New meta Anti-mage item build (no Kappa)

Anti-Mage is an elusive agility carry hero that scales well through attack speed. So I've been thinking, why Battle Fury? It doesn't provide attack speed, but it does give damage and some (useful) sustain. AM's early game power lies heavily in his mana burn damage, which quickly compounds the more attack speed we build on him. Yet we build a damage item like BF so early on when AM's attack speed isn't fantastic. Seems a little counter-intuitive to me.

What I'm suggesting is, we play Anti-Mage by his principle concept (the first sentence of this thread). I'm not saying "buy Mask of Madness on this bad boy", but I am going to suggest an item that is extremely controversial on AM: Maelstrom. I know, I know, when it procs the hit doesn't burn mana, but I think the important thing is that it deals additional damage to many enemies. Also, consider this: it's cheap, pretty easy to build, and lets AM flash farm creeps. Most importantly, the attack speed boost this item gives, while it may seem insubstantial, could actually let AM make full use of his early potential. More attack speed means more mana burn and lightning procs, more procs means more damage, more damage means more kills and more farm. You could even upgrade it into a Mjollnir for more attack speed and the chance to play mindgames by placing the lightning shield buff on one of your Manta Style illusions to fool your enemies. To solve the problem of survivability, you could purchase a Vanguard (if you're fighting) or Vladmir's Offering (if you're farming).


Any thoughts or suggestions on this new meta build? Try not to be too critical, think of the potential this build could have, because I think it does have some.

So the Maelstrom/ Vladmir's Offering build was used by KuRoKy on Team Secret a few times during the XMG Captain's Draft and it did very well. It gave him great farming, damage, and regen... just like BattleFury. Now I think this build is just as legit as the BF build, but I don't know how much of a difference it makes in most scenarios. Vlads+Maelstrom pretty much does for 400 more gold what a BF does, albeit with a few other benefits. So while I think it can be easier to build into if you don't have great farm, I don't think it changes anything or makes you carry better when you are free-farming.

Hopefully that made sense lol

Yes, building vlads maelstrom is a farming build. But I was thinking, maybe AM's early game could be more powerful if he built vanguard maelstrom. Then he can just blink in and start slammin' without dying so easily.

I really like non- Battle Fury Anti-Mage. He has a very good mid-game potential, yet people only build him for the late-game. I went Maelstrom in a bot-match to see if I could farm, and it works. Vanguard works as a fighting build, but Drum of Endurance is an option too, as it grants overall stats that are good on him.

PS: Tested just now to see, Diffusal Blade stacks with Mana Break, as it is no longer an UAM. Could it have some use on him?

I see your point. I don't know, Anti-Mage as a whole is just.. weird. On one hand, he has good early game with his mana burn and magic resistance, but on the other hand he should be built for lategame with his elusive blink and mana void, along with split pushing ability. I guess I just feel like there are alternatives to picking him altogether, but sorry I know that's not the point of your post. Concerning the item build, I think that would make him more effective early game, but I don't know if he would have a lot of kill potential with only one damage item.

That feels like building Eye of Skadi on Drow haha it gives you some options but I think a manta is still more effective.

Well, you could use both together, Anti-Mage burns 62 mana per hit with maxed Mana Break + Diffusal Blade. Since it pass to illusions, they will burn the same amount too. But the other items for him would have to be very health oriented, like Tarrasque.

Diffusal mana break doesn't stack with other mana break abilities, according to its description.

Vanguard AM used to be a pretty popular build around ~6.79 - 6.80 I think, not too sure about the time frame, but it used to be the standart mid-game oriented build for AM.
I think it still works ok, but the strength of BF AM lies in the ability to reliably farm acient stacks shortly after getting BF. This accelerates his farm by an insane amount and can easily balance out a bad early game. Without BF the acients become harder to farm and can only be attempted to be farmed if there's either enough levels or something for armor/regen on him.

http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Diffusal_Blade

Diffusal Blade : Manabreak

Your attacks burn 25 mana and deal the same amount in physical damage. Does not stack with other manabreak abilities.

Sorry to disappoint your dreams of Diffusal Blade Anti-Mage.