Invoker Guide 7.09

All In One detailed Guide :)

Invoker Guide 7.09 (Detailed Guide) By Teddy24, Dark Magus (Invoker Account Solo MMR 1 xD)
Introduction





Invoker is a unique hero in that he has 15 spells at his disposal. You are known by many names. Carl, Arsenal Magus, Dark Magus, Prince Kael (WC3) and so on. He is arguably the most powerful hero in the game as long as the players mind is strong. As he says “my mind is my arcanery”. Invoker is the hardest hero in the game to play well. Learning Invoker is not like playing a normal hero, it takes a lot of time to master and even then, you will never truly be a master as you will ALWAYS be learning. The first step to mastering Invoker is casting aside arrogance and a sense of worth and accepting humility and mindfulness. You are not Miracle, IceIceIce, Dendi, W33 or Sumiya and even these players make mistakes. Imagine you are a humble student of magic learning from the Arsenal Magus (Invoker) as you play. My point is a good mentality is the fundamental building block for playing Invoker well.
Tips
Invoker is a heavily skill dependent hero which will impact how much you have an influence in the game. You MUST master EVERY mid lane mechanic from last hitting to aggro and positioning to truly make this hero shine and win the lane and eventually the game. Note that you don’t have to win the lane ALL the time in every game, it is how you contribute to the team that will determine your worthiness. Invoker has many strengths but its important to note that although he is a divine entity, the guy is not invincible. He arguably also has the most weaknesses out of any hero in the entire game.
Spell potency on Invoker is key. If you miss your spells or cast them poorly, your team will suffer. High spell potency means casting your spells at the right time in the right location and right situation at the RIGHT LEVEL. This takes A LOT of practice, but I will explain to you what you should do when you play this hero later on in the guide.
You must master the art of last hitting. I say this because Invoker’s projectile is very average at best. Its slow, travels slow, does average damage and takes time for invoker to incant. In short, this means that invoker’s attack speed at the early game is average at best. Pay attention to the animation!
Harassing is an important aspect of laning with Invoker. You generally should harass when you are between denying and hitting a creep (gloves of haste will make this decision making easier for you as you will have more opportunity to right click given the increased attack speed). Do NOT just try and harass the enemy hero out of lane, you need to multitask between harassing and getting a last hit and DENYING DAT RANGED CREEP! Middle lane is much more sensitive to XP in terms of last hitting and denying so its crucial that you master and do this as best you can.
Lane positioning and creep positioning is also one aspect you must master. A bad invoker player will constantly aggro the enemy creep to his fragile body and mess up the creep block. Note that due to invokers slow movement speed being slower than the creeps you will only have ONCE CHANCE to block successfully so practice this before you jump into a game.
Speed is also key on invoker but THIS MUST NOT take precedence over spell potency. You must be able to switch your orbs to the right combination as quickly and efficiently as possible, the 0.5 sec cast time here also applies. In other words it takes invoker 0.5 sec to change his orb from one type to the other so you cannot right click and change orb at the same time. For instance, when you are last hitting in the laning phase, make sure you have full exort invoked and when you are not, make sure you have quas fully invoked to make the best out of that HP regen.
. Itemization is key. Generally, in most games you will have midas at 10 to 11 min with boots, a wand, two nulls OR one aquila ring and sometimes an infused raindrops. 16-25min you MUST have your aga sceptre. From there on you MUST know what item to buy as the game progresses. You generally must choose between 1 and 2 utility items after sceptre depending on the situation and whether you need to go full wex exort in which case you will buy desolator into maelstrom in replacement of utility items. This is ONLY in the case where your carry is useless, and your team needs additional right clicking enhanced with alacrity to compensate for, normally the anchor or noob carry in the team. CHOOSE WISELY. DO NOT GO MIDAS when you are laning against a PA. Just don’t. get two rings of protections with one Nulls and a wand and turn one of the rings into Aquila and the other into URN and then get treads. If you want more detail on as to why see Sumiya on youtube. Also go this build if you have not yet obtained your midas by 10-12 min.





Orbs (as of 7.00 to 7.09)
Quas
Allows manipulation of ice elements. Each Quas instance provides increased health regeneration.
Cast Animation: 0+0
Instances of Quas per Cast: 1
Health Regen Bonus per Quas Instance: 1/3/5/7/9/11/13
0
Illusions copy the currently active reagents and benefit from the regen bonus.
Modifiers
Quas Instance: Undispellable.

• Quas interrupts Invoker's channeling spells upon cast.
• Quas can be leveled 7 times, at levels 1/3/5/7/9/11/13.
• Invoker can only have up to 3 instances up at any time. The orbs floating above Invoker are visible to everyone.
• If he already has 3 instances, the oldest instance is replaced. The order of instances can be seen in the HUD as status buff icons, the oldest one being on the left.
• Restores health in the form of health regeneration, so it regenerates 0.1/0.3/0.5/0.7/0.9/1.1/1.3 health per Quas instance in 0.1 second intervals.
• Can restore up to 60/180/300/420/540/660/780 health in one minute per Quas instance.
• This is how much health regeneration Invoker gains from 1, 2 and 3 Quas instances:
• 1 Quas Instance: 1/3/5/7/9/11/13 health regeneration
• 2 Quas Instances: 2/6/10/14/18/22/26 health regeneration
• 3 Quas Instances: 3/9/15/21/27/33/39 health regeneration


Wex



Allows manipulation of storm elements. Each Wex instance provides increased attack speed and movement speed.
Cast Animation: 0+0
Instances of Wex per Cast: 1
Attack Speed Bonus per Wex Instance: 2/4/6/8/10/12/14
Move Speed Bonus per Wex Instance: 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%/6%/7%
0
Illusions copy the currently active reagents and benefit from the speed bonuses.

• Wex interrupts Invoker's chanelling spells upon cast.
• Wex can be leveled 7 times, at levels 1/3/5/7/9/11/13.
• Invoker can only have up to 3 instances up at any time. The orbs floating above Invoker are visible to everyone.
• If he already has 3 instances, the oldest instance is replaced. The order of instances can be seen in the HUD as status buff icons, the oldest one being on the left.
• This is how much attack speed and movement speed Invoker gains from 1, 2 and 3 Wex instances:
• 1 Wex Instance: 2/4/6/8/10/12/14 attack speed and 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%/6%/7% movement speed
• 2 Wex Instances: 4/8/12/16/20/24/28 attack speed and 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%/12%/14% movement speed
• 3 Wex Instances: 6/12/18/24/30/36/42 attack speed and 3%/6%/9%/12%/15%/18%/21% movement speed


Exort

Allows manipulation of fire elements. Each Exort instance provides increased attack damage.
Cast Animation: 0+0
Instances of Exort per Cast: 1
Attack Damage Bonus per Exort Instance: 4/8/12/16/20/24/28
0
Illusions copy the currently active reagents, but cannot benefit from the attack damage bonus.
Modifiers
Exort Instance: Undispellable.
• Exort interrupts Invoker's chanelling spells upon cast.
• Exort can be leveled 7 times, at levels 1/3/5/7/9/11/13.
• Invoker can only have up to 3 instances up at any time. The orbs floating above Invoker are visible to everyone.
• If he already has 3 instances, the oldest instance is replaced. The order of instances can be seen in the HUD as status buff icons, the oldest one being on the left.
• This is how much attack damage Invoker gains from 1, 2 and 3 Exort instances:
• 1 Exort Instance: 4/8/12/16/20/24/28 attack damage
• 2 Exort Instances: 8/16/24/32/40/48/56 attack damage
• 3 Exort Instances: 12/24/36/48/60/72/84 attack damage


Pros and Cons

Pros
. Most powerful hero in the game
. High damage output (this will depend on your spell potency)
. Most versatile hero in the game
. Difficult to counter pick
. Decent stat gains on level up
. Orbs and spells scale very well upon level up
. A spell for EVERY situation (I mean it…)
. You start with invoke as of Patch 6.86 to 7.09 present
. +4 int gain means your mana pool and right click scales very well per level
. One of the best disablers in the game
. High Magic resistance
. Can sustain himself very well in lane
. Can semi-carry or even carry
. Seriously fast movement speed later on (dependent on Wex lvl and instances invoked)
. Very good HP regen (Dependent on Quas lvl and instances invoked)
. Global presence with Sunstrike
. decent base regen now. 1.2 mana per second
. Agahnim Scepter upgrade is very good. It increases your Quas, Wex, Exort by one additional level increasing the potency of your spells. It also gives you stats, increased hp and mana pool and reduces cost of invoke to 0 with a 3 sec cd.
. Orbs cannot be dispelled by anything
. Has an insane debuff spell in tornado and one of the best counter initiation and teamfighting control abilities in the game
. 9 to 7 sec cd on tornado at lvl 25 with octarine core
. Has one of the best stuns in the game with cold snap (1000 range op)
. Decent strength gain for an intelligence hero and a not so squishy HP pool
. Can slow enemy heroes very well (ice wall, ghost walk)
. With the correct combo, can one-shot almost every hero in the game
. Naturally a very good team player due to his versatility
. FINALLY some good talents
. You can now have triple cataclysm with 2 refresher shards. Yeah you get cataclysm now ^^
. AOE disable with deafening blast
A few images for fun 😊

Cons
. Very hard to play well
. Generally hard to play, hero is skill dependent on player
. needs a good constant supply of xp and gold so you must play either mid or safe lane
. You will most likely need to buy up to 4 clarities to regen your mana if you have been Sunstriking. Sunstrike costs 175 mana which is devastating on invokers mana pool
. 0.5 cast time delay (THIS IS CRUCIAL!) Invoker can no longer instantly cast his spells making him vulnerable during invoking and casting
. Average armor
. Average laner due to nerfs in recent years
. Forge spirit has been nerfed a lot hurting his laning phase (damage has been reduced, you no longer start with 2 at lvl 8 with 4 Quas and 4 Exort, Magic resistance has been removed and Armor has been reduced)
. Spells are weak in the early game
. High mana cost for spells (mana conservation and spell potency are crucial)
. Slow movement speed in the early game (280)
. Although Invoke now has a 6 sec cd its mana cost is subtly high (60 mana). This makes getting aga sceptre on Invoker very important.
. Extremely vulnerable in the laning phase (usually if supports are ganking you need a support of your own to babysit you)
. VERY XP and somewhat Gold dependent. Invoker NEEDS levels to increase the potency of his spells
. Needs time and space in the laning phase to get online and in most situations, a babysitter EEEEEH (shoutout to my friend Catalyst who is a good support 😊)
. Ghost Walk is not a reliable escape if enemy has dust
. Lacks a shield spell of any sort to reduce damage (this is perhaps the only type of spell he lacks since they removed 27 spell invoker years ago)
. Rubick the Grand Magus, can steal his spells… -.-
. Spell Potency is reduced if he is stunned or slowed making him somewhat reliant on BKB in certain games
. Suffered from LOTS OF NERFS (see below they also count as cons and the patch notes for more)
. Tornado is useless at lvl 1 Wex, most spells with their associated orbs at lvl 1 are generally very weak
. Tornado no longer grants the 600 AOE vision on its pathway as it used to
. Alacrity has been nerfed 45 mana cost to 60 sec and cd increased from 15 to 17 sec. As of patch 6.86 onwards the damage in certain orb instances has also been reduced (6.86C to 7.03, 7.06)
. EMP no longer has pure damage (7.00)
. Cold Snap has been nerfed. Initial debuff is now dispellable (6.87)
. Orbs no longer grants additional attribute bonus (7.00)
. Invoker no longer benefits from the attribute bonus at lvl 25 (7.00)
. Base intelligence has been reduced from 22 to 16 (6.87)
. Base agility has been reduced from 20 to 14 (6.86d)
. Average Farming


Abilities
Now we move onto invokers INVOKED abilities. The potency of which is dependent on the lvl of the associated reagent orbs Quas, Wex and Exort that we went through. Still with me? GOOD because there is PLENTY more about the hero you need to know. See the images below after which I will explain each and every one.


Okay so you have been given a visual image for studying. My recommendation at this point is to test out incanting each and every one of these spells to get a feel for them all and casting them. We are NOT yet ready to be deployed into the battlefield. You have some more studying to do. I will now leave you to study and memorize these incantions 😊
Invoked Ability Descriptions (information is taken from Dota Wiki)
Cold Snap
We start simple with the invocation of three Quas orbs that invokes cold snap. This is your PRIMARY stunning spell and should be invoked or prepared to be invoked in combination with another spell. Note a bad invoker is one that never uses, misuses or does not prepare invocation of cold snap.



Invoker draws the heat from an enemy, chilling them to their very core for a duration based on the level of Quas. The enemy will take damage and be briefly frozen. Further damage taken in this state will freeze the enemy again, dealing bonus damage. The enemy can only be frozen so often, but the freeze cooldown decreases based on the level of Quas.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: 1000
Damage per Proc (Quas): 7/14/21/28/35/42/49 ( /56)
Stun Duration per Proc: 0.4
Trigger Cooldown (Quas): 0.77/0.74/0.71/0.69/0.66/0.63/0.60 ( /0.57)
Debuff Duration (Quas): 3/3.5/4/4.5/5/5.5/6 ( /6.5)
( 4.5/5/5.5/6/6.5/7/7.5 /8)
20
100
Does not stun or attempt to damage on proc if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.
Modifiers
Cold Snap: Dispellable with any dispel.
Cold Snap Freeze: Dispellable with strong dispels.

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 3 Quas instances.
• Cold Snap immediately triggers on the target upon cast, so the next proc can only happen after the trigger cooldown.
• Every time the effect triggers, the target is stunned and damaged.
• On each trigger, Cold Snap first applies the damage, then the stun debuff.
• Only triggers on damage equal to or greater than 10 (after reductions).
• Cold Snap does not trigger on self-inflicted damage, and on damage flagged as HP Removal.
• With its current trigger cooldown and debuff duration, it can trigger up to 4/5/6/7/8/9/10 ( /12) ( 6/7/8/9/10/12/13 ( /15)) times (including the initial trigger upon cast).
• Can deal up to 28/70/126/196/280/378/490 ( /672) ( 42/98/168/252/350/504/637 ( /840)) damage (before reductions) when triggering as often as possible.
• Ability formulas:
• Damage per proc: 0 + (7 * Quas)
• Trigger cooldown: 0.8 - (0.03 * Quas)
• Debuff duration: 2.5 + (0.5 * Quas) ( 2.5 + 1.5 + (0.5 * Quas))
Ghost Walk

This is your escape and slow ability. It is expensive with a long cd so bear that in mind. It is invoked with two Quas orbs and one Wex orb. It also increases your movement speed! Note that a bad invoker wastes this plus his mana pool or has it on cd when the situation requires it to be casted. Lots of noobs can’t seem to invoke this spell fast enough for some odd reason or forget the orb requirements.

Invoker manipulates the ice and electrical energies around him, rendering his body invisible. The elemental imbalance created as a consequence slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas, and slows Invoker as well based on the level of Wex.
Cast Animation: 0+0
Fade Time: 0
Slow Radius: 400
Enemy Move Speed Slow (Quas): 20%/25%/30%/35%/40%/45%/50% ( /55%)
Self Move Speed Change (Wex): -30%/-20%/-10%/0%/+10%/+20%/+30% ( /+40%)
Duration: 100
45
200
Slow does not persist if debuff was placed before spell immunity.
Modifiers
Ghost Walk Self: Undispellable.
Ghost Walk Enemy: Undispellable.
Myrault's Hinder-Gast.

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 2 Quas and 1 Exort instances.
• The Ice Wall is always created in front of Invoker, perpendicular to the line between Invoker and a point 200 range right in front of him.
• Creates 15 wall segments, with a spacing of 80 between each, resulting in a total length of 1120. Each segment affects a 105 radius around itself.
• The wall's effective length is 1330 (wall length + radius from both sides).
• Each segment possesses a movement speed slowing aura. Its debuff lingers for 2 seconds.
• The damage is independent from the slow, so getting further than 105 radius away from a segment immediately stops the damage, while the slow still lingers.
• Deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting 1 second after cast, resulting in up to 3/4/6/7/9/10/12 ( /13) possible instances.
• Can deal up to 18/48/108/168/270/360/504 ( /624) damage to a single unit (before reductions), when it stays in range for its full duration.
• Ice Wall is not a pathing blocker. Any unit can pass through it.
• Ability formulas:
• Damage per second: 0 + (6 * Exort)
• Movement speed slow: 0 + (20 * Quas)
• Wall duration: 1.5 + (1.5 * Quas)

Ice Wall
Another slow spell that is technically an aoe but covers a specific area in FRONT of invokers position of casting. It is invoked by two Quas orbs and One Exort Orb. A good invoker knows when to cast this to slow the pursuing or escaping enemy hero or to trap them after a good tornado. A bad one misses all heroes completely.

Generates a wall of solid ice directly in front of Invoker for a duration based on the level of Quas. The bitter cold emanating from it greatly slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas and deals damage each second based on the level of Exort.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Wall Spawn Distance: 200
Wall Length: 1120
Wall Width: 105
Damage per Second (Exort): 6/12/18/24/30/36/42 ( /48)
Move Speed Slow (Quas): 20%/40%/60%/80%/100%/120%/140% ( /160%)
Wall Duration (Quas): 3/4.5/6/7.5/9/10.5/12 ( /13.5)
Slow Duration: 2
25
175
Debuff is immediately removed when enemy turns spell immune.
Modifiers
Ice Wall Slow Debuff: Undispellable.

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 2 Quas and 1 Exort instances.
• The Ice Wall is always created in front of Invoker, perpendicular to the line between Invoker and a point 200 range right in front of him.
• Creates 15 wall segments, with a spacing of 80 between each, resulting in a total length of 1120. Each segment affects a 105 radius around itself.
• The wall's effective length is 1330 (wall length + radius from both sides).
• Each segment possesses a movement speed slowing aura. Its debuff lingers for 2 seconds.
• The damage is independent from the slow, so getting further than 105 radius away from a segment immediately stops the damage, while the slow still lingers.
• Deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting 1 second after cast, resulting in up to 3/4/6/7/9/10/12 ( /13) possible instances.
• Can deal up to 18/48/108/168/270/360/504 ( /624) damage to a single unit (before reductions), when it stays in range for its full duration.
• Ice Wall is not a pathing blocker. Any unit can pass through it.
• Ability formulas:
• Damage per second: 0 + (6 * Exort)
• Movement speed slow: 0 + (20 * Quas)
• Wall duration: 1.5 + (1.5 * Quas)

EMP
We now move onto the category of Wex spells. We start off simple with EMP. An AOE that damages and burns the mana pool of the enemy hero. It is devastating from wex 4 onwards. Use this in a teamfight all the time as it can render mana dependent heroes useless. A good invoker will hit as much heroes as possible with the priority of reducing their mana pool NOT to do damage that is merely an added bonus. A bad invoker will miss this spell completely or waste it or have it on cd when the situation requires it

Invoker builds up a charge of electromagnetic energy at a targeted location which automatically detonates after 2.9 seconds. The detonation covers an area, draining mana based on the level of Wex. Deals damage for each point of mana drained. If EMP drains mana from an enemy hero, Invoker gains 50% of the mana drained.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: 950
Effect Radius: 675
Effect Delay: 2.9
Mana Burned (Wex): 100/175/250/325/400/475/550 ( /625)
Damage per Burned Mana: 60%
Self Mana Gain per Burned Mana: 50%
30
125

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 3 Wex instances.
• Applies the mana loss first, and then the damage.
• Invoker only gains the mana when it burns mana from heroes. Mana burned on illusionsand other units does not restore mana.
• The damage and the restored mana are dependent on the amount of mana burned on the enemies.
• This means if the enemy had no mana left to burn, it deals no damage to it and does not restore Invoker's mana.
• Fully affects invisible units, but not invulnerable or hidden units.
• Can deal up to 60/105/150/195/240/285/330 ( /375) damage to each affected unit (before reductions).
• Can restore up to 50/87.5/125/162.5/200/237.5/275 ( /312.5) mana for Invoker from each affected hero.
• The visual effects and the sound during the 2.9 seconds effect delay are visible and audible to everyone.
• Ability formulas:
• Mana burned: 25 + (75 * Wex)
Tornado

Now we move onto in my opinion, Invoker’s best spell. Tornado. Why? Because it travels far after even wex lvl 2, does damage, gives vision, DEBUFFS and disables enemy heroes. It can also be used to push creep waves at the lvl 25 talent and control the pace of the teamfight or kill OR EVEN save an ally. There is just so much you can do with this spell. Unfortunately, it has been nerfed slightly mainly its vision aoe once in projectile to the targeted destination. It is invoked with Two Wex Orbs and one Quas Orb. There are so many situations in which determines the potency of this spell so I will try to simplify it. A good invoker will know EXACTLY when to use it in each situation and a bad one will waste it putting it on a 20 sec cd at which then you might need it or miss completely.


Unleashes a fast moving tornado that picks up enemy units in its path, suspending them helplessly in the air shortly before allowing them to plummet to their doom. Travels further based on the level of Wex. Holds enemies in the air for a duration based on the level of Quas. Deals base damage plus added damage based on levels in Wex.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: 2000
Effect Radius: 200
Travel Distance (Wex): 800/1200/1600/2000/2400/2800/3200 ( /3600)
Base Damage: 70
Bonus Damage (Wex): 45/90/135/180/225/270/315 ( /360)
Cyclone Duration (Quas): 0.8/1.1/1.4/1.7/2/2.3/2.6 ( /2.9)
( 1.1/1.4/1.7/2/2.3/2.6/2.9 3.2)
30 ( 14)
150
Modifiers
Tornado: Dispellable with any dispel.

Notes:
• Ability invokes when Invoker has 2 Wex and 1 Quas instances.
• The Tornado travels at a speed of 1000 and always travels the full distance, so it takes 0.8/1.2/1.6/2/2.4/2.8/3.2 ( /3.6) seconds to reach the max distance.
• The Tornado can hit units up to 1000/1400/1800/2200/2600/3000/3400 ( /3800) range away (travel distance + effect radius).
• Applies a Cyclone effect on the affected units, so it applies a basic dispel on them, turns them invulnerable and fully disables them for its duration.
• The damage is applied upon losing the Tornado debuff. Can deal up to 115/160/205/250/295/340/385 ( /430) damage to each affected unit (before reductions).
• While in the air, other units may pass below the cycloned units.
• The Tornado provides 200 radius flying vision as it travels. This vision does not last.
• Also provides the same vision for 1.75 seconds after reaching its final destination.
• Does not lift Roshan, but damages and interrupts him for a split second.
• Ability formulas:
• Travel distance: 400 + (400 * Wex)
• Bonus damage: 0 + (45 * Wex)
• Cyclone duration: 0.5 + (0.3 * Quas) ( 0.5 + 0.3 + (0.3 * Quas))

Alacrity
AH alacrity. The spell that was nerfed into oblivion… so they say. Okay you cannot spam it at lvl 2 or 3 to secure last hits or harass in the laning phase anymore due to its increased cd and mana pool cost but if properly used, its devastating. This spell can be used to enhance invoker himself increasing his attack speed and damage OR it can be cast on an ally EVEN creeps. When sieging or slow sieging USE this spell on either your forge spirit OR the catapault (its op as hell cast on a cata). In a teamfight cast it on the carry or primary damage dealer or yourself. It is up to you as to how your team will benefit from this spell most. My advice is USE IT CAREFULLY. Don’t waste it. It is invoked with two Wex orbs and One Exort orb.

Invoker infuses an ally with an immense surge of energy, increasing their attack speed based on the level of Wex and their damage based on the level of Exort.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: 650
Attack Speed Bonus (Wex): 10/25/40/55/70/85/100 ( /115)
( 45/60/75/90/105/120/135 /150)
Attack Damage Bonus (Exort): 10/25/40/55/70/85/100 ( /115)
( 45/60/75/90/105/120/135 /150)
Duration: 9
17
60
Modifiers
Alacrity: Dispellable with any dispel.

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 2 Wex and 1 Exort instances.
• Ability formulas:
• Attack speed bonus: -5 + (15 * Wex) ( -5 + 35 + (15 * Wex))
• Attack damage bonus: -5 + (15 * Exort) ( -5 + 35 + (15 * Exort))

Sunstrike
We now move onto the category of Invokers exort invoked spells. These spells are designed to deal damage, reduce armor and generally crush the enemy with fire! Simple right? Well hold your horses because players tend to get a tad bit overexcited in this area where they get in over their heads thinking they are all power and… miss these spells completely. The spell potency on exort spells is judged on the amount of damage you do. We begin with sunstrike. Invoker’s global ability that not only gives vision on the area casted, but incinerates everything in its path. The ability has its downsides, firstly it costs lots of mana in the early stage at 175 where your mana pool is not so large and … it can miss or have its damage reduced by surrounding heroes and creeps rendering it almost useless after casting. But the beauty of this thing? ITS PURE DAMAGE REMEMBER THAT :D It is invoked with three exort orbs.

Sends a catastrophic ray of fierce energy from the sun at any targeted location, incinerating all enemies standing beneath it once it reaches the earth. Deals damage based on the level of Exort, however this damage is spread evenly over all enemies hit.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: Global
Effect Radius: 175
Cataclysm Minimum Distance: 175
Cataclysm Maximum Distance: 250
Effect Delay: 1.7
Damage (Exort): 100/162.5/225/287.5/350/412.5/475 ( /537.5)
25 ( 90)
175

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 3 Exort instances.
• The damage is spread evenly among all affected units within the targeted area, including creeps.
• This is how much damage Sun Strike deals when hitting a certain amount of units (before reductions).
• 2 Units: 50/81.25/112.5/143.75/175/206.25/237.5 ( /268.75) damage
• 3 Units: 33.33/54.17/75/95.83/116.67/137.5/158.33 ( /179.17) damage
• 4 Units: 25/40.625/56.25/71.875/87.5/103.125/118.75 ( /134.375) damage
• 5 Units: 20/32.5/45/57.5/70/82.5/95 ( /107.5) damage
• Damage is only spread among units which are damaged by Sun Strike. All unaffected units do not soak up any damage.
• Does not affect wards, buildings, invulnerable or hidden units.
• Provides 300 radius flying vision at the targeted point for 5.5 seconds upon cast.
• The visual effects and the sound during the 175 seconds effect delay are visible and audible to allies only.
• When choosing the Cataclysm talent, self-casting Sun Strike causes it to send two strikes to every hero (including Tempest Doubles, excluding other clones and illusions) on the map.
• These Sun Strikes are fully visible and audible to the enemy during their delays.
• The strikes are placed randomly around the target, using the giving minimum and maximum distances.
• When using Cataclysm, Sun Strike goes on a 90 second cooldown.
• Ability formulas:
• Damage: 37.5 + (62.5 * Exort)

Forge Spirit
We now move onto forge spirit. A spell that brings your cuddly and loveable companions to your side at 75 mana cost with two exort and one quas orb invoked. These little guys are very useful, they can be used as wards, deny runes, harass the enemy, melt their armor and push towers and destroy creep waves and defend towers and even aggro or tank the creep waves (USE ALACRITY ON THEM). They have been nerfed as the ages past namely their armor, magic resistance and damage but they are still super useful if used right. A good invoker will take full advantage of these little sneaky guys, a bad one will just have it by his side just afk right clicking unintentionally pushing the wave, or just sit there bone idle.
Invoker forges a spirit embodying the strength of fire and fortitude of ice. Damage, mana, and armor are based on the level of Exort while attack range, health, and duration are based on the level of Quas. The elemental's scorching attack is capable of melting the armor of enemy heroes.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Number of Forged Spirits: 1 ( 2)
Spirit Attack Damage (Exort): 22/32/42/52/62/72/82 ( /92)
Spirit Attack Range (Quas): 300/365/430/495/560/625/690 ( /755)
Spirit Max Health (Quas): 300/400/500/600/700/800/900 ( /1000)
Spirit Max Mana (Exort): 100/150/200/250/300/350/400 ( /450)
Spirit Armor (Exort): 0/1/2/3/4/5/6 ( /7)
Spirit Duration (Quas): 20/30/40/50/60/70/80 ( /90)
30
75

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 2 Exort and 1 Quas instances.
• Casting Forge Spirit replaces the spirits from the previous cast, no matter who they are owned by.
• The spirits are always summoned next to Invoker at a random position around him, but always facing east upon spawn.
• Forged Spirits possess the Melting Strike ability.
• Already summoned spirits do not have their stats upgraded when Quas or Exort is leveled. Their stats are set upon spawn.
• Ability formulas:
• Spirits attack damage: 12 + (10 * Exort)
• Spirits attack range: 235 + (65 * Quas)
• Spirits max health: 200 + (100 * Quas)
• Spirits max mana: 50 + (50 * Exort)
• Spirits armor: -1 + (1 * Exort)
• Spirits duration: 10 + (10 * Quas)

Spirit Ability Passive
Melting Strike



Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemy Heroes

Melts away the armor of heroes hit by the spirit's attack if the spirit has enough mana. Each successive hit increases the amount of armor melted.
Armor Reduction per Attack: 1
Armor Reduction Cap: 10
Duration: 5
40
Armor reduction persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity.
Modifiers
Melting Strike Debuff: Undispellable.
Notes:
• Successive attacks fully refresh the whole stack's duration.
• The armor reduction is applied or increased after the attack damage is applied.
• Only affects heroes and illusion, and nothing else.
• The mana is used when the attack successfully hits the target, not upon projectile launch.
• This means that missed or disjointed attacks do not cost any mana.


Chaos Meteor
Ah good ole Chaos Meteor. If you have played World Of Warcraft, WC3 or Diablo 3 on the Wizard Class then you will have some familiarity on how this spell works. Just in case, this spell is invoked with two exort orbs and one Wex orb (exort is for damage, wex is for movement distance travel). When this spell is used correctly, it can DESTROY the enemy hero or team. It ususally requires a setup to reach maximum potency from a tornado or an ally hero such as a general 2 to 3 sec stun of chromosphere. Just please don’t waste it… It generally should NOT BE USED to push or destroy creep waves because it puts it on a massive 55 sec cd and you will most likely need it in a teamfight. AS you will see in the description below its damage potential is massive and damage increases with each debuff applied. NOTE IT CAN BE DISPELLED which sucks but most people don’t know this 😊


Invoker pulls a flaming meteor from space onto the targeted location. Upon landing, the meteor rolls forward, constantly dealing damage based on the level of Exort, and rolling further based on the level of Wex. Units hit by the meteor will also be set on fire for a short time, receiving additional damage based on the level of Exort.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: 700
Effect Radius: 275
Travel Distance (Wex): 465/615/770/920/1070/1220/1370 ( /1520)
Effect Delay: 1.3
Effect Interval: 0.5
Main Damage per Interval (Exort): 57.5/75/92.5/110/127.5/145/162.5 ( /180)
( 87.5/105/122.5/140/157.5/175/192.5 /210)
Burn Damage per Second (Exort): 11.5/15/18.5/22/25.5/29/32.5 ( /36)
Burn Duration: 3
55
200
Attempts to deal damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.
Modifiers
Chaos Meteor burn: Dispellable with any dispel.

Notes:
• Ability invokes when Invoker has 2 Exort and 1 Wex instances.
• The Chaos Meteor needs 1.3 seconds to land. It lands at the targeted point, not at Invoker's position.
• Can hit units up to 1440/1590/1745/1895/2045/2195/2345 ( /2495) range away (cast range + travel distance + effect radius). The area between Invoker and the targeted point is unaffected.
• The visual effects and the sound during the 1.3 seconds effect delay (the meteor falling from the sky) are visible and audible to everyone.
• The Chaos Meteor rolls at a speed of 300 and always rolls the full distance, so it takes 1.55/2.05/2.57/3.07/3.57/4.07/4.57 ( /5.07) seconds to reach the max distance.
• After landing, the meteor deals its main damage and places the burn debuff to units within its effect radius in 0.5 second intervals, starting immediately upon landing.
• On each interval, the meteor first applies the damage, then the debuff.
• The main damage can hit a unit up to 4/5/6/7/8/9/10 ( /11) times and thus can deal up to 230/375/555/770/1020/1305/1625 ( /1980) ( 350/525/735/980/1260/1575/1925 ( /2310)) damage (before reductions).
• The burn debuff deals damage in 1 second intervals, starting 1 seconds after the debuff is placed, resulting in 3 instances for each debuff.
• The debuffs from each interval fully stack and do not refresh each other. So a unit can be affected by 4/5/6/7/8/9/10 ( /11) instances of the burn debuff per cast.
• One instance of the burn debuff can deal up to 34.5/45/55.5/66/76.5/87/97.5 ( /108) damage (before reductions).
• All possible instances of burn damage per unit together can deal up to 138/225/333/462/612/783/975 ( /1188) damage (before reductions).
• The whole Chaos Meteor, main and burn damage, can deal up to 368/600/888/1232/1632/2088/2600 ( /3168) ( 488/750/1068/1442/1872/2358/2900 ( /3498)) damage (before reductions) when a unit is hit by all possible instances.
• The Meteor provides 400 radius flying vision while it is rolling. This vision does not last.
• Also provides the same vision for 3 seconds after reaching its final destination.
• Ability formulas:
• Travel distance: 315 + (150 * Wex)
• Main damage per interval: 40 + (17.5 * Exort) ( 40 + 30 + (17.5 * Exort))
• Burn damage per second: 8 + (3.5 * Exort)

Deafening Blast
We now come to the final incantation of invokers arsenal combined with one Quas, one Wex and One Exort orbs. This is my favourite ability because not only does it sound cool when casted, it does everything the orb elements intend. Namely, disable, disarm (quas) and ( wex) AND damage (exort). This spell with the lvl 25 talent can also AOE which can massively help in a teamfight, push a creep wave, kill an enemy or knockback when needed (you can blast enemy heroes onto cliffs if used perfectly though this is a rare case). Don’t waste this spell its expensive to use. It costs 300 frickin mana and the cd is 40 sec!

Invoker unleashes a mighty sonic wave in front of him, dealing damage to any enemy unit it collides with based on the level of Exort. The sheer impact from the blast is enough to knock those enemy units back for a duration based on the level of Quas, then disarm their attacks for a duration based on the level of Wex.
Cast Animation: 0.05+0
Cast Range: 1000
Starting Radius: 175
Travel Distance: 1000
End Radius: 225
Damage (Exort): 40/80/120/160/200/240/280 ( /320)
Knockback Distance (Quas): 45.6/88.6/133.5/171.5/205/242.1/274.3 ( /305.14)
Knockback Duration (Quas): 0.25/0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75 ( /2)
Disarm Duration (Wex): 1.25/2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5/5.75 ( /6.5)
40
300
Knockback persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity. Disarm can be dispelled by spell immunity only.
Modifiers
Deafening Blast Knockback: Undispellable.
Deafening Blast Disarm: Undispellable.

• Ability invokes when Invoker has 1 Quas, 1 Wex and 1 Exort instances.
• Deafening Blast travels at a speed of 1100 and always travels the full distance, which takes 0.91 seconds.
• The blast can hit units up to 1225 range away (travel distance + end radius).
• The complete area is shaped like a cone.
• Applies a non-disabling Forced Movement, so affected enemies can still use spells and items during it and their channeling spells are not interrupted.
• The knockback and disarm are applied at the same time.
• This is how the knockback works:
• Affected units are moved in 0.03 second intervals.
• They are moved 8/16/25/33/41/50/58 ( /66) times (Quas * 25 / 3).
• The first 1/3 times, units are moved linearly, by a distance of 6 per interval. 1/3 of the intervals is 2/5/8/11/13/16/19 ( /22) times, which results in a distance of 12/30/48/66/78/96/114 ( /132).
• For the remaining 6/11/17/22/28/34/39 ( /44) intervals, the units are moved exponentially with 0.98 times the speed of the previous interval.
• So the remaining intervals together (on each level) move the units by a distance of (6 * ∑(n=1→i)(0.98n) =) 33.56/58.58/85.46/105.5/127.02/146.08/160.29 ( /173.14).
• Summed up, the total distance on each level is 45.56/88.58/133.46/171.5/205.02/242.08/274.29 ( /305.14).
• As conclusion, the knockback starts at a speed of 200 and decreases exponentially.
• When the talent for it is chosen, the blasts are released towards every direction around Invoker, no matter where it is targeted.
• A total of 12 blasts are released. One blast is released towards the targeted point, while the other eleven are adapted to it, with 30 degree angles between them.
• A unit can only be hit by one blast per cast. If an enemy unit stands within the areas of multiple blasts, it is only affected by one.
• Can knock units over impassable terrain. During the knockback, all trees the units collide with get destroyed.
• Does not knock back Roshan, but damages and disarms him.
• Ability formulas:
• Damage: 0 + (40 * Exort)
• Knockback distance: See knockback notes above
• Knockback duration: 0 + (0.25 * Quas)
• Disarm duration: 0.5 + (0.75 * Wex)

Is your mind tired of reading yet? NO?? GOOD Because you will have more reading to do from here on out. But up to this point you will have covered Invoker already in great detail about how to play him, some tips, his pros and cons and his abilities. We shall now move on…
Items and Itemization! (taken from Dota Wiki which I think sums it up quite well)
Recommended items[edit]
Starting items:
• Tangos are bought to stay longer in lane, since they give good health regeneration for a low price.
• Null Talisman is recommended as it increase Invoker's overall stats, particularly his attack damage so that he can last-hit more easily. It should generally be sold once bigger items are needed, as it does not build into anything useful for Invoker.
• Faerie Fire is often bought to increase his starting damage for lasthitting, and to consume in an early fight, potentially avoiding death for a low cost.
Early game:
• Boots of Speed are important to get quickly, as Invoker has one of the lowest base movement speeds in the game. Getting a movement speed advantage over your opponent allows you to position yourself for casting your spells more easily.
• Magic Stick provides Invoker with additional mana and health with its charges, which is important on any frail caster. Using the charges can give Invoker enough health to survive an attempted gank, or allow him to cast one more spell to ensure a kill.
• Bracer gives Invoker more stats, particularly strength for increasing his survivability. It also builds into a Drum of Endurance.
• Ring of Basilius gives Invoker the much needed mana regeneration to stay in lane and cast spells after nerfs to his mana and mana regen.
• Ring of Aquila gives solid stats for only one item slot.
Core items:
• Phase Boots are the best boots for Quas-Wex Invoker, as the speed boost offsets his low base movement speed. Additionally, the bonus damage makes last-hitting easier, important on Invoker since he requires lots of gold in order to be effective.
• Power Treads are the best boots for Quas-Exort Invoker (along with Boots of Travel), as they give him stats and attack speed, making last hitting easier.
• Drum of Endurance further increases Invoker's attack and movement speed, and provides him with extra attributes and damage.
• Magic Wand gives Invoker stats and larger charge storage when upgraded from Magic Stick. A full charge Wand can allow Invoker to cast any of his spells so long as he has the mana to Invoke it first.
• Aghanim's Scepter drastically reduces the cooldown time for Invoke, removes the mana cost for queuing spells, and increases the maximum possible level of each of his orbs by one while also providing him with an additional level in each. It increases Invoker's effectiveness across the board by making all of his spells more potent and allowing him to bring many more spells to bear in fights through Invoke's reduced cooldown.
• Town Portal Scroll should be carried by all heroes all the time. In Invoker's case, his ability to bombard the enemy with his spells makes him a powerful ally to have in any fight.
Situational items:
• Hand of Midas should be picked up if Invoker had a good early game, especially with Quas-Exort build. It increases his experience gain which is incredibly important for Invoker.
• Boots of Travel is a useful item, allowing Invoker to split push and farm with Forge Spirits, and teleport to team fights. It also gives him lots of movement speed.
• Scythe of Vyse gives good attributes and plenty of mana and mana regeneration, increasing Invoker's survivability while also giving him the mana he needs to cast his spells. Hex is also one of the strongest hard-disables in the game that can completely turn teamfights around.
• Force Staff is a very useful item. Its active ability can be used to escape, to chase enemies or to save teammates from sure death, as well as re-position yourself for your spells. As well, it provides Invoker with more intelligence and health regen, allowing him to cast spells more easily.
• Blink Dagger is a very strong item to build on Invoker, as he requires good positioning in order to make the most of his spells. Its mobility greatly increases his offensive potential as well as survivability.
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a great utility item, as it gives Invoker many powerful benefits for a cost-effective price. It increases his intelligence and gives him powerful scaling mana regen, allowing him to cast spells more frequently, and the increased base movement speed offsets his low mobility, making positioning for spells much easier. The Cyclone is also a very powerful disable and is often used to set up difficult-to-land spells such as Sun Strike, Chaos Meteor, EMP, and so on.
• Black King Bar is a good item to build on Invoker if you're constantly being focused or disabled by the enemy. The spell immunity allows you to stand on the front lines to cast your spells without being interrupted.
• Refresher Orb turns Invoker into an unstoppable nuker. Two back to back spell combos will kill just about any hero.
• Octarine Core is extremely strong on cast-heavy nukers, and can make Invoker a force to be reckoned with. The item grants a tremendous amount of health and mana, reduces the cooldowns on all of his spells as well as Invoke, and allows him to lifesteal from his nukes, making him much harder to bring down in fights.

Ability Builds
Right got the items into your head? Well there is more for you to memorize and it comes in his complex ability builds. There are generally two builds to invoker as of 7.09 as the old wex exort build has been rendered redundant. They are Quas Wex and Quas Exort. I will provide a very short description of each. Picking the right one is absolutely crucial though luckily 70 percent of the time Quas Exort is what you will go… Still its best to be prepared so you don’t mess it up.
Quas Wex is meant to bolster invokers ability to gank and decimate the enemy heroes at the early game and help out his team in the laning to mid phase of the game by BEING PRESENT!. In this build you will build a phase boots, sometimes a midas and Urn and then go into an orchid OR euls and then into an aga for late game. You can also choose to skip aga and go what I call is the hidden wex exort after you have three reagents of quas buy buying a desolator and mealstrom (NOTE YOU WILL DEVIATE FROM THE BUILD HERE) but I recommend you stick to these two for the time being. Your primary spells will be cold snap, tornado (have these two invoked and then prepare EMP). The combination is cold snap, tornado and emp OR tornado, emp into cold snap. Harassing invoker out of lane is also difficult due to have decent regeneration BUT he will suffer from lack of right clicking damage provided by exort as you wont be levelling exort in the laning phase. You will also be granted access to ghost walk but be careful as in the laning phase it costs 200 mana and you cannot afford to waste it. The whole point of quas exort is to help your team out in teamfights as soon as possible by disarming and disabling them. Unfortunately failed ganks means you lose XP on invoker which is… bad, and you leave your lane vulnerable so be careful when and where you choose to move
Quas Exort is meant to bolster primarily invokers firepower and to some extent his ability to disable and interrupt with cold snap. Unfortunately although you have sunstrike and forge and alacrity with cold snap and ice wall, your slow movement speed means you CANNOT GANK. To compensate for this you MUST be map aware at all times to throw down a sunstrike when your team needs it. You don’t just sit and afk farm until you have sceptre you must be doing your best to win your lane and making sure you always have a global presence. If your times complains that your not ganking, IGNORE THEM YOU MUST stay in your middle lane and get as much XP and gold as possible until the laning phase ends. In the mid game you should have sceptre and travels by 22-25 min and in which case… ITS TIME TO FIGHT!... or push. Either of the two. Don’t just sit in your lane or jungle farming its wasted potential and your team will just get annoyed at you. There is one scenario where this build turns into a complete disaster and please remember this… If your team has LOST both their lanes, the safe and offlane and T2s before 15 to 20 min, your in deep trouble. This means you went Quas Exort when you shouldn’t have and it means you will have trouble farming into your aga sceptre as space is reduced and the enemy would have taken control of your half of the map. This turns you into a hinderance and a liability for the team and everyone will flame at you normally and rightly saying “useless invoker”. In that case if you ever end up in such a scenario remember the heroes that were against you that game and in the next game, pick Quas Wex to reduce enemy pushing and aggression with tornado and cold snap and emp. Another thing to note is that this build unlocks the devastating one shot combo (will talk more about combos later on ). Namely, Euls, Meteor, Sunstrike and Deafening Blast. But please note this combo has some problems. Firstly, it leaves invoker VERY vulnerable because he is stationary or moving into position and casting (meaning he can’t do anything else unless he chooses to abandon the combo and run away like a coward) AND it costs a lot of mana and puts both your damage dealing exort spells on cd. Do not use this in a teamfight, you will likely get stunned and decimated by the other 4 heroes in the vicinity. If you do have euls, in a teamfight use it defensively or to interrupt a caster OR proceed to use the combo KNOWING you can kill that hero and not be interrupted. Choose wisely. A common scenario is one shotting an enemy team support but the rest of your team dies because you spent all that time trying to kill one hero instead of focusing on disabling or damaging their carry in which case your 4 dead teammates will flame you.




Ability Builds[edit]
Quas + Exort Invoker
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25


Quas + Wex Invoker
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25


Hero Talents

-16s Tornado Cooldown
25 Radial Deafening Blast

+35 Alacrity Damage/Speed
20 Cataclysm

+1.5s Cold Snap Duration
15 +1 Forged Spirit Summoned

+30 Chaos Meteor Contact Damage 10 +0.3s Tornado Lift Time


Summary
As you can now see from reading this guide Invoker is arguably the most powerful and versatile hero in the game due to the number of spells at his disposal and what he can bring to the battlefield. He is not a hero for the faint hearted, most will have to work hard at mastering this unique hero. He is hard to play but very rewarding if played right. The number one key priority in any game with Invoker is spell potency. If you can master this with control and speed you will become a very good invoker player with time and practice and always remember you are ALWAYS a learner 😊
I will be writing a further guide as to who Carl’s friends and foes are in the game as of patch 7.09. If you want an early copy email me at [email protected]. Happy incanting ^^