Sando's Guide to Omniknight

Thanks for the nice comments, afraid this guide is pretty old so many of these items didn't exist when it was written.

1. Yes, and yes. However, I would point out they're both quite expensive, so not necessarily your first pickups unless they've got a Silencer or something.

2. Vlads is good on him, he's a good aura carrier with some farm. However, there are other items you generally need first.

3. It's a good aura, but as you're generally playing a support hero with a lot of other item requirements, I'd say it's super-luxury, provided nobody else on your team has built it.

4. Neither. Aghanim's Scepter is your first port of call generally - 2 extra seconds on your ult, and it's global, so positioning becomes almost irrelevant - you can be in your fountain and still use it. If you've got some decent items, and/or still have positioning requirements because of other reasons, I tend to pickup a Force Staff, as you can help allies, and it provides mana/regen.

5. Ugh. He is a hero who needs farm, but he has severe problems inflicting much damage. I basically wouldn't try to play him as a DPS, your build is fine for a tanker. About the best build is Assault Cuirass into Monkey King Bar, but it's still very meh compared to a proper carry.

These days I tend to go Soul Ring -> Arcane Boots -> Aghanim's Scepter -> Refresher Orb if possible. Other builds are viable, and situation dictates etc.

So I'm a huge fan of Omniknight and I enjoy playing him a lot, so I have some questions:
1- Is Lotus Orb a good alternative option to Guardian Greaves? I mean they also purge silences and the active helps a lot you and your teammates. If anyone in my team is going Greaves, is Lotus Orb they way to go or should I focus in something like an Euls or Atos?
2- In almost every game (if have enough money of course) I build Vladmir's Offering, I think it's really good in Omni since you are tanky and the auras the item provides are really cool. Is it Vlads a good pickup?
3- What about Assault Cuirass?
4- I have tried both Blink Dagger and Force Staff, and I have to say that I prefer to build both of them, it improves my mobility a lot and it allows me to position myself better so I can affect more allies with GA. Is a good idea to build both items or is that a bit of overkill?
5- I played core once, and I went for a Shiva's Guard + Eye of Skadi build, damn the other team was slow as hell but your right clicks are somewhat weak. Should I go for a S&Y, MoM, Basher build or something like that?

Great guide, it was a nice reading and I learn a lot. +1!

A fantastic guide, has really helped to round out my Omni play.

One note, as of 6.84 Guardian Greaves are just amazing on Omni. In fact getting them as soon as possible merits the term "GG Boots" on him. It solves the Silence problem since it will remove debuffs on omniknight allowing him to finally be able to use his Guardian Angel after a global silence. The push with an early GG Boots are amazing in concert with repel.

I often go support item + sage mask + tango to start to rush soul ring to be able to help in lane and more aggressively kill creeps or jungle creeps. Turn that into mana boots -> mek -> gg boots and by 15 minutes you have a juggernaut of constant heals and mana. This is in lieu of scepter or pipes as a solid support (which I advocate on Omni as he is so strong up into the mid-late game).

Of course a +1

Sando, another great, great guide. I started playing this hero, come here, read your entire guide, and I am always like "exactly", "oh so nice didn't think of that", "ahh that's why I thought that!" :D

+1 that should be something like +2

One of my favorite supports, but very situational.

Great guide as usual, Sando. +1

In the friends sections I would add heroes with channeling spells, because Repel is exactly what they need. Enigma, Bane, Pugna and Witch Doctor absolutely love the free BKB, but my favorite is by far Crystal Maiden. When you play CM with an Omni you can play your CM like an initiator, rush Blink Dagger, ask for Repel, and YOLO Freezing Field in the middle of the enemy team without a risk - because Omni covers you :)

The great thing about Omni is that he allows heroes to play ultra-aggressive even early into the game way before the "BKB time" - for example Puck, Weaver, Storm Spirit or Phantom Assassin with Repel are pretty much unstoppable if they don't get purged.

You mentioned the aggressive dual lanes and I totally agree, he rocks those really well with heroes like Viper and Huskar that you mentioned. However, I think you underestimate his presence in a kill-oriented trilane, particularly if it's with two heroes like Shadow Shaman or Bane who have guaranteed setups for Purification. It works even better if they're roaming supports, perhaps a Bane/ Mirana duo, so that while they're gone you get solo farm and experience. Like you mentioned in the guide, just get an Orb of Venom and one point in Degen Aura early (usually level 4 for me), and then there is no escaping the pain train. I play this build in 5-stacks with my friends often, and we smash face. Dunno if it works that well without cooperation though. :/

Anyway, that's my only nitpick. The guide is fantastic, it covers all the best item choices and best practices. Kudos.

EDIT:
And before I forget, I was playing a game not too long ago against Silencer and I ended up building a BKB specifically to get rid of the worries of Global Silence, and it paid off. It's definitely not a viable item every game, but it is something that I think could be situationally useful against teams with surprise silences, like Puck or something. Plus it gives extra damage and HP, decent for a semicarry build.

EDIT2:
And another thing, I wanted to thank you for pointing out the combo with Naga Siren. It's a great and underused combo that wins games if done right. My aforementioned 5-stack of friends like use it as a pocket strat sometimes during captain's mode; pick Naga, Omni, Bane, Mirana, and another hero depending on the situation. Late game we'll use Moonlight Shadow to go around the map, and when we find their team, I use Repel on the carry (or another target of interest, depending on situation), Naga uses Song of the Siren, Bane uses Fiend's Grip (or Naga uses Ensnare if it doesn't merit a Grip) on the target and we kill him easily, then mop up the rest of the team under Guardian Angel if need be. We've got a pretty good track record with it. :p

I like get Radiance and sometimes Sange and Yasha on carry omni, on a side note sando did you visit god and buy time off him, I mean really how do you make so many guides

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Wulfstan - yeah it does depend a lot on how much farm you've got for me. In a fairly standard defensive trilane support, or if I have to help with Observer Ward/ Sentry Ward then I just find it a struggle to afford it in a reasonable time frame. You've got some much other equipment that you want to buy too - Mek, Aghs, Arcanes, etc.

But yeah, if I get off to a reasonable start or have a solo lane then I will usually go for it, helps a lot with your farming speed and having more mana available is always good early game. This means you can transistion into tank mode and get more involved in the fighting.

Aby43 - Mjollnir yeah, ok it could work. I wouldn't particularly think of Omni as a farming hero though. Maybe for a pub build. The active would be nice. PL yeah - especially nasty Diffusal Blade carrier. KOTL not so much, I think Repel removes/blocks Mana Leak.

TheSofa - yeah, it does, although it's a bit of a waste when you're 1v1 against him due to the respective cooldowns, v nice in team fights though.

Hamstertamer - thanks, that's a lot of the reason I wrote the guide too - once you get past a certain level it can be difficult to lane him. I like him on the aggressive dual lane too - get a dangerous partner and look after them, you can be a real pain then, and you'll get those levels a lot faster. The danger with solo offlane is being completely zoned, or certain combinations that will completely stop you using your abilities for long enough to kill you.

Guardian Angel being purged on you purges it for the whole team. I'm pretty sure an ally being purged will remove it from them only, but haven't seen it to say for sure - normally they'll be going for you! Agh's is very solid for this, you don't have to sit in the fight - about the only thing that will stop you casting is a Global Silence, and that doesn't remove it once it's active.

Finally an Omniknight guide that's honest about the big problem with Omni : you can't really lane him anywhere! He's a very strong late game/teamfighter support who pays for it with a pretty awkward laning presence. I've seen so many guides saying that Omni is a good babysitter, but honestly he's the one who needs babysitting most of the time - he can't do anything to support passive farmers like Spectre.

Personally I think he's best played as an offlane support. I like to play him in a dual lane with a standard offlaner who has a good gap-closing skill, a guy like Weaver, Mirana, Timbersaw, Phoenix, Broodmother, Queen of Pain, Clockwerk, Earth Spirit, etc. Solo offlane works because you won't feed but you probably can't get any farm there. And Omni mid best mid...if you like trolling :)

About than Guardian Angel purging thing, you are saying that if you get purged it will get dispelled for everyone? But what happens if one of your teammates gets purged? Will it get dispelled from him or will it do nothing? Is just sitting back with aghanim's secpter a viable solution to avoid getting your ult purged?

You can also mention that Guardian Angel is a awesome counter to Omnislash

Nigh perfect guide sandy, keep it up :D

IMO mjollnir is also a respectable choice for semi-carry omni.(dont listen to me, I LOVE MJOLLNIR)

Also PL is the worst enemy you can get, he has HUGE mana burn with natural diffusal pickup.
Kotl can also waste your mana (if he is smart)