At a glance#
Role (our classification)
- Carry — Scales into the most dangerous gun on the map with items.
Damage
- Weapon-leaning kit
Weapon
- 51:20
Released
- 5 Feb 2026
Venator clears the way for allies with grenades, traps, a shotgun and a crossbow against New York's supernatural threats.
Venator’s abilities explained#
Venator has three regular abilities and an ultimate. Ability names and behaviour below were checked on 27 Oct 2026; numbers are left out on purpose because they change with almost every patch — the in-game tooltip shows the current values.
Ability 1
Consecrating Grenade
Fires a bouncing grenade that deals weapon damage and sets enemies on fire; burning enemies take pure damage over time and heal less.
Ability 2
Gutshot
A shotgun blast that deals weapon damage and pushes enemies back; enemies near a wall are stunned and take bonus damage.
Ability 3
Hex-Lined Snap Trap
Kicks a trap that arms briefly, then springs on the first enemy to touch it — damaging, immobilizing and revealing nearby enemies.
Ultimate
Ira Domini
Loads the crossbow with heavy stakes; the final stake is blessed, adding pure damage and executing low-health enemies.
How to play Venator#
Your early job is to farm safely and reach your item spikes; your late job is to win fights by staying alive and shooting the right target. Don't trade your life for a kill early on.
Tips from the current kit
- Open with Consecrating Grenade to soften enemies and cut their healing.
- Snap Traps lock enemies down and reveal them for your team.
- Gutshot enemies into walls for the stun.
- Save Ira Domini for a priority target.
Build framework#
A starting framework, not a tested build
This section explains what kind of items Venator’s kit rewards, built from how the abilities work. It isn’t a win-rate-tested build. For community builds with current stats, open the in-game Build Browser and filter by hero, then check our items explainer to understand why each item is there.
Weapon lean. The gun does the heavy lifting, so fire rate, ammo, weapon damage and lifesteal usually come first.
| Stage | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Laning | Cheap 800-soul items that help you trade and sustain in lane, plus one that boosts your main damage source. |
| Mid game | Your first 3,200-soul item is usually the biggest single jump in power — buy toward the one that makes your best ability or your gun stronger. |
| Late game | Fill slots with 6,400-soul items, and swap cheap starters for upgrades. Leave room for an answer to what the enemy is doing. |
| Defence | Match the enemy’s damage: shields and resistance against whichever type is hurting you most. |
Items that fit a weapon kit
Defensive options
Items opponents commonly use against Venator — expect to see them, and plan around them:
Ability points#
Ability unlocks come from levelling up; ability points then buy upgrade tiers. A sensible default for Venator:
- Unlock the ability that helps you farm or trade in lane first — for most players that’s Consecrating Grenade or the ability you can hit most reliably.
- Unlock all three regular abilities early so you have every tool in the first fights.
- Unlock Ira Domini as soon as it’s available.
- Put upgrade points into the ability you use most, then into whichever upgrade tier changes how an ability works (tier 3 upgrades often do).
General guidance; upgrade tiers and costs are shown in game.
Playing against Venator#
- Shoot the Snap Trap to disarm it — abilities, items and melee can't.
- Plated Armor can block Ira Domini's on-hit effects.
- Dispel Magic removes the Consecrating Grenade burn and Snap Trap effects.
The full breakdown — abilities to play around, counter items with reasons and mistakes to avoid — is in how to counter Venator.
Recent changes#
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 30 Oct 2026 | Ira Domini blessed-stake damage 115 → 95, with boon scaling 3 → 3.6. |
| 16 Sep 2026 | Ira Domini now works with Ricochet and Split Shot. |
Every update that touches heroes is summarised in patch notes explained and the patch impact tracker.