Freeze your allies in a healing embrace or crush enemies with your icy fury by following the coolest Dota 2 Winter Wyvern guide
Where dragons breathe fire, the Winter Wyvern breathes ice capable of healing friends and burning enemies. She flies above the trees with her watchful reptilian eyes, looking for the right moment to curse an unsuspecting enemy, burying them forever in an icy grave.
Winter Wyvern is a versatile Universal Hero with an impressive HP of 560 and 387 Mana. Additionally, although her 41.5 damage and 285 movement speed is below average, her 2.7 armor is quite good.
Winter Wyvern (WW) is relatively easy to play, as most of her abilities are simple clicks and casts with good range. She’s also a powerful nuker thanks to her abilities, which also come in handy on the battlefield, perfect for her usual support play. She doesn’t need a lot of gold to function, so proper positioning and helping her keep the farm is enough for a guaranteed win.
Skill
Let’s take some time to relax and learn about our Icy Wyvern’s excellent utility-based heavy abilities.
- Arctic burning – Winter Wyvern flies with unhindered movement for 10 seconds and is capable of dealing fast and cold attacks with up to 500 bonus attack range. Each attack deals basic attack damage, in addition to dealing up to 10% of their current health as damage per second, which lasts for 5 seconds (7 with level 15 talent). Additionally, enemies are slowed by 40% (52% at level 20 talent) for the duration of the debuff. This ability can be upgraded with the Scepter of Aghanim.
- Aghanim’s scepter upgrade – Turns Arctic Burn into a shift ability and drains Mana at 20 per second. WW also gains an additional 25% movement speed bonus whenever active.
- Aghanim’s scepter upgrade – Turns Arctic Burn into a shift ability and drains Mana at 20 per second. WW also gains an additional 25% movement speed bonus whenever active.
- Splinter Blast – WW fires a ball of ice that shatters on impact, showering enemies in a 500 (900 at 15 talent level) radius with shards that deal up to 340 (440 at 20 talent level) damage and slow movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds. The level 25 talent upgrade also causes the shards to stun for 1.5 seconds.
- Cold Embrace – Winter Wyvern creates an ally in ice healing, disabling them for 4 seconds and healing them for up to 45 HP (70 at level 10 talent) and 4% of their maximum health per second. This ability can be upgraded by Aghanim’s Shard.
- Aghanim’s Shard upgrade – At the end of Cold Embrace, a Splinter Blast is thrown at the target, hitting enemies within an increased radius of 1200. It also reduces its cooldown from the lowest of 15 to 11 seconds.
- Aghanim’s Shard upgrade – At the end of Cold Embrace, a Splinter Blast is thrown at the target, hitting enemies within an increased radius of 1200. It also reduces its cooldown from the lowest of 15 to 11 seconds.
- The curse of winter – WW freezes a target enemy in place, causing enemies around it in a 525 radius to attack their ally. Both all enemies (targets and attackers) triggered cannot be damaged by any external source except Winter Wyvern and her units. The curse also grants 65 bonus attack speed, lasting up to 5.25 seconds (6.5 with the level 25 talent).
talents
- Level 10 – +35 Damage or +25HP/s Cold Embrace Healing
- Level 15 – +400 Splinter Blast Shatter Radius or +2s Arctic Burn Debuff Duration
- Level 20 – +100 Splinter Blast Damage or +12% Arctic Burn Slow
- Level 25 – Splinter Blast 1.5s Stun or 1.25s Winter’s Curse Duration
Dota 2 Winter Wyvern Guide – Tips
Winter Wyvern excels in the lane support game with her immense teasing and potential, thanks to her Arctic Burn and Splinter Blast abilities. Spamming them in lane makes her a tough opponent to deal with. When paired with a core, she can easily ensure their safety thanks to her ability to slow incoming attackers and heavily heal her allies with Cold Embrace. Unlike most supports, WW never really becomes irrelevant. No matter how big her enemies may be, she can quickly turn the tide of battle with a well-placed Curse of Winter, forcing her enemies to attack their comrades. With the right levels, she can easily make an impact regardless of the stage of the game.
Winter Wyvern is usually played as a lane support and a nice sight for allies suffering from a problematic lane. Her skill set allows her to easily slow down and harass opponents and keep her core alive in critical situations. Additionally, unlike most other supports, she has a respectable strength increase, making her quite durable. Due to her lack of movement speed, maintaining good position is essential to her survival. Staying out of sight, keeping her core alive, and pulling creeps into camps is all she needs to do in the early game.
Farm isn’t essential to WW, but levels are. Therefore, you are expected to pack and pull small camps, creating space for your carry and levels for yourself. She has pretty expensive Mana spells, so securing Mana regeneration items with whatever gold you earn is essential. As you reach the mid to late game, focus on staying out of vision as you will most likely be the focus in teamfights. If you stay alive and cast your spells correctly, enemies will always be in awe of your icy fury.
Dota 2 Winter Wyvern – Pros and Cons
Here are some of the Winter Wyvern’s strengths and weaknesses that you should know to have a smooth game.
The pros:
- Scales well against physical attack enemies
- It has great benefit of attributes
- No need for articles to make an impact
- Good at clearing waves
- Good long range nuclear potential
- Curse of Winter pierces spell immunity
Disadvantages:
- Scales weak against magic damage enemies
- Skills need proper timing to execute most effectively
- Slow movement speed and rotation speed
- Poor in escape and pursuit
- Weak single-kill potential
- Curse of Winter does not taunt enemies immune to spells
How to play Winter Wyvern
Let’s fly into any game with a thrilling impact and learn to play cool dragon queen with this short guide.
Starter items
Start your lane with Tango and Iron Branch for healing and some cheap attributes. Thanks to your Cold Embrace, you can skip taking Healing Salves and go for some clarity instead.
In case you’re going to spam a lane with enemies, having an early Magic Stick will allow you to regenerate your HP and Mana for emergencies.
Early game
Your job is to help your main farm, keep them alive, and draw creeping waves to your jungle camps to deny XP and win yourself. With enough time, you can easily get a Wind Lace or Boots of Speed outright to help you with the necessary movement speed.
If you’ve had the chance to secure a few kills or assists, you can also pick up an Urn of Shadows or Magic Wand, both of which will give you extra attributes, and the former will allow you to heal or damage a target.
Middle of the game
Once the mid-game begins, it’s crucial to realize that you’re vulnerable to spell damage and to get away from enemies. Stay in the backline during teamfights and nuke your enemies and heal your allies from a safe distance. If you don’t die a lot, you’ll probably have enough gold to get a few items, including mysterious boots, to help you spam your abilities more.
Upgrading Urn of Shadows to Spirit Ship is also a good idea if you need another single target damage. If you find it hard to stay alive and focus a lot, get yourself a Glimmer Cape to break away from fights more easily. It can also synergize with your Cold Embrace to grant your target ally magic resistance and invisibility on top of physical damage cancellation.
Late game
You regain your leverage in the late game, where physical damage dictates most teamfights. You can position yourself for the perfect Winter’s Curse with a few items like the Glimmer Cape, Staff of Strength, or even a Blink Dagger. You can also build towards a Holy Locket or Guardian Greaves, which will take your healing game to the next level.
If you have Gold to spare, you can get a Meteor Hammer to damage buildings or combo with Winter’s Curse. Additionally, the scatter and reflect of a Lotus Orb and the increased range of an Aether Lens will help you stay safe longer in teamfights. If you have plenty of Mana, you can go for an Aghanim Scepter, or if all else fails, a Vyse Scythe for another disability.
Dota 2 Winter Wyvern Counters
Here is a list of enemy Heroes that counter Winter Wyvern a lot and will always tend to leave you feeling blue.
- The ancient show – His cold feet can easily trap allies when they come out of your Cold Embrace, and his Ice Burst disables the healing factor of your Cold Embrace and turns your allies into a sitting duck.
- Summoner – His cores, such as Chaos Meteor, EMP, and Sun Strike, can be devastatingly unleashed on an ally under Cold Embrace, as they will not be immune to non-physical damage.
- melee – His Decrepify can quickly banish and save any enemy you cast Winter’s Curse on, and his Lower Ward will punish you for your high Mana cost abilities. Finally, his Life Drain can easily be used on a Cold Embraced ally.
- Mage Skywrath – His Ancient Seal and Mystic Flame can quickly annihilate any ally wrapped in your Cold Embrace.
CONCLUSION
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