Orb of Venom: when and why to get it

Orb of Venom

Passive: Poison attack - Poisons the target, dealing damage over time and slowing, depending on whether your hero is melee or ranged.

Orb of Venom is a Unique Attack Modifier, and does not stack with other Unique Attack Modifiers.
Melee Slow: 12%
Ranged Slow: 4%
Duration: 4
Poison Damage: 3
Imbues your weapon with the venom of a poisonous spider.

No item spilts opinion quite like the Orb of Venom (OoV). Its mention summons either fond memories of epic games, or more hate than a youtube comments section. The recent 6.75 patch has reduced it from 350 gold to 275 gold, but this considerable reduction in cost has merely moved it from the 14th least popular item to the 13th least popular item by ranking on DotaBuff.  It is an item of contradictions, cheap enough to buy quite early on in the game at 275 gold, but only builds into Skadi, which at 5675 is a definite late game item.

OoV's slow is better on melee heroes but Skadi is usually only bought on ranged heroes due to the stack with lifesteal. If you're not planning on building it into Skadi it either sits in your inventory all game wasting a slot that could be used for a more useful item or sold in the mid game as soon as slots begin to fill up. Don't be fooled though, OoV can be a great item. It's all time win rate sits at 54.15% and its big brother Skadi has the 12th highest win rate at 77.5%. So clearly OoV isn't a useless item.

The problem arises from OoV being useful on only a few heroes and extremely situational, so it can be hard to judge when the right time is to purchase one, upgrade it, sell it or skip it all together. The following are a few examples of when the time is ripe to get Bret Michaels on that Unique Attack Modifier.

 

Hero - Venomancer
Situation - Harass/babysit

Firstly, yes the OoV stacks with Poison Sting. And what a stack. Added together, OoV and Poison Sting give Venomancer's auto attacks 8/13/18/23 damage per second and a slow for 15/16/17/18 percent of movement speed. This allows Venomancer to play very aggresively early game, particularly with Venomous Gale adding an extra 15/30/45/60 damage per second and 50% slow on top of your auto attack damage.

This turns Venomancer from your average support into a harrassing machine, the terror of any low health supports. At a pinch he (it?) could even take the mid lane with OoV and build as an aggressive ganker. Particularly against a Templar Assassin (TA), as Venomancer's damage over time is enough to reduce the instances on refraction, leaving TA open for the killing.Don't get me wrong, OoV doesn't all of a sudden make Venomancer the next Viper or a carry, but it does give him a lot more options in terms of the role he plays on a team.

Most likely, you'll sell the OoV towardsthe mid game as you need the slot space for a more useful item and Skadi's aura does not stack with Poison Sting, so there is no point aiming for one in the late game. If you are the designated hard support for your team however, give OoV and your  miss and focus on wards and satisfy yourself with muttering about how you totally could have gone this sweet carry Venomancer.

 

 

Hero - Lone Druid
Situation - Spare 275g

This is a pretty standard choice for your bear and on the reccomended items tab, and for good reason. If you're in a lane it gives a big increase to your bear's ability to harass with the damage over time, the bear focusing down the enemy hero while the Druid picks up the last hits. Also if you're roaming and ganking, the slow can allow the bear a few extra hits as the enemy tries to escape increasing the chance of that all important entangle.

A lot of Lone Druids like to run straight into the jungle and dissaper for thirty to forty five minutes, rushing a mjollnir or radiance (or both) for the extra farming power, and in this situation an OoV will not benefit your game. Lone Druid in the suicide lane won't be able to make good use of an OoV either as the bear won't be able to be used as aggresively as it would in a 1v1 lane. Playing the mid lane or an aggresive jungle role is when an OoV on the bear will really shine making those early kills that little bit easier.

A second OoV on the Lone Druid in bear form for a doble slow/poison can be nasty too if you're feeling particularly cazy. On the other hand farming is the name of the game giving OoV a miss is advisable, and instead focus on attack speed or radiance for your furry friend.

 

Hero - Omniknight
Situation - Agressive play

Combined with Degen Aura, there is no escape from the Omniknight. Each hit will slow enemy heroes for 19/23/33/40 percent slow, which is just ridiculous. Assuming the enemy hero has 300 movement speed, (roughly the average) even if they have boots, with one skill point in Degen Aura and an OoV they will be reduced to a shuffling 283.5 movement speed when Omniknight attacks.

This allows Omniknight to slowly autoattack down the enemies health as they make a futile attempt at escape. Even a blink may not be enough for an enemy hero to win free, so it is good for shutting down Faceless Void or Antimage early and stopping them from getting the farm they need to be effective. If you choose this build it is wise to put one skill point in Repel early to prevent stuns ruining your chase.

Levelling up Purification is not as important as it usually is because you'll be playing less of a support role so don't be afraid to put some early skill points in stats to increase your attack damage and hit harder. If you have a friend with you, run a lane with Dazzle and the slow from Poison Touch will give Omniknight enough time to run in to get a few hits to get the Degen Aura and OoV slow happening. The healing combos along with Shallow Grave allow for crazy tower dives and ultra aggressive plays, with no need to use a salve or head back to base for a heal afterwards.

This two hero lane is almost guaranteed to make your enemies consider uninstalling Dota. Once again if your team needs the support, the usual items like a soul ring, mana boots and wards will be a higher priority but if you have the freedom to play agressively OoV will allow you to dominate your lane.

 

Hero - Riki/Brewmaster/Lifestealer
Situation - Early game chase aid

I've grouped these heroes together because their situational usage of an OoV are all very similar. These heroes all have a slow (Thunderclap, Open Wounds, Cloud/Blink) but can still have some trouble early game with the chase when there are only one or two skill points in these spells and the percentage slow is quite low, or the cooldown is quite high.

Particularly Brewmaster before his Drums of Endurance and Phase boots, or Riki without a Diffusal Blade, have trouble keeping an enemy hero in place long enough to finish them off. When their spells are on cooldown all they can do is chase impotently like the bullies in Forrest Gump when he breaks his leg braces and becomes the Flash or whatever.

Also in this early game phase these hero's autoattack damage is quite low, so more hits are needed for a kill, meaning more time spent chasing and a higher chance for the enemy to escape. The slow and poison damage can give you an extra hit or two, which can be that little bit extra damage you need to get the kill, or a few extra seconds for a blink to come of cooldown.

Buying the OoV in the first five minutes allows Riki, Brewmaster and Lifestealer to get involved in teamfights and ganks much earlier on in the game rather than relying on your team to play four man Dota until they are farmed up enough later in the game to come out as the big carry and roll up the enemy team.

This is less true for Brewmaster who isn't a real late game hard carry but he still needs some items to be used effectively. This early game presence is important if your team isn't strong enough to hold out until you're farmed up, the enemy is steamrolling towers and threatening the base early on or if your side wants to finish the game before quickly and get the jump on the enemy's carry before they can farm up. Icefrog appears to be shifting the Dota 2 metagame towards faster, more gank orientated games after patches 6.75 and 6.76 with increased shared gold for kills.

This means this early game involvement will benefit your team more than ever and is likely to become more and more important as the metagame shifts from pushing strategys and relying on a hard carry coming in at the thirty minute mark to more gank oriented lineups.

 

This is of course by no means an exhaustive list, but I hope it has given you some food for thought. Hopefully this will inspire you to think about OoV when planning out a build for your hero. Until next time, happy gaming!