Outworld Destroyer vs Venomancer

How this matchup plays

Thinking you can blow up Venomancer before his spells matter is a common trap in this matchup. Outworld Destroyer has the burst damage with Arcane Orb and Sanity's Eclipse to threaten Venomancer, but it's rarely that simple. Veno's entire kit is damage over time. Astral Imprisonment can save a target from initial impact, but it doesn't cleanse poison, so the target comes out of the save still dying slowly. On the other hand, Venomancer has no real way to stop Outworld Destroyer from hitting his timings, farming, or setting up a kill. He can slow him down, but he can't lock him down or stop him from using his spells.

The lane often settles into a passive farm-fest, with Venomancer trying to drain resources with constant poison while Outworld Destroyer focuses on last hits. Later on, teamfights come down to initiation and positioning. If OD's team can find and eliminate Venomancer before he gets a good Poison Nova off, they usually win the engagement. If Venomancer’s team protects him and he blankets the fight with his ultimate, OD's side finds it incredibly difficult to sustain through the fight, even if he personally survives the damage. Neither hero fundamentally shuts the other down.