Enigma is a very strong jungler and pusher in the early to mid game, with one of the strongest disables in the entire game at his disposal in the late game.

He is somewhat item and level dependent, although can single-handedly win team-fights by getting a good Black Hole. With the Right items, he can be very powerful in the late game indeed.

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Enigma Item Build

Starting Items

• Boots of Speed
• Wind Lace
• Clarity
• Tango
• Animal Courier
• Sentry Ward

Early Game Items

• Soul Ring
• Arcane Boots
• Hand of Midas
• Blink Dagger

Mid Game Items

• Mekansm
• Black King Bar
• Guardian Grieves

Late Game Items

• Octarine Core
• Refresher Orb
• Aghanim’s Scepter
• Shiva’s Guard
• Boots of Travel

Situational Items

• Radiance
• Ghost Scepter
• Linken’s Sphere
• Shadow Blade
• Scythe of Vyse
• Kaya
• Spirit Vessel

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Enigma Skill Build

1. Demonic Conversion
2. Midnight Pulse
3. Demonic Conversion
4. Malefice
5. Demonic Conversion
6. Black Hole
7. Demonic Conversion
8. Malefice
9. Malefice
10. Talent
11. Malefice
12. Black Hole
13. Midnight Pulse
14. Midnight Pulse
15. Talent
16. Midnight Pulse
17. –
18. Black Hole

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Complete Enigma Spell Guide

Malefice

Malefice strikes the target for 3 instances every 2 seconds for a stun which deals damage. It’s your main ability when ganking side-lanes. Putting skill-points into Malefice increases the stun duration and damage, which is why it’s prioritized after Demonic Conversion. It has quite a long cooldown and high mana cost, so only use on heroes that you need to in order to secure a kill, or to save yourselves.

Demonic Conversion

Demonic Conversion is a very strong pushing spell. It spawns 3 copies of enigma which deal damage and replicate after 6 subsequent attacks, fully restoring the original ones’ health. The attacks onto towers do not count towards the number of attacks that are required before they split. This means that you should have them attack creeps to multiply if possible before hitting the tower. Putting skill points into Conversion increases the hp and damage of the Eidolons, which in turn increases your farm rate.

Note that Demonic Conversion can be used on the siege creeps to instantly kill them, which can increase the speed at which you push. While you are jungling, you should move the Eidolons that get low on hp away from the jungle creeps so that the get the chance to multiply later. You should pressure the tower once you are able to take it without much resistance from the enemy team, and after you have secured yourself an early game item. At the beginning of the game, should convert the ranged mid lane creep to deny the enemy mid laner the experience.

Midnight Pulse

Midnight Pulse taints a large area for 11 seconds, causing it to deal damage to enemies as long as they are stood in it. It removes trees, and can be used to prevent enemies from juking, and to reveal any enemies hidden in trees near a tower when pushing. A point in it at level two can open paths in the jungle which can allow you to move in-between camps faster. Maxing it last is the best thing as it costs too much mana to use regularly, given that Enigma has severe mana-issues.

You can use this spell to repel enemies from attacking your buildings, lay it down before casting Black Hole for more damage, scouting, zoning and for just dealing damage in fights. The damage dealt is a percentage of their HP dealt in pure damage, which makes it incredibly powerful against tanky strength heroes. You can use Midnight Pule in conjunction with Malefice against a fleeing enemy to deal a lot of damage to them.

Black Hole

Enigma has arguably the most powerful AoE damage spell in the game, Black Hole. Black Hole stuns and pulls enemies towards the center of it for 4 seconds and it pierces magic immunity. It’s balanced by a very long cooldown and high mana cost. Against many lineups, Enigma will need defensive items to guarantee a full cast of Black Hole. Item’s such as Black King Bar, Shadow Blade or Ghost Scepter can help you.

Many players choose to hold off on using Black Hole, looking for the perfect cast, catching all 5 heroes. This is often bad play however, as the lockdown onto 1 or 2 important heroes can often be as effective in winning a fight. Your team should avoid pushing or taking team-fights if Black Hole is on cooldown, if possible.

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The best Enigma Talents

Level 10: +25 Movement Speed or +15% Magic Resistance

If you are against a lineup with lots of magic damage, then the magic resistance can go a long way in helping your survivability. Otherwise, the movement speed can help you to better position yourself for your spell casts and to kite enemies easier.

Level 15: 15% Cooldown Reduction or +120 Gold/Min

If you have a Hand of Midas, the extra gold per minute becomes a little less relevant. Especially because Enigma has no problem farming lanes and jungle very quickly. Given the very long cooldown on Black Hole, the cooldown reduction is usually the better option. When combined with Octarine Core, the cooldown on Black Hole at level 3 is reduced from 160 seconds to 96. The cooldown reduction is especially good when you consider than Enigma buys items that typically have very long cooldowns, such as Refresher Orb and BKB. If you are struggling to cast Black Hole however, the extra GPM can help you to get items faster to have a bigger impact in the game. This may be the case against, for example, a Silencer who consistently can interrupt your Black Hole if not caught.

Level 20: +400 Health or +70 Eidolon Damage

If you find yourself getting nuked down quickly in fights, an additional 400 HP is quite a lot and can be the difference between life and death. The extra Eidolon damage can very good if the enemy team lacks much wave-clear or if you need more pushing power. If you can position them carefully in team-fights, then they can potentially deal a massive amount of physical damage.

Level 25: +4 Malefice Instances or +8 Demonic Conversion Eidolons

The extra Eidolons can potentially be farmed very easily by the enemy this late into the game. That said, if positioned correctly and carefully, then they can be used to dish out a significant amount of physical damage, especially when they duplicate. This is especially true if you chose the extra Eidolon damage at level 20. They can be used to split-push lanes and to take towers even more quickly.

The Malefice Stun provides 4 additional 1s stuns to your 3 strikes on Malefice. This can be a better option if your team lacks disables, if there is a hero that’s hard to lockdown on the enemy team or if you need to be able to kite a carry around more easily. It will also prevent enemies from using any channeled spells for the 15 seconds it is active as they will be stunned every other second.

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What Items to build on Enigma

Starting Items

• Boots of Speed
• Wind Lace
• Clarity
• Tango
• Animal Courier
• Sentry Ward

Enigma needs lots of mana regeneration to be able to farm the jungle, or to harass the opponents safe lane carry in Dota 2 esports. If you’re going offlane you can get a Wind Lace to improve your already high base movement speed to avoid getting caught-out. Boots of Speed can be purchased with your starting gold to allow you to move between jungle camps faster, and tangos can be purchased if you need to share some with your team. Buying some support items can also be helpful to your team. A Sentry Ward may be necessary against invisible roamers such as Bounty Hunter or Riki to avoid them disrupting your farm.

Early Game Items

Soul Ring

Soul Ring has a 30s cooldown which fits well with the cooldown of Demonic Conversion, which is 35s. As such, it can be purchased to allow Enigma the ability to farm the jungle without running low on mana. It also has very cheap components, some of which can be bought with starting gold.

Arcane Boots

Enigma usually doesn’t need a Soul Rind and Arcane Boots. If you bought a Soul Ring, you can usually leave your Boots of Speed as they are until you get Boots of Travel later in the game. Consider whether your team needs the Arcane Boots, and if so then they can be a better pickup than a Soul Ring.

Hand of Midas

A Hand of Midas is a great item on Enigma as it provides him with the means to gain levels at an increased rate as well as to get him some strong late game items. Enigma is quite reliant on levels and gold, so a Midas should be picked up almost always.

Blink Dagger

A Blink Dagger should be the first core item you get after Hand of Midas. This is because your Black Hole has very short cast range, and you will find it very hard to catch out the enemy team with good Black Holes. It can also be used to catch enemies by blinking close to them and casting Malefice.

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Mid Game Items

Mekansm

A Mekansm can allow your team to push much better and to win fights earlier and easier. However, Mekansm has quite a high mana cost, especially for Enigma who’s other spells cost a lot of mana. If the enemy team has some form  of mana burn, it may be a good idea to avoid it. If you went for Arcane boots, you can get a Mekansm and later upgrade them into Guardian Greaves which can help you against disables, given that it has a purge ability.

Black King Bar

A BKB is necessary against most teams, as they will have some way to interrupt your Black Hole cast, either with silences or stuns. This is usually the best item to get after Blink Dagger.

Late Game Items

Octarine Core

Octarine Core gives you a lot of HP and mana, and most importantly reduces the cooldown on Black Hole, as well as your items. The spell lifesteal is also very nice with Midnight Pulse, as it deals a percentage of the enemy’s HP as pure damage. The result is that it should heal you quite a lot if you get it on several heroes.

Refresher Orb

Refresher Orb allows Enigma to use Black Hole twice. This allows for incredible team-fight control in the late game, and the ability to use Black Hole a second time if your first one doesn’t have much impact. Getting this item will get you Dota 2 ranks faster, that’s a guarantee.

Aghanim’s Scepter

Aghanim’s Scepter applies the current level of Midnight Pulse to your Black Hole. If you manage to place a Midnight Pulse before getting a full duration out of an Agh’s Black Hole, you’d deal 42% of the enemies’ HP in pure damage to all enemies caught. This is incredibly powerful against tanky strength heroes in particular, especially as it pierces magic immunity.

Shiva’s Guard

Shiva’s Guard can be picked up if the attack speed slow and armor will be helpful against physical damage dealers. It also provides a significant amount of mana which helps Enigma with his relatively small mana-pool.

Boots of Travel

Boots of Travel are a good upgrade to Boots of Speed if you skipped Arcane Boots in the early to mid game. They provide you with more movement speed for kiting and positioning and free up an inventory slot of a teleport scroll.

Situational Items

Radiance

Radiance can be good if you need to increase the DPS output of your team. It also disables nearby Blink Daggers, and has an AoE miss chance against physical damage dealers. It works well with Black Hole, as it guarantees the enemies caught will take more damage during the disable period.

Ghost Scepter

Ghost Scepter can allow you to survive physical damage dealers that can burst you down quickly. May be necessary to survive long enough to get a Black Hole.

Linken’s Sphere

Linken’s should be picked up if the enemy has a strong ranged single-target disables that can interrupt your Black Hole, such as Necrophos’ Reaper’s Scythe. It also provides some great stats for Enigma.

Shadow Blade

If you are getting disrupted before you can Blink or walk close enough for a Black Hole, a Shadow Blade can help you to go undetected and get a surprise Black Hole against the enemy team.

Scythe of Vyse

Scythe of Vyse may be needed against strong carries, or heroes that require strong lockdown. However, it’s not a great item on Enigma, as Black Hole usually makes this item not necessary and it’s usually better to get items that make Black Hole stronger.

Kaya

A Kaya will help you to deal with the very high mana costs of all of your spells and is particularly effective against heroes with mana drain. The spell amplification is also great for most of your spells.

Spirit Vessel

If you need more heals on your team and if the enemy team has some very strong heals, then a Spirit Vessel can be a very good pickup. It helps to sustain your team during objectives and tanks you up a bit more as well.

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Interesting Enigma Match-ups

Silencer

Silencer’s ultimate Global Silence can mess you up in almost every fight if he is alive or doesn’t get caught by your Black Hole. This is because the cooldown on his ultimate is less than Black Hole, even with the level 15 talent which reduces the cooldown. If you get an Octarine Core and the cooldown reduction talent, your Black Hole is reduced to a 96s cooldown which is less than his 130s ultimate, provided he also doesn’t get an Octarine Core, in which case his ultimate becomes shorter than yours anyway. Otherwise, you have roughly a 30second window to get a Black Hole off without his interruption. You have to organize a fight with your team in those 30 seconds you have, by pushing a tower, going for a smoke gank or forcing a fight another way.

If you get a Refresher Orb before him, you can at least use your second Black Hole more effectively.

Rubick

Rubick can steal Black Hole even through BKB, so try to not get caught out by him by getting a pick off on him before fights if possible. Otherwise be prepared to have Black Hole cast back on you. If you see Rubick Steal a spell without Aghanim’s Scepter you have between 20 – 16 seconds to safely cast Black Hole without him stealing it. The best Dota 2 players will always keep this in mind.

Invisible Gankers

Heroes like Riki and Bounty Hunter can disrupt your jungle farm very easily in the early game, and spot potential ganks for his team in the mid game. You should buy some Sentries and dust to catch them out when they are nearby, and perhaps even get a kill for yourself. This is easier than it sounds as your Eidolons do a lot of damage and you have lockdown in the form of Malefice.

Long range stuns

Heroes such as Vengeful Spirit have strong stuns that can be cast from a distance. You will need either BKB or Linken’s Sphere against these heroes.

Stuns that pierce magic immunity

Vengeful Spirit’s ultimate and Necrophos’ ultimate are good examples of spells which can interrupt Black Hole through BKB. Against these heroes a BKB or Linken’s may not be enough on its own and you’ll need both.

Tanky Heroes

An Enigma with Aghanim’s Scepter is very strong against tanky strength heroes. Especially if he manages to get a Midnight Pulse down before casting the Black Hole. As stated above, this is a potential 42% pure damage dealt to all heroes caught for full duration.

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