VISAGE GUIDE (by phantom146)

Tittle: A 6 seconds AoE stun incoming!
Author: phantom146

Yes, though many will disagree on me. Visage's role is to gank not to tank. Though he was a beefy hero; Icefrog made Cloak for him to be able to take up small amounts of damage not tons of damages. He is also great on ganking which is his main role.

Team Fights are also covered by you, since a 3 seconds AoE stun is not a joke for clashes and gives you and your teammates a big support. However; you are not a team carry. Avoid kill stealing and last hitting too many creeps since you are an item-independent hero.

Skills

Grave Chill

Visage drains the life from a target, slowing its attack and move speed. He then gets bonuses equal to those drained.

1. Mana 70 / Cooldown 10 / Duration 3 seconds / 64 attack speed drain and 32% movement speed drain on enemy and bonus to Visage
2. Mana 80 / Cooldown 10 / Duration 4 seconds / 64 attack speed drain and 32% movement speed drain on enemy and bonus to Visage
3. Mana 90 / Cooldown 10 / Duration 5 seconds / 64 attack speed drain and 32% movement speed drain on enemy and bonus to Visage
4. Mana 100 / Cooldown 10 / Duration 6 seconds / 64 attack speed drain and 32% movement speed drain on enemy and bonus to Visage

The buff on Visage and debuff on the target can be removed seperately with dispel.
The speed gained is independant of the amount that was reduced on the target.

Soul Assumtion

Visage sends out a surge of agony towards an enemy unit, echoing the suffering that nearby heroes (foe or allied) have taken. For each 110 damage taken around him, his soul counter increases by one for up to 6 seconds.

1. Mana 170 / Cooldown 4 / Duration 6 seconds (soul counter) / 3 max soul charges
2. Mana 160 / Cooldown 4 / Duration 6 seconds (soul counter) / 4 max soul charges
3. Mana 150 / Cooldown 4 / Duration 6 seconds (soul counter) / 5 max soul charges
4. Mana 140 / Cooldown 4 / Duration 6 seconds (soul counter) / 6 max soul charges

Soul counter increases by 1 for each 110 damage taken by heroes within 1375 AoE of Visage.
The soul counter only increases for damage greater than 2, and less than 3000, only counts damage from a player unit or Roshan, and does not count self-inflicted damage nor damage dealt by Soul Assumption itself.
Each amount of damage added to the soul counter expires after 6 seconds, or when Soul Assumption is cast.
When cast, launches a projectile at the target hero that will deal 20+65*(charges on soul counter) when it hits, the projectile moves at 1000 speed.
Damage type: magic

This is a first-time hard to understand skill. However, practice makes perfect. Whoever inside a 1200AoE(a very huge radius) that has taken 110 damage increases soul counter by 1(6 max soul charges on level 4) creep damage are not counted. Each damage added by the soul counters expires after 6 seconds or when cast. So you must have a very quick eye and hand in this skill, this is your only nuke that might turn everything upside-down.

Gravekeeper's Cloak

Visage surrounds himself with the magical energy of the dead, granting extra physical armor and magic damage resistance. However, the energy degenerates with every instance of damage taken and will require time to recover back to full strength. Has 4 layers.

1. 12 seconds (recovery time) / 1 armor and 3% magic resistance per layer
2. 10 seconds (recovery time) / 2 armor and 6% magic resistance per layer
3. 8 seconds (recovery time) / 4 armor and 12% magic resistance per layer
4. 6 seconds (recovery time) / 5 armor and 16% magic resistance per layer

Each time the Necro'lic receives damage greater than 2 that was not self-inflicted and was from a player owned source, a layer is removed.
Each layer recharges 12/10/8/6 seconds after being removed.

The only thing thats keeping Visage alive and healthy. This increases your armor and magical resistance by a great amount that you can even tank DpS heroes on late games. However, layers are disrupted everytime you get a 2 or higher damage from a player or player-controlled units(has 4 layers)

Summon Familiars

Visage conjures up two blind Familiars from the realm of death. Familiars have high attack power but each attack, up to 6, drains their power and temporarily weakens them. Familiars can transform into stone, becoming invulnerable, stunning nearby enemy units upon landing and regenerating their health and attack power. Familiars give a large bounty (100 each) if killed.

1. Mana 150 / Cooldown 180 / Duration Until killed / Summons 2 (3*) Familiars. Max 56 bonus damage, 300 HP, stun for 60 damage/1 second
2. Mana 150 / Cooldown 160 / Duration Until killed / Summons 2 (3*) Familiars. Max 98 bonus damage, 450 HP, stun for 100damage/1.25 seconds
3. Mana 150 / Cooldown 140 / Duration Until killed / Summons 2 (3*) Familiars. Max 154 bonus damage, 600 HP, stun for 140 damage/1.5 seconds

Currently existing Familiars are destroyed upon casting of Summon Familiars.
Each Familiar starts with 7 charges of bonus damage, each charge gives 8/14/22 bonus damage. Familiars lose one charge each time they attack, and gain one charge every 15 seconds from when they were summoned.
When a Familiar enters Stone Form, its damage charges are fully restored, and it gains 50/68.75/87.5 HP each second of Stone Form.
When a Familiar enters Stone Form, it will stun in a 325 AoE (1 second delay from when Stone Form is cast), dealing 60/100/140 magic damage and stunning for 1/1.25/1.5 seconds.
After Stone Form is cast, there is a 0.5 second delay before the Familiar becomes invulnerable, and a Familiar will automatically leave Stone Form after 8 seconds. Stone Form has a 30 second cooldown.
Familiars have 96.25% magic resistance, and are targeted as heroes by abilities.
Familiars have 160 attack range, a BAT of 0.4, 380/390/400 movement speed, 300/450/600 HP, and 0/1/2 armor.
(*) Can be improved by Aghanim's Scepter: creates an extra familiar.

The one man team. Visage with this two other guys are a hell of a team. They have a really really high attack power but it drains every attack(6 attacks maximum) but may recover the lost attack power after sometime. They have a huge bounty of 100! so don't let them lingering on their forest! its free gold.

Skillbuild

Necrolic's Hell of a Skillbuild

1. Gravekeeper's Cloak
2. Grave Chill
3. Soul Assumption
4. Soul Assumption
5. Soul Assumption
6. Summon Familiars
7. Soul Assumption
8. Grave Chill
9. Grave Chill
10. Grave Chill
11. Summon Familiars
12. Gravekeeper's Cloak
13. Gravekeeper's Cloak
14. Gravekeeper's Cloak
15. Stats
16. Summon Familiars
17-25 Stats

This skill build maximizes Visage's potential as a gank and an early tank on your team. This also gives Visage the power of heavy nuke on early levels. Which may aid your teammate on a burst damage on team clashes and gang rapes. If you want to consider trilaning and first blood attempts, please consider the skillbuild below.

Again, Cloak gives Visage beefiness and balls. No matter what or why, you should first give it a skill point. Let it stay as level 1, since a 16% magic resistance on early game is awesome compared to other magic resistant skills in game. It also gives you the capability to tank creeps, so aggro isn't a problem. It helps you to baby sit, it gives you courage to go past your creep lane and get beside their ranged creeps for them to lose exp. Overall, you should take it first for safety purposes.

Grave Chill is taken on level 2, for a sole purpose: Hit & Run. It can be use widely; you can use it as an early escape mechanism, or an early gank from your teammates. A 3 seconds slow is really handy, especially on desperate cases. Some guides I read, takes Soul Assumption on level 2, but I really doubt that it can help on early game, especially when Visage lack burst damage not until mid game.

Soul Assumption is taken on third level, and should be maxed out first. The main reason is for you to be able to aid your allies with burst damage on ganks and jukes especially when on team clashes. Remember: Nukes are always maxed first.

There's no reason why you should miss on getting the bats. A high damage on early game(where your enemies are at their weakest link) and a 2 seconds AoE stun or a gamebreaker on level 6; is without a doubt, really handy. Whenever you get this on level 6, your role as a ganker will now gradually increase. Since you start roaming with your bats and a bottle. However; make sure an ally is by your side, or you're gonna turned upside down.

Why not max Grave Chill first?

The reason is simple. We are a burst damage support and not some kind of a slowing idiot who will roam around the map. Getting Grave Chill and maxing it out first is a very bad idea, you are ruining the game destroying the future of burst nuking and easy kill. Sure! the slows are really handy and a huge pain in the ass, but what can it do to stunners, blinkers and invisible heroes? nimble around? If you want to support, go for the soul assumption build, it works much better. Let your teammates do the slowing, disabling and blocking. Again; you are not a fucking slower disabler, you're just a bat with a cock to fire laser on the highest early nuke damage on the history of dota, and on the history of sucking.

First Blood and Trilaning Skillbuild

1. Soul Assumption
2. Grave Chill
3. Soul Assumption
4. Soul Assumption
5. Gravekeeper's Cloak
6. Summon Familiars
7. Soul Assumption
8. Grave Chill
9. Grave Chill
10. Grave Chill
11. Summon Familiars
12. Gravekeeper's Cloak
13. Gravekeeper's Cloak
14. Gravekeeper's Cloak
15. Stats
16. Summon Familiars
17-25 Stats

This skillbuild is suggested by the forum guys which i owe thanks to: Syaska & The_4Lb1NOS(that's a very hard name). This skillbuild unlike the build above is more focused on trilaning and supporting your teammates. This is due the fact that Visage is one of the best hero with lane partners which you can urge your wrath with your Soul Assumption.

Gravekeeper's Cloak is taken on level 5, since you are on a lane with supports on. Trusting your teammates is one of the key on earning a first blood attempt. Focusing on burst nukes is more than enough of a satisfaction to give to them.

Chill the same as above is taken on second level for support and assists. With your slow on you should be able to chase heroes and flee no matter what happened. Plus, chain stuns are a great way to trigger your slow. Just make sure to use your slow the last after your lane partner casts their stuns!

Soul Assumption is by far, the best nuke you have(or at least the only one). So giving it a first point on your skills is a great decision. As suggested, with your powers on trilaning and a burst nuke which cools down every 5 seconds, there's no escape on your lane and makes first blood attempt a 99% possible. Just be careful on your early levels, you are a bat with no balls.

Item Build

Here is the exciting part where I list the items that can incredibly fit on Visage. Especially the core and early items. Remember to read every line and every word on my explanation so you won't miss a point

Early Items

This is one of the best item build for Visage. Not only it gives him enough stats to beat the crap out of enemies, it also gives Visage guts and a little health. In most cases, Visage with this build are experienced players(knows what to do with Visage, and plays Visage well) since they go for a stat rather than tons of clarities and salves. After this build I recommend you to tp back to base and buy magic wand and stick for more life saving gears.

The pure stat build, who would likely go for a brace or null after getting some gold out of creep farming. This build is very well-suited and is best played with a lane partner with no disabling nukes or no other one-shot damage that may retard the enemy; or going on a solo-mid lane. This gives Visage damage which he needs on babysitting and some small mana regeneration for spamming your chill to help allies or kill enemies.

A safe way to start off as Visage. This makes Visage a little power to stay on lane longer, this also gives Visage some more health and damage for last hitting efforts. Chicken is bought for early bottle; since we all know gankers must have their bottles tied up on their waste. But if you wish to go real time roaming, you might consider the build below.

Roam-free build. This build is most likely seen on inhouse games and on some competitive games. This build is used, together with maxing grave chill first(though i strongly do not recommend it) to maximize Visage's full potential on juking. A reserve pots and a bamboo-eater for health benefits and a small addition to Visage's starting hitpoints are great, however, avoid this build when you want to maintain a lane control or babysit strong enemy heroes.

The support-type build. Best seen on tourneys and inhouse games. Observer wards for rune scouting and 2x salve for assisting your lane partner. 3 GG branches are necessary for more stats and attitude on your lane. This is a pure support-type build since this gives your lane partner an advantage to save money for tangoes and pots.

One of my favorite item builds for Visage. This helps Visage to maintain his lane a little longer(until he buys a bottle) and even give him enough stats to tank or to babysit. Tangoes gives him a non-cancelled regeneration, which is really helpful to orb walkers(Huskar or Viper) which Visage really hates. A lot.

A weird starting build, but a great boost on lane partner and farm frenzy. Headress of Rejuvenation costs exactly 603 gold! no more and no less. A +3 health regeneration aura is really handy in terms of roaming and lane control and a small boost on stats would really do. However, what this build lacks is toughness and burst heal which you might need against experienced players and heroes like Lina and Lion.

Early item. Most pub players are really frenzied about Visage skills and health, that they would go for a bottle instead of damage and health. A noob considers this build. Let me tell you one thing: Visage lacks DpS, not mana regeneration and a little hp regeneration. What Visage needs are heavy stats and health benefits on early games since it makes Visage survive easier than anyone. Visage might go roaming, but not before level 6 where you have your familiars on you(on which by the time, I think you have a bottle already). There are more heroes that are much more bottle efficient like Akasha and Dark Seer, so why waste a 600 gold if you can do something useful to it?

Core Items

This is the most (when i said most, the MUST) effective way to urge your wrath against your opponent. This is a hell of an item which makes you a hell of a bat. I should be explaining here piece by piece:

Bottle: This is pretty self-explanatory. No ganker should ever live without bottle(unless late game or DpS gankers). Roaming is fun + trudging down alongside the rune spots is a great idea. There are great power-ups there that might help you in your way, so you should buy this first before any other tier items available.

Bracer: I recommend this item rather than Nulls. Why? Gives you cheap health, and a small boost on agility and your intelligence. This makes the bat beefier and not smell fresh meat nor even look like one.

Urn of Shadows: Is taken as the second core item, before Bracers. A 50% mana regeneration is a great boost on your gank/roam style and your abuse of nuke. This also helps you to maintain some hp after a successful gank with your allies.

Magic Wand: One of the best and cheapest survival kit in the game. I strongly recommend for you to buy this, since he'll be visiting lane to lanes. Where opponents might give out their best nukes in order to survive, not knowing that this only gives you more hp and a handy one-click mana restored mechanism.

Observer Wards: Is really important even if you are a semi-support. This gives you vision which helps A LOT whenever your roaming around(gives you warning signs whenever you'll meet someone dangerous on your way or meet someone with low health on your way).

Boots of Speed: No idiot should be running around, foot-naked.

Situational Items

The situational items are made when you are in a tight situation. This may vary according to what kind of style your playing as Visage; whether a support or a roamer, a tank or a ganker, you should have the best items you can carry.This guide does not restrict you to get all the items mentioned here, but this guide aims to give you more knowledge on what kind of items Visage can carry. This miniguide will let you know the usefulness of each and every item that the bat can have.

Mekansm, has always been a situational item in the whole history it was first made. The stats are great and the price is cheap which makes this item affordable even on early and mid game. It also comes on pieces which makes it more viable than the cold Shiva's guard. It can be used on all occasions whether you want to save your teammate's ass, your ass or even on an all out push strategy, you can use it always. One click and you're refreshed!

Linken's sphere is more of a luxury than a situational item since it only benefits your hero. This is also viable the fact that the Flying Menace can be a stat monster if you wish him to be. Visage is very flexible on any game. Buying this lets you avoid terror ultimates like Finger of Death or Doom that will sure rip you inside-out. This also gives you extra regeneration and a small boost on your mana supply you need. Buy this if you are pissed on chain stunners or disablers that are focusing on you.

Vanguard gives great early tanking powers, this can last up to late game. With this equipped, you are given the capability to tank lots of damage(not tons of damage) and even go on front of team clashes. This however does not benefit your teammates. Still this is viable, and buy this if you really really need it, whether for lane control or aggroing.

Hood of Defiance: Getting annoyed by spammers? nukers? or disablers? buying this on early game makes you tough. This also comes on pieces which gives you more time to save your money and buy it one by one. This is often upgraded to pipe however, upgrading it might cost you a piece of gold. This gives you another ability to tank lots of magical damage but not tons of it. However this does not offer any hitpoints, which will make you still an immature hero.

Pipe gives you an AoE magic resistance. This gives you the beefiness on magical AoE ultimates like Earthshaker's or even Harbringer's. However, upgrading this may require some many. My tip is you might upgrade this if you have enemy AoE nukers or your team badly needs it.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity is one of the best situational items that the bat may get his hands on. 25 movement speed is no joke + the mana regeneration is simply the best. Of course, the best is the active ability, which sends the target unit flying through the sky. Remember, I mentioned before that Visage needs the best positioning skill as much as possible and this is one of it. 2.5 seconds is enough to let your bats go fly in to it. This means a perfect landing and a perfect 6 seconds!

Necronomicon again is the best item for Visage if there is invisible units. Getting Necronomicon for me, is only necessary if there is invisible units roaming around like Rikimaru or even Gondar. The bonus strength and intelligence gives you what you need to be a stat monster, and the summon is simply fantastic. However, make sure to upgrade it to Level 3 to get its full potential and true sight!

Soul Ring: Another item to set eyes on. Soul Rings gives plenty of mana for a trade of hitpoints. Gives 150 mana at a cost of a life. Very dangerous item for a low hp bat, however, is a very generous mana item. Since the bat is semi-mana independent; One click of this may enable him to cast at least one skill that may turn the tide of the battle. But choose wisely though! getting this may also give you trouble if not properly used.

Luxury

Orchid of Malevolence: First item on the list is Orchid. Though for costs are slightly high, this handy item comes by pieces, so you can collect them all one by one. The great bonus of ATS and DpS combined with your skills is simply marvelous and in addition the active ability of a 5 seconds silence is outstanding! Running along with this makes you a bully to fragile heroes like Drow or VS.

Sheepstick is considered the best item for Visage if in terms you are a support or a ganker. This build is often accompanied by Orchid to perfectly pawn them out of the game. The Bat can also make use of this for positioning or for chasing and fleeing. This is simply marvelous, in addition to the active ability, is the constant manapool and regen it gives you. Is this the best or what?

Shiva's Guard: Whether a pusher or a ganker, you must have at least one armor on your inventory. My first choice, is Shiva's guard. Additional Intelligence is marvelous plus additional armor makes you beefier than rs. The active ability provides you and your teammate the chance to chase or to escape in any situation plus it can also weaken DpS carries like Sven or Void. Its simply a fantastic armor for a flying bat.

M'jolnir: Another overrated item that he can wear. M'jolnir makes you evasive, the fact that you can kill even without doing anything or avoid being attack due to its active ability. This also adds DpS and another ability of pushing and farming. Making this one maximizes Visage's full potential on 1v1 clashes as well as supporting your carry hero.

Stygian Desolator: Mostly seen on pubs. This does not mean you should not buy it. Stygian offers huge amount of damage and -armor which gives more DpS for your bats to feed on. However, I do not recommend buying this, since this item will make you more of a DpS than a support hero. This may also loosen your bond between you and your carry hero. Think twice before buying this though.

Eye of Skadi: This again is the best item in hell. This makes you a stat monster and a slow killing machine. Roaming with this gives you enough manapool, beefiness and damage combined with Snowman attacks is simply unstoppable. However costs as much as crap. Choosing this item will lead you to disregard other situational items. Which is highly unadvisable.

Armor Choices

Never mistake Visage as a tank. If somebody's guide is pointing him to be a tank, never listen or at least waste time going through it. Like Zotmaster's guides, never mistake a hero with an ability to survive to be the tank. Come on! this bat can only tank at least 6 hits and he is dead. 4 hits and he is out of any armor. However, this guide takes you to the depth of survivability, and much likely, if you want, though not advisable; be a puny tank.

Shiva's Guard is without a doubt the best and the first armor choice that Visage would likely choose. The armor is simply massive combines with the intelligence that suits you spamming Soul Assumption perfectly. Remember that Intelligence comes with mana regeneration which really is a delight. The passive skill slows AS, thus helping you and your allies slow down their carry hero. The Arctic Blast is perfect for one good reason; a stackable slow is simply, amazing.

The second choice is without a doubt the very annoying and very predictive Blade Mail. Why? if you are asking why not cuirass? then let me explain some things to you. First, though this choice has low armor compared to cuirass, you don't need AS, and perhaps you need a small boost on intelligence for spamming slow and your nuke. Second is the active ability. What the? aura is good compared to return, hell no! You get assault, then you get balls, you get Blade Mail, then you get balls plus hairballs, return is perfect to let any hero or even they're carry, be doomed to death. If you want to die as a hero then pick Blade Mail, if not, go for the assault. Suits you right?

If you are somehow thinking straight, then you'll begin to ask why assault? Simple, it is a small boost item. Boost on armor to you and your allies for great survivability and tankability bonus and the great armor reduction for enemies are astounding, really helpful for any carry hero on the game. Buy this, if you are without a doubt; the greatest farmer the earth has ever seen and if not, pick the item below.

The most famous item in the pubs and also, the history! Vanguard! aye? without mention, this shield comes piece by piece, so buying it is a no problem and that stout shield of yours is indeed charming. The regeneration is the best and the damage block makes it even better, the only thing lacking in this, is the support ability(blade mail has return, shiva's has arctic blast and of course assault has armor bonus and reduction) but who cares!? at least your a bat with a shield on!

Support and Gank Build

This is the build where I list the full item build that lets out Visage's full potential as a gank and a support type hero. Feel free to suggest or to comment on this build as I find it myself very interesting:

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse: Is taken to maximize Visage's full potential. This gives him the ability to disable any channeling opponents or even disable carry heroes that are blocking your way. With this on, nothing can stop you and your team from ruining their gameplay. It is your choice whether you go for this first or the Orchid first, it depends on the situation you're in.

Orchid of Malevolence Is taken usually for its silence and damage. It is taken first before Guinsoo if there are blink users or nuke spammers that are terrorizing you and your team. This is pretty handy on ganks if you are being dealt with invis user or escapees.

Empty Bottle: Any ganker should have at least one bottle up on his sleeves. No other explanations are viable.

Boots of Travel: You're boots are upgraded to BoT on late game. The purpose is to roam around the map. Without this, getting distracted by other enemy heroes while they are desperately pushing on your bottom lane is pretty irritating. Still, with this flying boots on, nothing escapes you. You can also teleport on your bats which is pretty useful too.

DpS and Carry Build

Though not advisable, this is the part where Visage gains momentum of the game. If there are no carries present or the carries cannot anymore rise the game up from the ashes, get this item. Again, Visage is flexible in many ways, so being a DpS may not also seem handy.

Stygian Desolator: Is taken on desperate measures if your team needs a clean killing machine. Buy this one if your team asks you or if your team doesn't have any late game or hard carries. Do not buy this one if you have trusted carries that will push the game later on.

M'jolnir: Bought for two purposes. Defense an Offense. Mjolnir is ten times far more better than Desolator. Why? boost on DpS and AS really hurts a lot + the active ability of the forked lightning and the passive of chain lightning makes you a pushing monster. This however does not provide massive damage boost than the desolator.

Vanguard: No hardcore carry can survive if he has no armor worn, or a shield at least. This gives early boost on tanking capabilities and specially lane control. Buy this first before Mjolnir or Desolator if you are having a hard time to farm your way out.

Empty Bottle: Again, no man should waste a single drop of rune whoring.

Power Treads: Your boots is upgraded to treads for more firepower, DpS and AS. It can also alter your stats depending on what you need. Strength for health and regeneration, suitable on team clash and 1v1 fights, agility for armor and nothing else and of course Intelligence for more manapower and damage.

Item Path

Now, if you are asking what this mini guide is for, its for nothing. Really, its for nothing. Again, Visage is definitely one of the most flexible heroes on the game. You can change roles as the game goes on, if you are on the pride to take the role of a carry, then I am not restricting you so, however if the game does not suit your play style then pick another role for god's sake.

This comment is taken from The Other Guy whom is a fan of Visage himself. Read this if you have problems on dealing with your item:

Getting charges is a non issue, generally speaking at around lvl 7 you only need to slow most heroes long enough to get a few hits off with your bats and trust me, those charges will be there.

The great thing about him is just how versatile he is. His nuke and his slow can easily be interchanged to suit your situation.

As for the items he needs nothing more than boots really. You need to decide early on how you will play and which role he should take in the team. Facing a lineup with some scary carries? Gank them and farm like a madman and get that early Guinsoo or Shivas. Facing some powerful early/mid/late game pushers? Push back by gunning for items such as Mek, Shivas or Necro.

And the possible builds go on, as do the situations where you might need them. Remember, there is no such thing as a core build on ANY hero, only situational ones. Don't restrict yourself, adapt to the situation and most of all have fun.

Gameplay Walkthrough

Early Game

Laning

Now that you have grabbed your items, let's lock and load! First things first, where should the bat lane? if you are wandering where, then read this. Based from my experience and further tests, I've made a conclusion that Visage is to never solo. Criticisms are always free and subjective reasoning is welcome. My point here is, that the flying menace is such a glass cannon in early game. First you are really fragile and only four hits and your armor is all gone. Two you have no escape mechanism other than fleeing away and your Grave Chill which makes other heroes with chain stun have their advantage on you. Third you cannot use your nuke if it has no charges on it. Visage is specially designed with a lane partner, hello? a nuke that sets off every 60 damage on an AoE near you doesn't ring a bell? plus a slow without any freeze or stuns on it? What can a nuke mean if there isn't anyone whose gonna boost em all up for you? and what can a slow mean if only you with merely 40 damage per hit can live up to it?

Think first; which is much better? a trilane which is probably the best lane you have ever came up to or a solo lane which you are not made up of, unless you are a dumbheaded carry.

Early Walkthrough

Now that you're mind is set let's start getting gold. Try to last hit as much as possible, however if there is a carry around let him get the gold and support him by damaging the creeps near him. One good way to last hit is pressing the "S" button to stop your bat from attacking and then press "A" button if you wish to attack. Another tip is analyzing your ranged creep's projectile. Since it does the highest damage and has a projectile speed.

If you are farming pretty well then grab a set of wards. I do not want to discuss the warding tips in here so just click Lycan's Warding Guide to learn more about warding. However, I should say that you must grab a ward on early game if you are facing against a trilane and a more aggressive roamer like potm and butcher. Place it near where your carry is and place it near your lane to be safe on ganks.

When you are in trouble of getting outlaned and feeding up, go back. Go hide behind your ranged creep projectile as your ranged is quite high. If you see them going near you, then pull back or let your teammates be aware of it. Use gravechill on opponents trying to incapacitate you then let your teammates do the dirty job.

Always pay attention on your minimap. Never ever concentrate on just a single lane. Remember that the minimap is the most important thing you can see on the wc3 world. Calling a miss is a good chance to let your teammates escape or even gank a fragile hero. While you farm your ass out and outlane your enemy completely.

Mid Game

Mid game starts when you are on level six. This means that you have your family beside you and you are ready to roam around freely like what bats certainly do. Before you start, let me remind you of some things that you don't want to miss when you're on mid game:

Avoid letting enemy heroes free farm

Now we know that you will be roaming like hell on mid game but still never ever let them free farm, especially if they are carries. Always carry a tp scroll with you whenever there are solid pushers like axe and centaur. Do not let them get that gold they want. You can delay they're free farming by simply ganking them with your teammate as you will be roaming.

Roam on lanes near you

Roam on lanes that are a few steps away from you. Do not go to top lane if you are on bottom lane. And always go to lanes with fragile heroes like Traxex or Kardel. Saving time is the key on a good bat you know.

Use runes like they're burgers

As I have told from the rune sections, be an effective rune user. As you will be roaming, you will pass on rivers or even scout runes and use them eventually on fight. You need to use them proficiently and effectively as it can easily turn the tide of the battle in just a quick blink.

Scout with your bats

Your bats are flying. Take this opportunity to scout on runes, or even missing heroes. They can go through unpassable terrain like a flying burito. Without a question, they are excellent tools of ganking. Especially sight.

Roaming is good, but too much is awful

Well maybe you are roaming. But too much is very bad. You may get outlaned, out-experienced and out-skilled. To the extent that your skills don't even do that much damage to them as on your early level. Never get fed up with scores hitting on your multiboards. If you are always roaming, the tendency for other heroes to farm gets higher up to 80%. Always carry a tp scroll with you if you need to go to your lane. Never let those stupid heroes farm and much more, level up.

Never gank with low hitpoints

You are to never gank if you have a low health. You are such a glass cannon and one focus fire on you and you are dead. You don't have any stun that will disable them and slow them on eating you. You have a slow that is thanks to God that isn't any better than a stun. Oh come on, you have bats and they have stuns!, 2 seconds AoE stun is good, but chain stuns on enemy heroes are far more better.

Low mana? No Problem!

Low mana? like other heroes you don't have any problem on your mana. Why? your bats are the most important ppl in your sleeves. If you are on low health, low mana. Go back to base. But if you're teammates complained that they need a gank. Then you have your bats to go beside them. Let your hero go straight to your fountain while your bats go straight for the gank. Get it?

Mid game, though your use is starting to shine, you are not at your full potential. Mid game is where Visage gets his item, farms it, and gank potential threats. If somebody tells you that mid game is where he shines most, he is dead wrong. Clashes and Teamfights are far more better than roaming and juggling around. At least thats what my experience is telling me.

Late Game

Shining

If you readers do not know what late game is; well its all about teamfights and clashes. And thats what the bat is all about. Shining on late game is not that hard yet not that simple. If you managed to crawl up and at least not get overfed by your enemy carries then you have at least the talent to be a great gamebreaker. Shining is all about letting your carries finish your opponent while you support and give them your best nuke and hits. A support is not a killstealer and a lasthitter, being aggressive is good but too much is bad. Do not steal kills especially from allied carries that will eventually carry the game for all of you on the last part of it.

Your role on late game

You are not an initiator. The bold letter summed it up. If you think a 1.5 seconds stun and a gravechill is initiating, well you might think again. Leave it to heroes who has high gamebreaking skill, or high AoE stuns like Leviathan, Enigma or Magnus which can ruin they're game and give you a perfect position.

You're all about support. After initiating; if the stun almost wears off, use stone form. You're all about the second stun and slows. You are all about chasing and not letting them get away. And you are not a tank. You don't want to go upfront with high DpS heroes like Ursa and Sven. Go behind the real tanks like Centaur or Axe. On late game, you will eventually learn your use as your teammate will instruct you. And last, you are not to kill. You are to damage them with your nukes and your hits. Maximize the use of your nuke which means using them upon having full charges, and slow them upon cooling down.

Maximizing your potential

Its all about clash and teamfights now my friend. Now its time to get serious. I will try to teach you how to help on teamfights especially on positioning.

Clustered opponents are achieved upon initiators like Magnus or Enigma. This is the best position where you can land stone form perfectly. Not only that you may hit 3 to 5 enemy heroes, but you can constantly focus fire and not panic. Initiating is really important for you. Though you are not to do it. Let them handle it and you'll then do your job as the second AoE gamebreaker. Remember; to let your initiators do the trick before you cast stone form or you'll end up wasting a skill point.

Hitting 2 or 3 enemies isn't a bummer, especially if you hit they're carry hero. However hitting only one opponent on a teamfight is not gonna do any good. Whether you hit they're carry hero or just they're support. Its all about your AoE stun which takes toll on your opponents. A stun slows them down to the point that they are dead before they even cast they're devastating ultimate. Generally speaking, try to target where to land your stone form. This requires good concentration and a slight precision. Imagine that you're stone form AoE is smaller compared to its AoE so you can get that bull's eye perspective you really want to get.

Why land on ramps? Ramps are genuinely wise because you force them to go where you want them to go. Landing on ramps makes them squabble all over to get away from the ramps as soon as possible and that is where you and your teammates finish them. Be wise to intercept them because you will fail if you are just following him on his tail. If you managed to land on ramps, the tendency for your opponent is to ran straight ahead so intercepting them is a very good idea. Landing also on ramps and cliffs gives you unimaginable vision of the terrain below. So get ready to hide and stun in all directions!

Never ever waste your skill point

Now that it is late game, wasting a skill point will be very awful. If you managed to fail and set your skills to cooldown then a teamfight came near you then what do you do? Valuing them is pretty good. You won't know when they are handy!

Eliminate the threats

Your first target is they're carry. Never ever get fooled of a bigger target or tanks trying to lure you to attack them. Eliminating they're carry is an 80% chance win. So if you ask me why not support first? they're more fragile? and yes! they are, but wait? What does a support hero do? Support carries of course! if the carry is doomed what do supports do? they die instantly. Never let the small hp fool you. They are luring you using they're fragile butts and ass. Picking on them is no good. Try to stay manly by killing the manliest of them all.

Remember that you are most effective on late games and so forth. You now have your items that you can rely on. So now is your chance to prove to yourself and to your teammates if you have what it takes to be the flying menace!

Mind Game

Observing the minimap

Playing mind games is probably one of the most devious thing you will ever do on Dota history. Mind games is all about watching your opponent's movement and pattern; where they would go next, and who's they're next target. Though you are not all about mind games like Goblin Techies, you're still playing it. As a support, knowing what to do and where your opponent is located is very important, especially for your carry heroes. So observing the minimap is one of the most important part on mind game tricks.

Red bulls eye are opponents. One missing could be a danger to any of you, especially to your supports. If your minimap is set to assign colors for each hero, I would like to recommend to switch it to only two colors, the teal and the red. The point is, you don't have to assign colors because you are not houdini who likes rainbow patches and patterns. You are all about calling a miss and seeking where is the miss. Remember to scout on your minimap. One eye on your hero, the other on your minimap. If you see somebody missing then call a miss and quickly identify who is missing. Identify if it is a support, a roamer who is very dangerous from early up to mid game, or a carry hero who usually is ganking on mid game. Buy wards and implant it to where you're opponents are usually going.

Observe where they usually gank. If they are furiously ganking at the top lane then plant wards to scout the top pathways. If they are pushing towers too desperately then plant wards on the lane where they would likely escape after pushing a tower. Are they rune whores? plant near rune spots. Are they farmers and late game carries? plant on the neutral camp where they are likely to farm. Mindgame is not about shitting and guessing where they will go. It is an intelligent guess.

If you or any hero is feeding on the game, assist. Now that you are on his side, well maybe they'll be scared a bit. Supporting has its name warped on you.

Breaking the opponent's pattern

If you are finally aware what they're attack pattern is, then it is time to break it in them. You will know the attack and gank pattern by observing who is missing on the map. If most likely one is missing then they gank, that means they're pattern is one miss then gank. If usually three heroes are missing before a gank happens then there is three miss then gank. However, you will only find yourself get used to reading they're pattern after sometime playing the game. Playing with friends also helps. Or playing on single mode and trying to memorize and be familiar with the whole map, juke and escape paths is always viable.

However, let us assume that you are now good on observing who and what kind of pattern they do before they gank. Now is your chance to break it on they're face!

Let me give you an idea on how it works. If an enemy hero is missing, and you find other heroes acting strange(i.e. some are squabbling to retreat, others are not focused on last hitting which is awkward; usually this means that they are typing or they're mind is set to something) then you see an opportunity that a gank will happen. Next is to know where and who will they gank, try to scout the map for at least three to five seconds, if the missing heroes or hero is on top lane, then you can conclude that he or she will gank on the middle lane, still; you must know if that hero is carrying a tp scroll. If he or she is carrying a tp scroll, then look on your allied hero who is nearest on the enemy tower. You tell him to stop pushing, and go hide under the bush. Now that you've annoyed them completely by not giving them the blood they wanted, its time to counter attack!

Proceed to the path they will take after an unsuccessful gank. I.e. if they are on a lane, then they will probably go back to their lanes. Then try to intercept them by going to where they would probably land. You can also do scouting using your familiars which are really useful to you and your teammates. If it is done and you spot them, well, you handle the rest.

Additional Tips & Strategies

Practice makes perfect

Practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, so why practice? Nah, just joking. Practice does not make a person perfect, instead makes you better. Practicing using him makes you quicker and soon you will adapt to the macroing and usage of his skills. From time to time you will soon realize that you are playing a hero, so devastating that they are banned all the way to competitive games and are considered OP by many people. And of course, practicing with your friends isn't that hard to do isn't it?

Go get the runes!

It is the age of rune keeping. Whoever gets the rune, wins the game. Never ever forget that.

Always let your familiars go a step ahead

Never ever let your familiars go behind your tail. They should go step ahead of you and stun all the way to their tower. Remember that slowpokes never get they're gold. So do not be a slowpoke, never slouch and let your familiars do the trick for you.

Being aware is not a bad idea

If you are aware of what is happening, what is going on, and who's gonna die. Then I am sure you'll not be overfeeding. You can outlane your enemies if you are aware of what they can do. Play all heroes on Dota. On the extent of getting familiar of them, because knowing what they can do is really great. Now that you know what they are capable of, you know what they're counters are. So playing with heroes doesn't hurt a bit right?

Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com

VISAGE GUIDE (by phantom146)

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