Spellcaster build for Invoker(QE, Hybrid, 6.81)

Seems that this statement faces a lot of disagreement here. Okay, changed. Looks a bit better now, but it didn't really change the meaning of a whole statement there.

Too many? Not really. I mean, there's not an infinite number of ways, and it's pretty easy even to count them. Let me try.

QE with Q and E being close: forge spirits build. eul for icewalls, aghanim as a must have item. Can go for autoattack(like deso, mjollnir, etc) or caster(hex, refresher, etc) items. So, 2 builds here.

QE with Q maxed first: pure icewall+coldsnap build, tanky and fairly easy build, because anything else doesn't really hurt enemies. Items are like in QE, but aghanim is questionable here. Autoattack is not that viable because of lack in W and E, so it's kind of CC/disabler build. 1 build here.

QE with E maxed first: killstealing with sunstrike and performing eul+sunstrike+meteor+blast or the same with tornado against 2+ enemies. Anything else is kind of useless - maybe icewall after 3rd level of Quas. Items: eul, aghanim, caster(you can't be autoattack carry because of your squishiness). 1 build here.

QW with Q and W being close: full-scale CC build. You're going to have a lot of good teamfight control spells: icewall, emp, blast, tornado, and a strong alacrity for you or your carry. Autoattack builds are kind of viable thanks to decent attack speed(like the guide you wrote), but damage is still a weakpoint. Low numbers of it early on prevents you from lasthitting every creep on the lane in case you're not Chuck Norris. Caster builds are mostly gankers/initiators with common items like fs, aghanim, hex, etc - doesn't really differ from other itembuilds. 2 builds here.

QW with Q maxed first: look at QE with Q prioritized: the only difference is that you have a weak EMP instead of not having it at all, and a bit stronger alacrity. 1 build here.

QW with W maxed first: provides awesome mobility and decent teamfight control. Close to Q and W being close build, but with weaker icewall and stronger emp. 2 builds here for obvious reasons.

WE with W maxed first: pile of ****. You run around like hell while trying to land a good EMP, but you can't thanks to small duration of your CC spells. Anything else doesn't work as well, except for alacrity. Can be used for autoattack carry, but doesn't seem like a viable build to me. 1 stupid build here.. Caster build won't work because you have nothing to cast.

WE with E maxed first: look at QE with E maxed first. Difference is in weak cold snap|icewall and small disables duration, but you still can land your sunstrikes/meteors/whatever you can think of. Squishiness is kind of problem in both last builds, but this one is better at least because you can erase one target in a matter of a second. Autoattack build would work here as well thanks to alacrity. 2 builds here.

So, it's about 12 builds here. Anything I can think of fits into one of these patterns. If you can suggest anything else - i'm always open for new knowledge =)

Personally, i think that versatility of Invoker is highly overrated.
Q: how many roles can he perform?
A: a lot.
Q: which ones he performs well enough?
A: midlane farmer, solo easy lane farmer, semicarry with a bit of ganking power.
Q: a bit? he's an awesome ganker!
A: every time he leaves his lane he gets punished for EXP being lost, so yes, he can gank, but it works out well only if you snowball like crazy.
Q: can he be a support?
A: as much as faceless void.

For any role but mid/easy soloer, semicarry farmer, there are better heroes for it. Support? Underleveled invoker with no farm is not a big deal. Pusher? NP, Tinker, Broodmother, etc are way better. Hardcarry? Countered by BKB, so can't be considered hardcarry in no ****in' way. There are better carries, btw. Mid|easy solo-semicarry is his ONLY viable role, no matter what build you're playing.

Im not talking here about all ways, but all patterns for ways. One gets mjollnir for carry Lina, other one gets deso, and these builds should not be considered like 2 fullscale different builds just because of different itembuild. They have similar playstyle, that's all i want to say.

Well, I don't really agree with some things, but I HUGELY disagree with the statement "there are three ways to play invoker" Really, there is so many. I saw the list of things you disagreed on with my build, and after checking a lot of other builds, I must say there is too many ways to play for anyone to know all. That being said, just because it's not a common way to play, or maybe it looks weird, doesn't mean it doesn't work well. Some things you said seem weird to me too, but if you know how to use it well, you're playing well.
Nice guide tho', +1

Thanks for the response, much appreciated. Hmm, having Cold Snap at level 2 for Pudge is pretty reasonable, but why SD? He's not so good harrassing at early levels(until 3-4, i think), and he can survive the Cold Snap while being in Disruption. I'd say, early sunstrike is even better here(though Sun Strike will be shared with illusions, so it doesn't really matter, and damage from Exort does).

About lots of burst damage: Yep, of course, maxing those damage numbers is fine, but still... Personally, I think that running into "most powerful burst damage EVAR IN THAT DOTA 2" doesn't really worth the effort - at least, about those combos being talked about here, I didn't see bring the rain before, obviously. eul->sunstrike->meteor->blast differs from tornado->same with just 100-120 burst damage till the very lategame, until you'll get enough of points in quas and wex. But in the lategame even 250 damage nuke doesn't matter lot, compared to damage from meteor or even sunstrike. Looks like we're getting 20% of efficiency for 80% of whole effort. Its better to combine these spells with something like Ice Wall - at least you'll be able to rightclick your target down after you won't kill it with burst damage even with help of Tornado's damage.

P.S. Looking forward to see that Bring The Rain.

Overall, I think this guide is good for beginners. If opponent denies a creep, Invoker loses a lot of XP because he is a ranged hero; therefore, level 1 invoker should almost always get exort. Level one Invoker needs quas against Pudge and SD.

Close, but incorrect. Helical will upload my most powerful burst damage combo to youtube, but it will take some time. It is my favorite new combo I have named "Bring the Rain."

There are a lot of guides and techniques for playing him. But in the end it all comes down to maxing some 2 of his orbs in some order and using it to the maximized output possible.

Some builds for him rely on autoattack, other - not taking some orb at all, maxing Exort to 7 asap, and so on. All of these builds have proven not to be worthy talking about in my eyes. If you play invoker in some regular way(spellcaster, as he should be played, since he's most potent in it), then it may vary a bit in a spellorder, or in itembuild, but pattern stays the same - QE, QW, WE. Like i said before, WE as well doesn't worth a lot of words because it's useless in most of situations except for something really extraordinary(like you have Enigma, Magnus, and Dark Seer in your team, and they always use their spells perfectly. But then team doesn't need you much, all that damage potential is wasted anyway).

I'd say now that there are two useful builds - QE and QW, with little variations in both. I'm not considering here DPS builds, because yes, invoker can carry your team with dps items, but pretty much any real carry hero does it way better, so taking all that farm from your team carry for it and not participating in mid teamfights(when you can provide a lot of damage with just a couple of fast farmed items and when you're at your strength peek) because of it - doesn't seem right.

A good guide, but i disagree with: "there are three possible ways to play invoker" there are many, many more.

I was talking about Quas which isn't leveled again until 9.

Normally I see Quas, ult, quas, and then going onto other skills. In this skill build, the second level of Quas is delayed until level 9, at which point I would likely argue does very little beyond buffing your skills.

It's actually quite considerable... If you're ok with lasthitting with 2 exort points - go for 2-1-2. Depends on the enemy. Getting early level of Wex seems essential for me - because invoker is kinda gank vulnerable at early levels. That's why i don't like 2-0-3. Also, depends on the opponents. In some games you can easily go straight to 4-0-4 and autoattack them all to death...

I don't understand the 1 point in quas and leaving it there.

2 Points in quas makes cold snap 3.5 seconds. Most heroes have 1 attack every 1.7 seconds, meaning that you will increase the number of times that the enemy is snapped by 1 (which is big)


It also allows for less need of consumables at the beginning of the game, giving +6 regen per second as opposed to +3.

I really have no issues past that

Farming a lot can be a big problem considering you have 3 hard carries in the ****in' team keeping all possible farm for themselves and screaming at you after you lasthit a single creep... xD And in pubs middle laner almost always has to gank -> early farm is screwed all the time. Depends on the team, basically. In most of the games in pub you don't have enough room to farm it fast.

haha yeah i know that feel. pretty much why i farm a lot so i can get it early and actually use it properly