Worst item per cost...

Was having a casual conversation with a friend of mine on why Mek was better than Vanguard in every way possible; when it occurred to me how many useless Vanguard really is in general.

For nearly the same amount of money you waste on a Vanguard; you can build a HotD, Armlet, Veil, Vlads, or buy two Helm of Iron wills.

Then I started to think about how I usually bypass Arcane boots on most of my heroes. Especially heroes that most people would get arcanes on. I usually go soul ring builds. Most of the time when I go arcane boots; I usually plan on going bloodstone later.

Anyone else not go for certain items many people would consider core on certain heroes in exchange for other items.

A lot of people build Battlefury on Kunkka, but I think having a Daedalus is much better and for additional dmg a Shadow Blade and MKB are better.
The Cleave from Battlefury is pretty useless since you want that one hit that just kills everyone. It's really only worth it if you have a Magnus to stack the enemy team and give you Empower since both Cleaves stack with Tidebringer.

There are only three heroes that really should go BF. Anti-Mage, Ember Spirit, and Juggernaught.

Anti-Mage needs it to farm. Ember needs it for fist. Juggernaught doesn't really need it. It's just a nice added bonus to omnislash.

I feel pretty much the same way tbh, I'd rather get a Mekansm, Drum of Endurance or a Vladmir's Offering than a Vanguard on just about every Hero who'd "normally" build it, even Bristleback.

As for Arcane Boots, they solve your Team's Mana problems, but Power Treads plus any kind of Regen is much better, they can reduce Mana Costs, make you Tankier, help you Farm better and improve both HP and Mana Regen. You just need to learn to Tread Switch. I'll get them if my Team needs them (I don't build Bloodstone, it's almost as bad as Vanguard), otherwise I'll go for Treads or whatever I feel is necessary.

One thing I hate is when people mindlessly build Linken's Sphere on Medusa, Morphling and Weaver because it's a "Core" Item...case in point http://www.dotabuff.com/matches/868268176

We have a Linken's Sphere on Medusa, it blocks Decrepify, Netherward, Life Drain, Timelock, Telekenesis and Spell Steal, it also partially blocks Fade Bolt.

It does nothing against Shadow Fiend...

It's useless against Faceless Void...

Lycanthrope couldn't care less...

Gotta protect yourself from the "mighty Supports"...8{3

I don't mind when there's a legitimate reason to build it, e.g. you'll be in and out and they can only reasonably throw one blockable spell at you/ you're building it as a defense against powerful Single Target Spells like Doom, Fiend's Grip, Primal Roar, etc. but come on...it's 5k Gold down the drain otherwise! 8{(

I usually go phase boots on most of my heroes. Not a huge fan of treads. Only go Tranqs under certain situations.

I usually go bloodstone when I'm playing a caster and my team has high kill potential. Gotta love having such a low death cooldown timer.

IMO Battle Fury on Kunkka or Juggernaut is primarily about the mana regen. They're very mana-intensive heroes, and Bfury is usually the best mana item for right-click heroes.

People who think that Drum of Endurance solves mana issues are just fooling themselves...these drum Juggs and Kunkkas are always out of mana and can never ult when they need to.

As for not going for usual items on heroes, the best example for me is Chaos Knight. I'n not really sold on the "usual" drum/armlet/BKB build, I always played Manta Style/ Eye of Skadi/ Refresher Orb CK (with an early Urn of Shadows for ganking and a halberd/satanic as option) and I was always happy with it :)

There are no truly bad items... Vanguard maybe. It's pretty good early game, but falls off fast and as everyone has rightly pointed out, Mek is better. Maybe if you could stick a Reaver on top of it and make it into a Heart of Tarrasque. The higher level Dagons are pretty bad value for money unless you have some kind of multiplier or other burst to make it worthwhile.

Mask of Madness is super-situational - you want me to pay 1000 gold to make myself easier to kill?

Hand of Midas frequently upsets me - we've got weak lanes, an AFK jungler and we're losing towers...and the team has 3 midas's. GG. Battle Fury has the same weaknesses to a lesser degree.

Butterfly and Linken's Sphere are pretty situational too - very nice, but very expensive when they can be countered so effectively.

A lot of the intermediate/higher stats items are also really bad value for money - Ultimate Orb, Band of Elvenskin etc until you actually make them into something.

Vanguard is good on Anti-Mage if you want to fight early...that's probably the only example I can think of.
Vanguard works only on melee heroes who need to tank up in early game AND who can't afford the mana cost of Mekansm...a very rare breed indeed.

I have to agree... if there's a 'off-meta' item right now, it's Vanguard. Damage block is nice, but Vanguard is a very low-cost efficient and it has a window time to be get, otherwise is completely useless. Needs a rework or to be replaced by another damage block item, I think.

I also don't like Mask of Madness - people (including pros) insists on building it on frail heroes like Sniper and Faceless Void. It does help, but this isn't an item for single playing in pubs, unless you are very sure of what you are doing.

---

-EDIT-



Hmm, I would prefer Drum of Endurance on Anti-Mage howsoever, as Manta Style is the best thing he can get - building Stats is a lot better than getting raw health and damage block for a "Illusion" hero.

Well, to be honest, Drum of Endurance isn't exceptionally cost-efficient either.

Drum of Endurance : 1850 gold, +9 all stats, +3 damage, +5 MS/AS
Bracer + Wraith Band : 1010 gold, +9 str, +9 agi, +6 int, +6 damage

So yeah, bracer + WB does essentially everything drum does for half the price ; you just lose the active.

Vanguard is good on Anti-Mage because AM really needs to tank up against physical damage, since he has low armor, and he already has resistance against magical. Vanguard->Manta->basher of course, you can fight early with that.

But yeah Vanguard is a bad item and it absolutely needs a buff...either you buff the damage block so that it becomes *significaltly* better than Poor Man's Shield (which it isn't right now), or you make it disassemblable.

For me the worst item in the game is without question Dagon 5. 5000 gold on top of Dagon 1 to do what, 400 more damage on activation, and a shorter cooldown? You can get a full Ethereal Blade for that price! Only heroes who don't know what to do with their gold can consider that item. On the other hand, Dagon 1 is actually a really good item to get an early game advantage (last time I saved a desperate 0-10 early game with a Dagon Furion), but upgrading a Dagon is just horrible.