Hero Guide: Vengeful Spirit

Vengeful Spirit is interesting in that she can be played as a Roaming Support or a Semi-Carry. That's one of the reasons I like her. When the game gets rough, you can step up and carry the team, whereas some supports just start to feel helpless.

This is my personal way of playing her, it's what I enjoy on her. It's not necessarily the best for every situation or every player.

Hero

Traits

• Attributes (in terms of Agility Heroes)
• Fairly high Strength gain: 2.3
• Sub-Par Agility gain: 2.35
• Decent Int gain: 1.75
• General
• Pretty squishy
• Low mana pool

Skills

1. Magic Missile
• Summary
• 100 / 175 / 250 / 325 Magic Damage (+75 @ each level)
• Cooldown: 10 Seconds
• 1.45 / 1.55 / 1.65 / 1.75 second stun (+0.1 @ each level)
• Cost: 110 / 120 / 130 / 140 Mana ( +10 @ each level)
• Single Target
• 500 Range
•  Notes
• Breaks Linken's
• Does pretty good damage
• Stun is good at level 1
• Bad increments for stun duration
2. Wave of Terror
• Summary
•  -2 / 3 /4 /5 Armor Debuff
• Duration: 20 Seconds
• 18.75 / 37.5 / 56.25 / 75 HP Removal
• Cooldown: 15 Seconds
• Cost: 40 Mana
• 1400 Range & 300 Radius
• Notes 
• Gives vision as Wave fires, so it can be used for scouting
• HP Removal = deals exactly that amount of damage, however, it won't interrupt anything or count as "you got hit"
• The Armor Debuff is VERY POWERFUL early on
3. Vengeance Aura
• Summary
• Passive Aura
• +12% / 20% / 28% / 36% Bonus Damage
• 900 Radius
• Notes
• Bonus Damage is based on affected unit's Base Damage and Primary Attribute
• Can push the lane a bit
4. Nether Swap
• Summary
• Swaps positions with target Hero (Unit with Aghanim's)
• 600 / 900 / 1200 Range
• Cooldown: 45 Seconds (10 with Aghanim's)
• Cost: 100 / 150 / 200 Mana
• Notes
• Aghanim's Upgradeable
• Can be used to save an ally (e.g. they're stunned/slowed)
• Can be used to screw over an enemy
• Can be used to initiate (though that can be suicide)

Build

Skills

I've seen two main ones:

1. Max Stun & Wave first, taking Ult when available
2. Get one level of stun, then Max Wave & Aura, taking Ult when available

I prefer build #1 because:

• Aura can push the lane
• Raw Magic Damage is more effective early game
• Aura isn't going to give as much damage output earlier in the game

Items

Starting:

• Courier / Wards
• Tangos
• Salve
• Clarity Potion x 2
• Iron Branch x 2 or 3

Core:

• Magic Wand
• Mekanism: early game, you have little HP. You need the active ability and it really helps your team.
• Phase Boots: I like these for the mobility. It helps with roaming, getting a tough stun off, juking, etc.. A lot of boots are fine on Venge though. It's a personal preference

Late/Situational:

• Manta Style: I love this for late game DPS, survivability, and even more mobility
• Skadi: It's hard to farm up, but it's a nice item for survivability and will let you just rip enemies to shreds.
• Desolator: Adds to your Wave, making Armor drop super low.
• Assault Curiass: Gives you more survivability, the aura is great for the team and pushing, plus the attack speed works well on you late game.
• Force Staff: Always a solid pick up if you're going hard support
• Drum of Endurance: This is a good item if you're having a rough time. The aura and active help allies. Gives you some more HP and Mana as well.
•  Sheep Stick: Again, if you're going hard support, this is a good pick up
• Other
• Butterfly (DPS & Evasion)
• Heart (survivability)
• Linken's Sphere (if you're initiating with your Ult)
• Aghanim's (in certain games, generally I think it's bad on her though)
• Rod of Atos (the active lets you hit enemies longer, the HP is good for you, and you're mana dependent in early-mid)
• Orchid (good for when the other team has an annoying hero like AM that can blink. Gives you good DPS and Mana Regen)

Play Style

Normally, she falls into either a Roaming Support (most of the time), and occasionally as a Carry.

Personally, I like to transition.

Early Game:

• Try to gank mid almost immediately. Especially if you get a good rune like Haste, Double Damage, or Invisibility. Even Illusion can work. Just stun and then face block (block them with your hero so your mid can get more hits in)
• Play aggressively in lane. Try to stun and Wave so that you can easily rip through your target. Use your Clarity potions to keep doing this.
• Roam to other lanes or look for jungling heroes. Vengeful Spirit is actually pretty scary 1v1 early on. Yes, she can be nuked down. But she also has a good nuke and stun, plus the armor debuff makes you do a ton of damage.

Mid Game:

• You want to be buying wards, dust, etc. here
• Finish your Phase Boots and Mek
• Roam around looking for easy kills (i.e. don't wait around forever or you'll lose XP)
• Don't be afraid to take good ganking runes
• If no one is farming a lane, use Wave and then easily last hit all the creeps
• The extra farm will also level you faster, which is good for your allies that love your Aura
• Use TP Scrolls to get around to different lanes and fights

Late Game:

• Start taking a higher farm priority
• Start working on Manta Style
• Push towers by using Wave to kill all the creeps, allowing your creeps to tank the hits
• Use Wave frequently to scout areas out, scare enemies off, etc. It's a very powerful spell
• Once you get Manta, you can basically 1v1 almost anyone. You have a ton of Armor debuff, making you do a lot of damage they won't expect. Multiply that by 3 of yourself, and shit goes down.

Key Things to Remember:

• You do a lot of hidden damage because you have Wave of Terror, which drops armor hard
• Wave of Terror is good for scouting Rosh, Uphill, Across the River, etc..
• Your Aura makes you great for team fights and makes you a DPS beast
• Wave of Terror is HP Removal. It does exactly how much damage it says it will.