"Follow me into the forest shade, and none may spy on us." - Drow Ranger

Items

Mid Lane:
Get Wraith Band early, because of the boost they give you. Because they don't build in anything you need, you will have to sell them later. But you still want them because of how strong they make you before the others get strong.

Get the Boots of Speed before you finish the Wraith Bands with the respective recipes.
Then finish Power Treads. Together with the last item from the boots buy Town Portal Scroll. When there is an opportunity, teleport on a lane and try to get a kill or an assist. Afterwards go back to your lane when the enemies push it, or go from lane to lane and gank.

Side Lane:
You can build all parts of the Power Treads on the sidelane-shop. You should get Belt of Strength first, because the +6 Strenghts give you more HP (Health Points) and also more Health Regeneration, what makes it easier to stay on the lane so you can farm and don't have to go back.

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Power Treads:
They give you +8 to the currently set stat. You can switch between Agility, Strength and Intelligence.

What points in those Attributes mean:

Strength: - Every point in strength increases maximum health by 19. - Every point in strength increases health regeneration by 0.03 HP per second. - If strength is a Hero's primary attribute, every point in strength increases his or her attack damage by 1.

Agility: - Every 7 points in agility increases a Hero's armor by 1. - Every point in agility increases a Hero's attack speed by 1. - If agility is a Hero's primary attribute, every point in agility increases his or her attack damage by 1.

Intelligence: - Every point in intelligence increases a Hero's maximum Mana by 13. - Every point in intelligence increases a Hero's mana regeneration by 0.04 mana per second. - If intelligence is a Hero's primary attribute, every point in intelligence increases his or her attack damage by 1.

Since you are a carry, you want Attack Damage and Attack Speed. Both only gives the Attribute Agility. So as long as you are attacking, you want your Power Treads to be put to Agility. While you are not attacking (usually when your team is playing defensive and you for example wait on a tower for them to try to push it) you can change the Attribute. Depending on what you are missing (HP or Mana) to the respective Strength or Intelligence. Usually you will just leave them on Agility though, since its bonusses are what you bought those shoes for.

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Shadow Blade or Manta Style?
Buy Shadow Blade if in your team is no other hero that goes invisible and the enemies didn't buy Gem of True Sight or much Sentry Wards. If they did or your team already has an invisibility hero, than better buy Manta Style. It can also be used to escape and at times can be even better. And it gives you more Mana and HP, also Damage as long as your Illusions attack together with you.

The following Heroes have access to some form of invisibility (for themselves or units they control):

Beastmaster Bounty Hunter Brewmaster Broodmother Clinkz Invoker

Lycanthrope Lycanthrope Mirana Nyx Assassin Phantom Lancer Riki

Sand King Slark Templar Assassin Treant Protector Weaver

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Late Game:
Daedalus is really strong, because all the items you got so far give you Attack Speed. This combined with the chance to deal a critical strike is the most cost-efficient way to get Damage. Butterfly is a perfect mix of defensive and offensive item and therefore very good for the late game and Monkey King Bar has the passive ability True Strike. With this your attacks ignore Evasion. It also has a chance to mini-stun on attacking which interrupts channelling abilities AND deals extra 100 Damage. It also synergies very well with the attack speed you have.

Abilities

Frost Arrows is one of the main reasons that Drow Ranger is good and at the same time, bad. The reason being that at max level they put off a 50% slow for 1.5 seconds on a hero and 7 seconds for a creep, but this is also an Orb Effect. For those new to DOTA, this means that you cannot use some of the better carry items that are in the game. For example Skull Basher, Diffusal Blade or Desolator. It also doesn't stack with any form of lifesteal. Instead, she focuses on her flat damage and attack speed to make up for this.

Silence is the only real defensive ability that Drow Ranger has, but is also the primary reason, above all of her other skills, that she is picked for team compositions. Not much can be really said here, it's a silence and it makes her pretty good in ganks.

Precision Aura in the later stages of the game, gives Drow Ranger amazing damage potential. From just this aura alone, middle game you will have around 50 additional damage. If you had a full luxury build, possibly 100-200 of the damage is from this skill. Grab a Shadow Blade and you can constantly roam until the enemy team is in the dirt, dishing out up to 150 damage per shot before you even get the second point into your ultimate.

Marksmanship gives her straight agility and a lot of it. Just think of it as giving her that number in damage and attack speed every point that is into it, you get the idea (not to mention some high armor values). This is what allows her to focus on straight damage early game to make use of Precision Aura and let Marksmanship with Power Treads cover your attack speed, which they do very well.

Stats for Drow Ranger is pretty important to level at least once before you hit level 6, it gives her just that little extra bit of Health, Damage and Mana to give her an edge over her opposition. Trust me, spend at least one point early on and as you play her more, depending on your play style, you may find yourself leveling it more than that (or less), even to where you are no longer putting points into Precision Aura until a lot later on in the game.

Unique Maneuvers

Orb Walking:

The ability to attack your enemy with a slow then run after them without the effect wearing off to hit them again, essentially keeping them within your range at all times.

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Ability Dodging

Using a Manta Style at the moment just before impact of a targeted projection spell (stuns, lightnings, dagon, etc.) and some aoe instant spells ( Rupture, Ghost Ship, etc.) where you are able to dodge the impact and escape without taking damage or being stunned/effected by the spell.

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