Newcomer's Guide to: Skywrath Mage

Introduction

Hello. My name is ShoutyShout13, presenting you with a guide about my most favourite and most successful hero, Skywrath Mage.

Being one of the most potent nukers in the game that can dish out a lot of damage over a short amount of time, Skywrath Mage holds onto this, allowing him to scale throughout the late-game, due to the combination of Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare while his Arcane Bolt continues to get more powerful with his high intellegence gain of 3.6, the second highest, only behind Pugna with 4 and Concussive Shot, a long-ranged nuke coupled with a 40% slow. However, he can not absorb a lot damage and must be played cautiously as his relatively low strength and agility gain of 1.5 and 0.8 respectively. This means he lacks armour and health throughout any stages of the game - a glass cannon. Despite this, he is a fun hero to use and a dangerous opponent to go up against. Without further ado, let's begin.

*You may disagree with some of the builds I put on here. This all depends on personal preferences and the situation of the game.

Lore

A highly placed mage in the court of the Ghastly Eyrie, Dragonus lives a troubled existence. Sworn by birth to protect whoever sits within the Nest of Thorns, he hates the current Skywrath queen with all his soul. As a youth, high-born, he was a friend and companion to the eldest Skywrath princess, Shendelzare, first in line for the Nest. He had loved her warmly and unshakably, but as his studies took hold, his mind turned to arcane learning and the mastery of Skywrath sorcery.
Obsessed with matters aetherial, he missed the mundane signs of courtly treachery that hinted at a plot against Shendelzare, and lost his chance to foil it. When the court was shaken by a swift and violent coup, he emerged from his studies to discover his oldest and dearest friend had been lost to him. The Nest of Thorns now belonged to Shendelzare's ruthless younger sister, and Dragonus could do nothing. The magic of the Skywrath Mage serves only the sworn protector of the Skywrath scion, so to act against the Nest would render him helpless. He clings to his post, believing it to be the best hope of one day restoring his true love to her rightful place. Meanwhile, his secret is known only to the goddess Scree'auk, whose magic it was transformed Shendelzare from a crippled physical creature into an embodiment of pure vengeful energy. While he dreams of restoring his beloved queen to the Ghastly Eyrie, he dreams even more desperately of restoring Shendelzare herself to a fully healed physical form. The duplicity of his role at court tortures him, for he is a noble and good-hearted creature; but the worst torture of all is imagining the hatred that Vengeful Spirit must hold in her heart for him.

Classification: Nuker and Support

Pros / Cons

Pros
- Scales well into the late game
- Dishes out *maybe* one of the highest magical damage in the game equipped with proper items
- Very fun to play
- Has the possibility to carry the game*
- Still has presence when underleveled
- Helps other nukers such as Lina and Lich due to Ancient Seal

Cons
- Extremely fragile throughout the entire game due to poor strength and agility gain
- Eats a lot of mana
- Somewhat item dependent for a support
- Can not take on multiple targets as his skills are single-target oriented
- Countered by magic immunity

Skills

Arcane Bolt

Skywrath launches a slow-moving bolt of arcane magic, dealing damage to an enemy unit based on Skywrath's intelligence.

Base damage: 60/80/100/120
Bonus damage based on Skywrath Mage's Intelligence: 1.6x
Range: 800
Cooldown: 5/4/3/2
Mana: 70
Gives vision

Your signature skill that defines you throughout all stages of the game, whether early or late. Being a very highly spammable skill, it can deal damage higher damage than Laguna Blade and Finger of Death over a period of time, since it gets stronger every time you get intellegence. One major drawback of this spell is the missile speed of 500, which is very slow. However, you can use this to your advantage by spamming multiple Arcane Bolts at an enemy to see where they are, since it gives vision.