Welcome to my Visage guide! This is my first guide. Seeing as how everyone seems to be confused about the new Visage, I wrote this hoping it would help. The replays are EXTREMELY important to playing Visage - they truly show how powerful of a hero Visage actually is. Be sure to watch one to see what exactly I mean by dominating lanes.
A huge part of this guide is your comments - I don't know what I missed, so please ask me anything that I missed. If you have a problem with the reasoning, please address that too.
First off - probably the most important:
Caution:
DO NOT pick Visage if the opposing team has
Kunkka - Tidebringer
Bristleback - Quill Spray
Centaur - Thorns
Axe - Counter Helix
All of these have physical, "spammable" AoE damage skills that will DESTROY your bats if you try to use them. They make being Visage so much harder.
(It's still possible though - watch the replay with Bristleback at the end of the guide)
Doom - Doom
Visage's power in all fights rely on his spells. The bats in this case will be your only source of damage, which is maybe 200 after reduced by armor. Not worth it at all.
DO NOT pick Visage if your team mates:
-do not listen to you
-are afraid to initiate when you can clearly win
-feed
Pick Visage:
-if you want to demolish a lane
-if you want to demolish more lanes
-if you want your lane partner to be at a very good advantage
-if you can micro at the skill of Lina or Lion
(hotkeys, point, and click)
Onto Visage!!
Introduction
Strength
25 + 2.2
Agility
11 + 1.3
Intelligence
21 + 2.5
Stat gain
Other stuff found on the site:
Skills
Grave Chill - Main chasing/"disabling" skill
Single target
CD - 10
Duration - 3, 4, 5, 6
Effect - 32% drain on target MS and AS and 32% gain on MS and AS
Mana Cost - 70, 80, 90, 100
Soul Assumption - Lvl 1 Dagon with a 4 CD at level 7??? (20 + 360 = 380...)
CD - 4
Damage - 20 + 60 x charges
Max charges - 3, 4, 5, 6
Mana Cost - 100
Every 110 damage taken by heroes within a 1200 AoE of Visage adds a counter.
Counters last for 6 seconds.
Gravekeeper's Cloak - Interesting "tank" skill
4 layers always
Regain every (14, 12, 10, 8 seconds)
Each layer armor - 2, 4, 6, 8
Each layer magic resistance - 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%
Lose a layer each hit from a hero
Summon Familiars- A very fixed ultimate with a moderate stun
CD on bats - 160
HP - 300, 400, 500
Mana Cost - 150
CD on Stone Form - 30 seconds
CD in Stone Form - 8 seconds
Stun - 1, 1.25, 1.5
Damage - 72, 90, 108
*Decreases each hit by 12, 15, 18
Skill build -
1 Cloak
2 Assumption/Chill
3 Assumption
4 Chill/Assumption
5 Assumption
6 Familiars
7 Assumption
8-25 Max Chill, then Cloak. Take Familiars when possible. Finish with stats.
Common Skill Build Discrepancies
Items:
Starting -
2x Ironwood branch
1x Ring of Regeneration
1x Tangos
Regeneration is great with cloak (longer time staying in lane) Tangos for faster regeneration when needed (generally when the opponent uses a spell)
Ironwood branches for stats and later for Mekansm
Core:
Power Treads (Strength)
Mekansm
That's it?
Yes
Core Discrepancies
Extension 1 (support oriented):
< >
--> http://www.playdota.com/img/items/120/icon.jpg
Dagon<and>Hood of Defiance -> Pipe
Whichever is needed first...
then take extension 2
Notes:
Extension 2 (chasing/support oriented):
< >
Eul's<and>Dagon
Whichever needed first...
then take extension 1
Notes:
Why Dagon?
More burst
Helps maximize your early game power while providing a decent late game nuke
*Dagon is NOT hard to micro with - click and point. With Chill, there should be no problem in targeting and chasing.
Extension 3 (DPS oriented):
OR 
Stygian
OR
Mjollnir
Notes:
Extension 4 (Micro oriented):
Necromicon
Situational
Ring of Basilius
-if your team doesn't have one
--> Vladmir's Offering
-if your team doesn't have someone who would get it and your team has a lot of melee
Blademail
-if the team has an atrocious carry you weren't able to take care of
-decent for damage, intelligence, and armor; basically everything what Visage needs
-generally you do not what to be the targeted hero - you shouldn't need this
Luxury - if the game lasts this long, something is wrong
Assault Cuirass
+Huge amounts of armor (have some "natural" armor - remember, your natural armor is terrible because of low agility and low base armor.
+Great aura (more support)
+Goes well if you went Mjollnir
-No gain in real HP
Guinsoo
+Disabling power (which does synchronize with all of your skills and your team)
-Would be core, except it's too expensive and gives no survivability
Skadi
-Extremely expensive with a bad buildup
+stats
+chasing
Shiva's Guard
+armor
+decrease enemy attack speed
+decrease enemy movement speed
+burst
Orchid Malevolence
I hesitate to put this get this on any intelligence hero because of its lack of survivability. However, Visage has great hp gain.
+silence
+mana
+mana regen
This should only be made if your team desperately needs the silence - the extra mana can be obtained from Eul's buildup instead.
Radiance
You truly aren't supposed to stay in the middle of the fight.
This item is EXTREMELY situational.
Notes:
Notes on Survivability Boosters
Get these if you find yourself dying in skirmishes and team fights. You should not aim to create these as you should not be the main receiver of damage anyway. Otherwise, you're fine with the survivability you already have.
Rejected Items
...
And anything carries usually get. Your Agility gain is terrible. They won't help.
Ethereal Blade
Terrible, terrible buildup for Visage. Agility is wasted and his natural agi gain is extremely low. Visage shouldn't DPS at all. Yes, the ethereal helps, but use the extra money to upgrade dagon instead...
Best partners:
*Make sure to have one as your lane partner!
I'm going to stop here, otherwise I'd be listing more than half of the heroes.
Any hero with a stun or slow
+double points if the hero can carry
+double points if the hero also has a nuke
Honorable mentions to Sven and Vengeful Spirit
*Best lane partners with Visage
-Instants stuns with great damage
-Relatively independent
-Make a difference in the team
How to play Visage
Points to remember:
Visage is not a carry
Visage gains all of his power at level 7 with maxed assumption
Early game -
You solo...
the creep pull lane while your partner creep pulls.
(Bottom as Sentinel, Top as Scourge)
Reasons:
Stay in lane and get treads as soon as possible. Be aggressive in last hitting. Harass freely (remember, creeps barely damage you because of cloak).
When soul assumption is at least level 2, you can try to net a kill. Whenever your partner is ready with a stun, stun the enemy hero, and unleash all your of spells. Assumption only when it's at full charges.
(watch the replay; this is not overconfidence - you'll get what I mean)
If you don't have a kill by level 6, get your familiars, and then net one.
Mathcraft with level 7 assumption assuming 1 hit by each of the bats
(Others not incorporated)
Inflated damage: 1352+
Real damage assuming .25 reduction on everything: 1014+
Have fun demolishing early game.
Early-Mid game
If your partner completely outlevels the opponent(s), follow path one.
If you and your partner are on par with the opponents, follow path two.
If you and your partner somehow did badly early game, prepare for a bad ending. Go complete support and take path two with caution.
Path One:
Push the first tower.
Gank. Help the other lanes. Kill their carry as much as possible. You still have early game potential.
Path Two:
Keep with early game strategy except outlevel them as soon as possible and try to dominate the lane.
Follow path one as soon as your partner is independent.
Mid Game:
Gank. Push towers. Use whatever power you have left in helping your carry and demolishing the other team. Buy wards.
Late Game:
You are now an intelligence hero in late game.
Stay alive. Buy wards. Participate in team fights.
How to team fight:
Major point - stay alive - YOU HAVE TO
Ready for easy microing?
1. Target their carry with all of your units (hero and bats)
2. Grave chill their carry
*note - team fights should make assumption stay on full charges
3a. Soul assumption the weakest hero
3b. Soul assumption their carry
4a. Your bats should have no power left - stone form them.
4b. An enemy hero is using a channeling spell - use a stone form on it.
4c. Your bats still have power - keep attacking
---Soul assumption again, and again, and again... etc.
5. Repeat until the fight is over.
*Mek when necessary
*Eul when the opponents start to run
*If the carry is not present, pick any hero
5 steps, all take less than a second each.
Learn your hotkeys - they're easy.
C - assumption
G - chill
F - stone form
Key to Using Stone Form
Conclusion
I'm basically done. But I'll answer some upcoming comments...
Frequently Asked Questions and Frequently Made Comments
Final words:
You can 1v1 many heroes early game. The bats themselves give charges.
Don't be afraid to tower dive while ganking: you have gravekeeper's cloak which does not lose charges from the tower.
Take advantage of your team's lead.
Remember, after level 7, you won't become inherently stronger. Try to finish the game as soon as possible.
Visage is a great gem carrier. Get one if you need.
Visage is a male.
Replays:
Finally, the replay section! No guide can TRULY show Visage's power. The best way to learn it is to see it. To finish this guide, please watch one of the replays. It's the best way to understand Visage.
Most recent one. I got Dagon in this one, but by that time, the game was basically over. This one shows Visage and Slardar against a Warlock-Troll lane. Troll ended up leaving within 15 mins. This one is for its early game.
http://www.playdota.com/forums/20111...ge/#post929841
This one is more recent. It's TDA. Visage against Bristleback, even in lane, ugh!
http://www.playdota.com/forums/178003/visage-top-lane/
This one is when I first started playing Visage. You can tell there's a lot of silly mistakes, but overall gameplay is fine.
http://www.playdota.com/forums/164948/visage-wonderful/
I hope to get more recent replays where I can show you Dagon's advantage.
*Pictures to be added to stone form section
Comments appreciated and wanted!
Changelog
A huge part of this guide is your comments - I don't know what I missed, so please ask me anything that I missed. If you have a problem with the reasoning, please address that too.
First off - probably the most important:
Caution:
DO NOT pick Visage if the opposing team has
Kunkka - Tidebringer
Bristleback - Quill Spray
Centaur - Thorns
Axe - Counter Helix
All of these have physical, "spammable" AoE damage skills that will DESTROY your bats if you try to use them. They make being Visage so much harder.
(It's still possible though - watch the replay with Bristleback at the end of the guide)
Doom - Doom
Visage's power in all fights rely on his spells. The bats in this case will be your only source of damage, which is maybe 200 after reduced by armor. Not worth it at all.
DO NOT pick Visage if your team mates:
-do not listen to you
-are afraid to initiate when you can clearly win
-feed
Pick Visage:
-if you want to demolish a lane
-if you want to demolish more lanes
-if you want your lane partner to be at a very good advantage
-if you can micro at the skill of Lina or Lion
(hotkeys, point, and click)
Onto Visage!!
Introduction
Strength
25 + 2.2
Agility
11 + 1.3
Intelligence
21 + 2.5
Stat gain
Other stuff found on the site:
Skills
Grave Chill - Main chasing/"disabling" skill
Single target
CD - 10
Duration - 3, 4, 5, 6
Effect - 32% drain on target MS and AS and 32% gain on MS and AS
Mana Cost - 70, 80, 90, 100
Soul Assumption - Lvl 1 Dagon with a 4 CD at level 7??? (20 + 360 = 380...)
CD - 4
Damage - 20 + 60 x charges
Max charges - 3, 4, 5, 6
Mana Cost - 100
Every 110 damage taken by heroes within a 1200 AoE of Visage adds a counter.
Counters last for 6 seconds.
Gravekeeper's Cloak - Interesting "tank" skill
4 layers always
Regain every (14, 12, 10, 8 seconds)
Each layer armor - 2, 4, 6, 8
Each layer magic resistance - 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%
Lose a layer each hit from a hero
Summon Familiars- A very fixed ultimate with a moderate stun
CD on bats - 160
HP - 300, 400, 500
Mana Cost - 150
CD on Stone Form - 30 seconds
CD in Stone Form - 8 seconds
Stun - 1, 1.25, 1.5
Damage - 72, 90, 108
*Decreases each hit by 12, 15, 18
Skill build -
1 Cloak
2 Assumption/Chill
3 Assumption
4 Chill/Assumption
5 Assumption
6 Familiars
7 Assumption
8-25 Max Chill, then Cloak. Take Familiars when possible. Finish with stats.
Common Skill Build Discrepancies
Items:
Starting -
2x Ironwood branch
1x Ring of Regeneration
1x Tangos
Regeneration is great with cloak (longer time staying in lane) Tangos for faster regeneration when needed (generally when the opponent uses a spell)
Ironwood branches for stats and later for Mekansm
Core:
Power Treads (Strength)
Mekansm
That's it?
Yes
Core Discrepancies
Extension 1 (support oriented):
< > --> http://www.playdota.com/img/items/120/icon.jpgDagon<and>Hood of Defiance -> Pipe
Whichever is needed first...
then take extension 2
Notes:
Extension 2 (chasing/support oriented):
< >Eul's<and>Dagon
Whichever needed first...
then take extension 1
Notes:
Why Dagon?
More burst
Helps maximize your early game power while providing a decent late game nuke
*Dagon is NOT hard to micro with - click and point. With Chill, there should be no problem in targeting and chasing.
Extension 3 (DPS oriented):
OR Stygian
OR
Mjollnir
Notes:
Extension 4 (Micro oriented):
Necromicon
Situational
Ring of Basilius
-if your team doesn't have one
--> Vladmir's Offering
-if your team doesn't have someone who would get it and your team has a lot of melee
Blademail
-if the team has an atrocious carry you weren't able to take care of
-decent for damage, intelligence, and armor; basically everything what Visage needs
-generally you do not what to be the targeted hero - you shouldn't need this
Luxury - if the game lasts this long, something is wrong
Assault Cuirass
+Huge amounts of armor (have some "natural" armor - remember, your natural armor is terrible because of low agility and low base armor.
+Great aura (more support)
+Goes well if you went Mjollnir
-No gain in real HP
Guinsoo
+Disabling power (which does synchronize with all of your skills and your team)
-Would be core, except it's too expensive and gives no survivability
Skadi
-Extremely expensive with a bad buildup
+stats
+chasing
Shiva's Guard
+armor
+decrease enemy attack speed
+decrease enemy movement speed
+burst
Orchid Malevolence
I hesitate to put this get this on any intelligence hero because of its lack of survivability. However, Visage has great hp gain.
+silence
+mana
+mana regen
This should only be made if your team desperately needs the silence - the extra mana can be obtained from Eul's buildup instead.
Radiance
You truly aren't supposed to stay in the middle of the fight.
This item is EXTREMELY situational.
Notes:
Notes on Survivability Boosters
Get these if you find yourself dying in skirmishes and team fights. You should not aim to create these as you should not be the main receiver of damage anyway. Otherwise, you're fine with the survivability you already have.
Rejected Items
...
And anything carries usually get. Your Agility gain is terrible. They won't help.
Ethereal Blade
Terrible, terrible buildup for Visage. Agility is wasted and his natural agi gain is extremely low. Visage shouldn't DPS at all. Yes, the ethereal helps, but use the extra money to upgrade dagon instead...
Best partners:
*Make sure to have one as your lane partner!
I'm going to stop here, otherwise I'd be listing more than half of the heroes.
Any hero with a stun or slow
+double points if the hero can carry
+double points if the hero also has a nuke
Honorable mentions to Sven and Vengeful Spirit
*Best lane partners with Visage
-Instants stuns with great damage
-Relatively independent
-Make a difference in the team
How to play Visage
Points to remember:
Visage is not a carry
Visage gains all of his power at level 7 with maxed assumption
Early game -
You solo...
the creep pull lane while your partner creep pulls.
(Bottom as Sentinel, Top as Scourge)
Reasons:
Stay in lane and get treads as soon as possible. Be aggressive in last hitting. Harass freely (remember, creeps barely damage you because of cloak).
When soul assumption is at least level 2, you can try to net a kill. Whenever your partner is ready with a stun, stun the enemy hero, and unleash all your of spells. Assumption only when it's at full charges.
(watch the replay; this is not overconfidence - you'll get what I mean)
If you don't have a kill by level 6, get your familiars, and then net one.
Mathcraft with level 7 assumption assuming 1 hit by each of the bats
(Others not incorporated)
Inflated damage: 1352+
Real damage assuming .25 reduction on everything: 1014+
Have fun demolishing early game.
Early-Mid game
If your partner completely outlevels the opponent(s), follow path one.
If you and your partner are on par with the opponents, follow path two.
If you and your partner somehow did badly early game, prepare for a bad ending. Go complete support and take path two with caution.
Path One:
Push the first tower.
Gank. Help the other lanes. Kill their carry as much as possible. You still have early game potential.
Path Two:
Keep with early game strategy except outlevel them as soon as possible and try to dominate the lane.
Follow path one as soon as your partner is independent.
Mid Game:
Gank. Push towers. Use whatever power you have left in helping your carry and demolishing the other team. Buy wards.
Late Game:
You are now an intelligence hero in late game.
Stay alive. Buy wards. Participate in team fights.
How to team fight:
Major point - stay alive - YOU HAVE TO
Ready for easy microing?
1. Target their carry with all of your units (hero and bats)
2. Grave chill their carry
*note - team fights should make assumption stay on full charges
3a. Soul assumption the weakest hero
3b. Soul assumption their carry
4a. Your bats should have no power left - stone form them.
4b. An enemy hero is using a channeling spell - use a stone form on it.
4c. Your bats still have power - keep attacking
---Soul assumption again, and again, and again... etc.
5. Repeat until the fight is over.
*Mek when necessary
*Eul when the opponents start to run
*If the carry is not present, pick any hero
5 steps, all take less than a second each.
Learn your hotkeys - they're easy.
C - assumption
G - chill
F - stone form
Key to Using Stone Form
Conclusion
I'm basically done. But I'll answer some upcoming comments...
Frequently Asked Questions and Frequently Made Comments
Final words:
You can 1v1 many heroes early game. The bats themselves give charges.
Don't be afraid to tower dive while ganking: you have gravekeeper's cloak which does not lose charges from the tower.
Take advantage of your team's lead.
Remember, after level 7, you won't become inherently stronger. Try to finish the game as soon as possible.
Visage is a great gem carrier. Get one if you need.
Visage is a male.
Replays:
Finally, the replay section! No guide can TRULY show Visage's power. The best way to learn it is to see it. To finish this guide, please watch one of the replays. It's the best way to understand Visage.
Most recent one. I got Dagon in this one, but by that time, the game was basically over. This one shows Visage and Slardar against a Warlock-Troll lane. Troll ended up leaving within 15 mins. This one is for its early game.
http://www.playdota.com/forums/20111...ge/#post929841
This one is more recent. It's TDA. Visage against Bristleback, even in lane, ugh!
http://www.playdota.com/forums/178003/visage-top-lane/
This one is when I first started playing Visage. You can tell there's a lot of silly mistakes, but overall gameplay is fine.
http://www.playdota.com/forums/164948/visage-wonderful/
I hope to get more recent replays where I can show you Dagon's advantage.
*Pictures to be added to stone form section
Comments appreciated and wanted!
Changelog
Visage the Necro'licAuthor: ARGleth
Map Vers.: 6.67c
The Moving Fathership
Rationality breaks impracticality
Last Comment:27/11/2010
Total Votes: 50
Current Rating: 7.13
Views: 97417
