Celebrity Spotlight: Interview with Grimorum

Recently I was lucky to get Grimorum, the legendary Invoker player, to answer some of my special questions for us the DOTAFire Community. Hope you guys will find them interesting! If you want to support Grimorum make sure to check out his guide and his Facebook page! For how long have you been playing DotA ? ( both DotA 1 and 2 ) Around 2003, I started playing Dota in Reign of Chaos. I still remember Stealth Assassin planted mines, and Lich summoned skeletons. Back then, my favorite hero was Morphling because he can clone himself regularly. What do you enjoy the most about this game? Invoker, he is absolutely exhilarating! Changing orbs, recycling spells, managing cool downs, and executing the combos pumps my adrenaline. Reminds me very much of Marvel Vs Capcom. You're best known for your amazing Invoker plays and tutorials, why did you pick Invoker out of all the heroes? In my opinion, Invoker is the funniest and most entertaining hero! This is a very complex hero that has an unbelievably high skill ceiling. I do not think it is humanly possible to perfect Invoker plays. There are many people who admire you and practice Invoker, do you have any special advice for them? Read my Invoker guide, it is very comprehensive. Practice Invoker spells and positioning against Bots. Muscle memory is very important, so keep practicing. Is there something you would add or change to Invoker? I hate the long cool downs. 22 seconds is extremely long for level 1 Invoke. I would dramatically reduce the Invoke cool down and nerf the spells. That makes Invoker more fun for me, but balancing it would be very hard. Did you ever try to form or join a competitive team? I joined a newly formed team once, but I had no interest in learning other heroes so I quit. I was also invited to a sponsored team, but I declined. Winning tournaments is about playing and knowing all the heroes. I only have passion for Invoker. When you started playing Invoker, have you ever imagined that you'll get so popular? Never. I remember getting only 2,000 views on my first YouTube video. My following video had 6,000 views and it had 40% dislikes. Sony Vegas and Dota 1's replay recorder was a real challenge too. I practiced and learned a lot from my mistakes over 6 months and Invoker's Raging Fury was born. How long did it take for you to master your skills and combos ? I don't think it is possible to master Invoker. I am still not satisfied with my skill level. Swapping orbs, predicting the next needed spell, tracking cool downs, recycling spells, cancelling attack animation, positioning, timing, and perfectly invoking spells at every cool down during an intense battle is not humanly possible. To get to my level, it took me maybe six years. I did not have any guide or mentor to show me the way. You have various video guides and even a guide written on our very own DOTAFire, do you think we'll see casual and professional players adopting your play style any time soon? I am quite certain that my "Day Stalker" build is already very popular because wex/quas Invoker is so strong in 6.80. 4-1-4 and 4-0-4 was very popular for a long time, but Invoker was not strong enough to be a popular pick in 2013 Internationals. I predict "v6.80 Double EMP God of Team Clash" to be used only once in a professional setting. That build is super unconventional, and super situational. However, it is super rewarding if done right with the right lineup. Do not attempt this with an uncoordinated team. Absolutely do not attempt it against heroes like Lycan, Death Prophet, Rhasta, Pugna, etc. That's about it, is there anything you'd like to say to our members and your supporters? Thank you everyone for your support! I will try to make two more Refresher tutorials over the summer. I am truly glad to be helpful for many Invoker fans. Thank you DOTAFire for the great code templates in the guide section and your interest in my Invoker. Good luck to all the professional Invoker players. I hope to see mind-blowing Invoker plays at the International! I'd like to thank Grimorum for his time and effort he put into answering my questions, I hope you guys found this interesting, as Grimorum is one of DotA 2's best Invoker player out there!

Be like Cook, if Invoker is banned, just Support. 8{3

Also, do you have any goals as an Invoker player, e.g. to be known as the best Invoker player ever?

http://forum.gamesports.net/dota/showthread.php?49495-Best-invoker-s-out-there

I tried learning support, I cannot stand it. 4 spells is not enough. I would like to be the best, but I would never hold that title without going to internationals.

Hmm 4 aint enough then rubick , meepo , chen , doom maybe? Big fan :D
Still remember watching my jaw drop in the 1st video.

I got a ques for you. Your videos inspired me to play invoker better.
Late game when people get bkb they just exact revenge from me for the 1st 40 min of the game. Those carries usually 3-4 shot me if they carry all forms of detection around on their supports.
In such cases if I have an incompetent team, my carry sucks, i lose.
This brought my invoker win rate way down. Any ideas to remedy this?

All the heroes above are just not the same. I don't get the adrenaline rush with them.

Not much really. Invoker really shines from 20-40 min. All you can do is improve your play and coordinate team work with good communication. A very good Invoker will reach 5000 MMR. Adapt skill build as necessary. W/Q works in most situations, but sometimes you need e/q.