Visage is most commonly played in the mid lane but can be a decent support hero as well. His skill build is relatively straight forward.
Generally, you max Grave Chill into Gravekeeper’s Cloak and lastly Soul Assumption. This makes him a very tanky hero with a strong slow and decent damage output in the mid game if you have a few items. His Familiars allow him to split-push, take towers faster and can even be used to disable enemies.
Items like Solar Crest, Assault Cuirass and Aghanim’s Scepter are great items on Visage because they increase the DPS of his Familiars. He relies somewhat on items as most of his strength comes from his ultimate and the physical damage which they deal.
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[/column]Visage Skill Order
- Grave Chill
- Soul Assumption
- Gravekeeper’s Cloak
- Grave Chill
- Grave Chill
- Summon Familiars
- Grave Chill
- Gravekeeper’s Cloak
- Gravekeeper’s Cloak
- Talent
- Gravekeeper’s Cloak
- Summon Familiars
- Soul Assumption
- Soul Assumption
- Talent
- Soul Assumption
- –
- Summon Familiars
Visage drains the target enemy of 32 % of its movement as well as 64 attack speed, gaining it for several seconds depending on the current level. This is usually maxed firstly because at max level it’s a very long single target disable that allows you and your Familiars to deal damage to the enemy much more easily.
If the Familiars are within 900 range of you, they will also gain the buff. You can, for example, use this spell before teleporting to a Shrine or a tower as it will help your Familiars to get to your next destination a lot faster. The movement speed also gives you a lot of mobility to help you move around the battlefield more easily. You can use this spell on a neutral or lane creep to gain increased movement speed and chase down an enemy more easily if they’re otherwise out of reach of Grace Chill or a Soul Assumption nuke.
Visage releases a bolt of energy at the target enemy, dealing damage based on how many charges the spell currently has stored. Soul Assumption gains a charge whenever an allied or enemy hero within a 1375 range takes damage over a 110 HP threshold. The spell is more useful in the late game when you have more mana to keep casting the spell without running out of mana and when heroes have more HP to fight with. Given that the spell has a very high mana cost, try to only use it when you can potentially kill the enemy, as it is very costly harass or chip damage to zone enemies away with.
Soul Assumption is usually maxed lastly because it has a very high mana cost relative to its low cooldown and it’s often hard to gain several charges. This is because it inherently relies on bursting down enemies before it can deal lots of damage or your allies to take a lot of burst damage. If you have aggressive, strong early game heroes, or heroes that can deal a lot of burst damage to enemies, then it can be good to get a few more levels of Soul Assumption over Gravekeeper’s Cloak. That is, provided you don’t need to tank up against the enemy lineup. Otherwise, it’s usually best to leave this spell at level one just so it can be used as a finisher for when an enemy is escaping. That being said, it’s still possible to see pros max it out during important events such as Dota 2 The International.
Gravekeeper’s Cloak grants 4 layers of damage reduction which are removed temporarily when you take more than 50 player-based damage. The layer recharge time and damage reduction is lowered and increased respectively per level. It also provides an aura around you which grants damage reduction to your Familiars based on the number of layers of Gravekeeper’s Cloak you currently have and the level of the spell. Gravekeeper’s Cloak makes you much harder to kill, and is usually the second spell to be maxed as it tanks you up a lot in the mid game.
Visage has lower base magic resistance and very low armor to balance him out and make him more easy to deal with. For these reasons, items that grant you armor and magic resistance are very strong on Visage. Assault Cuirass and Solar Crest tank you up and also increase your DPS a bit, and a Pipe of Insight can be very strong against lineups with lots of magical damage.
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Visage summons two Familiars which can be fully controlled by Visage. They can attack, have flying movement and have the Stone Form ability. Aghanim’s Scepter adds a third, or fourth with the level 25 talent, Familiar. Summon Familiars has a very long cooldown at 130 seconds at all levels. This means that if they are killed, they cannot be re-summoned for a long time, reducing your DPS and your ability to fight effectively. The Familiars stay alive even when you die, allowing you to still contribute to a fight past your hero’s death.
You can use the Familiars to push side lanes, stack camps, scout incoming ganks, interrupt channeled abilities and in the late game you can use them to farm jungle camps. Take advantage of the fact that they have unobstructed movement to cut off fleeing enemies, keep them alive, and to put pressure on towers by pushing the lanes out and then sending them into the trees. Familiars are not upgraded when you level up Summon Familiars; they have to be re-summoned.
It can sometimes be worth it to re-summon your Familiars even if they are both still alive, as it resets the cooldowns of Stone Form and prevents them from being killed by the enemy. Resetting Stone Form allows you to potentially keep enemies stunned for a lot longer, although at the cost of placing the spell on cooldown. The best and arguably easiest way to use Stone Form effectively is to use the Tab key to cycle through your units and timing one to stun after the last one ends. Avoid doing so if you suspect that a fight might break out shortly, because if they get killed at the start of the fight, you’ll lose most of your DPS and probably the fight.
After a short cast delay, the Familiar will fall to the ground and become stone. Upon impact it will stun all nearby enemies, become invulnerable and immobile for several seconds and gain increased HP regeneration. Use this spell to keep enemies stunned and taking damage from your allies for longer. It can also be used to keep your Familiars alive if they are about to be killed. This spell can be used either from Visage’s spell-bar or from the Familiars directly. Activating this spell from Visage will not interrupt teleport scrolls and will affect the nearest Familiar.
Generally, you should take the damage if you are playing in a core position and the cast range if you are support. You can take the cast range even if you’re in a core role if you are playing against heroes that are hard to lockdown or which you need to close the gap against more easily.
The XP gain should almost always be taken over the Soul Assumption extra target. Visage’s stat gain per level is quite good, and his talents are also quite strong which makes the XP gain very valuable. Soul Assumption hits 2 targets can be good if you need to or are trying to end the game quickly.
The extra movement speed is almost always preferred here. It helps the Familiars to position their stuns, chase enemies down or escape them more easily. It makes them much stronger split-pushers as they can cut into the creep-wave, kill them and then quickly flee into the trees to escape. It’s very strong because most enemies have high movement speed or other mobility items that help them to chase the Familiars down otherwise. Similarly, having high movement speed on the Familiars allows them to move across the map much more easily and chase almost any enemy down with ease.
The extra Soul Assumption damage can be good if you are playing against relatively squishy heroes and either your heroes or the enemy heroes have strong bursting spells down. It effectively adds roughly an extra 100 damage to the damage of the spell at 4,5 and 6 charges. Even then, the extra movement speed is always very strong.
The extra Familiar is almost always a better talent option. This is because it massively increases your DPS output. It also gives you another potential AoE stun. It effectively gives you a free Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade to your ultimate. The only time the reduced cooldown on Gravekeeper’s Cloak can be better than the extra Familiar if you need to become a damage-sponge to soak up more damage or to tank up. This trades off the extra DPS, but if your allies have enough damage as it is and you need to front-line more, then the reduced Gravekeeper’s Cloak can be good. However, this situation is very unusual and the extra Familiar is almost never a bad talent.
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When you play Visage in a core position, you should get more stats to increase your base damage to make last-hitting easier. You don’t really need a Bottle because you don’t use many spells and an early Medallion of Courage gives you some mana regeneration anyway. This means you can also get regular HP regen consumables to sustain you during the laning phase. If you’re playing a support Visage, then you should get regular support items and some HP regen.
If you don’t need either Tranquil Boots or Phase Boots, then you can just keep your regular Boots of Speed and get items such as Solar Crest, Pipe of Insight or Assault Cuirass sooner.
Tranquil Boots can be good for either a core or a support Visage. As a support, it will allow you to keep roaming after fights if you are taking a lot of damage. For a core Visage, it can be very good to keep you sustained during the laning phase if you’re taking a lot of harass from enemies.
Phase Boots can be good mainly for a core Visage if you need to be aggressive in the early game. This may be the case against lineups which are very strong in the early game.
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A Medallion of Courage is a very strong early game item on Visage. It provides more armor for you which is very strong because Visage has low armor and the mana regeneration helps to sustain you. The minus-armor debuff increases the damage that you and the Familiars deal, and it can also be built into a Solar Crest.
A Drum of Endurance can be a good item on Visage if you are able to farm it without delaying your other items very much. It’s a very strong early game item, which provides some helpful stats and an active which increases the DPS and movement speed of Visage and the Familiars.
A Solar Crest is effectively a more potent Medallion of Courage which also grants evasion or accuracy, depending on how it is used. It’s particularly strong against enemies with evasion, and you should perhaps be consider rushing it if so. Overall, it’s a very strong item on Visage as it can be used offensively to increase the DPS of Familiars, or defensively to tank you up against physical damage. Overall, a Solar Crest is a core item on Visage.
A Rod of Atos gives Visage lots of strength and intelligence which is very helpful, it’s easy to build into and lastly it makes it easier for you to catch enemies out. You can use the active to keep enemies rooted while you and your Familiars attack the enemy. Often the slow from Grave Chill isn’t enough to guarantee solo-kills, and a Rod of Atos helps you with this considerably.
An Assault Cuirass is another Core item on Visage because it provides many bonuses unique to the hero. It grants you more armor to tank you up and an armor aura to tank up your Familiars. This is strong because Visage has quite low armor. The attack speed and attack speed aura helps you and your Familiars to deal a bit more damage as well, and lastly the minus armor debuff to enemies further increases the damage that they deal. All of these factors make it a very strong item on Visage and should be the first major item you work towards if you’re playing in a core position in Dota 2 esports.
An Aghanim’s Scepter massively increases your DPS. The extra Familiar increases the total damage they can deal to creep-waves or neutral camps, and it also effectively grants you another AoE disable. It’s usually better to get this after a few mid game items, as it doesn’t scale as well as items such as Solar Crest or Aghanim’s Scepter do. It’s usually better to tank up a bit through cheaper items that may also increase your effectiveness a bit.
A Scythe of Vyse is another great mid-to-late game item on Visage. It grants lots of intelligence and a massive amount of mana regeneration. This helps you to keep casting Soul Assumption, a very mana-intensive spell when spammed. The ability to hex enemies is also incredibly strong, as it lets you and your Familiars attack them mostly uninterrupted for several seconds. You can even chain the disable from Scythe of Vyse with the stuns from Stone Form to keep them stunned for even longer. This will also let your allies focus and burst down the target as well.
Boots of Travel can be quite a strong late game item on Visage if you didn’t upgrade your Boots of Travel. The extra movement speed scales well with the movement speed drain from Grave Chill and the ability to teleport to different lanes makes you an even more potent split-pusher. This is mostly only worth it in the late game however, because it’s better to get some items such as Assault Cuirass or Aghanim’s Scepter to increase your overall DPS.
A Shiva’s Guard is another great option for when you need armor. It provides a strong attack speed debuff to nearby enemies as well, which effectively helps to tank up your Familiars a little bit as well. The active slow can be very good if you need more control for your team as well. In addition to this, the extra intelligence it provides is very helpful and will keep you casting spells a bit longer in team-fights.
If you are very farmed in the late game, you can get a Refresher Orb to keep in your Backpack during the long cooldown. It’s quite a good item for Visage because it can be used to reset the cooldown of Summon Familiars if they are killed while it’s on cooldown. You can use the Refresher Orb to chain the Stone Form stuns even longer, but it’s almost never worth using the item for this as it puts it on cooldown for a very long time and can potentially leave you with no Familiars.
Bloodthorn is a great item on Visage because the critical hit guarantee from Soul Rend makes your Familiars deal a lot more damage during the effect. The ability to silence enemies also makes it much easier to chase down and kill enemies that would otherwise be quite hard to kill. The passive crit chance also works quite well with the bonus attack speed you gain from Grave Chill. Lastly, the mana regeneration and intelligence which the item provides also helps you to keep casting Soul Assumption. This, in extension, will further increase your DPS as the spell has a very low cooldown and is only limited by your ability to keep casting it, and heroes taking damage.
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Bloodthorn is also the best item Visage can buy to deal with enemies with evasion. This is because most of your damage comes from your Familiars, which makes MKB almost redundant.
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A Hand of Midas can be a good item on a core Visage if you are able to farm your lane effectively. It will give you a big XPM and GPM boost, which will help you get big items like Assault Cuirass and Aghanim’s Scepter, while also helping you to get your all-important levels. If you need to be very active in the mid game either to end the match before it goes late, then it may be better to skip the Midas.
A Silver Edge can be a good item if you need to deal with passives that make enemies hard to kill. It’s generally overlooked on Visage because it doesn’t tank up your Familiars or make them deal more damage. However, you can use it to establish lots of map control and it provides some decent stats. You can use the invisibility and look for ganks in the enemies jungle, bringing your Familiars with you while they are hidden in the trees. When you want to initiate onto an enemy, just have them attack the target while you deal the bonus damage and slow them with Grave Chill.
A Pipe of Insight can be a very strong mid game item on Visage. Visage has lower than average base magic resistance, and against lineups with lots of magical damage, a Pipe of Insight will tank you up a bit. The active barrier is also applied to your Familiars which tanks them up as well. If you’re facing lots of magical damage, you should definitely consider a Pipe of Insight, or a Hood of Defiance.
If you’re playing a support Visage, a Glimmer Cape can be a very strong item. The active will help you or an ally stay alive in team-fights for much longer. The passive and active magic resistance it provides also helps to make up for Visage’s low base magic resistance.
A Lotus Orb can be a good late game item on the hero. It provides a self-purge of most negative debuffs and a spell-reflection which is strong against single-target spells. It also provides some armor, mana regeneration and a bit more mana which will tank you up a bit and give you another few casts during a team-fight.
Visage has almost no AoE damage which makes him very inefficient at dealing with heroes like Phantom Lancer or Chaos Knight. By extension, Visage is also very bad at clearing the summons from heroes like Nature’s Prophet or Broodmother. Of course, the best Dota 2 players will easily find a way to deal with this, but it needs to be mentioned nonetheless.
Heroes like Axe, Gyrocopter and Medusa are very good at dealing with Visage. This is because they have lots of AoE damage that can quickly kill the Familiars. This removes most of Visage’s damage and makes him much less effective in fights. Try to keep your Familiars at a safe distance during team-fights if possible.
Clockwerk can Hookshot Familiars. This is very helpful when used defensively to block him from reaching your allies, for example. In addition to this, Familiars can also fly over the Power Cogs, completely ignoring them. This makes Visage quite strong at chasing Clockwerk and helping Clock score kills when he’s on your team, as enemies will be unable to escape the Familiars, and they will be able to move in closely enough to attack the target.
Heroes such as Beastmaster, Drow Ranger and Lycan have auras that increase the DPS of summons. This makes them excellent teammates for Visage, as they can potentially drastically increase the DPS of the Familiars. Drow Ranger’s aura is global range as well, which makes the Familiars excellent split-pushers, capable of shredding through towers when Drow gets lots of agility.
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