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Tango
Healing Salve
Circlet
Mantle of Intelligence
Iron Branch
Null Talisman
Boots of Speed
Magic Wand
Ring of Regen
Robe of the Magi
Force Staff
Power Treads
Staff of Wizardry
Staff of Wizardry
Rod of Atos
Scythe of Vyse
Aghanim's Scepter
Refresher Orb
Shiva's Guard
Heart of Tarrasque
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Outworld destroyer is arguably the only intelligence hard carry in the game. Like most intelligence heroes he focuses on his abilities unlike his normal attacks to do colossal damage, but as a carry he is reliant on farm and items to be at his best. So simplify it, Harbinger needs items to make his abilities work. As for this, he needs both level and gold advantage, therefore he is best suited in a solo lane (mid, but can solo the easy lane if there is a jungler on your team) but can also carry if supported in a dual lane, and can easily catch up to farm late game with his innate ability to one hit creeps.
Harbinger is infamous for Dealing constant colossal damage, dealing up to 200-300 pure damage on top of his standard attack each auto attack. The fact that it is pure damage is important as it can not be counter reduced by abilities or items. If Harbinger gains enough of a level advantage, he will be able to destroy heroes in a matter of three to six auto attacks.
Harbinger's ability rely exclusively on his main attribute, intelligence, to be able to function well. Aquiring items that gain no buff to his intelligence stats should be avoided at almost all costs unless you are in the very late game with a major farm advantage and need a heart for tankability, but we'll get to that a little bit later.
To start off you'll need some basic regen and these particular stat items. Your mantle and circlet will build into a null talisman after a mere four last hits at this point and you'll be able to score an important stat item within a minute or two of the game. After your regen items are gone, you'll want to pick up your wand with the one iron branch you've got and get a Ring of Regen at your earliest convenience to build into a Force Staff. To start your power treads (very important due to tread switching) you'll want your Robe first as intel stats are your number one priority, then you can aquire boots and gloves respectively. As you'll be staying for farm as much as possible, be sure that if you are harrassed out of a lane to be constantly farming some nearby easy camps until it is safe to return, and merely buy as you farm and get your courier to bring your items to you. For this, you'll want to build your items not by price order, but by what will give you intelligence stats before other items. Ie your Rod of Atos, you'll want to buy your two Staff's first for the stats, then finish it off with a Vitality booster to clear space. After this, a sheep stick and an aghanims will provide the rest, and if you havent won by this point, a refresher orb for your ult, a shivas guard for more intel stat, and a heart for survivability in team fights will be great if you gain enough gold. Just be sure to prioritize your items at all costs and be very afraid to lose your force staff as it is such a great item for Harbinger.
To explain your items further:
-Force Staff will give Outworld the utility he needs. Combined with his four second disable from the imprison, it can help him get away from, or catch up to, your enemies. You'll be taking a lot of damage as you are very fragile (particularly due to your lack of ability to focus onto items that provide strength and health) and need to jump right into the team fight to do as much damage as possible, as well as needing to be able to jump out before you're killed, and your force staff will be your best friend for it.
-Power Treads gives you the needed movement speed and intel stats, however after casting your ult you can easily switch these puppies to strength for an important extra 152 hit points. Aside that the obvious factor of having movement speed along with everyone else who will have boots at this point too, that's the main reason you want power treads over other boots. Stats are the most important for Harbinger, and due to his orb you don't need the extra base damage from phase boots nor do you need the speed boost as you'll have a Force Staff.
-Rod of Atos is what I call OD's cake AND his icing. His cake provides him with 25 intelligence granting a potential 42-43 extra pure damage per orb and 250 extra damage for his ult, while the 250 hp is what Harbinger needs due to his low health. Rod's active however, is just the icing on the cake, slowing your enemies who may posess pesky escapes such as phase boots or their own getaways can give you the chance to land just even a few orbs on them, and will mean the difference between someone surviving your wrath and getting away. Rod is a brilliant utility item and is EXACTLY what Harbinger needs stat wise.
-Scythe of Vyse is like a Rod on steroids, You'll get 35 intelligence granting him a potential 60 damage per orb and 350 extra damage for his ult, as well as 190 hit points from the ultimate orb stats as well as extra attacks per second which allows him to throw his orbs out at a faster rate. However, the active disable and slow will make any fleeing foe be totally helpless against Harbinger's orbs, not being able to attack, cast spells, moving slower and not being able to avade your physical attacks at all. Scythe is a definite pick up for this reason, even if you have a support on your team that has a hex ability or a teammate has picked up a sheep stick, it is definitely another utility item OD needs.
-Aghanims can be picked up to give OD yet another buff to his intel, health and even his mana pool to land more orb attacks, but also gives his ultimate just that much more of a needed boost. So many times I failed to opt to get aghanims for his ult have I seen enemies get away with ridiculously small amounts of health. Particularly in teamfights, this improvement to OD's colossal ult combined with his confident to get into battle without dying straight away will dominate the enemy completely and tear hundreds and hundreds of damage to any opponent.
-Refresher Orb is a luxury item purely for its lack of stats, however at this point you'll have enough to be of use and you should be strong enough from the side HP/strength stats with your other items that you'll last long enough to land his ultimate twice in a fight.
-Shiva's Guard is a luxury item if you feel you need more stats. At this point you really shouldn't need it, but if you're getting a lot of farm this is the most intelligence stats you can get without duplicating items, and the active is certainly useful in any case. The armor will also help out with survivability against right clickers, but shouldn't be relied on.
-Heart of Tarrasque is strictly if you are being targeted, anyone against you with a clue, especially at this point will have you as their number one priority. I say heart is a good item on anyone, even if they're not strength, but it's a completely situational thing and is not worth dropping any of your late game items for. Combined with your 4 second disable and force staff, the insane regen will really help your survivability and ability to flee back to your fountain.
Arcane Orb is what OD is infamous for. It should not be levelled at all until your essence aura is at at least its third level. Do not follow other guides that tell you to level this first for last hitting at all. While having it levelled first for last hitting boost is a good idea, the fact that you do not have enough mana to support it early game nor do you have enough mana for it to actually do a substantial amount of extra damage will leave you burning all your mana for nothing. Do NOT level this first under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. On a lighter note, as soon as you DO level this (which your Essence Aura needs to be at least level 3 to proc enough while having near full mana most of your hits) you should hit alt Q and keep the orb on for the entirety you have it levelled. There is no reason to toggle this orb off at all.
Astral Imprisonment is an incredible spell for utility and should be levelled first under all circumstances (as explained your arcane orb shouldnt be and your essence aura is pointless as you wont have any spells to trigger it and make it of use). Stealing intelligence combined with the disable makes it a great spell for endless reasons:
-Gives you extra intelligence for last hitting early in the game
-Gives you extra intelligence for your mana pool, helping your orb at any point in the game you have it levelled
-Gives you extra intelligence for your ult, dealing 100 extra magic damage for every extra buff you have on this (and even more, read on)
-Reduces your enemies intelligence, if they are an intel hero (ie invoker, QoP, Shadow Demon and any other solo mid intelligence hero you come across) and their ability to last hit and harrass you with feeble damage
-Reduces your enemies mana pool, rendering them unable to cast spells as they lack the mana capacity to sort it
-Disables your enemies at vital moments, ie when they need to get a last hit or deny in, also allowing you to do so without interruption
-Reduces your enemies intelligence last but not least gives you even MORE damage from your ult. Theoretically, if you Imprisoned every enemy in a team fight before you hit your level three ultimate, you'd be dealing 500 extra magical damage than you would if you had casted it without the imprison's steals, and any enemy imprisoned before your ult would be casted would take 100 more damage for each time they were imprisoned as opposed to zero if they werent.
-You can hit your enemies with this while trying to catch up to you and get away from them, and also hit them so your team can catch up to their position without their ability to move
-Last but not least, you can dodge spells with this, particularly Zeus's ultimate, but also generic stuns like Sven and Skeleton King's Q.
So yes, this spell is certainly utile, and at any point in the game at any level.
Essence Aura is purely to synergize with your orb, allowing you to deal orbs every auto attack to your hearts content while your mana pool remains near full. However due to the fact it is an aura, in a team fight spellcasters on your team or other low mana reliant heroes proccing it for themselves and being able to spam more spells can be a godsend in a team fight. This spell also is the only thing in the game that directly counter's anti-mages mana break. This should not be leveled first, but maxed first under any circumstance. Your primary ability, your orb, is entirely reliant on your Essence Aura. This skill also gives OD a passive 300 increase to his mana pool, which is also handy.
Sanity's Eclipse is your second and most important reason to focus exclusively on intelligence items and also constantly imprison people. Debatably the best burst damage AoE spells in the game, if you have been doing as you have been told and focusing on your intel and constantly imprisoning people, this will destroy virtually anyone - potentially dealing two thirds of an enemies HP in damage in a split second. Dont be afraid to cast this to finish out escaping enemies though, however be judicious with it as you'll need it in teamfights as well. And dont be concerned about enemies attributes either, Strength heroes with lots of HP will have even less intelligence, meaning you'll deal more damage to them, and enemy intelligence heroes you'll deal LESS damage to due to the stat difference will percentage wise take the similar amount of damage due to their lack of hp and frailty. Works even better on Agility heroes that lack both the HP and intelligence stats, but either way you will be doing colossal damage and will turn any team fight to your side given you have good farm and can land it appropriately.
Being a super hard carry, OD has very standard pros and cons. Pros being his ability to destroy anyone in his wake mid to late game, the fact he is a carry with such team fight presence, his aura to help his allies like a support would and his innate ability to farm like **** from a rusty start makes him a brilliant carry to play.
However, flaw wise, he can still drop too far in farm early game if he is not granted a solo lane, but the biggest flaw of him is his lack of ability to focus on items that will make him stronger hit point wise. This problem can be solved by a babysitter, such as dazzle or omniknight, but also by idiots that do not focus you. Unfortunately if you encounter smart opponents, they will focus you immediately as they know your weakness in health and will eliminate your fragile *** before you can deal the insane damage you are infamous for, and it will be a very unpleasant game for both you and your team. Also, be aware of enemies (particualrly omniknight with his repel) that are bound to pick up a black king bar, seeing as while your orb does pure damage, it can not be cast on magic immune targets, and your ult will be useless on them as well.
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