This guide is for a mid Visage utilizing the power of Vlads and HotD to amplify the DPS of the familiars. The attack aura from Vlads and the alpha wolf aura translate to a 45% DPS increase for the familiars and turn Visage into one of the best early heroes in the game.

You want to start the game with a ring of basilius and tangos or 2 branches if you get pooled tangoes. Always start off blocking the first wave of creeps to get favorable positioning on your high ground mid so you can build as much of an advantage towards getting lvl 6 as possible. Ferry out either a stack of tangoes or a salve when you get the money to insure you have the regen to stay in lane and continue harrassing. Use Grave Chill on the enemy mid at the early lvls when multiple last hits/denies are in contention since it allows you to attack 2-3x as fast to deny/last hit and build an early advantage. You are trying to get to lvl 6 quickly and before your opposing mid if at all possible. Go for 1-1-1 skill build into a 2-1-2-1 or 3-1-1-1 build depending on if you need the 2nd point in cloak to prevent harrass. Try to get the 3rd point in grave chill if you can because it will make the kill at lvl 6 much easier if you can get away with it.

You should ferry out the blight stone as soon as possible to help in last hitting that will later build into your medallion. Just make sure that you have all the pieces you need to build medallion and dust if needed for an Invoker before you hit lvl 6 so you can go for a kill the instant you can summon your familiars. Right before the last creep dies to turn you lvl 6 disassemble the ring of basilius and build the medallion.

After level 6 get your brown boots, buy a 2nd blight stone for more minus armor, rebuild ring of basilius and start building towards your helm of the dominator. Once you have HotD up start dipping into the jungle looking for an alpha wolf and killing the medium camps if the wolves aren't there. You want to have an alpha wolf and vlads done by the time you hit lvl 12 to take advantage of your huge power spike. You will be very tanky with a 4-1-4-2 and your familiars will output an unbelivable amount of constant DPS. I choose the cast range talent at lvl 10 to make it easier to get the Grave Chill on my target.

You should try to convince your team to push with you as soon as you hit 12 with a wolf. It should be relatively easy to take all the tier 2 towers and even high ground potentially. Your familiars can basically front line and take the towers with 80% damage reduction, +45% attack, +4 armor, and +9 hp regen to force the enemy's to engage into a bad situation or lose their tower. The auras also help your team do a lot of damage and sustain the push by outputting constant hp/mana regen. Rosh is also extremely easy to solo at this time due to the high DPS from the birds with the -armor from medallion and the sustain from the auras. The aegis could enable a very early high ground push.

Build towards your aghs while you are pushing down the outer tower for your next power spike and try to have it completed by the time you hit lvl 18 for your lvl 3 ult. You will have another large power spike with this item and lvl timing which should give you a great window to try to breach high ground.

Once you have those 3 items done the core of the build is complete and you can start building whatever items you feel are needed to finish out the game. AC is a great pickup to tank up Visage, increase the familiars DPS, increase his pushing power, and bulk up your teammates. You can also build a pipe if you need to push into a massive amount of wave clear like a TInker or other such hero. Just analyze the situation and figure out which item enables you to get a key kill or to push high ground easier and go with that. Also, keep in mind that if the game goes extremely late you can dominate a creep and put the HotD into your backpack without losing the creep.