Notice:
Before I start I want to warn you that I am far from being pro and that this guide is primarly intended to help my Steam friends.

Visage is considered a top tier pick in the pro scene and is most often played as a support. Surprisingly enough, he can even be played as an additional carry. The first time I tried Visage, I had no idea how to play him, couldn't chain my stuns and always let my familiars die. Hopefully after this guide, this won't happen to you. After my first game, I still wanted to give this hero a shot and quickly got hooked. Currently I have played 74 games with him with a win rate of 64,86% with a KA/D ratio of 3.59. Practice is the key to becoming a good Visage.

Visage, the Bound Form of Necro'lic is an intelligence hero. He's a Nuker, Durable and a Disabler. His abilities give him quite some tankiness but he is still mostly played as a support. His pushing power isn't on par with Chen or Enchantress but don't underestimate it. He can also be a good option for a semi-carry DEPENDING on the team build. I will talk about the semi-carry option in the skill build and item build sections. Visage can also solo mid, I've done it only 2 or 3 games so I can't really tell you how to play him that way. I strongly advise you to start playing him support for your first 5 games.

If you want to read about his skills in detail, I suggest you to go to his Dotapedia page http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Visage You should also watch the Hero Spotlight from Dota Cinema.


This will only be a simple overview of the skill.

Q. Grave Chill
Grave chill is a single target ability that steals the attack speed AND movement speed of your target and gives it back to you.

W. Soul Assumption
This is your Nuke. It does damage for each charge you have. You gain charges whenever ANY hero around a 1375 radius of you takes damage. You can deal up to 410 Dmg when you cast it fully charged! This is almost a FREE lvl 2 Dagon. Don't forget that you lose those charges if you don't cast them by 6 seconds.

E. Gravekeeper's Cloak
This is what makes you tanky. Visage literally has no armor (0 at lvl 1) and a magic resistance of only 10 %. With this skill, though, you get 4 layers that give you armor and magic resistance. However, you lose these layers the more damage you take and these layers take time to recover.

R. Summon Familiars
Your ultimate ability makes you summon a set of two familiars. These familiars are magic immuned (almost), can fly over all terrain but give a really small vision on the map. Just like the Cloak mechanic, they start off with a lot of base damage and deal less and less with each attack. They get stronger with each lvl of ultimate and the cooldown to summon them gets reduced as well. Keep in mind that they carry a 100 gold bounty each.

Q. Stone Form Each familiars gets the ability to go into stone form. When used, they deal damage around a small radius and stun all units in this radius. While in stone form, they regain all their health + base damage and are invulnerable. Then after 8 seconds they can move again. After using this stun, you need to wait 20 seconds to use it again.

No matter what the role, support, offlane (yes you can offlane Visage, see Strategy section) or carry, I always use the same skill build. This is the most popular build on Dotabuff and it's there for a reason.


I'd get a lvl of Grave Chill at lvl 1 over anything else and here's why.
Visage is almost as slow as Crystal Maiden and has no base armor at lvl 1.
Grave chill is then used as your main escape mecanism or as a slow for a kill in a lane. With this, you will outrun everyone. You can think of yourself as Weaver in the early stage of the game, you're squishy and Grave Chill is your defensive Shukushi.

Then I start maxing out Soul Assumption. This is your primary source of damage. You can spam it to secure kills and harass. Use it to help get kills early on but try not to waste it since it takes a lot of mana. Soul Assumption deals ridiculous amount of damage which is why I take it over Grave Chill and the Cloak.

Taking a level of Gravekeeper's Cloak at lvl 4 is really important as well since by this time enemy heroes start to get their items and hit harder. It keeps you alive, basically.

You must take your ulti on lvl 6, 11 and 16. You get twice the impact on the game, there's no reason not to take it.

There's no point in maxing grave chill first. Max Grave Chill after maxing everything else because lvl 1 Grave Chill is super effective and it's still the same move/attack speed drain no matter the level.

I never change build even if I go other roles than support. Yes, you could max the Cloak since it scales really well but then again, you won't have any source of damage.

My item build is highly inspired by my favorite in-game called "Destroy Them With Lazors!"
By Yoshiba. (http://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=128770698)
For starting items since you don't need much you can either buy the wards or courier for the team.
STARTING ITEMS:

• Courier or Wards
  
• Ring of Protection (solves the 0 base armor issue and you can turn it into a Ring of Basilius for mana regen)
  
• 1x Salve
  
• 1x Tango (being really squishy early game, you should always keep your HP up)
  
• 1x Clarity (you'll need it after you start using W)

Aka your basic set of regen.
EARLY GAME:

• Boots (get boots before anything else is a good idea since you've got only 290 movement speed)
  
• Ring of Basilius (even if your lane mate has one already, you'll understand why in a moment)
  
• 1x Wards (when they restock)
  
• Magic Stick (if things are really getting difficult, otherwise I skip it)

CORE ITEMS:

• Medallion of Courage (The thing about Medallion with Visage is that since you're quite tanky with Gravekeeper's Cloak, the debuff you get from it isn't as significant as the minus armor you're putting on your enemy. Plus, since armors are lowered, you and your target take extra damage thus giving you more Soul Assumption charges. You can also use it to take down Rosh with your team quicker. In sum, it's the synergy with Soul Assumption and the fact that you will kill targets quicker that make it a core item. Also cheap and easy to make, just disassemble your Ring of Basillius and take The Sage's mask with the Chain Mail and Recipe. Keep the Ring of protection or sell it. Be careful not to assemble tranquil boots!)
  
• Power threads (gives attack speed thus allowing you to get charges quicker for W) OR Arcane boots (if your team doesn't have any, you must purchase them.)
  (Tranquil Boots is also a viable choice if you've had a rough start and you'll benefit from the regen since you'll be roaming a lot.)
  
• Mekansm (you should be the one getting the mek since you can also heal your Familiars, if someone else wants to build it though, don't bother. You'll just get your aghanim's quicker.)

MID TO LATE GAME:

• Gem (if your team is ahead, get it on yourself. Chances are, you won't be the main target in fights. Also, more map control = more ganks.)
  
• Rod of Atos (I go Rod either if we're losing or if I can get it really fast and also get Aghanim's. This is an incredible slow that will help you land your familiar stuns. Grave chill + rod + fam. stuns is just mean. I usually don't buy it and go for a quick aghs instead.)
  
• Force Staff (this one is optional, use it defensively to save teamates, I skip it unless I'm losing)
  
• Aghanim's Scepter (allows you to summon 3 familiars. That's a looooot of stuns and damage, just don't take them for granted, it's still 100 gold each. Get the point booster first, it'll help you spam more spells and stay alive longer.)
  
• Scythe of Vyse (if your team needs one to shut down the carry)
  
• Shiva's Guard (slows everything around you, makes it easy to land stuns)

THE CARRY ALTERNATIVE :
You should start with a ring again but you can add iron branches instead of the courier/ward.
CORE:

• Phase or Power threads (up to you. You want attack speed + stats or you want to chase?)
  
• Maelstrom that you'll turn into Mjollnir (the more you hit fast the faster you obtain charges, lightnings trigger those charges for W as well)
  
• Assault Cuirass (The aura is just too good combined with your familiars and soul assumption. Like an AOE Medallion but ten times better.)
  
• Eye of Skadi (if you're not winning by now, this is a great final item. I do not recommend rushing it unless you have an insane early game and can get the point booster and an ultimate orb quickly. This item is pretty expensive.)
  

The main issue with the carry build is mana but you can just sit there and auto attack everyone while stunning with the familiars. Oh, you will also need a way to convince your greedy teamates to leave you the farm. Good luck...

This section will cover basic strategies, ability combo, chaining stuns and micro-ing.

What you should be doing on the map.

• Before hitting 6: I usually go safe lane and support our main carry. You should be able to pull for him and pull over to other camps as well. If someone comes close, just Grave Chill him/her and back away to the tower. Don't be shy, use that lvl 1 Grave Chill, it saved me so many times and gave me first bloods.
  
• Ward the river to help your solo mid rune control.
  
• Don't let your carry die and YOU MUST BE THERE TO HELP if an ally comes to gank your lane, spam that W.
  
• After hitting 6: Time to roam around and gank! Always put your familiars ahead of you in case you bump into someone, use them to check runes but try to keep em close. Always hide them in trees before initiating. If they see a familiar, forget about it, gank's over. Push towers after a successful gank or if no one's in the lane. Your familiars hit hard.
  
• With sentries you can use them to deward on high grounds. Basically, assume map control and be there for your team.

CONTROLLING YOUR FAMILIARS
This is what scares most people when playing Visage since they tend to avoid heroes requiring micro. I'd say Visage is one of the easiest hero for it. Yes, you get 3 units but you usually keep the familiars in pair.
Here's what I do. I use the control groups command and the shift control group key.
First, select your hero then hit CTRL and 1. This is your hero control group.
Update: You can bind a key to "select hero". I bound the spacebar so that I can quickly control my hero if I'm panicking.
Then, select ONLY THE TWO familiars then hit CTRL and 2. This is your 2nd control group for your familiars only.
Finally, select your hero and the familiars and hit CTRL and 3. This is your 3rd control group for your 3 dudes.
NOTE: Since 2-3 patches ago, all the control groups you set are saved in the Steam Cloud for the hero you played. So, if you're playing Visage and you bound those control groups, you don't have to do it again every game!
Now how do you move with all those? If you're in lane and you don't care if the other team knows your familiars are here, just press 3 and control all three. If you're staying in lane and want to send your familiars somewhere else, hit 1, move your hero, hit 2 then move your guys. Double tap the key to get your view on the selected units. The element of surprise is key. When you come for a gank, let your familiars hidden in trees and always send them in first and try to stun with them as soon as possible. Then, go in with your hero, Q + W and auto attack with all 3 units.
OR you can reverse this, start with grave chill, then land the stuns. This works best when you bump into someone or they spotted you.

CHAINING STUNS

This is where your tab and shift keys comes in handy. To chain stun, hit 2, control your familiars and when they're close enough to your target or over them, hit Q for the first familiar. Quickly, hit the TAB key, this will select the one that hasn't stunned yet, hit Q again. Your 2nd familiar will then stun using stone form. You should always focus on stunning heroes who are channeling like Witch Doctor's ult. For maximum effectiveness, try to hit the 2nd one right before the first stun wears out. Try not to leave your familiars in stone form when they're surrounded by enemies, they'll most likely get killed. To avoid this, use the SHIFT key to queue commands so that right after they stun, they'll hide somewhere.

WHEN YOU DIE

This is what I love the most about Visage. When your hero die, you still get to play using your familiars and you can do a lot of stuff. Firstly, you can push the lane where you died, use their stone forms when to regain their maximum attack. Get that gold, son. Secondly, you can pursue low HP enemies and get kills, most people underestimate the familiar damage output. Thirdly, scout the map, spot runes, check the rosh pit, etc.. Fourthly, deny your towers. I've done it loads of times, just keep your familiars hidden and make sure their damage is high enough, once the tower get below 130 hp, pop out the familiars and go for the deny. You can even deny yourself if you're still alive. It happened to me recently, I got doomed and just denied myself.

Here are examples of denies you can perform. I played offlane that game:

PLAYING OFFLANE

I go carry visage more often then offlane Visage. You're nowhere close to a Clockwerk or Weaver offlane. You can't contest much farm but you can still stand there and suck exp, just use Q whenever someone comes close. Avoid dying as much as possible. You should leave the offlane once you hit 6.

Fun fact: you can use the fact that your familiars are magic immune to counter spells like Lich's bouncing ult and Witch Doctor's cask. Once they bounce on the familiars, just isolate them away in the woods. Careful though, because this is a double edged sword, some people in pro plays got maxed Windranger Shackled because their familiars were too close.

Friends
Basically anyone that can help you land your stuns and anyone that can benefit from your slow and stuns. He fits in almost any lineup, that's why he's so often picked in competitive but here are a couple examples.

• Crystal maiden (frostbite into stuns is deadly)
  
• Lina (she will help you with your stuns and you will help her as well. She will grant you a bunch of charges for W)
  
• Luna (luscent beam can give you just enough time for your familiars and her ult synergizes perfectly with soul assumptions.)
  
• Bane. For nightmare/ fiend's grip into easy stuns. À la Mirana/Bane combo.
  
• Earthshaker (your familiars fly over his fissure)
  
• Carries with stuns, CK, alchemist, lifestealer can also benefit from your slows etc...
  
• Any hero with auras such as Beast Master and Vegenful Spirit. These are huge benefits to your familiars.

Foes
I'll talk from personal experience. These are the heroes I usually hate playing against. Basically any AOE physical damage cleave and silencers.

• Axe (his spins affect your familiars so if anyone attacks him with your familiars close to him, you just gave him 200 gold. He basically renders your familiars close to useless on him. Beserker's call also works AND culling blade. Axe is probably his biggest counter.)
  
• Weaver (His geminate attack is a pain to play against. If the Weaver is any good, he will focus your familiars, he eats them so fast. It's highly frustrating)
  
• Bristleback (for the same reason as Axe. His quills are physical damage and will eat out your familiars. Also, he's so tanky, your W and Q won't do much on him.)
  
• And carry with some ranged or melee cleave. Luna with her Glaive bounces, Gyro's flak cannon and Medusa's split shot for instance.
  
• Death Prophet (for some reason, her ult deals physical damage. It doesn't any make sense since it's ghosts, don't ask me why. Since it deals physical damage, say bye to your familiars if they're close to her ult.)
  
• Razor (His lightning storm can also affect your familiars since it's physical damage. Plus, his passive will remove your grave chill buff as well as shoot you lightning bolts when you throw him your soul assumption. Ouch.)
  then all the ones with silences like silencer, etc.. it's just frustrating since you can't do much but to auto-attack. I'd say his BIGGEST WEAKNESS is killing his familiars.

For a full list of spells that affect the familiars, check out this link: http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Familiar_Spell_Interaction

It really saddens me that Visage keeps getting nerfed patches after patches. In the eyes of Icefrog, he was imbalanced. However, that's for the competitive scene. According to Dotabuff, he's the fourth least played hero of all time in dota 2 and has been around for quite a while. He also maintains a win rate below 45%. In my opinion, his recent nerfs are unjustifiable. It's bad enough that people are scared to play him because of micro-ing. Nerfing him even more just buries this hero further into the ground. This hero has been left out by Icefrog AND valve since he's not close to getting cosmetics by any means (except for some wards). Anyways, that is just my opinion, I wish people would give him more love. Here is the massacre done to Visage:

6.81
Grave Chill cooldown increased from 10 to 16/14/12/10.
6.80
Base movement speed reduced from 290 to 285
Grave Chill manacost rescaled from 70/80/90/100 to 100
Familiars are now properly magic immune
They were previously 96% magic resistant and immune to most stuns
6.79c
Movement speed reduced from 295 to 290.
6.79
Base armor reduced by 1.
Base magic resistance reduced from 25% to 10%.

Thank you so much for reading or at least taking interest in this guide. I spent a few hours on it but they weren't not wasted hours. I've learned by writing it. If you have any suggestions, comments, critiques, I will gladly read them. Just write them in the comments. Give Visage a try! He might become your new favorite hero. Sorry that this guide is quite long, just skim through the sections you want.
edit: I never thought I'd get 100+ ratings and 6000+ unique visitors, that's insane. Thank you so much.