Magnus: Pro Initiator, Pub Carry

Well i think magnus is semy carry utility tho get boots of travel or manaboots,force,and allweuss get shviva not refresher get shiva shiva will make your mag force to be feared.
Shiva is like second ult 200 dmg nuke,some armor,and passive attack slow.solve all your problems after shiva get refresher orb.then you will have 2 rp and 2 x shiva active effect stacks.
7.5 sec stun and double slow from shiva is no joke even 6 sloted medusa will die if you catch her in your ult.
Your whole team can rape enemy forever this is why i like magnus he s teamwipe specialist
he is a carry but in a different way from others .
He carry his team with his disables not with rightclick dmg.

what about Eul's instead of having both force staff and blink dagger?

I really enjoyed reading this guide, thanks, +1!

Carry Magnus may sound a bit silly but honestly it's not the worst, after all you're often the solo mid so that's a semi-carry role, and if you don't want to go for the Refresher Orb route you can go for right-click DPS, it can be viable. After all Empower can be cast both on you and your teammates so you might as well make the most out of it.

I really like the Mask of Madness + Armlet of Mordiggian build, indeed if you want cost-efficient DPS it's probably the best option, you can hit pretty hard with that during your RP. Add in a Daedalus and pew pew pew :)

The Blink Dagger is in MOST of my builds. I was trying to point out that a Force Staff also solves two of Magnus' problems: lack of an escape after initiating, and lack of mana pool to get his whole combo off (or his combo and an extra Shockwave).

I'm not sure how much pub-Magnus you've played, but it's very rare for me that my team is right on my heels after I blink-RP...

If you have a highly coordinated team, or are playing competitively, then Blink Dagger IS far superior to a Force Staff. However, at a pub level, where players also have trouble estimating the Blink Dagger range, a Force Staff is a little more flexible (you can use it while being hit, and also on a teammate, and it gives you a higher mana pool so you don't have to be as sharp about figuring out whether you have mana for a full combo).

EDIT (May 14, 2014): It might be worth noting that pros often get BOTH the Blink Dagger AND a Force Staff on Magnus, because positioning is so important!

why do you choose force staff over blink dagger ? im not a good dota player but i think blink dagger is more instant and with that you can catch your opponents off-guard easier.Yes with force staff you can get out bad situations a lot easier but the point in taking these items is initiating isnt it ?

Thanks!

Your comment has inspired me to update this guide for mid-magnus, and add a bunch of other builds I've seen / thought up lately.

Hey,

I love magnus. Love him. I think he's one of the strongest hero's in dota. I think this is a good guide and covers a lot of the issues magnus has, solid item builds, his counters etc.

You touched briefly on one of the most important combos of magnus: blink, rp, skewer. However, as I am playing him more, sometimes if their are heroes that coordinate with magnus, it is better to blink, rp, and then watch to see if they are about to chain a combo spell. The blink, rp, skewer has been so commonplace to me that sometimes I skewer them right out of a disruptors field right as he lays it.

One critique I have is that you don't have a solid guide for magnus when played mid. I might make one for this. I would say for mid magnus getting shockwave first is important for early last hits/harass. But I'm glad you explained the proper way to use shockwave (lining up last hits with hero harass)

Another skill that's REALLY important for magnus is the quick pickoff. This is where you would quickly blink behind an enemy then skewer. It works really well when a team is attacking your tower to pull 1/2 of the melee heroes behind the tower for your team to dismantle first.


Thanks for the guide!


P.S. I made an account to comment on your lonely article ;)

I need some comments, people - I thought this guide would be better voted / received. Any Magnus players care to comment?

A lot of good tips and overall looks like a nice build. I don't have that much knowledge on Magnus, but I got some out of this, thanks! Also well formatted and "Luxury: I have so much money, I think I'm a Carry" made me smile :-)