THETA ZERO'S GUNLESS IVY SUPPORT BUILD

Author's notes

Do you like it when teammates love you? Do you love it when enemies hate you? Do you hate it when you need to aim? Then try GUNLESS IVY. Zip around, air-drop your buddies, and become a map menace! Swoop in, hit 'em with a counter-item, and let your buddy go wild, then slurp them back out with Rescue Beam! The floor is lava!

Item categories

1. 1OPTIONAL LANINGoptional

   Author's category · 3 items

   1. 1

      Monster Rounds

      OPTIONAL. Lets you at least be okay at killing creeps, since your gun is a glorified spitball launcher.

   2. 2

      Headshot Booster

      EXTREMELY OPTIONAL. You can be more threatening in lane.

   3. 3

      Golden Goose Egg

      This might be okay? Of course, it makes it so your 1 is pretty much mandatory for lane clear, but maybe you just don't care. Buffs upgrade at 10 min, then 30 min.

2. 2LANING

   Author's category · 3 items · Yeah, your job is to deny souls.

   1. 1

      Extra Charge

      Your charges are precious. Do NOT use them offensively in laning. They take an eternity to recharge. Save one for when camps spawn at 2:00 minutes into the game.

   2. 2

      Rescue Beam

      This is stupid good in lane where you suck. Use your 2 to boost healing. From then on, you can use this after dropping an ally with your 4 to pull them out.

   3. 3

      Sprint Boots

3. 3AFTER LANING

   Author's category · 5 items · Time to steal farm and air drop people! Left-to-right works.

   1. 1

      Trophy Collector

      Built from Sprint Boots

      While I don't think you should get this as most characters, it's an ideal item for supports. You know, like... YOU. YOU FILTHY HELPER.

   2. 2

      Compress Cooldown

      I know, you want this on your 1, but being able to be anywhere at any time is way more valuable.

   3. 3

      Slowing Hex

4. 4EXTRA ANTIHEALoptional

   Author's category · 1 items

   1. 1

      Healbane

      This isn't mandatory, but useful against characters like Kelvin, Dynamo, or Rem who tend to heal their allies.

5. 5TIME FOR THE GOOD STUFF

   Author's category · 5 items · Left-to-right, mostly. Rush Echo Shard if they're being annoying.

   1. 1

      Lightning Scroll

      OH GOD I CAN'T MOVE

   2. 2

      Echo Shard

      In case of 40 minute game, break glass. Put it on your 3 so you can effectively Mo & Krill ult them.

   3. 3

      Vortex Web

      Built from Slowing Hex

      Slurp them up during your ult, drop the bomb, hit them with your 1, Lightning Scroll stuns them, then they're grabbed by the thorns. Got it, thorn-thrower?

6. 6Endgame Goodies!

   Author's category · 2 items

   1. 1

      Greater Expansion

      Built from Mystic Expansion

      It gets bigger when I build on it.

   2. 2

      Rapid Recharge

      Built from Extra Charge

      Bet you've been waiting for this, weren't ya?

7. 7These Thingsoptional

   Author's category · 2 items

   1. 1

      Mystic Reverb

      This is to slow people! If you REALLY don't like it, then just buy Echo Shard instead of this, you big baby.

   2. 2

      Escalating Exposure

      If your enemy inexplicably is not dying after being stunned for 8 seconds straight and you got a billion dollars, this lets you finally do damage.

8. 8ARMORSoptional

   Author's category · 5 items · STOP HURTING ME

   1. 1

      Spirit Shielding

   2. 2

      Weapon Shielding

      Aaand they're shooting me. Real original, guys.

   3. 3

      Spirit Resilience

      Only YOU can prevent spirit damage.

   4. 4

9. 9DIRECT COUNTERSoptional

   Author's category · 6 items · Whenever they're being annoying.

   1. 1

      Rebuttal

      Pretty much mandatory against melee heroes. Fun fact, it also lets you damage Viscous with his own puddle punch!

   2. 2

      Debuff Reducer

      Buy this and only need to shower once a week.

   3. 3

      Counterspell

      Press F to counter everything.

10. 10COUNTER ITEMSoptional

    Author's category · 13 items · Buy one of these instead of Alch Fire if appropriate. They're ordered by how useful I've found them.

    1. 1

       Knockdown

       Knockdown is an excellent go-to, but it's not always the best option. If they're in the air, knock 'em down.

    2. 2

       Decay

       These fat boys won't stop healing! (Mo, Abrams, Kelvin)

    3. 3

       Disarming Hex

       Combine with your ult for an effective Curse! (Haze, Wraith, Vyper)

11. 11INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO & HIGHLIGHTS: https://youtu.be/Hs6mXfqCNyY

    Author's category · 0 items · Other support builds: Lazy Rem / Paper Paige

    No items listed.

12. 12YOUR GAME PLAN

    Author's category · 4 items · In laning, you already don't do that much damage, but you are a soul denying machine. You want to play off your partner. Avoid using your 1 offensively, enemies will always just run away. Do it to group up troopers (approaching them so they stand in it) and save at least one charge for clearing out neutral creeps (especially on the enemy's side). When you get ult, either grab your buddy in lane (if they're playing a character that wants it) for a push or fly off to drop a bomb and a 1 in another lane before flying back. After laning ends, you're the lane janitor. Always keep a spare 1 charge, and use any extras to clear camps or waves to make sure the lane hygiene is immaculate. If you see a fight going on, either fly off alone or grab the nearest person and drop them in. Rescue Beam is good for both saves and also a mistake-undoer if you drop your buddy into a bad situation. Watch your map, you don't want to stack a million people on one lane and leave others empty. When you get Echo Shard, your 3 paired with Enhanced Duration makes it pretty much impossible for them to do anything, including contest mid boss. Remember to aim it in front of them so they're forced to walk through it. From that point, the build adjusts so you primarily are responsible for crowd control. Lightning Scroll and Vortex Web pretty much assures enemies will get rooted by your 1 or 3. As you'd expect, enemy players do not enjoy this and will often complain, usually about you specifically. Oh, and if your bad teammates complain you picked them up, tell them you overestimated how good they are. They usually stop whining when you say that.

    1. 1

       Duration Extender

       Put it on your 4 so they STFU for longer.

    2. 2

13. 13ABILITY POINT ORDER EXPLANATION

    Author's category · 0 items · You level up your 1 first since it stops the enemy from pushing tower too hard. I don't like leveling 2 up at all since the cooldown on it is shorter than the cooldown on Rescue Beam, and the bonuses are both too situational and don't benefit your playstyle very much. I also avoid upgrading 3 because Rescue Beam with your 2 gives you a pretty reliable means of healing and you should only ever go in while using your 4, so it's generally off cooldown. I rush upgrading 4 to max because the barrier for the first upgrade is strongest the earlier you get it, and the AoE silence is absurdly broken all game long. I delay maxing out your 1 because with the current buy order, it isn't realistic to expect yourself to be able to keep enemies in the range of it long enough to get ensnared until you at least have Echo Shard, especially when coupled with Mystic Slow and your 4's innate slow when at level 2. Lightning Scroll pretty much assures they will get trapped at that point. Forcing the enemies to burn their Dispell Magic on you is also a huge advantage for your allies. 4 being maxed, along with Echo Shard, makes you a MASSIVE nuisance all game long even without your ult, and you don't even do damage!

    No items listed.

Categories appear in the author's order. Only the editor's default Early, Mid and Late sections are marked as game stages; the author's own categories keep their names. “Built from” links come from the game's item recipes.

Published ability order

Published ability order: unlocks and upgrades in the author's order, one row per ability in slot order

Entangling ThornsEntangling Thorns	Entangling Thorns: Ability unlocked, step 1				Entangling Thorns: 1 AP upgrade, step 51	Entangling Thorns: 2 AP upgrade, step 62				Entangling Thorns: 5 AP upgrade, step 10