I remember the first time i used venomancer in a LAN tournament against a Chinese outfit. They had never seen lesale in action. Well they paid dearly for that really. I am not going to school you on things to buy and bla bla bla, maybe a few but i am really going to introduce you to a philosophy which works well with him.

Lesale is not that fast really, he can chase you a bit and shoot you down if you are weak enough but if you are fast enough you can escape him (unlike magina or lyncathrope, those cursed creatures)! Some say Lesale doesn't chew mana, well which world is that. Whether i am starting center by myself or side with an ally veno consumes mana if you use venomous gale frequently. Worse of if poison nova comes along. Mana is an issue with him! Another issue is his hitpoints, they are very low. Of course naturally his armor is bolstered every time he levels up due to the agility gain but he is still relatively weak if caught. My strategy first off is to exercise passive engagement in the beginning until i get to level six (if alone in the center) or level two if I have an ally on the side (axe or witch doctor work wonders with this snake).

2 wraith bands guide him well into level eight as well as boots of speed and a poor mans shield backed by a stout shield. the stout shield need to get to a vaunguard so that veno can survive bloody engagements easily. A sobi mask will be a good start of item and upgrade it to a oblivion staff for that damage and attack speed as well on top of mana regen.As you get to level twelve you really mist aim to get a perseverance as this nearly cancels the need to go home unless seriously hurt. Once you have these you can aim for a maelstrom hammer. Do not underestimate Lesale with this item, he will kill two or three heroes easily if they dont know what they are doing. With these things alone, venomancer is futile if you are not ready to deal with him. The way to fight with lesale is not to be all out frontal assault but it lies in being unimportant. Look unimportant so that people dont focus on you and then finish them off. Flanking is key with venomancer, the element of surprise guarantees his victory on a lot of occasions.

A scenario i had was that i was on the right with my ally Assassin who was using axe. The horn sounded and the creeps came out. The opposing chinese team also had two guys coming in our direction. However one of their players who had played against me the week before omitted to mention how dangerous the combination was. So when we met they automatically ignored the creeps and attacked me. I moved back knowing the heroes (drow ranger and ursa warrior) who were in a fit of attacking me would follow. I had activated my second power, passive poison which makes you take damage over time from my normal attacks. Drow ranger was in range of the tower which started pounding her and axe had activated counter helix which was tearing both of them. We managed to shout both of them down within the first minute of the game. The two didn't expect my retaliation and use of simple strategy and this they paid dearly for it. Lesale needs to be seen when its too late to do anything about it. be the last to come into the fight and release your powers or be the initiator with poisonous gale to slow them down and allow your team mate to move in. Change your direction of movement and bring in poison nova but do not get too close to the enemies or they will crab you. If you have maelstrom it will send them packing back home. It is important to get them running as fast as possible to get the poison to have enough time to tear them down on their way home.

the perseverance can be upgraded into linkin sphere, oblivion staff needs two more to become orchid malevolence, upgrade the maelstrom into the final form to increase your agility and futility. Get rid of the poor mans shield if you havent by now really, i usually get lothars edge for chasing! If i have more space in my inventory and the game drags, i get eye of skadi. yes its an orb effect but if you read closely it doesnt stack for melee heroes which means it can stake with maelstroms final form even though they are both orb effects. this means you have lightning, freeze and poison all accompanying your normal attack. deadly!