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Magic Wand
Phase Boots
Black King Bar
Iron Branch
Iron Branch
Iron Branch
Tango
Tango
Tango
Magic Wand
Heaven's Halberd
Heart of Tarrasque
Ghost Scepter
Blade Mail
Butterfly
Desolator
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2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |  |
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1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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10 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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9 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
Razor is a pretty unpopular hero, and by just looking at him, that seems to be the case. A ranged agility hero with ****py base damage and stat gain, with nothing in his skillset to turn him into a late game hypercarry, who would want to play this ****? People want to kill in pubs! They want ultra kills and rampage! That's why everyone picks those 
Faceless Voids and 
Phantom Assassins, right? Well Razor is just the hero to ruin their day, and turn those kills into yours instead!
Here's a brief list of pros and cons:
PROS
+Counters opponent carries
+Easy multi kills
+Moves fast
+Uses a damn whip
CONS
-Falls off late game
-****py base damage and stat gain
-Being too rambo gets you killed
Version:
1.0 - 2 Dec 2012 - Initially published
1.1 - 15 Dec 2012 - Late game extensions/item build
1.2 - 12 May 2013 - Added luxury item, revised guide
*Note: Whether to max Plasma Field or Static Link first depends mostly on lane matchup, and you have to observe the situation. The 'Matchup' section gives more insight into this.
Q: Plasma Field
Razor releases a nuke in a radial fashion which spreads really really far and contracts back to him. It damages once each time it expands/contracts, thus making it a maximum of two instances. Targets at the turning point basically take both instances of damage at once.
Since more damage is done the further the field is from Razor, you want to nuke people right at the edge. The range gets really far, and with Phase Boots, you can hit opponents who can't even see you. Pop your Phase and release your fury. Depending on the lane matchup or the overall opponent team matchup, you either max this or Static Link first. Even at level 3, sometimes I leave the skill point alone until there is a situational necessity for either skill. If suddenly your teammate (or you) gets aimed, add that Static Link and link the dpser/slowest hero. If a teammate comes for an early gank and you need that nuke then add Field. If nothing happens, generally I will add Field at 3 to last hit creeps + harass at the same time because Plasma Field at level 1 does so little damage it's not worth using. Later in the game when you move really fast with your Unstable Current you can afford to hang back a bit while chasing enemies to make them absorb maximum damage.
Plasma Field now gives sight so that's actually really good since it expands really far. However, don't spam the skill, especially in laning phase unless you're absolutely unable to get any farm as Razor's mana pool is quite pitiful (because he has sucky stats, as aforementioned).
W: Static Link
Now this baby is my favourite skill. It's funny how many people (especially random pubs) underestimate this skill (or in the case of Warcraft DotA, they don't even know what it does). When Razor was just remade (from the olden days of Frenzy/ChainLightning/UnholyFervor/StormSeeker) the norm was to max Plasma Field and Unstable Current, and nobody cared about this. By the time they added this when hero levels are at about 9-14 they've already missed the full potential of its power.
The normal way, according to Dota2's recommended items and etc, way to play Razor is to buy 
Vanguard, become tanky, and be an anti-carry draining the opponent carry's damage. Even if that works well, that's awfully boring. Many times I have seen Razors unable to do much damage, because of its horrible AGI gain and base damage, and just lasting a bit longer than their teammates before eventually falling alongside them. Razor has no disable, one single nuke, no natural tankyness, and no damage. They base him around his Unstable Current.
Target an enemy hero and you will be linked to that hero for 8 seconds. The cast range is 600, and the link breaks at 675 range, so generally try not to cast the link at max range as it will most probably just break instantly. At max level, if you manage to drain for all 8 seconds, you gain a bonus of 224 damage and retain it for 18 seconds thereafter, which is absolutely insane at level 7, where heroes seldom reach 1000 health. The reason you want to max this early is firstly, linking for a maximum of 8 seconds is much easier in the early game. Secondly, it's not the fact that you want to reduce the target's damage by that much, but that you want to hit for 224+ damage at level 7. However, if the opponent's heroes can easily break your link or if they burst you down too quickly it may sometimes be wise to add Plasma Field first to keep them away.
Static Link is also totally unaffected by Black King Bar. You can continue targeting a magic immune hero and drain their damage as normal. This comes in handy against 
Lifestealer and dpsers that usually get BKB, such as 
Sven and Phantom Assassin.
E: Unstable Current
This skill is okay, the purge is good and movement speed bonus is great, which makes it hard for enemies to chase you down. More importantly is of course you get to chase down enemies easier. However, there isn't much of a reason to add this before W in the laning phase. There aren't many heroes who would be able to target you time and again for the damage of the purge to add up. Even so, that's a problem for your Magic Wand to solve, and usually in the laning phase an unplanned aggressive move by your opponent will be in your favour. Adding this early just stagnates the lane and renders you helpless anyway if 2-3 stuns were coming your way.
R: Eye of the Storm
This skill has a really cool animation and sound effect, but I'm not too fond of what it does. The storm targets the lowest HP enemy around you and reduces its armor with each strike, but more often than not your damage from Static Link will do the job anyway. There is a short casting delay when you use this skill, so take note when you're chasing enemies. It's generally recommended that you switch on this skill before you Rambo, because you're not going to be able to afford that little pause in a teamfight that might affect your attack/move animation. This skill is good in deterring people chasing you (but unable to really reach you) as the cloud will be zapping them all the way. It's also great that it still works while you're disabled, say under the effect of 
Nightmare or 
Dismember, and the cooldown is relatively short. There's a 
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade for it but I don't really see the point. Razor is a pretty horrible pusher, and Aghanim's doesn't make that all that spectacular at all.
I won't list every hero, but this is based on my previous encounters:
Best matchups [Max Static Link first]:
Phantom Assassin
Faceless Void
Drow Ranger
Lifestealer
Sniper
Troll Warlord
Basically 0/low nuke dpsers, once you Static Link them their only option is to run. At equal farm, or even with slightly less farm, Razor shouldn't lose to these heroes in encounters. As the game drags on these heroes will start to gain the edge over Razor though, but you shouldn't be allowing that to happen. In pubs, you'll likely see these heroes a lot.
Axe
Usually Axe players think they can tank anything, so they're sometimes really good targets to link. You should be able to keep your distance without difficulty, and Plasma Field has a large range to dispel 
Battle Hunger by nuking the creeps (and usually Axe himself at the same time).
Skeleton King
You peak earlier than Skeleton King, and in DotA1, Static Link continued to drain damage from a Skeleton King undergoing 
Reincarnation so that he can't do anything but stun and run when he revives.
Good (situationally) Matchups:
Playing against these heroes require to know what you're doing, and the limit of ability of the players you're facing. If you fall behind to them it's better to play cautiously.
Pudge
Without your Ogre Axe, Pudge can probably kill you in one combo if he starts with 
Meat Hook. If he's slow on Dismembering you and you manage to get a Static Link in, you can probably kill him if his 
Rot can't kill you fast enough. If your reactions are fast enough spam Eye of the Storm right as you get hooked. However his Dismember still disables you through your Black King Bar, so that's something to be worth noting about.
Omniknight
Often, Razor isn't afraid of 
Guardian Angel nor 
Repel, unless the enemy team decideds to collectively focus you at once. Static Link continues to drain the damage of a hero affected by Repel, and Guardian Angel just ensures that you manage to drain more damage before they die. You must be alert what is happening when Guardian Angel is up to determine if your team still has the advantage in the teamfight.
Riki
Bounty Hunter
Clinkz
Heroes with invisiblity are trickier, but with the recent buff to Static Link, it no longer disconnects when the target goes invisible, and you can see where they run to, not to mention you keep draining their damage. They are also usually very fragile heroes, and Plasma Field does a ton of damage to them. You just have to react fast enough if they suddenly appear. Each of these heroes have a catch to them though. Riki has a silence and makes you miss attacks, Bounty Hunter has a decent burst and armor reduction, and Clinkz's 
Searing Arrows aren't affected by damage drain.
Sven
He has an annoying stun (which fortunately Unstable Current affects if you're the primary target), but past that, a Sven with 
God's Strength is usally the best target to Static Link. Watch as his red skin turn to blood when all of his God's Strength is transferred to you.
Bad Matchups:
Tinker
Not only can he burst you down, he's got that 
Laser which causes your attacks to miss. Tinkers get 
Boots of Travel and you don't have anything to stop them teleporting in your face if you can't kill them quick enough.
Dark Seer
He breaks your Static Link easily, but usually he won't be able to chase you without being forced to disconnect the link or take damage from your Eye of the Storm. Fortunately 
Wall of Replica clones can't clone your bonus damage obtained from Static Link, so you'll usually be stronger than your image.
Queen of Pain
Slows your movement speed, nukes you hard, breaks your link easily...play safe against one. On the other hand the huge range of Plasma Field can often snag her if she managed to blink out with low health when trying to escape.
Situational Matchups:
Night Stalker
Good Night Stalkers will silence you before you manage to Link or disconnect it and come back to hit you again if it does. Bad Night Stalkers are hilariously fun to mess with, watch them as they start diving your tower realising they're hitting for 0 damage while you stand and kill them before they even manage to run away. Similar cases would be 
Slardar and Lycanthrope, though the latter is more dangerous since his wolves hurt as well.
Enchantress
Usually Enchantress players will switch on their heal and fight you, which usually isn't a problem, because despite the attack speed reduction it should reach a point where you will be able to drain so much damage that you'll two-hit her. Of course don't stand at range and eat Impteus damage.
Bloodseeker
Again, it depends if he manages to silence you, or if you can tank until the rupture wears off (which you can run), or if the silence wears off (which you can Link). Usually your option will be to fight like a man. If link connects then he has no chance of killing you.
Juggernaut
His spin is quite troublesome early, but if he messes up you can turn it to your favour. If you think you won't die to his spin, you can drain his damage while he's spinning at you while trying to kite him (remember Static Link goes through magic immunity). Thereafter he'll have 0 damage when trying to hit you while you kill him before he realises what has happened (remember 
Omnislash still has some base damage).
There's something to note about Razor: He is NOT a hard carry. Or even semi carry, really. He's technically an anti-carry, who functions well building tanky items. The longer he is able to last in a fight, the more he has contributed to the team. Being able to last longer allows you to drain more damage, annoy opponents more with your passive when they target you with spells, and hit him more with your ultimate. If you're farming all day long with Razor, you're doing it wrong. You're never going to carry as hard as a Sniper or Drow Ranger with the same items.
Razor functions well when there's a true carry in your team. He can mess up the opponent's early-mid game, and allow the carry to get the farm he needs. Late game, he transitions into an annoyance, being able to take damage for the team and neutralise the enemy carry.
Now when you're tanky and fed, you can Rambo. What happens then? You run into a bunch of enemy heroes and kill everything in sight (or do as much damage as possible). Razor shines mid game, where if he gets a good early game he can literally solo enemy teams at least 1v3.
Critical to your engagement is how long you are able to latch Static Link onto an enemy hero. If it breaks instantly, you are basically the aforementioned sucky stat-ranged hero with just a nuke, and is somewhat equivalent to a ganking Pudge missing his Meat Hook.
Core Items:
Phase Boots
Razor needs movement speed, and with this build, not adding Unstable Current early means you need that extra boost when chasing opponents. And what do you know, Phase Boots not only does that, but gives you that bonus damage to boost your otherwise pitiful base damage as well!
Magic Wand
Very critical for Razor, that little heal can spell the difference between death and double kill. Allowing you to survive that one second longer may allow you to drain one second more of damage, where the target may be reduced to 0 damage for you to win the battle, or for you to land that one last attack worth 200 damage.
Town Portal Scroll
The key to counterganking, this allows you to help your allies while they're getting towerdived, or to escape a gank after fogging around with your superior movement speed - TP Scrolls are really useful to have. In fact, sometimes I keep two in my inventory. You will always need at least one of these on you, especially after you have your early core of Phase Boots and Magic Wand.
Black King Bar
Generally you don't do well against nukers or disablers, but with this, your problems will be solved (unless the opponent has several fat carries, which shouldn't happen). By draining the damage of the dpser, you now aren't afraid of anything. You beat them in normal attacks, and you are immune to their spells. It's Rambo time.
Late Game:
Heaven's Halberd
After experimenting a while, I found this item to be really good on Razor. While you drain one enemy's dps, you could disable another, effectively reducing most of the opponent's physical damage output. Or you could disable the drained target to render him totally useless before you manage to drain a substantial amount from him. Not to mention this item gives you more survivability at the same time, and isn't that difficult to build at all.
Heart of Tarrasque
Get this to be the ultimate annoying bane of the enemy team. This allows you to be in the thick of things more effectively. Often you'll be taking a lot of damage in teamfights, and if you win one this will help regenerate your health while you continue pushing.
Luxury:
Desolator
If you really need some damage, you can build this. It works great when coupled with your ultimate, and makes your attacks hit for chunks of damage.
Butterfly
Get this if you're really rich. Gives you evasion, as well as attack speed and damage. This makes you rely less on your Static Link.
Acceptable Items:
Vanguard
It's usually considered a core on Razor, but if you can get Black King Bar, you probably won't be needing this as much. Get this if you need that health boost early.
Assault Cuirass
Sange and Yasha
These synergize with Razor's skillset in one way or another. Assault Cuirass makes Razor more tanky, and allows him to hit faster and harder. Sange and Yasha gives Razor great movement speed and more tankiness.
Eye of Skadi
Gives Razor much needed stats. If you manage to farm this the game should have ended, I guess.
Rejected Items:
Daedalus
Mjollnir
Radiance
Really, Razor's carry potential isn't that good. You're going to get aimed and die fast. You will have acceptable damage but horrible attackspeed, or vice versa. Either day you have no survivability.
Start with three Iron Branches, three sets of Tango and a Magic Wand recipe. If you randomed you should be able to buy the whole Magic Wand.
I usually go to side lanes, because you will be able to chase further and there is a chance that the opponents may decide to focus on your lanemate instead if they deem him/her to be more delicious (eg.
Crystal Maiden).
You could camp at rune spots before the creep wave spawns; if you do this it's highly recommended that you add Static Link, in case anybody comes by to fight for the rune. If your link connects they will be forced to back off, otherwise it takes a sheer amount of dumbassery to stand there and fight you (though you might need to be prepared for enemy backup). You still have to note that level 1 Static Link isn't all that strong yet, unless they actually let you drain the full 8 seconds.
That said, if Invisibility or a Haste rune spawns, you might have a good chance for getting first blood. Don't gank mid lane because your link will almost never last long enough before they reach the safety of the tower. Ideally you'd want to gank bottom as Radiant and top as Dire, since they will have to run quite a distance back to their tower assuming they didn't do a really good creep block.
You'd want to obviously target the hero without escapes. Ideally you'd want your lanemate to initiate so that hopefully they might blow their disable on him, and watch out if he's drawing too much creep aggro. At this point when you come up behind your target, Static Link and move-attack so that you are always at least next to him. If your lanemate has a stun usually the target will die. If they manage to run with little health remaining, do not attempt to dive the tower. You have your tangoes to restore your health if you took any damage.
Once you have 200 gold go to the side shop and complete your Magic Wand. With this you can afford to be slightly braver if they decide to harass you. Depending on the situation you will either add Plasma Field or Static Link at level 3. If you're not able to farm well you might want to nuke the creeps and harass at the same time to regain some advantage. If you and your lanemate feel like you can make a move then you might want to add Static Link to increase your damage.
Playing Mid lane:
Make sure your team has a courier if you're going to take mid lane. You'd usually take mid lane for a few reasons:
1. The rest of your team is melee (common in pubs)
2. Someone jungles/nobody else is better getting the levels (eg. support heroes)
3. Opponent mid is likely to be a dpser
Razor counters a few heroes mid, some really hard. Examples:
Shadow Fiend
With low starting damage, he relies on his 
Necromastery for damage. Drain away his damage (you can even do this at level 1) and he'll never get last hits. He can only rely on his nukes for farming. He also has no escape and is fragile.
Bloodseeker
Again, similar concept. With a 
Quelling Blade he relies on getting the last hits to stay in the lane and counter harrassment. With no damage, he can't get the creep kills (or even denies). Not to mention he even has to be in melee range to do it. Come level 6 he is more dangerous, but if he ever ruptures you, you can stand your ground and link him (unless he silences you, then just tp home).
Pudge
As long as you don't get hooked, Pudge is nothing to fear. During the early levels you can harass him since he's melee, and if he tries to Rot you, just drain him and fight, but don't stand totally still (move around in between autoattacks). At close range, his hook is actually harder to hit if you're constantly moving around.
However, Razor doesn't fare well against stronger mid heroes. Examples:
Queen of Pain
Tinker
As aforementioned.
Invoker
Depending on spells. Often, 
Cold Snap will be involved, which may mess up your attack-move manoeuvre. Be aware if he summons Forge Spirits, those things still hurt bad even though you may drain all the damage from Invoker himself.
At this point of time a lot will be going on in an average pub game. MIAs and ganks will happen everywhere, and what Razor specializes in is counterganking. You should have your Phase Boots by now, and the beginning of your peak will be when you reach level 8 with maxed out Plasma Field and Static Link.
If 2-3 enemy heroes start to aim one of your allies you're near to (or Town Portal Scroll down to the tower where he's getting dived), rush towards them with a Plasma Field, which usually will deal quite a lot of damage as it's a stronger-than-average nuke at this time. Now you have a choice of who to Static Link. You would usually target the Strength or Agility hero who is still high on health, though you will have to be wary of Intelligence heroes still high on mana or whose spells have already refreshed. While draining the damage of the main damage dealer, aim the targets who would impose the most threat. High priority targets would be another damage dealer, or stunners and nukers. Your primary target would gradually be rendered useless, especially if he was a low-mana hero who blew his spells trying to gank your ally first. With good timing and choice-making, as well as support from your own teammates if you had any, you should be able to make a trade of 2 to 3 heroes for one death on your side. However, this judgment can only come with experience, and often I had jumped into a group of enemy heroes just to be obliterated in an instant.
In ideal situations, somehow nobody will aim you while they're trying to kill your fleeing teammate. Watch as your link latches for 6-7 seconds, then you 3-4 hit everyone and get a triple kill.
In standard teamfights, you should not be the one in the midst of the battle. If your team has 
Arcane Boots, you can use Plasma Field to usually substantially weaken multiple members of the enemy team without putting yourself in danger. Watch out for 
Blink Daggers though. When the battle proper starts, begin by using Plasma Field to strike the front lines while advancing, which is sure to hit the whole enemy team. If your team decides to target somebody, say, the high priority Phantom Assassin, don't bother using Static Link on her since she's going to be mass nuked to death, or escape via blinking. However, if your team gets caught instead, or the opponent begins the initiation, you have to rush in to Static Link that highest priority target, while still keeping in range from the centre of the action. Other good targets would be Strength heroes, as usually they will be in the thick of the action and not back off, while usually still being a nuisance and being harder to kill. Remember that even though you link them, you don't necessarily have to hit them; with that damage you can kill their damage dealers, or pop Phase Boots and inflict massive damage on their fragile supports hiding at the back line (not recommended until you have Black King Bar).
Late game Razor begins to fall off, as none of his skills really scale with autoattacking, and Static Link starts to diminish in effect. At this point you still have to use it to mitigate their carry's damage whenever possible though. Usually you achieve this by going in with your initiator, linking the target, and using Black King Bar. Late game, you tend to be a nuisance to the enemy team rather than a damage dealer, as you can move fast and purge those who target you. Often Static Link can't drain enough damage from the enemy carry before he manages to make an impact, however mistakes made by the enemy team causing you to have full duration of damage drain can change the whole tide of the team battle.
With Heaven's Halberd, Razor can be a highly annoying hero for your opponents to deal with. Your late game role is somewhat like a tank-support. You can drain one hero's damage while disabling another. All this while having a Black King Bar, makes you a difficult hero to kill. Even if they do kill you, usually the tradeoff isn't that good, since you're not supposed to be the main dpser of your team.
Depending on situations, you might get Ghost Scepter or Blademail if there is too much physical damage coming your way. This makes you a target your opponents need to kill, yet they will have to get out of their way to do it. Often, in tense lategame situations, you can bait the opponents to waste their initiation or important spells on you, or misposition themselves to hit you, and with Black King Bar, Heaven's Halberd, and Ghost Scepter, you can make it out alive.
Razor is really a fun hero to play, but only if you choose to play him that way. I can't help but facepalm every time I see somebody max Unstable Current first over Static Link. He has a very strong presence in the mid game and just passively farming will practically waste his potential. But after all is said and done, I do feel that Razor is slightly underpowered, and a buff to his stats would be most welcome, even though he has had some steady buffs to his Static Link.
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