mana regen items. Even with his high STR growth, he cannot withstand focus fire. He has high starting armor, his base damage is about average.
Your core chasing ability and stun, use this to initiate in ganks. 6 Seconds of small stuns will grant you and your allies a lot of free hits. Good getaway ability as well.
Since the change in 6.59, Enigma's farming ability has gone up the roof. Not only the eidolons are great for farming, but they hit hard enough to become lethal early and mid game.
Combo this with Malefice or Backhole, and your enemies take 36% (after reduction) of their maximum health. When using this ability, Always combine this with a slow or disable (Fissure, Stun, Cold Arrows etc.) 25 second cooldown does not make this spammable.
Most devastating skill. 500 Aoe of silence and damage. 4 seconds of Silence.
Ability Choice:
1 Conversion 1
2 Malefice 1
3 Conversion 2
4 Malefice 2
5 Malefice 3 / Conversion 3
6 Blackhole 1
7 Malefice 4 / Conversion 3
8 Malefice 4 / Conversion 3
9-10 Midnight Pulse 1,2
11 Blackhole 2
12-13 Midnight Pulse 3,4
14-15 Stats
16 Blackhole 3
17- 24 Stats
25 Conversion 4
Comments:
Get conversion first to farm. At level 5, If you can either rush Blink Dagger by leveling conversion, or level Malefice to deal more damage in a gank.
Early Game, Roaming Prerequisites
Warding:
Enigma's is the designated ward bitch, since he is support and farms well early game. Warding jungle can lead to safe farming, being warded by enemies lead to impossible ganks and being killed. Learn more from the ward guide Here.
Advanced Warding
Jungling:
For most part of your early game, your source of income is farming in the jungle and killing heroes. Enigma works best in jungle, an explanation in FAQ below. My guide does not teach you "How to be a Pro Jungler", but however, here are a few tips I can offer.
1) Micro the Eidolons - its not hard like Chen and Beastmaster
2) Don't get damaged - Centaur's stun, Furbolg's claps, Sytar's Shockwave, or just tanking neuts. Knocking off clarity potion effect is not good.
3) You can use demonic conversion on eidolons itself, hence you can farm the mud golems even when your eidolons are expiring.
Advanced: Roaming in Enemy Jungle:
Map awareness is crucial in your early game. Your main purpose is to gank the adjacent lanes, at the very least keep them from leveling and farming. Watch the positioning of the enemies, it may be a difference between a clean double kill or a fail gank.
*Pictures Here*
Don't rely allies to call missing, watch the minimap at all times. When in doubt, move back and send eidolons at entrance points. If you send two in early game, opponents will get hurt trying to farm the eidolons, they will quickly realize it is not worth the effort.
*Pictures Here*
Other than using wards, Enigma can send one eidolon at the rune spot, requires some timing. Enigma is not so rune dependent, priority goes to "Rune Whore" allies. Enigma can get a bottle if the mid hero(es) are more or less "denying" runes rather than a "Rune Whore"-type hero. See Bottle's justification below
Pulling Creeps:
You won't run out of mana with clarity potions, but if it happens then pull the creeps at bottom sent / top scourge. Also, you can save mana, force creep wave closer to your own tower, and then gank.
Advanced:
While you are jungling one camp, send another eidolon to the "pull spot" and pull neutrals to lane. This requires more micro, timing of the eidolons. You will benefit from faster leveling and farming
Starting Items:
Enigma mainly needs mana regeneration bonus, Enigma's has a decent int growth, hence a large mana pool. There are no standard to this, it really depend on your style and preference.
Quote:
|
Grab 1-2 Sobis + Clarities until you farm you blink Grab a Magic Stick and abuse the charges you get from neutrals Rushing a Void Stone works Recover from getting hurt, your eidolons tank harder with creep aura on. |
Quote:
![]() Probably 2 Sobi Masks will keep you from being out of mana, but clarities are necessary to keep your mana pool high to gank. ![]() Since Enigma is a natural roamer, if your solo is not as rune dependent, like Viper and Enchantress etc. Instead of getting him to "deny" opponent's rune hunt, turn this into your job. With a bottle, you need less flasks and clarities, and perhaps increase your ganking potential. ![]() Neutral creep's spell will add charges to your magic stick! When you go out and gank, enemies are sure to throw some spells around. Bracer(s) are okay, just make sure you don't run out of room. Get Branches and RoR only if you are building Mek/Hood. |
After you get your void stone and/or sobi(s), farm straight for blink. This item is core on enigma. Positioning Midnight Pulse is key to ganks, while positioning Blackhole is key to big fights.
Quote:
![]() Good for chase and flee. Buy this during building 2nd Core Item. With phase boots, he has 370 / 407 (phased) ms, out running the typical 350 ms heroes by far, hence creating space to blink. ![]() Travel can save you a slot if needed. Enigma sure has no trouble farming to a boots of travel. It is a great item to teleport and cast your spells. Not recommended for the sole purpose of farming. |
Quote:
![]() Get this if opponents has sufficient heroes to disable your Blackhole channeling. The Avatar buys you time to cast Midnight Pulse + Blackhole. Always cast Midnight Pulse before Blackholing. Activating BKB in ganks, and escape increases survivability. ![]() In mid game, when enigma goes around and gank, what does he do? Blink, Stun, Pulse, hit, hit, hit. Why not give him a bit more dps if that is all he is doing. Also, its a 5 second silence. If you got 2 sobi mask in the beginning it is a great item to get. I believe this item is excellent on enigma. The other popular orchid heroes are Enchantress and Furion. I see that some people like to say "I like to rape that no HP Furion/Enchantress", but Enigma is very different than those Furion and Enchantress. Those do not have a stun or blink. Pros: Enchances ganking ability Easier build-up than Hex. Surprise with much higher DPS Make use of your Sobi Masks Cons: No HP bonus. Kind of Awkward on a non-DPS hero, nevertheless it is a disable item. ![]() Superb disable, superior item if it is acquired early. The use is just like Orchid when you are ganking, see above. I personally find orchid slightly better than sheep if you are going to farm it as your 2nd core item. If you are having trouble farming it up, get level 4 demonic conversion to speed up. Pros: Provides HP Fully disables + slows Con: Farming the Mystic Staff and Ultimate Orb n00bs can't find/don't notice the Sheep ![]() If they have invisible units, this is a great item to get. Pop it right before blackhole. Mana Burn and Feedback. Pros: True Sight, sees invisible units and wards 9% Attack & Move Speed Bonus Aura. They hit hard, plus Mana burn and Feedback Does more damage than Dagon in a blackhole combo. Cons: More Micromanagement Can be purged and enchanted, instant 100 gold bounty. ![]() Refresher is either used for double ult (8 seconds), or simply being advantageous being able to engage in multiple clashes within a short time. Note that the Orb refreshes Linken's and BKB. Cons: Being blackhole dependent playstyle can be bad because if blackhole gets interrupted you die, it means that you couldn't position enemies the way you want them, and your refresher never went off. Might need to watch the mana if you are going to cast spells on top of Blackhole. |
Quote:
![]() Optional Good Supporting Item, slight increase of survivability. ![]() Situational With the recoded spellblock, Linken's can fully block a lot more spells. This item grants survivability, HP/MP Regen, and spellblock to avoid interrupted Blackhole. This is not a core item, rather a situational item as it is needed to fully block ultimates that BKB does not offer. (Fiend's Grip, Doom etc.) ![]() Situational Acquire this only if your team has melee carries/dps, given that you have a Sobi Mask/RoB already. 1100 range of Armor, Mana and Damage aura is decent to support allies. ![]() Situational This is not a really a situational item, it is proven to be a great item. If no teammate can make this item and you got spare gold then you should make it. ![]() Situational Only for against warlocks. This is not theorycraft, I have tried this several times. You can farm this much faster than anyone on your team. You might get this by the 2nd or 3rd inferno drop, then the rocks are free farms for you. Diffusal has a total of 16 charges, spend charges elsewhere and no need to be overly conservative like before! ![]() Luxury Lets say you went a no HP Build, Phase Boots, Sheep/Orchid and Blink etc. A bit of extra HP for late game survival would be nice. ![]() Luxury Combos with Blackhole nicely, also increases enigma's survivability late game. This is a late game luxury because it is better getting sheep stick if u can farm the mystic staff. Get this after a Sheep / Orchid earliest. |
Personal Builds:
These are builds that I try to these builds
Item Questions/Challenges:
Questions
Pub Stomp Build:
Okay, not everyone here plays clan war, vouch leagues or even open leagues, so I will talk about 2 pub builds that I go with enigma. Personally, I wouldn't play enigma in a pub because many pubbies are unaware of blackholing, even if you ping. A lot of misclicks during blackhole, stacking stuns etc. etc. etc.
Biggest Mistakes that a lot of Enigma Makes:
Major Mistakes
Minor Mistakes
If u blink and get stuck in trees, use your midnight pulse to get out.
Good Initiators:
Most Devastating Blackhole Butt Buddies:
I will not explain the obvious ones.
Decent Allies - Self Explanatory
Enigma's most feared heroes:
Convertible and non-Convertible Creeps:
Countering Enigma: Coming Soon
Landing that Fucking Blackhole:
In general, when deciding to cast blackhole, consider these factors:
1) How many are missing on the minimap?
2) I can only get some heroes (ex. 3 of 4 or 2 of 3), will it be an issue?
3) Can I safely cast Midnight Pulse before blackhole?
Then conclude by asking, what is the chance that I can land an uninterrupted blackhole?
4) Even if I land a good blackhole, what is the chance that my team can kill X of them? (aka, are you teammates around?)
At different interval of the game, blackholes are used differently.
Replays:
I watched quite a bit of Enigma replay in High level scrims and IDEC. I will post some in the next few days for both patch 1.23 and patch 1.24.
Thank You and Credits - Coming Soon
I welcome feedback and critiques, keep them coming!
Miscellenous:
Quote:
|
Magic Stick / Magic Wand: Centaur's Stomp. Panda's Clap. (Sometimes twice) Sytar's Shockwave (Likely twice) Troll's Raise Dead. Gank Detection (1600 Range): See your charge just gone up for no reason? NA invising, Puck Orbing, Necrolyte Healing, whatever. |
Author: Vindicate
Map Vers.: 6.61b
Guide to Playing Enigma at its Best
Guide to Enigma the Darchow
Last Comment:20/11/2011
Total Votes: 162
Current Rating: 8.10
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