Drow Ranger X's Guide

I think HotD and MoM depends on how the game is going and how you would choose to play.
If you are planning to get early picks or teamfights starts breaking out early, and so you need to be an useful carry as early as possible, then MoM is the right choice. Because as RossenX mentions, it nearly doubles the damage output.
But if the game is going slowly or you want to gank early then HotD is of most use. Stacking ancients nearly doubles GPM, which has obvious benefit in the mid-lategame. Centaur Khan is going to help you a lot with those ganks (+20 damage and 5 armor ain't that bad either).
I have not played that much Drow Ranger, so I consider this guide quite helpful, +1 :)

Well, after trying Helm of the Dominator a few games, i didn't find it as useful as Mask of Madness mostly because, if i want to convert it to Satanic it would only come after my Manta Style which very rarely a game lasts long enough to be able to buy both Manta Style and Satanic and there's no way I'm sacrificing my Manta Style to buy a Satanic first. Maybe it's just my way of playing, but i still find the way i posted this guide the most effective for me.

The movement and attack speed from Mask of Madness was just something i find extremely useful in fights, laning and roaming around the map. It might make me even squishier, but the way i play it hasn't gotten me into trouble more than a few times, it's usually the thing that saves my skin when i need to make a run from it or back off from a push, because if you put yourself in a position where you cannot get away after using the Mask of Madness i would have been dead anyway.

Mask of Madness's attack speed bonus can nearly give you DOUBLE the damage output, making it extremely easy to take down an enemy before they even realize what's going on. Sometimes i can fire as much as three arrows at the same target before the first arrow even hits. So for the dirt cheap price of 1900 i can as much as double my attack speed for 12 seconds.

I edited it to say "carry/initiators" because i was also thinking of initiators when i wrote that. Though I've never seen Mask of Madness bad fire for me, maybe because like i said i play her more of a heavy-damage support and almost never put myself in harm's way. hehe. Hubey has a good point when it comes to building a Satanic though... I'll try that and see how it works for me I'll change this guide.
As for frost arrow i mainly use it in the start so that the other team can get a easy kill on him, it's mostly as a support-role to begin with and later on becomes sometimes i actually use to take down people on my own.

Thanks guys!

I agree, Dorw is way too squishy for a MoM, you will just get focussed down and die.

Also Axe and Tidehunter are not carries ;)

Don't agree with hades. You can lifesteal in fights and finish off with Frost Arrows, which actually works pratically and not just on paper. 60% Slow is so ridiculous that this is really good imo.

People mainly get HotD to stack ancients and jungle, or build it into Satanic. MoM can backfire really hard, so I don't like this choice because you are squishy and people like to target you. If your team has enough team fight potential it might be good, but HotD is much safer.

Hey there, maybe it's been my experience with the Drow Ranger but i didn't really need silence until level 10 plus and being able to put the enemy to a crawl so my lane-mate can pummel them into a fine powder while i rain arrows on them usually works. And actually i use the Mask of Madness not the Helm of the Dominator. I tend to play the Drow Ranger a lot more support-like, maybe because I'm used to playing the support heroes.

Thank you for the +1! :D I've had a ****-load of fun playing the Drow Ranger and since i play her a little differently i thought I'd share. ^.^

Why you don't level up Silence at early levels? It's really useful, also, there's no point in maxing Frost Arrows since you're going to use the Helm of the Dominator's orb.

A +1 from me though.