The 4500+ Commend Io Guide [7.21]

This is late but that's not how it works. Tether indicated the total amount healed during the time frame from when each number appeared not how much regen they actually get. When you tether, the tethered hero gains hp and mana based on your hp and mana gained not your regen.

The item build you describe was actually the previous iteration of my current build, back before the changes to Soul Ring and Urn of Shadows that occurred in Patch 7.05 + 7.06. Back when Soul Ring used a Ring of Protection, I would buy your items (with maybe a Mango as well). Mask of Sage from the sideshop would build with Ring of Prot into Basilius, and the +7 bonus damage would be great for harassing. You could disassemble the Basiilus when you bought a Ring of Regen (again from sideshop) and build Soul Ring.

The build is still viable (because Ring of Prot gives Io 11% physical damage resist at lv 1) but slower than before, because you don't have the money to buy Mango. This means once you buy Soul Ring ingredients you still have to ferry the courier out to ship Mango to you (and again, later, for the Wind Lace that builds into Tranquil Boots). At this point, you lose the +7 damage buff (which you USED TO BE ABLE to get again, with the Sage's Mask that built into Urn of Shadows, but now that Urn has been changed, this doesn't work either).

It's also slower because - rather than spending 175 gold to finish an item sooner (Soul Ring, Tranquils, Wand), you spend the 175 to help build URN, an item I don't buy until after SR, TB, and Wand are all completed. This slows Io down from completing his first 3 items by preemptively building towards the 4th item.

Last but not least, the Ring of Protection only works in some lanes. Sometimes Io is against caster lanes that hit Io with mostly spells and very little melee. Sometimes Io is against 2 melee heroes who don't even bother to harass the support. Sometimes, the 11% physical damage resist just isn't needed so early.

Your build is still viable, but it's not as streamlined as it could be.

I don't think it's a bad idea per say, but I feel the consumable regen items (Tango, Faerie Fire, Healing Salve) are more useful than opening with a Ring of Regen. Ring of Regen gives a constant, low level of healing, where as these items can be used to give a short, high amount of healing that can save your lane carry during fights, or just heal him up quickly. There is 70 gold left over after you buy all these items, meaning you only need 325-70= 255 gold to hit your Ring of Regen, and you gain...40?, maybe 50 gold as you follow the first creep wave into battle. You should not be using Spirits to harass the enemy until the skill is at least lv 2, the damage vs mana cost ratio is simply not worth it. This will reduce your mana expenditure and make your clarity usage more meaningful. If you really need more mana, instead of buying a whole Ring of Regen off the bat, use the extra 70 gold to buy another Clarity to supplement your mana.

I also suggest that you stack the small camp at 0:54 and then pull it at 1:10-1:12 into the oncoming creep wave, using a lv1 Spirits charge to clear the camp. This will give you additional gold, improve the XP gain of both you and your lane partner, and deny your enemy several creeps worth of XP. It will get you that much closer to your Ring of Regen.

The Relocate Cancel is really, really difficult to pull off, and is NOT something I can do consistently. It's really a last-resort technique - "I have no other options and I'm 100% dead when I go back, so let's throw caution to the wind and try to cancel this". I would normally rely on Glimmer Cape/Shadow Amulet to escape a dangerous Relocate return, but 5% of the time (or if I'm playing a carry build and don't have Glimmer Cape) I will try it.

I understand the timing of the movements better after lots of practice. You want to activate your TP scroll JUST BEFORE the "3" of "3 seconds remaining in your Relocate" shows above Io. Approx. 3.1-3.2 seconds, if I had to be specific. This gives the game 0.1 seconds to register + begin the TP animation, so that hopefully the 3 second TP and the 3 remaining seconds of Relocate end at the same time.

I'll put it like this - whenever I can actually successfully cancel a Relocate in a game (which is almost always a last resort), I will perform some sort of celebration in real life :-D

#BringBackTranquilBoots #RageAgainstTheMachineThatIsValve

Hey asci! Let me start by saying, I really like your comment! Thank you for the kind words about my guide, I'll do my best to address everything you brought up. I apologize in advance for writing too much, it's a bit of a habit of mine if you couldn't tell from the guide :-P

(1) YES, you can activate Shadow Amulet before you Return and the invisibility will not break. Some enemies will instinctively check your position with a Sentry ward (if they are carrying one), but most Dota players don't understand how Io works. Some players think you can stop Return with a stun or an item, like Eul's Scepter. Relocate Return can be cancelled through various methods (Pudge Hook, Kunkka X, well-timed TP scroll, etc.) and maybe they presume you have accomplished one of them. Specific enemy heroes (Axe, Lone Druid, Zeus, Underlord, to name a few) can force you out of Shadow Amulet invisibility, but in those situations you should be Glimmer Cape-ing + running for your life and not standing still with a Shadow Amulet. That being said, Force Staff is a great item choice for Io (it's the #1 spot on my Situational Items - I purchase it more than my guide implies) and would be a great choice against enemy heroes that will upset your Glimmer Cape/Shadow Amulet hiding. Ultimately - Shadow Amulet hiding is a last-resort technique, an expansion of an already useful item. Sometimes, you just gotta take the gamble that they won't be ready to check for you!

(2) I hate to say it, but I disagree with almost all of your talent choices. You seem to be forcing your talents around your items, and not the other way around. Io does not have to "stay away from physical combat" if he specs the +6 Armor talent at Lv 10, which gives you more armor than a Mekansm (where as the +10 Magic Resistance is worse than a Glimmer Cape). You spend 1700+ gold on Arcane Boots AND Soul Ring, but ignore the Lv 15 talent that gives you borderline infinite mana (and even more for your Tether target). You say Io only needs money in the early game, but Io is one of the best support heroes BECAUSE he has end-game potential - if you have the right items, especially expensive ones like Heart. And while I don't totally disagree with the Lv 25 choices, I would like to point out that the +150 Spirits damage (100 -> 250 per orb) multiplies the damage of Spirits by 2.5x, taking a dead end-game spell and suddenly making it useful again. 2500 Magic Damage is big - to put it in perspective, it's 2.2x greater than a Max Lv Lina Ultimate with Aghanim's Spectre. Not to be overlooked, my friend.

(3) Guardian Greaves DOES help the whole team, while Tethering is only solo-hero, this is true. But Io is a single-target healing machine! It's in the hero's design! The reality of Dota, and of fight mechanics, is that more often than not, a single hero is going to need more help than the rest of the group. I would rather invest gold into items that maximized Io's single-target healing ability than a dull AOE heal buff.

Not to mention the fact that Mekansm costs 2375 gold for a +250 heal, and Guardian Greaves cost 5375 gold for the SAME +250 heal. 3000 gold is more than halfway towards a Heart of Tarrasque, an item that heals +250 HP PER SECOND, and you want to pour it into an item that doesn't actually heal much better after you're done?

So, looking at your build's items, if you scrapped Arcane Boots (900 gold) and only bought Mekansm instead of Guardians (1700 gold), you're basically halfway to HoT (2600 out of 5500). If you skipped Mekansm entirely, you're a hundred gold away (5375 out of 5500). The Lv 20 +120 GPM talent would help you finish it off...

My final thought is this - Which is more important, HP or MP? If a player runs out of MP in a fight, he usually has to leave. If a player runs out of HP in a fight, he gives away gold, experience, and can't play the game for 10-120 seconds. Investing money into your HP items is far more important than reinforcing AOE MP.

(4) You have actually stumbled across a big hole in my guide, and I thank you for it! I almost always up the courier in my games, purchase the Tome of Knowledge, and always make sure I have a TP scroll on me, but that is never discussed in my item build at all. You are absolutely right, asci, upgrading the courier and buying wards are a big part of Io strategy. Your comment has actually inspired me to add a section to my guide titled "Support Items" where I will discuss my logic on purchasing courier, wards, dust, and more. Thank you so much for the constructive help, I really mean it!

I'll be sure to leave a comment on your build soon!

- Wisper