Don't judge a guide by its cover

WARNING: comprehensive guide incoming!

Introduction

Welcome to my guide on Invoker, one of the most popular hero in Dota 2 to pros, newbies and Russians/ Ukrainians/ Pinoy/ American/ European alike (no racism intended). Like every heroes in Dota 2, Invoker is unique. But like some heroes, he is more unique than others in the fact that Invoker has a total of 10 (!) powerful spells at his disposal. So if your fingers and memories are up to the challenge, do read on!
My guide will be aiming for relatively competent players who have already had knowledge on Invoker as well as Dota 2 in general (items, heroes, gameplay...). I will be focusing much of my guide on Invoker gameplay, combo(s), tips and tricks... Hopefully this guide will teach everybody something new.
English is not my native language by the way, so...

Anyway, let's take a look at Invoker rating on Dota wiki.
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In case anybody is wondering what is the score about, here is the link to the rating page.

Current discussion: Invoke

This discussion is about Invoke, one of Invoker's ability. Feel free to skip if this is the first time you read this guide. Please give me your opinion down the comment section below, and allow me to quote them here :).

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Level

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Mana cost

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Cool down

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Effect

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1 2 3 4

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20 (*0) 40 (*0) 60 (*0) 80 (*0)

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22 (*17) 17 (*12) 12 (*5) 5 (*2)

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Create a spell based on the current reagents.

• Can be learnt at level 2/7/12/17
• The new spell will automatically have the hotkey D (or whatever hotkey your assign to your 4th spell slot) assigned to it.
• Your oldest spell will be lost, while your newer spell will be assigned the hotkey F. (or whatever hotkey your assign to your 5th spell slot)
• (*) are values when you purchase Aghanim's Scepter.

As you can see, Invoke is the most important spell for Invoker since without it, you can't do anything :P but as I observed some pro players, sometimes they skip rank 2 of Invoke to put more points into his orbs. I have tried this build is various games and got varied results. So, the question here is: when do you want to not level up Invoke in favor for more orbs level?



Have ideas? Wish to contribute to the dicussion? Think that i'm a giant n00b to skip Invoke? Just comment below and i will quote them here. Thank you!

Abilities

(Reagents = orbs)

Quas

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• Give HP regeneration and Strength
• Give very good lane sustainability
• Always take one level in Quas by level 3
• Always activate Quas when not last hitting in lane
• Always activate Quas when you are below full health after the laning phase
• Have Quas activated can save you from being killed by DoT spells while silenced (most notably Doom and Global Silence + Curse of the silent)

Wex

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• Give MS/AS bonus and Agility
• Max Wex ASAP in QW builds, otherwise 3-4 levels will be enough
• Relatively useless in lane, might help escaping and securing runes
• The best orb when all reagents are of similar rank, helps Invoker to chase, escape and position himself during teamfights
• When moving around the map, have it activated, even with only 1 or 2 levels. Every bits of MS counts!
• DPS increase is not significant until Invoker get one major damage item

Exort

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• Give damage and Intelligence
• Do not underestimate Exort DPS increase
• Give high last hitting and harassing power
• Useful for farming, damaging tower and killing while your spells are on cool down
• Have Exort activated most of the time during the mid game and late game (QE and Exort build) until you get a major damage item

Invoke

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• Create a spell based on your current reagents
• REPLACE THE OLDEST SPELL YOU HAVE (this is very important for combos)
• Relative high mana cost, so be careful when invoking new spells in the mid game
• High cool down until rank 4, so it's highly unlikely for Invoker to use more than 4 spells before level 17 in a skirmish.
• Anticipate beforehand the situation: the sooner you invoke a new spell, the more flexibility you will have in the next engagement.

Here is the ten spells in Invoker arsenal, as well as their usage and notes. I won't be listing out the spell information, so you might want to check out the wiki for more details.

Cold Snap (QQQ)

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• VERY long cast range (1000)
• Mini stun only applied when the target take more than 10 damage AFTER reduction
• Use to harass and kill in lane
• Assist ganks from miles away, cancel channeling spells, synergies very well with a constant source of damage (high AS heroes/DoT spells like Battle Hunger)
• Can be used to cancel spells which have a slightly long cast time because the initial mini stun is instant (Like AM and QOP Blink)! Priotize heroes with long cast time in fights, such as Earthshaker.
• Have relatively low cool down and mana cost - utilize this to jungle faster (not recommended)
• Works on Roshan, but you need to break his Linken first.

Ghost Walk (QQW)

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• After lv4 in Wex, you get bonus speed! Use this advantage to escape (if your other spells are on CD), even when they have detection.
• Use it to scout
• Be careful! If you stand too close to an enemy they will know you are there.
• High mana cost and long cool down, so use it wisely. On the bright side, it last up to 2 minutes!
• If you are out of mana and low hp, do stick around if your enemies have no detection to provide the slow aura. Don't get hit by AOE spell though.
• Pro-tip: like other Wind walk abilities, Ghost Walk does NOT cancel channeling. Use Ghost Walk AFTER using Town Portal Scroll to make a safe escape

Ice Wall (QQE)

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• Hand down the best slow in the game, if you can land it (usually requires a disable or a mobility item)
• Be creative when landing it
• Relatively long duration, low Cd and decent mana cost
• The slow lingers if you can land it on an enemy before he/she pop BKB
• Turn your hero 90 degree to use Ice Wall as a pseudo-skill shot

EMP (WWW)

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• Huge AOE, but long delay, require a disable to land it
• Cast it somewhere lest noticeable such as in trees to make sure it hit
• Extremely good zoning ability (if the enemies have no magic immunities). Nobody likes to get their mana burned, so cast it to deter enemies from going into an area

Tornado (WWQ)

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• Hand down best spell of Invoker
• Extremely versatile usage: gank, pick off fleeing targets, disable, initiate, counter initiate or disengage a fight due to its massive range... Give vision! Use tornado to scout unsafe area (most notably Roshan pit)
• Long lift time makes Tornado a great set up spell
• Dispel certain buffs and most runes ( Regeneration, double damage, haste)
• Be careful when used in teamfights, do NOT screw up teammates initiation

Alacrity (WWE)

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• Use for last hitting in lane (it only cost 45 mana!)
• Dispelled when using Black King Bar
• Great for pushing towers in the mid game, or for faster jungling (not recommended)
• Spam the **** out of this spell every time it's off cool down in the late game. Order of priority to use on: Physical damage carry (preferably after Black King Bar) > Yourself > Necronomicon summons > Forge Spirit --> Siege creep.

Sun Strike (EEE)

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• Pay attention in lane to secure kills
• Obtain set up items or allies abilities for a perfect Sunstrike
• Enemy carries farming in lane? Nuke him in the face to force him to back off for fear of a gank (of course if your team are actually ganking then don't do it)
• Give vision, use it to check Roshan from anywhere!
• Can be used to cancel Healing Salve (not recommended)
• Sitting in fountain and short 50 gold for your Aghanim's Scepter? Sun Strike a ranged creep to save valuable time!
• (6.82) Goes through spell immunity!

Chaos Meteor (WEE)

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• Don't listen to what scrubs say about Chaos Meteor; it is actually the most situational spell of Invoker because it requires a perfect set up to actually do anything (think of it as another version of Macropyre). If your enemy is not moving (channeling for example), then by all means use it.
• Use this to clear big camp stack!
• A good zoning spell, even with low level Exort. It helps deter people from chasing you through narrow paths.
• Give vision! Very good against enemies who jukes in trees.

Deafening Blast (QWE)

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• Your hard disable, and arguably one of the best, also very simple to use.
• Hit as many people as your can with it in fights. Combo with others spells.
• Abuse the push effect.

Forge Spirit (QEE)

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• Invoker second best spell. For a 30 second CD, these summons are just plain OP.
• Don't keep them with you all the time, abuse them like you do with any other summons: harass, scout, bait, split push, block Meat Hook/ Sacred Arrow, disperse damage from spells like Eclipse... Learn to micro! Don't clump up against Chain Frost, Echo Slam... Also, stick them on under-farmed supports and watch them run into your Sun Strike
• General usage: last hit and rune deny when laning; Pushing and dealing heavy damage in fights, stack hard camps; Split push others lanes in the late game (just send them alone - 80s duration is broken)

Before the 0:00 minute mark

When to (not) pick Invoker?

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While Invoker is extremely versatile, he still have his weakness and drawbacks that must be addressed. The following questions will allow you to get some idea of when to pick Invoker in both pub and organized games. Note that I only consider Invoker as a core, meaning that if you plan to run a more supportive Invoker, then these questions may be irrelevant.

In the order of importance:

• Do the enemies have many counter picks i.e lots of silence, magic immunities, extreme bursts to deal with fragile casters? (More on counter picks section)
• Do your team have more than 2 farm/EXP dependent heroes?
• Do your team need a late game teamfight monster?
• Is your line up good enough to hold the early game and provide you a decent start so you can actually accomplish something in the game?

Choose your lane?

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First thing first: Invoker need a solo lane.

The most common lane for Invoker is mid, which will be covered in details in the later sections.

However, safe lane SOLO is actually a more preferable option, with a support pull and help zone out the enemy offlane (and of course not sapping too much of your EXP). With safe lane farm you should get a huge lead in the mid game. However this is less common than mid because Invoker is a very good laner, so he can hold his own lane so that less capable laners (hard carries) can have the safe lane. Also, do not attempt this if you predict the enemies' team is planning to do a offensive tri-lane. Any build will work.

Off-lane Invoker is kinda bad really. Don't do it. Or do it with a support. Recommend going QW build for better survivability ( Ghost Walk, Tornado to escape, Cold Snap to deter dive)

Don't tri-lane Invoker, ever.

Choose your build?

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As we all know, there are 3 accepted skill builds: Quas- Wex, Quas- Exort, full Exort. Here are some general questions you should ask yourself before skilling your first orb:

• What is my aim for the game: carry/damage or utility?
• Is your enemies team vulnerable to magical or physical damage?
• Does your team already have good initiations and set up, or does Invoker have to fulfill such roles?

More specific question:

• Does your team need more disables? If yes then QW
• Does your team need massive magical damage? If yes then full Exort
• Does your team need physical damage and tower pushing? If yes then QE

A quick overview of the 3 builds

• Quas Wex: extreme disable, mobility and utility for your team, but you yourself will lack damage. Consider this against heavy early aggression, mana intensive enemies heroes, mobile enemies heroes. Do not go this if there's an outworld devourer or multiple Arcane Boots buyers on the enemies team, or if your team lacks damage (disables =/= damage)
• Quas Exort: 2 OP summons and very good disable, both single target and AOE, but lack mobility and less utility. Eat towers and low armor heroes like snack. When in doubt, go this build. Your role will be carrying your team, so farm up.
• Full Exort: massive AOE magical damage and a 400 pure damage nuke in the mid game is no joke. Consider this if the enemies team consists of squishy heroes (in term of HP, armor means no ****). However, you will have zero disable, so requires good set up.

WE, Quas heavy, and other variations are just not very good.


Sample team composition:

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• +
  This is a very well-rounded team with strong team fight, ganking, late game potential. Ember Spirit will want to go mid because he has better rune control, Tidehunter will go off-lane, Sven and Crystal Maiden will alternate between jungling and roaming, and Invoker take the safe lane. I recommend Push build for this team because you have very good set-up spells like Storm Hammer and Frostbite and the -armor of Forge Spirit makes Ember hits very hard. Furthermore you can help plenty of set-up abilities for Sun Strike, which in turn can greatly help your roamers. As for item choices, Necronomicon is a very good item, Desolator is another amazing DPS item if Ember Spirit decide not to get it, or an Assault Cuirass is perfect to grab if your Sven cannot afford one.
  
• +
  Although not the best team composition, we will work with what we have. First off, we notice that there are little disables on our team. We only have AA Cold Feet, which is unreliable and 2 ****py slows ( Ice Vortex and Curse of Avernus). Futhermore, this team is quite farm intensive: AM and Clinkz need quite a bit of farm, Abba and AA also need some items to function well ( Aghanim's Scepter on AA for example). Hence, it's best to go Crowd control build, and gank with Clinkz via Ghost Walk, which can be helped by AA Ice Blast. As for item choice, you might need a Mekansm if Abaddon can not afford one; otherwise just utilities items such as Force Staff or Rod of Atos...
  
• +
  Lets be honest here, sometimes in pub i get really angry at people, and i'm pretty sure you guys are too. With that aside, i would say this team composition, or rather a bunch of heroes without any synergy being put together to form a team, is close to unsalvagable. Buuuutttt..... if i was in a team like this, i would go for Nuke build, farm a fast Eul's Scepter of Divinity, and go gank nonstop. First off, game is pretty hard already (LOL), so you might as well as be on the offensive to maintain a lead. Also, both Templar Assassin and Slark are actually very strong ganker, so early aggression for their mid might help them get enough farm to start snowballing. If you play it safe, these 2 won't be able to contribute anything once your enemies start grouping up as 5. The other option is to abbandon and take a break from Dota 2.

Gameplay: Early game/Laning phase

Grap your starting items, and head down to mid lane. The battle begins!

Early game for Invoker is very important. As an EXP and farm dependent hero with no real comeback capability, it's extremely crucial to get a good start. Invoker need to spend most of his early game in lane (only real men try roaming Invoker, us pubbies are too ***** to do such deeds), trying to farm up and get levels. I consider Invoker early game to be from level 1 to 9 (as oppose to most mid, who can make huge impact with their level 6 ultimate).

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Last hitting:

• Prioritize last hitting against strong mid, Bottle crow users... Invoker base damage is among the lowest of all heroes.
• For Push build, Forge Spirit is a great help for last hitting when combined with Exort. You should be able to out farm most heroes except for those with very high base damage.
  
  You will get a total of 83/108/153 damage at level 3/5/7 respectively

  
• For Nuke build, it's better to utilize Alacrity after you have taken your first level in Wex. At level 5 and 6, you get 20 and 30 bonus damage respectively, which is much higher than that or your spirits.
  
  You will get a total of 100,123,147 damage at level 5,6,7 respectively.

  
• For Crowd control build, you will need to get a Blades of Attack, followed by Phase Boots in order to last hit.
  
  Generally you will get phase boots by level 5 or 6, which compensate a bit for your low base damage.

  

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Harassing:

• Prioritize harassing against bad mid (melee heroes, low range/damage heroes)
• For Push build, spirits+snap is a powerful harassing tool. Most heroes cannot deal with this combo unless they can quickly kill your Forge Spirit with nukes ( Razor) or are very tanky ( Brewmaster). (Send spirits to high ground)
• For nuke build, you hit really hard with Alacrity and will win most heroes. Unforunately, you have little regen without Quas, so it's better to not go too agressive.
• For QW build, generally you will just be using Cold Snap here and there for harassing. EMP is very good against melee heroes since they have to get close to creeps.

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Runes:

• Invoker doesn't use rune very well, as he wants to stay in lane for EXP. With that being said, if your lane is pushed then by all means go for runes. Double Damage rune and illusion rune are great for last hitting, regeneration rune is nice, Haste rune and Invisibility rune is so so.
• Unfortunately, good mid will have ways to to push lane, so most of the time you will need supports to rotate for runes, or DENY them with your Forge Spirit (summon and send them at x:52 s to rune spot and and tell your team to guard the other side).

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Surviving:

• Play safe at level 1! Invoker is the worst level 1 hero because he have no spell whatsoever and a whooping 280 MS.
• Activate Quas whenever you are not last hitting. If you have 3 Exort, you can attack, and right after the projectile fly out switch to Quas immediately to maximize your HP regen.
• Cold Snap is your best spell against diving attempts. If any enemies is being hit by your tower, Cold snap him and let your tower do the work.
• Tornado is your best bet against ganks since it's AOE and have good range. Also, it dispels runes like Hatse or Double damage.
• Ghost Walk and Deafening Blast are ok alternatives, but they cost too much mana and have long cool down.

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Going offensive:

• Invoker have decent killing potential in lane. Alone you can use your Forge Spirit/ Alacrity + Cold Snap combo and finish off with Sun Strike.
• Quas Wex is a bit harder to pull out. Basically, you want to get close the the other mid, EMP behind him, then Tornado and Cold Snap to keep him in range. And of course, pay attention to creeps advantage I.e whether your creeps are more in number or not. Bonus if you can Cold Snap them when they draw creep aggro.
• Tips on using Sun Strike:
  Wait until you have at least 2 levels in Exort before using it.
  Notify your teammantes when you have your spell ready.
  When your teammates attempt for a kill, anticipate whether your target will fight back or run away. You can do this by checking their mana.
  Try to use Sun Strike when your target is stunned. Aim it so that only your target is in the AOE so that the damage won't be dispersed.
  Check whether they have a lot of regen items. If your targets escape with low HP and don't have a Healing Salve, then they are most likely running back to their fountain. If they do, then chances are that they will be standing behind their tower to heal up.

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Match up (update later)

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As you approach level 9 with boots and 1 mid game item, it's time to transition to mid game. Your reign now begins!

Gameplay: mid game

What should I be doing now?

Will be explained in the next 3 chapters in details.

A quick sum up:

• QW - team fight build: be active around the map. Roam for pick off and participate team fights. Be aggressive.
• QE - pushing build: farm a lot. Split push like crazy. Avoid large 5v5 fight. Be more defensive.
• Full Exort - nuke build: actively find lone target to pick off. Participate in fights. Stay behind your team and wait for initiation.

Mana management

Most of Invoker mid game item give INT, so you should have enough raw mana to cast your spells.

• Clarity: early into the game, you can and should deliver your self clarity via courier to keep your mana high enough for at least one spell in case some ***** happen.
• Bottle is great if you are playing QW since you can contest runes.
• Buy a Sage's Mask for cheap regeneration. You can use it to build in lots of things, such as:
  • Ring of Basilius is a common choice for QE invokes since it increase your spirits armor as well.
  • Urn of Shadows is now viable on QW invoker since the damage type change.
  • Medallion of Courage makes your spirits hit really hard! but generally not advisable.
  • Orchid Malevolence, as established, is a great item for QW invoker. It will cover all your mana problem.
  • Eul's Scepter of Divinity will solve your mana problem for QE and Exort build.
• Alternatively, purchase a Void Stone, which can later be turned into Scythe of Vyse, Refresher Orb or Linken's Sphere.
• Arcane Boots is another option if your team really needs it.

Reminders: Quas if you are low in HP, Exort to last hit, Wex when moving around. Remember to check for runes if you are not doing anything.

Team fight build

The crowd control build grants Invoker a lot of mobility, disable and utility. However, his damage output will be quite low, and need his teammate to compensate for this problem. Also, you are basically useless against spell immunity, so dont go this build if your team lacks physical damage. Your main spells will be Tornado, EMP, Ghost Walk, Cold Snap; later on you will also need to use Ice Wall and Deafening Blast.

By level 9, you will have 2 levels in Invoke, and put the other 5 points in Wex and Quas, depending on whether you need more range or more disables.

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Objectives and play style:

Utility: focus on playing with your team; farm when you can, but you must be active around the map and join team fights a lot. Your items choice includes utility items that benefit your whole team such as Force Staff, Drum of Endurance, Mekansm¦ To put quite frankly, Invoker is a big annoyance in team fights. Not a thread, but an agile hero than disrupt combat like no other. Your aim is to survive and throw down as many spells as possible. Again, you will feel that you dont do enough damage, and the truth is that you dont do enough damage, but in return you have amazing disables.

Ganker: focus on finding pick-off. In this build your will want to rush an Orchid Malevolence, which is core in this play style, then use it in conjunction with Ghost Walk to find pick-off. You will be a bit more carry oriented, but utility items are still more preferable. This build is very good if the enemies team consists of fragile heroes that rely on escape spells ( Anti-Mage, Storm Spirit¦). You will probably want to build some damage items to compensate your weakness against spell immunity.

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Some items to consider:

This item is now core with the change of damage type, which means it triggers Cold Snap, and it works very well with your active play style.

Push build

The push build grant Invoker 2 powerful summon, which has been nerfed repeatedly in the last few patches because if their OPness, and yet pros still use this build consistently, because its just that good. Your physical damage output mid game will be extremely high, and can bring down a single target easily. However, you will lack some AOE at first, but after level 13 you will be dishing out tons of magical and physical damage. This is the most stable build, bringing both solo ability and team play in it. Your main spells will be Forge Spirit, Cold Snap, Alacrity, Sun Strike; later on you will also use Chaos Meteor, Deafening Blast, and Ice Wall.

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Objective and play style: the carry.

You farm a lot, then push down towers, then farm some more. Its pretty simple to play honestly, but you will need good judgment of a carry. Invoker becomes a heavy turret with 2 armor-penetrating mini machine gun, providing constant DPS.

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Items customization:

: most effective item on this build. Having even more summons gives so much damage, and they help a lot with pushing.
Eul, Force staff, Atos... pretty much anything else will works.

: good for split pushing. You might want to get this a bit early for this build.
For other items, check out the items section.

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Combo

Here are some good synergies between items and ability. You can attempt 2 combos consecutively; just remember that you will only have a maximum of 3 spells for an engagement at this stage of the game. You can use items in between combos as necessary. You dont necessarily use them in the order listed. If you deem that you dont have to use an extra spell, then save it for later. As always, be creative and adapt!

• Forge Spirit + Cold Snap (+ Necronomicon): your go-to combo in most skirmishes and team fights. Generally you will want to get range before using Cold Snap, which can be achieved with items. In team fight, use this to kill high priority target, but take into account spell immunity so as to not waste your Cold Snap.
• Chaos Meteor + Deafening Blast + Ice Wall: team fight combo. Use it on high priority target after your teammates stun for you.
• Chaos Meteor + Cold Snap + Ice Wall: unless your target has a strong escape or BKB, this will ensure a successful gank.
• Sun Strike + Chaos Meteor + Deafening Blast: same as the default combo for Nuke build. Use this after you have maxed Exort, because using it earlier will not be worth it.
• Forge Spirit + Alacrity: If you feel that it is unsafe to push, then buff your summons and send them to deal chip damage to towers.

• Sun Strike/ Chaos Meteor + Cold Snap: remember that both SS and Meteor give vision. Use this as a mini Tornado to get the crucial sight to use Cold Snap!

Example: you and 2 teammates Beastmaster are about to engage 2 enemy heroes Phantom Assassin and Venomancer. You wait for BM to Roar PA, and then Force Staff to place a good Ice Wall between those 2. Venom slows you, but that does not prevent you from getting in position for a Chaos Meteor/ Deafening Blast, killing PA instantly due to her vulnerability against magic damage, as well as bring Venom down to half health. You and BM proceed to kill of Venom thanks to the Ice Wall slow.

Example 2: you and Lina are pushing top tier 1 tower. Brewmaster, being an extremely hard to kill hero, comes to defend. You anticipate that he will blink/Clap/ Ult, so as soon as he is in sight, you blink forward, Cold Snap + Spirit ASAP. Even with his evasion, 3 sources of damage is enough to trigger the mini stuns constantly, which prevents him from using his Primal Split due to the long cast time. Lina throws out her combo, but he still has over 200 HP left. But as soon as Lina stun wear off, you Deafening Blast him at close range, disabling him long enough to finish him off.

These examples are by no means realistic, but i just try to give you guys an idea of what is the perfect situation would be. In real game, learn and adapt!

Nuke build

The nuke build nukes hard. Like really hard. You also have +63 damage at level 13, which is almost a BattleFury, not to metion the +80 damage from Alacrity. However, you have zero disable, and Deafening Blast knock back and stun duration is too low. Hence, if youre confident with your teammates, go this build and bring some pain. Your main spells will be Sun Strike, Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast; later on your will need to use Alacrity and Forge Spirit.

At level 9, you will want to have 1 Quas, 1 Wex, 5 Exort and 2 Invoke. Proceed to max out Exort, take level 4 of Quas for double Forge Spirit, then max Wex.

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Objective and play style:

The heavy farmer and damage dealer: this used to be a very old way to play Invoker, abusing the absurd damage your get from Alacrity. Your objective will be farming and split pushing like crazy, always casting Alacrity every time its off cool down and assist your team with Sun Strike. You will want a balance between survivability and damage, as well as mobility item. However, this is not recommended because Invoker is not the best right-click hero, and there are usually better choices, but its still pretty fun to play in pub.

The aggressive ganker: using the default combo, Invoker can kill anybody below 1.5k HP. Your objective will be rushing a Eul's Scepter of Divinity, get level 9, and go spill some blood. With good ganks, you can snowball and become and decent carry later on.

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Item to consider:

This item is a must for ganking purpose unless your team all has stuns.
Work amazingly well, because it allows you to position for a perfect Chaos Meteor+ Deafening Blast combo and get close to right clicks.
Still very good, but only buy it if your enemies have a way to cancel Blink Daggereasily.
A cheap way to increase your damage output and speeds up your farming+split pushing potential. Definitely recommend after Blink or Eul.

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Combo

Here are some good synergies between items and ability. You can attempt 2 combos consecutively; just remember that you will only have a maximum of 3 spells for an engagement at this stage of the game. You can use items in between combos as necessary. You dont necessarily use them in the order listed. If you deem that you dont have to use an extra spell, then save it for later. As always, be creative and adapt!

• Default combo: Have Sun Strike and Chaos Meteor ready. Eul your target get. Wait 1 sec, cast sun strike slightly further behind the target. Drop Chaos Meteor shortly after that. Invoke Deafening Blast in cast it as soon as your target land.
• Variant: replace Deafening Blast with Cold Snap. The DoT effect should keep your target from running out of the Chaos Meteor too quickly.
• Note: if your teammate already lane a 2 second stun or more, don't Eul and just combo normally (SS Chaos Meteor Deafening Blast).
• Be careful not to push your target out of SS AOE by casting it slightly further behind.
• Alacrity gives you ridiculous damage. Past level 12 you will want to use it at every opportunity.

• Mask of Madness + Alacrity: a funky build that was pretty popular a while ago. You gain ridiculous damage and attack speed, but the drawback is pretty huge. The key here is perfect positioning, but even then if the enemies team is good, they will pop you like a balloon. If you are a man, then do it.

Example 1: you and Sand King are ganking Anti-Mage. AM blinks into trees and TP, fortunately Sk was able to follow with his own blink and stun AM. You are too far away, so you Sun strike, which should hit because SK stun is 2.2 sec. You approach and Eul AM fearing that he will blink away, timing your Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast perfectly and get a kill.

Example 2: the enemies team jumped on you. You Eul yourself, and as soon as your land Deafening Blast them away. Though the duration was short, your allies managed to arrive in time for a good stun on their carries. You cast Chaos Meteor run away. The Chaos Meteor burns away there heroes down to half HP, but they have enough time to BKB and chase you down. In a last attempt, you Invoke Alacrity and buff your Faceless Void, who jumped in a land a good 4 man Chronosphere, and murder them with that sweet +80 damage.


These examples are by no means realistic, but i just try to give you guys an idea of what is the perfect situation would be. In real game, learn and adapt!

Mid-late game: pre Agahnim brief notes

Your power peaks. Unfortunately, this is when most carries already have 1 or 2 decent damage items couple with your worst counter that anybody with a brain will get it: Black King Bar. Team fights starting to take place more frequently, as people group up as 5 to take objectives (towers, Roshan). Go with your team, and don't die because of stupid reasons.

How well am I doing now?
You should now at level 17, have 1 maxed out reagent, and rank 4 in Invoke.
You should have boots, 2 mid game items and half way through your next luxury item.

What should I be doing?

• Try to finish at least one luxury item to prepare for fights.
• Sometimes, it's better to save for buy back than finish whatever item you are building.
• Stick with your team, find pick off and take objectives. Don't overextend (running around with Ghost Walk when the enemies have Gem of True Sight), you are too valuable to die for some idiotic reasons.

What do I need to provide: damage or utility?
Follow up: what item should I buy?

SPELL CASTING/UTILITY This is your more common role. Your aim is too deal damage and control enemies as much as possible through your spells and items. Stay back and spam your *****. Don't overextend, since you should have your carries do the lifting duty. You items should provide you with survivability, mobility, utility and mana.

CARRY/DAMAGE Sometimes your team only have 1 carry, hence you will need be the secondary DPSer. You will need to up front a bit to right click with Alacrity, and use your other spells to keep you and your team live, as well as disrupting enemies. Your items should provide survivability, mobility and physical damage.

Sample build: nuke build into caster role.aaaaaaaaaaaa

Sample build: push build against low armor heroes.

How to team fight?

• Invoker is possibly on the best team fight hero in the game. However, his greatest weakness is spell immunity.
• You have 2 spell slots. You will want to summon your spirits first and replace it with any other spells. If you predict a fight will happen soon, I like to have Alacrity and Tornado ready. Pop Alacrity first on yourself or your carry and invoke whatever spell necessary. Of course, if you are doing the initiation, then by all means prepare appropriate combos.
• PLAY EXTREMELY SAFE WHEN ENEMIES CARRIES POP THEIR BKB: focus on staying alive, pick off supports; right click anybody in range with Forge Spirits and Alacrity. Don't overextend.
• After BKBs are down, it's your time to shine. Spam your spells. Right click them. Then spam some more.

General tips/remainders:

• Get your Forge Spirit up all the time. Send them to push side lane, scout jungle and Roshan, deal chip damage to towers... You can use Boots of Travel onto your summons! Use them to scout ahead, and if you see a lone target, BoT to your spirits and kill him!
• Speaking of scouting, use Sun Strike to check Roshan! If your Spirits are with you, send them ahead when roaming. You can use Ghost Walk as a scouting tool, but the enemies will like have Gem of True Sight right now; get away quickly once you spot 2 or more heroes coming your way - their whole team are likely to follow behind!
• Spam Alacrity. Spam it every time it's off cool down. It's literally free (45 mana).
• You have 2 spell slots. 5 sec is short, but its still better being prepared. I generally have 1 slot for either Forge Spirit or Alacrity, and the a spell that let you escape in sticky situations.

Spell usage and combos pre-Agahnim

Here are good spells and ability synergy. Remember to be creative! That is Invoker greatest strength. And again, don't forget to summon Forge Spirit and have Alacrity ready! Use items as you see fits.

Push/Nuke build

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Default teamfight combo: Tornado--> Chaos Meteor--> Deafening Blast - tornado as many people as you can, meteor and blast them.
Note: refer to the wiki page for Tornado lift time (based on Quas). This is very important because a. Chaos Meteor has a 1.3s delay b. You want to Deafening Blast as soon as they land to prevent them from reacting (pop BKBs, force staff away, self Astral/Disrupt...)

Genaral default combo: Tornado->{a high damage spell} ->{a disable}. Tornado can be replaced with allies' disables or Euls scepter of divinity (not recommended). With this in mind, consider the following alternatives:

• Tornado--> Chaos Meteor--> Cold Snap
• Tornado--> Chaos Meteor--> Ice Wall
• Tornado--> Sun Strike--> Ice Wall
• Tornado--> Ice Wall--> Cold Snap

Crowd control build

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Consider the possible alternatives. Note that Cold Snap isn't as good in team fights as Deafening Blast since you have high level of both Wex and Quas now. Ghost Walk can be replaced with either Blink Dagger or Force Staff.

• Tornado--> EMP--> Deafening Blast (Again keep in mind the lift time to prevent enemies from react)
• Tornado--> EMP--> Ice Wall
• Tornado--> Ice Wall--> Cold Snap
• Ghost Walk--> Ice Wall--> EMP
• Ghost Walk--> Ice Wall--> Deafening Blast
• Ghost Walk--> EMP--> Deafening Blast

Miscellaneous

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With high levels in all orbs, you can attempt many other combos

• Tornado+ Sun Strike: 3200 range and ~700 damage after reduction. Eat that Sniper!
• Alacrity+ Cold Snap: Troll Warlord 2.0
• Sun Strike+ Deafening Blast: push them into the SS!

Post-Agahnim

Before getting to the most exciting part of invoking, consider if Aghanim's scepter is worth the gold or not. You may want a Scythe of Vyse first. Or they enemies have too many Black King Bar, then consider actual DPS items (mkb, Daedalus...). Aghanim's Scepter and potential Refresher Orb are incredibly selfish choices and requires extreme skills to pull off.

So you got your pretty blue staff. But it's not any ordinary staff, it's THE staff. You are now official the most powerful magus!

With only 2s cd on invoke, you can pretty much cycle through all of your spells in a single fight, provided that you are not stunned/silenced/hexed/Doomed... As a reminder, ALWAYS have your Forge Spirit up and running. Alacrity every time it's off cool down. Always keep Tornado/ Ghost Walk/ Deafening Blast in one of your spell slots.

Four spells combo:

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Your Tornado lift time is 2.5s, while invoke CD is only 2s. This means that you can invoke a new spell to replace Tornado, and then have a 0.5s window to invoke a third spell, which means you can potential drop down 4 spells in one single combo.

The general formula is: have Tornado invoked first and another spell second. Cast Tornado and immediately Invoker another spells. Time your spells as you see fit. Then invoke Deafening Blast as soon as invoke is off CD and cast it when your targets land.

Consider that follow alternatives:

• Tornado --> EMP --> Chaos Meteor --> Deafening Blast (extreme AOE)
• Tornado --> Sun Strike --> Chaos Meteor --> Deafening Blast (extreme single target damage)
• Tornado --> EMP --> Chaos Meteor --> Ice Wall
• Tornado --> Sun Strike --> Chaos Meteor --> Ice Wall

The same theory applies to Eul. However, it is unlikely that at this stage of the game people will wander alone for you to pick off, and using Eul in team fights is generally not practical consider the amount of spells flying around.

Consider the following alternatives:

• Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Sun Strike --> EMP -->
• Chaos Meteor --> Deafening Blast
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Sun Strike --> EMP -->
• Chaos Meteor --> Ice Wall
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Sun Strike --> Chaos Meteor --> Ice Wall --> Cold Snap
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Forge Spirit --> Ice Wall --> Alacrity --> Cold Snap (very good against BKB users because the slow lingers)

Be careful when finding pick off with Ghost Walk. Consider the following alternatives:

• Ghost Walk --> Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Sun Strike --> Chaos Meteor --> Deafening Blast
• Ghost Walk --> Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Sun Strike --> Chaos Meteor --> Ice Wall
• Ghost Walk --> Eul's Scepter of Divinity/ Scythe of Vyse --> Ice Wall --> Forge Spirit --> Alacrity

Scythe during is 3.5s, so in theory you can get off 5 spells consecutively without room for any form of retaliation. Like, Eul however, you will unlikely be able to get off your perfect combo due to the chaos in team fights. But do scythe somebody in fights. It is just too good.
Example: Scythe of Vyse --> Sun Strike --> EMP--> Chaos Meteor --> Deafening Blast --> Ice Wall

Refresher combos

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Apply the same theory of 4 spell combos, then refresh and use your 2 existing spells with a third one.

Example: Tornado EMP Chaos Meteor Deafening Blast Refresher Orb Chaos Meteor Deafening Blast Ice Wall

Remember that item is also refreshed. Double scythe is gay.

Example: the ****-you-AM combo
Scythe of Vyse Chaos Meteor Sun Strike EMP Deafening Blast Refresher Orb EMP Deafening Blast Sun Strike Cold Snap Scythe of Vyse Chaos Meteor Alacrity (very important to use in order to guarentee maximum amount of pain and anguish and butthurts to the magic hater)

WILL UPDATE MINI-VIDEO GUIDE LATER

Final notes: there will be some points when your spells will not do enough damage anymore. Keep an open mind and go for DPS items if needed. Don't mindlessly save your spells stick to the wombo combo, hoping to get a rampage, and then threw away the game. If you teammate is getting ganked, throw a Tornado from afar to help him. Don't try to get in range to use your combo and let him die.

Item choices

In theory, Invoker don't need items because he already 10 spells. However, Invoker are relatively items dependant for survivabilities, mana sustainability and mobilities.

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1) Staring items:

Get a combination of any of these items.



A popular starting item for QW build is:

You can also go straight for this build for some stats: , 2x and ask for 2x

If you are unsure of what to do, consider investing a lot in stats and regen items:

2) Boots of choice.

Power Treads is nice for all builds. It gives you some HP, and the AS increase works very well with your bonus dmamge.

Phase Boots is the best choice for QW build. It will amend your lack of damage due to having no levels in Exort, and the MS boost is fantastic. For other builds, the damage is kinda wasted, but it's still great since it allows Invoker to position in fights where there's a clusterf*ck of creeps and heroes.

Arcane Boots Generally, i go this on QW build if nobody on my team will get one and only if we already got an initiator. Sometimes if you are rushing Agah-Refresher then consider this boot since you will need the extra mana.

Tranquil Boots is viable when going full Exort because you lack Quas regen.

Boots of Travel is very expansive but good for split pushing. You can consider it for QE build.

Boots of Speed is sometimes good enough (push build so you can rush Necro3)

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4) Early game items

I cannot count how many times this item has saved my life. Definitely recommended regardless of builds. However, i personally find upgrading it unnecesarry, and Magic Stick will suffice.
Toughen up you a little bit. Get 1 or 2 if you are really having a rough time.
An all-rounded item, giving cheap stats and a decent active. This is a team item, so if you need to stick with your team early on, then by all means get it.
With the damage type change, Urn of Shadows now trigger Cold Snap, as well as disabling Blink Dagger. It works very well if you are active on the map, hence i recommend it for the QW and Nuke build.
If you are playing carry (damage Exort build or Push build), then get this. Invoker really benefits form this item, and you don't need to have a good timing. Even if you get it after boots if fine, sorta like a 'catch up' Midas. Remember to use it on big creeps to get more experience (a centaur or troll from big camps give more experience than a creep wave if you use Midas!).
Not generally needed, but if you are having trouble with mana when going QE build, then consider it. The aura toughten up for summons as well.

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4) Mid game items.

Recommend getting 2 of them for maximum mid game impact.

Cost: 5200 gold (lv3)
Give 16 Strength and 24 Intelligence (lv3); Active: demonic summons
Recommended build: Push
Purchase priority: rush right after boots and Midas

• The most popular item in competitive for Invoker. The stats are really good, and the summons give you lots of pushing power. Use them whenever you have the chance to push. If you feel unsafe, just send them and your spirits alone, and back off.
• This item loses its effectiveness as the game goes on, hence it should be bought ASAP.
• The melee unit has a 0.75 BAT, hence casting Alacrity on it turns it into a DPS machine.
• The item works well with Cold Snap and forge spirits. With these 3 abilities you can essentially solo any heroes without BKB.
• In the very late game, you can just pop your summons, and switch the item with another item on your courier, essentially giving you 7 slots, since the stats won't be as useful by then.

Cost: 3100 gold (lv3)
Give 350 HP and 25 Intelligence; Active: cripple
Recommended build: Push, Crowd control
Purchase priority: second or third item.

• A very underrated item for INT heroes. This item give you the sweet HP, lots of Mana, and a 60% slow with 1200 range, which last 4 seconds but has only a 10 seconds CD!
• You can guarantee an EMP if you go QW build. For QE build this allows you and your summons to get in range and right click, as well as a great set up for Ice Wall or Chaos Meteor.
• It does not go through BKB, and there are many ways to purge it. Plus, it's not a hard disable, so don't get very late.
• Countered by Force Staff, Blink Dagger and mobility skills. If your enemies have too many mobile heroes, then don't buy this.

Cost: 2350 gold
Give 3 hp regen and 10 Intelligence; Active: force
Recommended build: Any
Purchase priority: none

• One of the best item for any hero. It's amazingly flexible in term of usage. Listing out all the possibilities will take forever, so I'll let you guys discover them yourselves. Generally, you want to get it for kiting, positioning and countering heavy slows as well as specific abilities like Sprout, Mystic Flare...
• Invoker is heavily reliant on positioning, and this item is a perfect solution. You can easily land an Ice Wall with this, as well as get into the right angle to use your linear spells.
• If your enemies have lots of mobile heroes, then this might not be the best item.

Cost: 2350 gold
Give mana regeneration, 40 MS and 10 Intelligence; Active: cyclone
Recommended build: Push, Nuke
Purchase priority: second or third item.

• A very common pick up for Invoker. The stats and regen are amazing, and the active helps setting your spells: use it with Ice Wall, sunstrike, EMP... Remember that the active will purge buffs, as well as disable Blink Dagger.
• I find the item quite unnecessary for QW build, but if could work. If you are dusted, Cyclone yourself to remove the debut and Ghost Walk away to safety.
• For the other 2 builds, it's open you up to the default combo SS-Meteor-Blast. Alternatively, you can use it keep your targets in place so you and your summons can approach. A favorite combo of mine is Cyclone-Ice wall-Spirits+Snap.

Cost: 4125 gold
Give mana regeneration, 30 damage, 30 attack speed and 10 Intelligence; Active: soul burn
Recommended build: QW, Push
Purchase priority: second or third item.

• Easy build up, nice stats, and a silence with some extra damage. A very good item to have against heroes who rely on their abilities like anti mage, Storm Spirit... The active is instant, so be quick quick your fingers!
• Very good with QW build, turning Invoker into a Clinkz-like assassin.
• For QE build, it's situational, but generally not required. Nuke build has no use for it, since you need set up.

Cost: 2350 gold
Give 5 to all stats, 5 armor and an hp regen aura; Active: burst heal
Recommended build: push
Purchase priority: second or third

• Invoker is not the best mek carrier, but it still does him wonders. Tank him up a bit, and the active keeps you and summons alive a bit longer. I don't generally go for it, but if nobody only your team is getting it, then grab one.

Cost: 3975 gold
Give 10 Strength, 24 damage; active: avatar
Recommended build: any
Purchase priority: third onward

• Pretty much a no brainer item: if your enemies have lots of disables or silences, grab one.
• In some game Black King Bar will not be needed, or isn't effective because of powerful abilities that go through it.

Obvious, get this against heavy-magic damage teams without many disables. Don't upgrade into Pipe of Insight unless you really need to.
Maybe, but your spells are more burst than spam, so...
A cheap solution against enemies carry.

Sometimes, you just gotta step up and buy these items for the greater good. Fear not! Your generosity will be repaid (probably).

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There are things to be said about sequences. If you're ahead, then it's fine to purchase any components first. However, in an equal or disadvantaged situation, buying pieces in order is much more advisable. Generally, you will want to buy the component which is most cost-efficient, slot-efficient, and offer survivability.

Why?

• Saving a lot of money for a big item is very risky because you might die.
• Saving money = not getting item --> opponents can take advantage of this.
• Buy items that does not give survivability is useless if you just die before you can make use of the item.

Example:

• When building a Scythe of Vyse, the best build sequence would be Ultimate Orb --> Void Stone --> Mystic Staff. Ultimate Orb give a total of 30 stats, 10 of which is Strength (190 hp), which if more useful than extra intel (more damage and mana) for surviving, especially when you are down behind.
• When building Aghanim's Scepter, it's better to buy a Point Booster first because it's very cost and slot efficient (1k2 gold for 200 hp and 150 mp), then an Ogre Club --> Staff of Wizardry --> Blade of Alacrity, because strength > intel > agility.

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7) Late game items that always have to be considered:

With the exception of Skull Basher, all items works very well on Invoker. However, there are indead notable cases which i will list out here.

Cost 5675 gold
Give 10 Strength, 10 Agility, 35 Intelligence, mana regen; Active: Hex
Recommnended build: any
Purchase priority: fourth, fifth or sixth.

• ALWAYS CONSIDER THIS ITEM: it's simply the best disabel in the game since it disable abilities, items, even passives! Hence, unless your enemies have 5 BKBs, then buy it.
• The stats are awesome, allowing you to spam your spells like crazy.
• Be careful when combo a Hexed enemy: he can still move (although with a 128 MS)!

Cost 5175 gold
Give 15 Strength/Agility/Intelligence, some hp/mana regen, 10 damage and Spell Block
Recommended build: any
Purchase order: 4th onward

• Highly situational items, but having it in certain cases can work wonder.
• Invoker actually benefits a lot from Linken's Sphere, but there are better items to get. Still, even if your enemies have no strong single target abilities, at some point they will have Scythe of Vyse, which makes Spell Block invaluable.

Cost: 5675
Give 25 Strength/Agility/Intelligence, 200 hp/150mn, Cold attack passive
Recommended build: any
Purchase priority: 4th onward

• This item gives a **** load of stats, plus the orb makes Invoker right click very threatening. Go this if your enemies have too many BKBs since you can kite them with the slow.
• Do not, however, rush this item under any circumstances since there are much better items to get first.

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8) Late game items for caster role:

Cost 4700 gold
Give 15 armor, 30 Intelligence and Freezing aura; Active: arctic blast
Recommended build: any
Purchase priority: 4th onward

• A defensive item, which i don't personally like, but it's a team item nonetheless, hence make sure your team have one in the late game. Still, a Scythe of Vyse is better in most cases.
• The armor and aura is very good against enemies' carries, and the extra INT is not wasted. The active is ok, slowing enemies down so you can cast your spells on them, and it does give vision!

Cost: 4200 gold
Give 10 Strength/Agility/Intelligence, 200HP/150MN, 2 second cool down for invoke
Recommended build: any
Purchase priority: 4th onward

• This is not the best item for invoker]. Never, and I mean never, rush it. The stats it gives is not the best, and Ultimate upgrade can be completely countered by spell immunity, silences, disables... and of course, [[doom!
• If you are relatively new to Invoker, don't get this either since it takes quite a bit of practice to make good use of it.
• Refer to the post-aghanim section for possible usage of spells.

Cost: 5225 gold
Give a bunch of small bonuses; active: reset
Recommended build: any
Purchase priority: 5th onward

• Are you a real man? Do you have the ball to do things other don't even dream of? Do you have the SwAG spirit? Do your enemies have collective learning disability? Do you want to be Grimorum/Icex3/Ferrari_430? Have you read this guide?
• The best spells to reset are Deafening Blast and Chaos Meteor.
• Items are also reset. Double Scythe of Vyse is ultra gay.
• Make sure you have enough mana to use it (about 1500 mana).

Dagon Quite a niche item. Buy it if you really need to burst somebody down as soon as the fight starts. Other than that, this item have very little synergy with your spells, and most spells in Dota 2 for that matter.
Extremely situational (use it on whoever enemies carries are focusing on) (can be used on yourself!). The magical damage amplification is pretty nice, but the main purpose of the item is to bail you or your teammate out of troubles. But with the new change, I cannot say whether it's still good or not. Consider carefully when getting this item
Give a monstrous amount of HP. Very good for slow siege, though you all ready got Quas regen. Buy it if the enemies rely a lot on magical damage late game.

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9) DPS items

Remember that utility items (from the section above) come first, actual damage item comes second!

Cost: 5250
Give 15 armor, 20 AS, +35 AS aura and -5 armor aura
Recommended build: any
Purchase priority: 4th onward, can be 3rd for Push build

• Although a rather unorthodox item, Assault Cuirass is actually a very good item since the Invoker can make use of the armor, the negative armor aura and the attack speed. Remember that it give attack speed, hence using it in conjunction with Exort increases your DPS more.
• Generally, a Str semi-carry hero will get this, so you shouldn't build this item every game.

Cost: 1800 gold
Give 20% life steal ; active: berserk
Recommended build: Exort
Purchase priority: 2nd or 3rd

• Although I cannot say this item is legitimate, it does gives you incredible DPS with Alacrity.
• If you for this item, then consider a defensive item like Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere to survive better.

Counter evasion(duh!). Since it gives damage, use it in conjunction with Wex gives you more DPS. A solid 4th item onward.
Top choice for DPS item. Since it gives attack speed, use it in conjunction with Exort gives you more DPS. Consider this against high armor heroes since the lightning profs ignore armor. The active should be put on a tanky hero in front rather than on Invoker.
Top choice for DPS during the mid game. Since it gives damage, use it in conjunction with Wex gives you more DPS. Consider it if you face up against low armor heroes, or need more pushing power.
Give the most DPS increase aside from Divine Rapier. Buy it as a 6th item.
Magic immunity giving you a hard time? Go up close and personal to deal with them. This is not a troll item, but it's too niche to be considered often.
Man up and fight!
When all else fails, a man gotta do what a man gotta do. Since it gives a ****ton of damage, use it in conjunction with Wex gives you more DPS.

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Sample build

Pro gameplay (mostly in pub)

A very strong showcase of the power of QW Invoker when combined with an Orchid Malevolence. Lets go over some off the important point in the video:

• 0:05 Got hooked by Pudge, but was able to man fight him anyway because of Pudge low armor. This is very important: you CAN go toe-to-toe with a Pudge given you both have relatively equal HP, and tower is no focusing you.
• 0:35 Notice how Ferrari use creeps to his advantage. Because there was only 1 ranged creep left on the Radiant side, while there are 5 creeps on the Dire side, Ferrari utilize the Tornado+ Cold Snap to full effectiveness: the Tornado will outright kill the ranged creep, while holding Pudge in place long enough for his creeps to advance and kill Pudge thanks to Cold Snap.
• 2:05 How Ghost Walk + Orchid Malevolence gank is done. There are many more ganks happened like this throughout the game, so watch carefully.
• Ferrari also opt for a Desolator this game, which is really good on QW build because 1. Desolator is the best damage item for its price 2. The enemy team has very low armor heroes ( Pudge, Doom) 3. Wex gives a lot of AS bonus.
• 4:23 If you get Meat Hook, just double tab Force Staff.

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This guys is called Vurtune. He's Chinese, and we all knows how hard they can committed so something. The highlights are incredible, showing us amazing spell executions, especially the 4 spells comboes and refresher comboes. Enjoy!
Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video

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Play Video
Is Dendi overated? I don't think so. Generally, just notice how he position himself in the fight to be able to disrupt combat.

• 2:55 One the the best Ice Wall usage i have ever seen.
• 4:12 Another good Ice Wall.
• 6:05 Ez kill, Chaos Meteor deals so much damage, but you will need set-up.

External links

The Wiki: always a good place too start.

The wiki (2): for some nostagic moments.

The Omnimage: one of the best guide about Invoker to be ever written. Most of the things are outdated, but general spells usage and tips remain unchanged.

Grimorum's guide to invoker: shoutout to Grimorum, who was the first person to inspire me to play Invoker and start this guide. Check out his gameplay on his channel, in the 'Invoker raging fury' by Dotacinema, as well as on HolyHexor Channel.

Dr.D guide to formatting on Dotafire

Changelog

IGNORE THIS CHAPTER

If anybody cannot tell that the first item build is a troll in an attempt to hook attention, well, it is a troll, so don't do it.

SILENT PEASANT!

Baller king has pwned Muoikhoang's head for 200 gold!