The Phenomenal Rise Of Visage 7.00

The Phenomenal Rise Of Visage 7.00

We look at the phenomenal rise of Visage, one of the long lost supports who has been given a new lease of life after the 7.00 Patch Update. thx for icefrog get visage to rising their own style.

Since the 7.00 Patch Update the hero power rankings have shifted, in particular for Visage and Lycan, who have had a revival over the last month. After receiving some love from Icefrog they are now making their way to the top of the highest winrate on DOTABUFF. Why? Well let's take a look at Visage.

Visage is absolutely killing it after 7.0, going from a 44% win average on the 12th December to a 54% win average just 9 days later according to DOTABUFF. The 7.1 update earlier today only slightly tweaked the whole list of buffs to be applied to the hero in 7.0, who is enjoying a 56% win rate in the 5K+ bracket. but in bracket 3k+ it's still same yup can't use this hero basically it's so hard to controlling this familiar.

The increase is a massive figure taking into consideration this is across all games not just professional ones. The reason for this increase is due to the array of buffs he's been given in 7.0, and he may be worth picking up again if you want a new support to play. Visage received a total of 15 changes in the latest patch with the majority of changes positive.

It doesn't take a genius to realise Visage is loving in Patch 7.00

 

Visage's rise to glory is linked to the changes to two of his abilities, his defensive shield and Q spell Gravekeeper's Cloak and his ultimate Summon Familiars. Patch 7.00 has directly addressed the main weakness with the hero, improving the synergy of his spells and making him extremely deadly not just in the early game but now also in the mid-game. 

View 7.0 patch notes for Visage's Gravekeeper's Cloak

Patch 7.0 changes to Gravekeeper's Cloak:

Gravekeeper's Cloak minimum damage threshold increased from 15 to 50
Gravekeeper's Cloak now reduces all damage by 8/12/16/20% per layer.
Gravekeeper's Cloak recovery time rescaled from 3 to 6/5/4/3
Gravekeeper's Cloak now affects Familiars within 900 distance of your hero (their block is based on your stack count).

Visage's E ability Gravekeeper's Cloak has been buffed to make him far more sustainable. The cloak works in a similar way to an Infused Raindrop, blocking a certain number of damage per charge. Once Visage takes a certain number of damage one layer of the Cloak is removed and the hero's Gravekeeper's Cloak starts with 4 layers.

In 7.0 the damage needed to remove one layer of the cloak has risen from 15 to 50 damage, and although the time for a layer to recharge has been increased at lower levels (from 3 secs to 6/5/4/3), it is still a significant buff. One reason is because Gravekeeper's Cloak now reduces all damage by a certain percentage per layer ( 8/12/16/20%) AND more importantly that Gravekeeper's Cloak now applies to Visage's Familiars in a 900 radius which was not the case before.

These four changes to the spell means it takes a LOT more effort to work your way through his shield before dealing heavy damage, and at lower MMR levels you, the profilic Visage player, will have plenty of time to pull of more Soul Assumptions on your would-be killer(s). 


View 7.1 patch notes for Visage's Summon Familiars

Prior to 7.0 Visage's ultimate Summon Familiars was a bit of a flash in the pan. You would summon the Familiars they'd do a few high damage hits before their damage dwindled and you'd resort to trying to stun your opponent by dropping them using Stone Form.

You would then need to wait 8 seconds for them to be able to come out of Stone Form and for the damage to be recharged. As you can imagine the battle was most likely either won or lost by that point, and overall the ultimate was pretty underwhelming unless you were going for a powerful gank on an unsuspecting victim.

However, in 7.0 Familiars are disgustingly good for several reasons. The first being the time for their damage to recharge naturally has gone from 15 seconds to just 2 seconds, and the cooldown time on Stone Form is now 6 seconds instead of 8. The quick damage recharge means Familiars can now effectively split push, something they could not do before due to their damage dropping off so quickly. The biggest buff though is their hit points. 

Prior to 7.0 it only took 3 hits to kill a Familiar regardless of damage but now they have 300/500/700 HP (reduced earlier today from 500/750/1000 HP), and if you've read the previous section you will know they also benefit from the damage reduction of Visage's Gravekeeper's Cloak after 7.0. 

Whether Valve's nerf earlier today in to Familiar's HP in their 7.01 Update will be enough to stop the hero growing in stature at the pub level seems questionable. After news hit of 7.01 Digital Chaos'  Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok and Faceless'  Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh both tweeted a fond farewell to Visage but it may take more to stop the trending hero.

Can Valve's 7.01 update control the beast?

Even with 7.01's minor tweak Familiars still now hit harder (damage cooldown decreased), stun faster (Stone form cooldown decreased), last longer (HP added) and move faster (from 380/390/400 to 430). Also at level 25 Visage's Talent tree allows him to increase Familiar movement speed by 120. All in all it is not hard to see why Visage is now insanely good after the patch.

Valve did add a couple of noteworthy nerfs to the Familiars in 7.0; the main one being they now have 35% magic resistance instead of Spell Immunity, and that their attack damage does not regenerate while in Stone Form (because that would be clearly OP). However, the massive reduction in cooldown on damage recharge AND Gravekeeper's Cloaks buff make these changes less impactful.

How to Visage: Why not have a go this Christmas?

The 1-4-1-1 build is on the rise (DOTABUFF)

The general trend at the moment is to follow the 1-4-1-1 build at level 7, maxing out Visage's Nuke Soul Assumption (W) first. 

This allows players to be aggressive early on while still having enough survivability from the one point in Gravekeeper's Cloak (E). In battles you should be looking to nuke the supports quickly while using Stone Form to stun any channeling spells from the backlines. 

Top item choices this week are Aghanim's Sceptre and Solar Crest. Visage's Aghanim's adds another Familiar, which as we have discussed are now far more dangerous.

Solar Crest cannot be cast on oneself but when cast on an opponent drops their armour by 10, preparing the target nicely for the incoming flurry of attacks from your Familiars and your nuke. The hidden gem for a destructive Visage however, is Rod of Atos. 

The new change to Rod of Atos means its active roots a target in place for 2 seconds, which can set you up for a familiar attack and stun followed by Soul Assumption and Grave Chill. This is a death sentence to most enemy heroes mid-game, and is a fun item to pick up if you like items with active spells. 

Aghanim's Scepter is an obvious favorite, giving a 3rd Familiar which as we know is awesome

If you want to play a more battle-friendly Visage you can instead max Gravekeeper's Cloak (so a 1-1-4-1 build) as it will allow you to stay in battle longer instead of a more hit-and-run style which you would get with maxing Soul Assumption. This would also give you more time to mess around with your Familiar as they need to be within 900 radius of you for Gravekeeper's Cloak to apply to them.If you are up against a Visage any support hero that buffs allies before an engagement such as Ogre Magi is solid and you should look to shut down Visage early on in the laning phase, perhaps matching him up against the likes of an Undying, OmniKnight or Vengeful Spirit.

The data for this article was collected from DOTABUFF's Visage page and Joindota

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