Sharpen your game with the Cutting-Edge Razor!

Razor Rules - A Handy Quick-Reference Guide to Razor

#1: Gank as frequently as possible at all times.

#2: Spam Plasma Field for every conceivable use once you have the mana to.

#3: Hubris will be your only downfall.

"What the fuck is this?" - An Introduction

Good question! Except not really, because it's pretty obvious - this is a guide to playing Razor.

Unorthodox? Yes. Effective? Ohohoho, yeeeeesss.

Razor's kind of an underplayed hero, partially because people seem to think that he's an underpowered hero. He relies on keeping enemy heroes within reach yet lacks a stun or slow, he needs a lot of health to survive long enough to be useful yet has a poor strength gain rate, he has useful spells but lacks a good mana pool or regeneration rate to be able to use them to their full potential, et cetera et cetera et cetera. That's just the meta-game - there's no changing people's minds on it too quickly.

Or is there?

Razor, when played properly, is a serious force to be reckoned with. He excels when he's built with a lot of health, a lot of movement speed, and a lot of mana. The health lets him weather damage in order to complete his Static Link, the movement speed helps him stay close enough to his target so as to not break the link, and the mana enables him to cast Plasma Field a lot to keep the hurt on the enemy team and farm like a boss.

This build does that and more - not only do you end up with enough health to make a Centaur jealous, enough speed to turn a Bloodseeker or a Dark Seer green with envy, and enough mana to set an Anti-Mage watering at the mouth, but Razor also gains a slow and a disable that synergize perfectly with his Static Link and make him an extremely useful all-purpose supporting ganker carry.

Yes, he actually CAN do all of those things.

How?

Keep reading and find out.

Skills - The "What the fuck?" and the "Why the fuck?"

I'm going to go ahead and assume that you know roughly how each of Razor's abilities works. Just in case, though, I'm going to provide some very basic explanations of what they do, then give a general instruction manual as to how to best utilize the abilities, and wrap it all up with a brief explanation as to why these spells are gotten when they're gotten.

Here we go, then!

Q - Plasma Field

Razor emits a growing electrical ring, damaging every unit once on expansion and once on contraction. The larger the ring is at the time of contact with an enemy, the more damage is dealt. The ring's center is also anchored to Razor's current location and moves with him as he does. The ring provides vision of the area it occupies.

What's great about this spell is that it can be cast on the move without any delay or animation, which makes it excellent for killing off low-health fleeing enemy heroes. You'll find yourself in this sort of situation a lot: you've whittled down the enemy laner to a goodly small fraction of their maximum health, pop your Phase Boots, and begin hot pursuit. They start running, but because you're probably moving faster you can whip them a few times while orb-walking (moving, then attacking, then moving until you can attack again) to lower their health even further. The Boots wear off and they slip out of range or the tower starts getting too close for comfort - but the enemy hero isn't quite dead yet! So wham - you hit Q and whack 'em with a Plasma Field and they're down for the count! First Blood! ...and the atmosphere's electric! When you've got your Rod and Eul's completed and you have mana and regen flowing like a river out of your tight, puckered, electric-blue *******, you can easily roam the lanes and jungles slamming out Plasma Fields just about constantly and farm hardcore for your other items. Mana conservation will no longer be an issue.

The reason we max this spell first is because holy **** is it a powerful early-game nuke! It covers a wide area of effect, meaning that you can also shave some health off of the enemy creeps in the process, and it can deal all of its lots of damage to as many enemy heroes as you can line up - how efficient! Also, the spell is vital to what Razor should be doing a lot in the early-game - getting early kills through chasing. Ideally you pick off the enemy laners a few times at the start through intelligent use of this spell. Cooperate with your teammate (if you're sidelaning) and you should be racking up the kills easily, especially because Plasma Field deals so much damage.

W - Static Link

A targeted enemy hero is electrically linked to Razor, reducing its attack damage and increasing Razor's for every second that the link survives. The link is broken if the linker and the linkee get too far apart. Stuns or disables of any sort on Razor do not break the link, nor do they if inflicted on the linkee. Should the linkee turn invisible (the bastard), the link will persist.

So this one's also going to get used a lot - be it in a one-on-one takedown or a good ol'-fashioned teamfight, your whip is going to get intimately acquainted with everyone on the enemy team. You and your target can both move around while the link is live, so you want to keep within range however possible. What you want to do with this spell is cast it on an enemy hero whenever you think that they're not going to go anywhere for a while, or when you're fairly sure that you can keep up with them wherever they go and not die. Let's say for example that you wander through your own jungle and see an enemy hero in it. Hit W, click on him, and begin auto-attacking, following him when necessary. Ideally you drain all their damage and make them useless and begin opening up a can of whoop-*** on them with their damage. Sweet! Additionally, cast it on any enemy heroes who've pushed very far from their tower and you have a good chance of being able to whip them to death before they get to home base at their tower. If you almost don't
In teamfights, you want to cast this on either a high-damage carry in order to remove the threat from your team, or cast it on some other unsuspecting knob like a support in order to prevent drawing unwanted attention and aggression onto yourself. This spell is also the reason why we don't build too much plain old damage on Razor in this build - the Static Link does all the work for you! When you have your Rod of Atos and Eul's Scepter, you can start doing some hardcore roaming. If you should be lucky enough to spot an enemy on their own, cast your W on them, then hit them with Eul's Scepter and wait. 2.5 seconds of free damage draining without a care in the world about keeping them still! As soon as they get down, pop the Rod on them for the slow and start auto-attacking. They won't be able to ignore your girth.

We grab this spell second because dealing three hundred or so damage a pop at level 8 is just totally ****ing awesome, and really beats out the benefits provided by levelling up Unstable Current instead - you get enough movespeed from your Phase Boots anyway, and when you get your Rod of Atos, speed becomes even less of a problem. The minor damage, purge, and slow on target-cast is largely negligible anyway.

E - Unstable Current

This passive provides bonus movespeed to Razor at all times, while also offering passive protection against enemy casters. Any enemy that casts a targeted spell on you while Unstable Current is live will take damage, be slowed, and will be purged (removed of all buffs).

This isn't really a thing that you use, as it's a passive, so no point trying to explain how to use it.

We get this last because it just isn't as immediately useful as Plasma Field, Static Link, or Eye of the Storm. It's not that it's a bad ability, I mean, it's great, it's just more beneficial for you to get your other spells first.

R - Eye of the Storm

A stormcloud is conjured above Razor that follows him wherever he goes. The cloud frequently produces bolts of lightning that strike the lowest-health enemy unit within a certain radius, dealing damage and reducing armor per strike. The armor debuff stacks. If you die while an enemy has reduced armor, the debuff is lifted regardless of its remaining duration. Purchasing Aghanim's Scepter makes the cloud strike more often for more damage and allows it to target buildings as well.

Eye of the Storm is a badass spell that complements Razor's affinity for chasing just as all of his other spells do. If you don't foresee a teamfight in the near future, this spell can be cast on the move without delay or animation just like Plasma Field can, and it'll add a big hunk of DPS to absolutely ascertain a kill. Popping it during a teamfight can work to great effect, but be careful - the spell targets creeps as well, so consider conserving your mana and not warning the enemies of your new dangerousness by summoning a big badass "KILL ME" sign over your head that won't even try to hurt them.

We get this spell last because it's Razor's ultimate, dumb****. We can't get it first. Jesus.

Items - "What the fuck is this?" Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

You've probably come to notice by now that this is one weird as **** item build for Razor. Where's the Vanguard? Why aren't there Power Treads? Because **** you, that's why. Some people say that even Mekansm or Pipe of Insight are better for personal survivability, but I say that that's a load of ******** because health that's always there beats the **** out of health that's only there sometimes and you can't put it there when you're stunned or out of mana every ******* time.

I'm going to run through the items that you ought to get in roughly the order you ought to get them in and explain why and the general function of each.

Remember: item builds are generally not set in stone as to their order and makeup. While I do not recommend altering the items in this build much, I strongly suggest that you purchase the items in whatever order you feel would be most beneficial to you and to your team. I will provide some examples as to when you may want to consider getting an item out of order.

With that out of the way, let's hop to it.

Start

I've recommended the purchase of a Healing Salve, a Tango, and four Iron Branches. The Tango and Healing Salve provide some early-game staying power by offering a source of health regeneration, and the Iron Branches give Razor some much-needed early-game oomph to help with last-hits and denies and whatnot. The extra health and damage also allow Razor to better harass and hopefully kill off enemy laners for some mundo cash.

These items leave you with something like 200 gold of pocket change. If you're not feeling super confident in yourself or in this build, then by all means buy some more Tangos or Healing Salves. Otherwise, keep it - you'll be saving it to get your Phase Boots faster.

Phase Boots

We grab Phase Boots first for some extra damage output to help with last-hits, harassment, and hero-killing, but mostly for their active ability, Phase. Costing no mana and buffing the hell up out of your movespeed while also allowing you to pass through units like a **********ing Casper made of *******ed lightning, Phase is basically the perfect item-spell for chasers like Razor. It's also good for escaping sticky situations. Pop this bad boy whenever you need an extra burst of speed - be it to run in, run out, or just cover ground between home base and the front line (or vice-versa) faster. When building this, get the Boots of Speed part first if you're feeling up for some early aggression in the form of enemy hero kills or the Blades of Attack parts if you need more raw damage for last-hitting or harassing or a different method of killing or whatever. This item's also great because it can be built entirely from the side-lane shop. Convenience!

This is basically the only item that should absolutely be gotten in the order listed - first. From here on out, items can be moved around as you please for whatever reasons. Remember: I'll be giving you some example reasons to change order.

Sange or Yasha

OR

Sange or Yasha comes second. As a general rule of thumb, grab Yasha if you're not having issues with survivability and want to capitalize on your early-game ganking potential and Sange if you could do with a little bit more survivability to weather the **** that you must be taking from your enemies. Don't buy both in a row - you're building them separately to get Sange and Yasha later. Yasha's agility boost means extra damage, and the attack speed means more of those extra-damage attacks. The increased movespeed is godsend anyd when combined with the +30 from Eul's, the +16% from Phase Boots, and ultimately +12% from Unstable Current, you can top out at the maximum 522 movespeed for a glorious 4 seconds. Sange provides additional raw damage and some bonus strength, which gives you a little bit more damage (though not as much as provided by Yasha), but more importantly gives you an additional 304 health from its strength boost, which could be the difference between life or death if your *** is getting punished by the enemy team.

Although I could imagine a scenario which would necessitate one of these being pushed back later in favor of some other item, I can't imagine which other item you would want first. If things are getting hairy, just grab a Yasha.

Rod of Atos

Next comes the Rod of Atos. The Rod serves a few purposes in this build - it buffs up your health, making you tankier; it provides a lot of additional intelligence, giving you a larger mana pool and better regenerative faculties; and it works as a kick-*** tool for slowing down your terrified victim as you pump their unwilling, screaming bodies full of their own damage converted into hot lightning form. Its active, Cripple, knocks off 40% of a target's movespeed for 4 seconds within a range of 1200. 1200! Wow! And it cools down in 16 seconds and only costs 50 mana, holy ****. That's Static Link's mana cost at level 4! Cripple is an extremely versatile all-purpose spell, as slows tend to be - you can imagine the potential uses already. And because of its low mana cost and 25 provided intelligence, you can cast this one willy-nilly too, as the extra mana and regeneration will allow you the ability to dispense your magical power more generously for killing the **** out of your enemies. Be it to slow down an escaping enemy that you're chasing or slow down an enemy chasing you while you escape, this thing will come in handy a lot.

Okay so there's a reason that we grab the more expensive and less actively useful item first. While it is true that Eul's Scepter has a more useful active, costs less, offers a larger boost in mana regeneration, and even provides additional movespeed to help you hit that glorious 522 with your Phase Boots on, it simply doesn't provide the extra 325 health that the Rod of Atos does, and as a tanky Razor, you want that earlier on in order to assert your dominance on the battlefield. All of the wonderful benefits provided by Eul's can come later while you're more able to take the hits that the enemy team will want to dispense. I mean, I could imagine one wanting Eul's first so as to use its active for more ganking to ultimately end up building both items faster, but killing will be harder to do without the extra health, so I would only go for it if you think you have what it takes to be a man and whoop *** without fear of death.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Afterward should be Eul's Scepter of Divinity. This is a handy Swiss Army knife sort of item that really fits Razor like a glove, and it amazes me that no other builds have included this item. It gives you extra intelligence to increase Razor's unimpressive mana pool and regenerative capabilities, 150% more mana regeneration to build further on that, an extra 30 movespeed to further streamline Razor into the electric bullet of death that he ends up becoming, and arms him with an incredibly powerful and game-changing active: Cyclone. Cyclone can be cast every 30 seconds for just 75 mana on any enemy unit within 700 range. The target is thrown into the air atop a tornado and is rendered untargetable - meaning it can't attack or cast spells, but also can't be attacked or be targeted with spells. However, here's the sexy part - if you cast Static Link on a target and then cast Cyclone on it, the Static Link persists, unbroken by the enemy's new state of being in a ******* tornado. That means 2.5 seconds of free hassle-free damage draining, giving you plenty of time to dance around beneath him and prepare to whip the everloving tits off of them as soon as they come back down. While this sort of utility just screams solo engagements, it is also equally applicable to teamfights. Cast Static Link on their carry or whatever, hit them with a Cyclone, then smack everyone else until their carry comes down, at which point you begin smacking the carry. Easy-peasy!

No, if you for some reason are having a hard time keeping your health high, I'd spring for the Morbid Mask before this. The lifesteal when paired with all the ludicrous damage you'll deal after a full Static Link charging is absolutely monstrous and can really help you survive longer engagements against more damaging foes.

Yasha or Sange

OR

This should be pretty self-explanatory - here, you're finishing off the Sange and Yasha pair with the counterpart that you didn't buy before. If you got Yasha earlier to really maximize your early-game killing potential, you'll be getting Sange now to beef you up even further. If you needed to grab Sange in order to stay alive long enough to feasibly make it to the late game with a fighting chance, you'll have Yasha now to increase your damage output and movespeed to enable you to gank in ways that you weren't able to before without it.

If you're having a really rough time, I guess you could rationalize building the rest of your Helm of the Dominator first to grab the extra damage and armor that would make your life a bit easier, but really those stats are irrelevant compared to the benefits of completing your Sange and Yasha. The Helm should come later for a reason.

Satanic

By the time that you've started putting together your Satanic it should be very late into the game with the enemy team in ruinous shambles from all of the complete wreckage that you've been serving them up on electrified silver platters. If you aren't impressed by your Razor yet, you will be after finishing this off. 25 extra strength for even more health, 20 extra damage because **** it why not, 5 armor for additional damage resistance, a whopping 25% passive lifesteal, and an active, Unholy Rage, that you can cast for free every 35 seconds to gain an additional 175% lifesteal for 3.5 seconds. Factoring in your initial 25%, that means twice the damage you deal returned as health. Imagine all that damage that you'll be dealing with a completely-juiced Static Link. Now double it. That, every second or so, of health regenerated. Wow.

This is going to come second-to-last every time just because it's so ******* expensive and you shouldn't really need to get this any earlier. Trust me - proper use of the previous items will have you turning Dota 2 into your own personal *****.





Now we get to the extensions part. Because there's a lot, I'm just going to list them and briefly explain what you would get each one for.

Bloodstone

This is one of my favorite extensions for this build of Razor.

Bloodstone provides a ****ton of health and mana and regeneration for both and has a wickedly useful charge function. Starting with six, a charge is gained per killed enemy hero within 1675 range. Each charge gives you an extra point of mana regeneration, reduces gold lost on death by 25, and reduces the respawn timer by 4 seconds. When you die while holding it, allied heroes within 1675 range are healed for 400 health plus 30 times the number of charges the Bloodstone had. The Bloodstone then loses a third of its charges, and you get to keep gaining experience wherever you died as well as vision in an 1800 radius.

This item is the last word in turning Razor into a titan. The extra health and mana will make you a colossal, unbreakable force of nature with a bottomless mana pool for spamming Plasma Field and your items like all get-out. When you invariably get focused down, you'll be benefiting your whole team by dying and will be back in a flash to wreak further havoc upon the team. Basically, get this if you want to stomp a near-dead foe into complete submission. Alternately, because of its low-cost parts, build this if you're on the backfoot and need even more survivability and mana for some reason.

Mjollnir

This is my other favorite extension for this build of Razor.

Mjollnir gives you some extra damage and a ****load of attack speed. The attack speed is crucial, as with Static Link you'll be dealing tons of damage, so it's more effective to just dish it out more often than spend a lot of money on amplifying it further. Its passive, Chain Lightning, gives a chance to spit out a Chain Lightning spell on attack, which I think really complements Razor's lightning-centric design while also providing additional indirect dps. The active, Static Charge, shields a targeted unit and gives it a chance to deal 200 damage to any attacker and two of its nearby buddies. This is helpful in protecting a weaker ally or in buffing yourself up further, punishing anyone who dares to stand against you.

If you're already whooping *** and taking names, pick up a Mjollnir. The extra attack speed will turn you into a death train without any form of brakes, and the spells that it provides are just icing on the maim-cake.

Black King Bar

Black King Bar is one of those items that gets recommended to just about every hero primarily because of its unique active: spell immunity for a short while on cast. The unimpressive bonus damage and strength for so expensive an item are generally not the selling point - that juicy, juicy spellproofiness is what people buy it for.
If you find yourself the subject of many an enemy caster's attention and have difficulty taking the heat, grab one of these rather than staying out of the kitchen. Pop it **** begins to hit the fan and your fan will remain 100% clean and ****-free.

Butterfly

Butterfly gives you bonus agility, damage, attack speed, and a good bit of evasion too. The first three parts are good for buffing up your damage output to really whip the bastards back into line, and the last bit makes you a little bit more able to take hits - mostly because you'll be dodging them.
Purchase a Butterfly if you just want to hit harder and more often. The evasion is a nice bonus too.

Daedalus

Daedalus makes you hit harder than a political ad campaign, adding 81 damage to your attacks and giving a 25% chance to deal 240% damage. That extra damage will be taken into consideration when calculating lifesteal, too, so every once and a while you'll get mega juiced with extra regenerated health.
Sort of like Butterfly, pick up a Daedalus if you want to surprise your enemies with a sudden 900-damage crit out of nowhere, often.

Heart of Tarrasque

Heart of Tarrasque offers a ton of health in the form of plain ol' health and a hot load of strength, which indirectly provides more health. It also makes you regenerate like a **********er if an enemy hero hasn't touched you for a little while.
Grab a Heart of Tarrasque if you want to be still tankier and gain the ability to push without fear. Towers and enemy creeps won't be able to deal enough damage to make a dent in your 2%-per-second regeneration. If you want to do some guerrilla warfare at their base, you can use this to pop in, lay down the hurt, then run away and let the regeneration top you off so you can safely rinse and repeat.

Monkey King Bar

Monkey King Bar supplies even more raw damage than Daedalus plus a sprinkle of attack speed because because. You'll also never miss an attack ever again, and all those attacks that will hit have a small chance to deal extra damage and microbash your opponent, interrupting casts and channels and whatnot.
If you've got an evasive foe or just need to cause even more pain, a Monkey King Bar will do the trick.

Eye of Skadi

Eye of Skadi gives you a good bundle of each stat and a chunk of health and mana too. Its passive enables your attacks to slow your target's movement and attack speeds on hit. It also overlaps with your Satanic's life drain.
Build yourself an Eye of Skadi if your enemies are slippery, escape-y bastards who don't take kindly to your desire to chase them down and **** them over with lightning. The slow will serve you well in helping you more easily catch up with your enemies.

Aghanim's Scepter

Aghanim's Scepter adds 10 of every stat and a bit of health and mana just because and makes your Eye of the Storm hit harder and more often, as well as allowing it to target buildings.
Assemble Aghanim's Scepter if you just want to be a bit better at everything and are really, really fond of your ultimate.

"Okay, this makes sense now." - In Conclusion

So that's that then, kiddos. The Cutting-Edge Razor build turns Razor into a Tiger tank that moves like a fighter jet and hits like a salvo of Javelin missiles. I believe so strongly in the efficacy of this build that I will actually go so far as to take the stance that

the use of this build makes Razor competitively viable.

Don't believe me? Try it out. Here's how I recommend you play him.

Guide to the Early-Game Cutting-Edge Razor

So you've got your starting Tango, Healing Salve, and four Iron Branches. This is it: the moment of truth - what lane are you going to take? This is a simple question with an equally simple answer: whatever lane you want. In the safe lane, the distance between the front-line and the enemy's tower is longer - and with that fact, it's time to introduce our first Razor Rule:

#1: If you know for certain that an enemy hero is far from safety (tower or other enemy heroes) and you are in good condition (>75% health, >25% mana), engage that enemy hero.

That's why the safe lane is a smart choice for Razor - the enemy heroes are far from safety unless you push the lane, so you're able to gank frequently with Static Link and Plasma Field.

Mid lane is also a viable option, as the increased experience gain will get you to level 7 fastest - a peak for Razor, as his super-powerful nuke, Plasma Field, is at its maximum level early on, which makes chase-killing a cinch.

Hard lane works well too if you deny a lot so that the enemy team pushes the lane toward your tower. This makes the enemy heroes far from safety and thus invokes Razor Rule #1, which means more money and experience for you.

Either side lane is especially good for Razor because of the presence of the side shops, which makes you independent of a courier to build your Phase Boots in case your team is dumb enough to not buy one.

Regardless of which lane you pick, you want to farm as hard as possible without pushing the lane. Razor's ultra-fast attack animation will make last-hitting and denying a breeze. Aim to get as many last-hits as possible and deny as often as you can, while also getting in as many hits on the enemy heroes as possible without getting yourself too hurt. The lane will naturally push towards your side as a result. The more that you can soften up the enemy heroes, the easier a time you will have killing them later on.

Do not use Plasma Field to farm or harass the enemy heroes - you should save this ability for whenever an enemy hero is low on health or is close to your tower, at which point you hook them with a Static Link and chase them while orb-walking. If they get low enough on health to be finished off with a Plasma Field, that is when you cast it. Get good with hitting enemies with the very edge of your Plasma Field and you'll get some seriously efficient use of your mana. Even if the enemy slips just out of your attack range with enough health to survive a Plasma Field, cast it then anyway. They'll be so weakened that they'll have to run home or use a Healing Salve, giving you precious free farm time. If an enemy hero attempts to gank you or your lane partner (if you have one), hook them with a Static Link then too and proceed to chase and gank.

Build your Phase Boots as quickly as you can, starting with the Boots of Speed and then the Blades of Attack as you get the money. Early kills using the above method will get you your Phase Boots very rapidly, which gives you a huge movespeed advantage. The faster you get them, the faster you can use Phase to kick the **** out of enemy heroes with Static Link orb-walking and Plasma Field finishers.

As soon as you get the Phase Boots, it's time to start getting aggressive. You have enough movespeed to chase down most all enemy heroes when your Phase is activated, so slap a Static Link on a lone enemy hero, pop Phase, and begin orb-walking in pursuit. You're sure to get at least a kill this way, given that you have enough mana for a Plasma Field to knock them off with.

The resulting money will go towards your Sange or Yasha. Grab the Belt of Strength or Band of Elvenskin first because it's cheap (and can be bought from a side shop if in a side lane), then the Ogre Club or Blade of Alacrity, and finally the recipe. If you grab a Sange, you'll be a lot more durable, so if you have to dip close to the tower a bit to assure a kill, you'll be at less risk of dying when doing so. The chance to slow synergizes with your Phase Boots, as their slowness makes your enhanced speed even more significant. If you pick up a Yasha instead, you'll move even faster due to the percentage movespeed increase, and you'll deal additional damage as well.

Now, while building your Phase Boots and Sange or Yasha, you may have Iron Branches clogging your inventory. That's okay - they can be sold at little to no detriment on your part, giving you a bit of extra cash and some freed-up inventory slots. Alternately, you can choose not to buy them in the first place, giving you some extra starting money but sacrificing early survivability and damage output. This is entirely a personal choice and is completely up to you.

After your Sange or Yasha is complete, you have the option of getting a Morbid Mask before beginning to build your mid-game items.

Guide to the Mid-Game Cutting-Edge Razor

With your Phase Boots and Sange or Yasha in tow, Razor enters the mid game with blinding speed and either surprising tankiness or shocking damage output. Either way, you should be aiming for a Rod of Atos. Keep up the chase-killing and begin your assembly of the Rod with the purchase of a Vitality Booster. The extra health is certain to outweigh the benefits of a larger mana pool early on, as Static Link is all that's really necessary to reliably get kills with Razor and it doesn't cost very much mana-wise. Keep farming your lane and ganking the enemy laners. Things'll change once your Rod is done.

Participate in team-fights as they occur, as they will begin cropping up around this point. While Phase Boots give you the option to engage at high speed, this is a task best left to some other member of your team. When the **** hits the fan, stick your Static Link on the most dangerous or most easily followable enemy hero and turn on your Eye of the Storm for maximum possible damage output. If the fight breaks up and low-health enemies are running for their lives and you have a good amount of health, turn on the Phase Boots and start orb-walking with or without a Static Link. A well-placed Plasma Field could take out several heroes in one cast.

After you've grabbed your two Staffs of Wizardry, your Rod of Atos is cocked, locked, and ready to rock. This, like Sange if you got it, is indispensable for slowing enemy heroes, especially for chases. It can also be used to slow enemy heroes to set up kills for your allies, or shake an enemy tailing you. Its additional bonus health will make you even tankier when it's fully-built, too.

Now, with your finished Rod of Atos, you have everything you need to reliably kill on your own. A dedicated and guaranteed slow spell makes Static Links a sure success, netting you tons of damage for a quick and painful murder. Begin roaming at your own leisure, using your Phase Boots constantly to more rapidly traverse the map and keep up with fleeing enemies. Dispense your Plasma Field more liberally if it helps to kill off enemy heroes, as your additional intelligence from the Rod will make your mana pool larger and more usable. The money that you get from kills should succeed the money to be earned from farming. Alternately, make generous use of Plasma Field to rapidly flash-farm either jungle.

All of your money gotten post-Rod should be spent on the components for Eul's Scepter of Divinity. A Sage's Mask is a good first pick-up, as it's cheap, has a significant effect, and can be bought from a side shop if the courier is tied up, dead, or downright nonexistent. The Scepter can be assembled in just about any order and still be massively beneficial even during its assembly. When it's done, it's ***-whoopin' time.

The extra speed from Eul's will make you faster than a speeding bullet, and its Cyclone makes you as lethal as one. You should absolutely be roaming once you have Eul's, so keep your Phase Boots on constant active duty and patrol all parts of the map, obliterating any solo enemy hero that you find. Approach them, use Plasma Field at its maximum range, then move in and get a Static Link on them. Cast Cyclone from your Eul's and then activate Eye of the Storm if it isn't on cooldown. Once your victim comes back down, your Static Link should be yielding a good deal of bonus damage, so begin wailing on them with your auto-attack. Cast Cripple from your Rod of Atos to ensure that they don't get away, but turn on your Phase Boots and orb-walk just in case. If they're still alive and Cripple has worn off, keep pursuing anyway with Phase. However, if they get near any kind of safety, like a tower or another enemy hero, use Plasma Field at its maximum range and the kill should be in the bag. Sweet.

Eul's also gives you a ton of mana regeneration, which means that you have the liberty to cast your spells indiscriminately. As you wander from lane to lane, pop Plasma Field on the enemy creep line and mop up the survivors with auto-attacks. This will help immensely to speed up the pushing process and thus the end of the game. Plasma Fields can also be placed at key locations in the jungle to damage (if not kill off) and pull several creep camps at once for very rapid farming. This leads us to another Razor Rule:

#2: Once you no longer have a mana problem, cast Plasma Field as often as you can without outright wasting mana: use it to wipe creep waves, empty jungle camps, and nuke enemy heroes.

You should have plenty more kills under your belt as the mid-game blurs into the late-game. If you haven't finished your Helm of the Dominator yet, finish it. Your team should do Roshan at some point, and you are a valid contender for the Aegis when it drops. You are absolutely worth the added staying power.

This is when the fun starts.

Guide to the Late-Game Cutting-Edge Razor

Begin the late-game with a completed Sange and Yasha. You ought to have enough money from one source or another, be that a prolific kill streak or godly Plasma Field farming. Now you'll have a chance to slow enemies on hit, making chasing a breeze, and you'll be moving fast as hell - at the maximum possible movespeed, in fact, when Phase is active. You'll be crossing the map with ease to roam and gank without difficulty, and your active-use items will be doing some serious heavy-lifting, paying themselves off with each quick and unstoppable enemy hero kill.

The lane that you initially occupied should be a smoldering crater alight with nuclear fire and crackling lightning, with both enemy towers far back in the rear-view mirror and your opponents afraid to occupy it due to the very real threat of you swooping in from anywhere on the map and destroying them mercilessly. Your assistance in other lanes should also have at least demolished the first towers if your allies haven't by themselves and then whittled down a good half or so of the second towers. The end-game is fast approaching, and you are hopefully on top of the world. The enemy team is your ***** and it's time to start ****ing them.

Build Satanic as rapidly as you can, as you'll be needing the lifesteal to survive during long-term sieges and occupations of the enemy's base. Get the money by flash-farming with your Plasma Field and by chase-killing any enemy heroes that you find while roaming, as you have been doing for the past 25 minutes or so. The game should be on the verge of ending at this point, so Satanic will be the final nail in their coffin. Unholy Rage will render you nigh-unkillable if you have a fully-juiced Static Link active.

If you aren't feeling like doing some high-octane lifestealing, you can viably build Mjollnir first for the attack speed that you may have felt that you've been lacking all game. Alternately, just purchase a Hyperstone at some point in the mid-game and build Satanic as normal.

The game should be over by now. If it's not...

Guide to the End-Game Cutting-Edge Razor

You are a god.

Razor strides the battlefield with thunder booming in his wake, lightning crackling across the ruins of the enemy base as he enters it. His presence inspires fear and causes immediate death, and he is a terrifying force of nature.

Extensions now are but items to more rapidly crush your enemy, for your continued existence into the end-game can only spell doom for your foe. Take your pick of the suggested extensions listed in the Items section according to whichever description best fits your situation in the game and give your enemy an offer they can't refuse - finally, provide them with the merciful fate of death.

You are well-fed by now, likely at max level and with an extremely dangerous arsenal of items to make lethal use of. Any enemy hero who chooses to try to take you on solo is making a dire mistake - you can certainly take on anyone solo.

But you aren't invincible.

Razor Rule:

#3: Don't get cocky.

"Hey, this is actually a great idea!" - Actually In Conclusion (for real this time)

Okay, now that's really that. You've got a kick-*** build certain to throw off your enemies and then grind them into a fine, snortable dust and the extensive knowledge of how to use it properly.

Now get out there and show the world that the Lightning Revenant is back and here to stay, Cutting-Edge-style!