Weaver: A Thread Rewoven

Introduction

Hello guys, welcome to my guide about Weaver. In my opinion Weaver is quite underrated. But what people don't realize is how strong he can be in a 1v1, chasing, and tower diving. In this guide I will be giving an in-depth guide on how to play him and how to dominate the game.
I took a few items from Damonpric3's guide and added a couple of my own.

Pros/Cons

Pros:
Excellent ganker
Has an invis that deals damage when moving thru units
Very survivable
Can farm effectively with Geminate Attack
Can "regen" health using Time Lapse
Can easily recover from a gank

Cons:
Very squishy
Kill steals A LOT with his passive
Needs items to be effective

Skills

The Swarm: Weaver launches a swarm of 12 young Weavers that latch on any enemy unit in their path, attacking and reducing armor until it is killed.

Mana Cost: 100/100/100/100
Cooldown: 36/33/30/27

ABILITY: POINT TARGET
DAMAGE: PHYSICAL
ATTACK DAMAGE: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
DURATION: 8 / 12 / 16 / 20
COUNT: 12 / 12 / 12 / 12
ARMOR REDUCTION: 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
ATTACKS TO DESTROY: 8 / 8 / 8 / 8
Play Video

---

Shukuchi: Weaver shifts out of visibility, gaining the ability to move at maximum speed through physical units--doing harm to any enemies it passes through.

Mana Cost: 60/60/60/60
Cooldown: 12/10/8/6

ABILITY: NO TARGET
DAMAGE: MAGICAL
DAMAGE: 90 / 110 / 130 / 150
RADIUS: 175 / 175 / 175 / 175
FADE TIME: 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25 / 0.25
DURATION: 4 / 4 / 4 / 4
Play Video

---

Geminate Attack: Allows Weaver to dispatch two swarms, attacking an enemy twice. The extra attack will not trigger other attack effects (such as critical strike) and overrides Unique Attack Modifiers.

Cooldown: 6/5/4/2.50

ABILITY: PASSIVE
Play Video

---

Time Lapse: Weaver warps backward to whatever position it was in five seconds earlier--regaining the HP and mana from that time. No effect on cooldown, gold or experience.

Mana Cost: 100/100/100/100
Cooldown: 36/33/30/27


ABILITY: POINT TARGET
DAMAGE: PHYSICAL
ATTACK DAMAGE: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
DURATION: 8 / 12 / 16 / 20
COUNT: 12 / 12 / 12 / 12
ARMOR REDUCTION: 1 / 1 / 1 / 1
ATTACKS TO DESTROY: 8 / 8 / 8 / 8
Play Video

Item Justifications

Starting

Tagoes: Ummmm.... early game regen?

Wraithband RECIPE: You will be using this to craft the Wraithband*obviously* which will then be made into a Ring of Aquila.

Circlet: Used to make Wraithband.(See above)

Ring of Protection: Used to make a Ring of Basilius which will then be made into Aquila.

Early Game

Ring of Aquila: Get this for the Mana and armor which Weaver NEEDS.

Poor Man's Shield: The block on this thing is AWESOME! And will keep you alive in the early game.

Boots of Speed: Get this last because you need the gold for your other items.(Aquila and Poor Man's)

Core

Linken's Sphere: I tend to opt for this 80% of the time because of all the times this has saved my life. Try to get this by the 25 minute mark.

Desolator: If the other team does not have much magic damage then I opt for this. Its damage as well as it's passive makes it a great choice.

Phase boots: My choice of boots for Weaver because of the speed and that badly needed damage.

Radiance: The damage if GREAT on this and sometimes it's nice to have a little pushing power.(Because you can just burn thru creeps) It also helps in 1v1s because it gives you a little edge in the battle as well as teamfights.

Late Game Options

Butterfly: PURELY optional, the extra agi in great as well as the evasion and attack speed.

Heart of Terrasque: I honestly prefer this over Butterfly because of the regen you need because by now you should be a major threat in the game and will be focused on a lot.

MKB: I get this solely for the damage because Weaver is a right clicking machine.

Ability Justifications

I tend not to put levels early on in Swarm because levels in Shukuchi and Geminate Attack. Overall it's not the best move ever but late game and in teamfights it is helpful.

I max out Shukuchi first because of the decent cooldown and the 150 damage dealt at max level.

Geminate attack is great for last hitting and (sadly) killstealing. I max this out second because the low cooldown really helps.

Gameplay

Where to go?

I prefer to go offlane (hardlane) because of the mobility and so that people who are afraid of going there can settle down in the safelane. Weaver is actually a great solo hero but he should NOT go mid. He needs a lot of room to be mobile and mid does not have that.

Early Game:
While laning, try to save your Shukuchi for tough situations and/or netting kills. This can sometimes be difficult because you want to use it plow thru creeps. DO NOT do this. You need to save mana and have your cooldown at zero in case you NEED it.(Notice the word need) Try to get a decent amount of last hits and if you are at least one whole level ahead of your laning opponents see if you can pull of a gank because your Shukuchi allows you to get perfect positioning for getting a kill.(See below on how to normally get a kill)

Mid Game:
By now you should have all of your Early Game Items and should be starting on your Linkens/Deso. If you can get one of those by 25 minutes you are doing well. From there proceed to buy Phase Boots and Radiance.

Late Game:
By now you should have a decent amount of kills and hardly any deaths. You should go first for a Heart and then onto MKB, but normally the game has already been won.

How to get kills and gank

Normally people would add this into the "Gameplay" section but there is so much to say I just made a whole chapter.

The kill in itself is not that complicated but there can be a lot of factors going into your attack.

1. Positioning:
There are 2 parts to positioning, where your target is and where you are.

1.a Your Target: Make sure you target is away from the opposing tower since you are quite squishy with a combination of tower and hero; things may not go well. This especially is a concern if you are low level and are not putting out enough damage. However as you get to a higher level you will be able to tower dive more often

1.b When you think you can pull off a kill, do these steps in order: 1. Shukuchi 2. Run thru your target to take a little HP 3. Make sure that you are between your target and their tower. The reasoning for this is that when they realize they are being attacked, they will run towards their tower or fight. If you are positioned in front of them then if they run to the tower they may get out of range and you will most likely have to tower dive. Thus; if you behind them then you already have closed some distance and there is less chance of going under tower. If they fight you then whenever Shukuchi is off cooldown use it and run thru your enemy so that you are constantly doing heavy damage.

1.c If you are about to die, you have two options: Shukuchi and get out of there or use your magical Time Lapse to bring back your health from five seconds ago! If you STILL can't get the kill then just skittle away.

---

Ganking: You want to do early game ganking whenever possible but the "set-up" is a little different.

1. When you are about to leave the lane, Shukuchi so that your opposing laner does not know that you are actually pull off the gank. Make sure you ALWAYS come up on your target in invis! Or else you will pay. Other then that, ganking is pretty much the same as a normal kill.