Thirsting for vengeance, he sold his own soul to Ner'zhul, and in exchange acquired near limitless power. Taking on the mantle of the Blood Mages of old, the Invoker strode into war with nothing but the elements at his command. He can fuse the elements into deadly incantations, tearing apart the very heavens in his fury. His genius knows no bounds, and the Sentinel shall come to know the rage of the Invoker.
Having a total of 14 spells with different effects, Kael has a spell for every situation he can encounter. Kael joins the Scourge at v6.50. Also see 6.49 Quest Invoker. Also, Kael has no Attribute Bonus ability.
Like the common DotA fanatic, I was very excited to see Invoker reclaim his spot as a DotA hero in patch 6.50. Kael is doubtless the most unique hero in DotA at the moment and general view is the keyword to play him. He is like a puzzle and he definatly doesn’t have one and only way to be played. The fact that he has 10 spells and 4 subspells makes him twisted, hard, dangerous and fun to play, but he definatly requires a lot of practice and general understanding to play. I decided to write this guide because I found a way that I like to play him and hopefully it’ll help some of you less knowing readers to come up with new thought-provoking builds and ideas and hopefully this will expand a lot in the future as I (and you) gain more knowledge about this mysterious hero.
I recommend you to play Kael if you
* Have a very good general view of the map and the combats.
* Are good at memorizing things like hotkeys and combinations.
* Would like to play a hero whom is certainly not an auto-attack character.
* Want a very special and unique hero with unique and game breaking abilities.
* Like to play heroes that need to aim their spells such as Meat Hook and Elune’s Arrow.
* Have enough patience and will to learn the hero and with time form him around your own comfort.
I don’t recommend you to play Kael if you
* Are not good at memorizing things.
* Are not patience enough to learn the hero.
* Hate to play heroes that need to aim and time their spells.
* Easily lose your general view when things get tightened.
If this sounds interesting, please continue reading.
Now let’s have a closer look on Kael’s pros/cons, stats and abilities.
Pros
* Has 10 active abilities with all of them being offensive in some way.
* Is probably the best aoe hero in the game so far - even better than Leshrac.
* Almost all his spells do something extra than just direct damage.
* Has an extreme base movement speed in a higher level (thanks to his ability Wex).
* Competes with Shadow Fiend in best last hitting ability. His Exort gives him free +63 damage.
* Has a free early game Ring of Regeneration which makes it a bit easier to stay in the lane.
* Is an excellent farmer.
Cons
* Has a terrible base armor.
* Has ridiculous low health.
* Has very low stats gains, except for intilligence which is only decent.
* Doesn’t have any “spells” from the start. Only passive abilities that doesn’t effect his enemies.
* Is rather weak untill he’s higher levelled.
* Is slightly useless untill he’s higher levelled.
* Has no attribute bonus ability to boost his low stats thus making him slightly item dependant.
Strength - 19 + 1,4
Agility - 20 + 1,9
Intelligence - 22 + 2,5
Attack range of 600.
Movement speed of 280.
Level 1 information:
- Health: 511
- Mana: 286
- Damage: 44-50
- Armor: 2
- Attack Speed: 1,42 sec.
Level 25 information (without any worn items):
- Health: 1138
- Mana: 1066
- Damage: 104-110
- Armor: 8
- Attack Speed: 1,03 sec.
Abilities
Quas
0.75 HP regen per level per instance.
Cooldown: None.
Mana cost: None.
Hero level required: 1/3/5/7/9/11/13.
Total level: 7.
Wex
Gives 2% AS and 1% MS per level per instance.
Cooldown: None.
Mana cost: None.
Hero level required: 1/3/5/7/9/11/13.
Total level: 7.
Exort
3 damage per level per instance.
Cooldown: None.
Mana cost: None.
Hero level required: 1/3/5/7/9/11/13.
Total level: 7.
Invoke - [R] (ultimate)
Combines the properties of the elements currently being manipulated, creating a new spell at Invokers disposal. The invoked spell is determined by the combination of Quas, Wex and Exort.
Level 1 - 1 Invokes, 30 cd
Level 2 - 2 Invokes, 30 cd
Level 3 - 2 Invokes, 15 cd
Level 4 - 2 Invokes, 5 cd
Cooldown: 30/30/15/5 seconds.
Mana cost: 20/40/60/80.
Hero level required: 5/10/15/20.
Total level: 4.
Invoked abilities
Cold Snap [QQQ] - [Y]
Invoker draws the heat from an enemy, chilling them to their very core for up to 6 seconds based on Quas. Any damage taken in this state will briefly stun them for 0.4 seconds and deal 30 damage.
Triggers cooldown goes from 0.8 to 0.6 seconds based on Quas.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Mana cost: 100.
Alacrity [WWW] - [Z]
Invoker infuses an ally with an immense surge of energy, increasing their attack speed to a maximum of 160% based on Wex for 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Mana cost: 125.
Sun Strike [EEE] - [T]
Sends a catastrophic ray of fierce energy from the sun at any targeted location after a 1.7 second delay, incinerating all enemies standing beneath it. Deals 75-450 damage based on Exort which is spread over all enemy units within its 200 AoE.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Mana cost: 250.
Ghost Walk [QQW] - [V]
Invoker manipulates the ice and electrical energies around him, rendering his body invisible. The elemental imbalance created as a consequence slows nearby enemies by up to 40% based on Quas, and Invoker from 30 to 0% based on Wex.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Mana cost: 300.
Ice Wall [QQE] - [G]
Generates a wall of solid ice directly in front of Invoker for up to 10 seconds. The bitter cold emanating from it greatly slows nearby enemies based on Quas and deals up to 30 damage each second based on Exort.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Mana cost: 125.
Tornado [WWQ] - [X]
Unleashes a fast moving tornado that picks up enemy units in its path, suspending them helplessly in the air shortly before allowing them to plummet to their doom. Deals 375 damage based on Wex and Quas, with distance up to 3100 based on Wex. Holds enemies in the air for up to 2.2 seconds based on Quas.
Cooldown: 25 seconds.
Mana cost: 150.
EMP [WWE] - [C]
Invoker builds up a charge of electromagnetic energy at a targeted location which automatically detonates after 2-4 seconds based on Wex. The detonation covers a 700 area, dealing up to 300 damage based on Exort and draining up to 400 mana based on Wex.
Cooldown: 40 seconds.
Mana cost: 250.
Forge Spirit [EEQ] - [F]
Invoker forges a spirit embodying the strength of fire and fortitude of ice. Attack range, damage and life is based on Exort while mana, duration, and armor is based on Quas. The elementals scorching attack is capable of melting the armor on enemy heroes by 1 each hit to a maximum of 10 for 5 seconds. By maxing Quas and Exort, Invoker is capable of creating 2 spirits instead of 1.
Cooldown: 70 seconds.
Mana cost: 200.
Chaos Meteor [EEW] - [D]
IPB Image
Invoker pulls a flaming meteor from space onto the targeted location. Upon landing, the meteor rolls forward dealing up to 260 damage per second based on Exort for up to 1550 range based on Wex. Deals minor residual damage to units that get hit.
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Mana cost: 200.
Defeaning Blast [QWE] - [B]
Invoker unleashes a mighty sonic wave in front of him, dealing up to 280 damage to any enemy unit it collides with based on Exort. The sheer impact from the blast is enough to knock those enemy units back for a maximum of 1.75 seconds based on Quas, in addition to preventing their attacks for a further 1-4 seconds based on Wex.
Cooldown: 25 seconds.
Mana cost: 200.
Skill builds, item orders and walkthrough guides
Exort + Wex
Level 1 - Exort
Level 2 - Quas
Level 3 - Exort
Level 4 - None (save your skill point)
Level 5 - Invoke and Exort
Level 6 - Wex
Level 7 - Exort
Level 8 - Wex
Level 9 - Exort
Level 10 - Invoke
Level 11 - Exort
Level 12 - Wex
Level 13 - Exort
Level 14 - Wex
Level 15 - Invoke
Level 16 - Wex
Level 17 - Wex
Level 18 - Wex
Level 19 - Quas
Level 20 - Invoke
Level 21 - Quas
Level 22 - Quas
Level 23 - Quas
Level 24 - Quas
Level 25 - Quas
Description
This build is a damage build. It’s focused around Exort and Wex thus making EMP and Chaos Meteor two strong nukes. It, however, leaves you with very poor disables as that’s mainly Quas’ part. We won’t ignore Quas’ effect(s) completely though, but instead utilize it as good as possible.
Game level focus
Middle game and late game.
Main role(s)
Pusher.
Damage dealer.
Farmer.
Main spells and spell combinations
IPB Image
Chaos Meteor will be you primary farming, ganking and damage tool in the Exort + Wex build. The meteor is just a shitload of pure damage and with the right timing it can be more deadly than e.g. Queen of Pain’s Sonic Wave. With Wex the meteor will cover a huge area
Sun Strike is definatly a strong nuke used to finish off escaping enemies, especially during the early game and middle game. If you’re good at timing this spell and with a little bit of luck, you’ll get a few easy kills rather fast. Don’t use it to nuke in teamcombats though, save it for the escapers.
If you have any disablers on your team (hopefully you will) EMP can be very nice for both burning your enemies’ health and mana. Especially in a team fight the explosion from it can cripple many casters, especially the ones with weak mana pools like Pudge and Earthshaker. It can be hard to use in the start without any kind of disables, but later it’s basically about throwing it as the first thing in a combat and then throw the rest of your spells. When you get your Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse, EMP will also be much more reliable, especially in ganks.
Defeaning Blast is used basically for the extra nuke damage, which is just fine with maxed Exort. Later, when Wex is getting high as well, the physical damage silence can be game breaking. However, the knockback is almost useless throughout most of the game, so basically use it to damage and cripple your enemies in ganks and team combats.
Your basic ganking combination with Exort + Wex. See if you can throw the meteor along your target’s moving direction and then directly throw Cold Snap on him. It doesn’t last very long (probably only 3 seconds), but your prey doesn’t only get stunned, he also takes an extra 30 damage for each “tick”. The residual (burning) damage from the Meteor also triggers Cold Snap and if you’re lucky to land this deadly combination correctly, you can almost stun lock your target for 2-3 seconds.
Pros
Very strong damage.
Very good for farming.
Strong against dangerous hostile physical damage dealers.
Good movement speed for e.g. chasing and farming.
Long distanced high damage aoe spells.
A great mana burn.
Cons
Nearly no disables.
Very mana intensive.
Much harder to gank someone due to the lack of disables.
Slightly farming oriented.
Core item build
Kael needs to farm most of his early and middle game and this is not rather easy with his extreme low health pool thus making one or two Bracers absolutely necessary for him. Boots are obvious. Guinsoo is important, not because of the disable, but because of the +mana and +mana regen. Kael is not only very low on health but he is also very mana intense, especially concerning the Exort + Wex build.
Items afterwards
Boots of Travel can be bought before, under or after Eye of Skadi whatever suits you best, but after that, Eye of Skadi is a must. You really, really, need the extra health. The mana and the slow are not bad either as Invoker also has a drip of battle mage in him. Finally Linken’s Sphere is, especially after its buff, very good to block disables and other hardcore nukes like Finger of Death and Take Aim.
What about buying damage items like Monkey King Bar and Buriza-do Kyanon? Invoker has rocker damage and Alacrity hurts!
Yes, he has. No, don’t buy them. Invoker needs mana, mana, mana and health, health, health. Nothing else. With my item build (Boots of Travel, Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse, Eye of Skadi, Linken’s Sphere and 2 Bracers) and 3 Exorts activated, you will have a blasting +144 damage anyway, so buying extra damage instead of extra health doesn’t make much sense.
Gameplay walkthrough
Early game
Start off with buying a Bracer and two tangoes and quickly summon 3 Exorts. Then, if possible, head towards a lane alone. The faster you get experience the better. It’s not crucial though and a double lane is acceptable. Like any other heroes you should start last hitting and denying. You will find it decent at level 1 but from level 3 and above the last hitting game will mostly be piece of cake to you. Try always to have 3 Exorts activated when you last hit in order to give you the upper hand in the last hitting/denying war. If things go right and you don’t face a too tough lane you will soon outfarm your opponents thanks to your Exort damage. If you get harassed, summon 3 Quases every time you don’t intend to last hit. That means when you’re e.g. running back or waiting for the creep waves to meet. As soon as they collides though summon 3 Exorts instead and continue last hitting.
When you hit level 5, invoke Sun Strike at the spot. You should now still keep farming like before but from now on keep an eye everywhere on the map, especially on the other lanes and see if your allies are trying to kill their lane enemies or if any of them are on low health. If you see an opportunity, try to hit and kill with Sun Strike. While you last hit try to harass enemies who get too close to the creepwave by auto-shooting on them. Your damage from Exort will harass them very effective and soon you might eventually be able to kill someone.
Basically just stand and farm your lane untill you have enough gold for at least your Mystic Staff or Ultimate Orb. You shouldn’t run around and gank very much in this state of the game. When you hit level 7 you can invoke Chaos Meteor instead but before you do so make sure Sun Strike doesn’t get required in five seconds. Quickly check the map for low healthed or threatened enemies and if you see no opportunity for it, invoke Chaos Meteor. Use the meteor to harass your enemies even more or if you see a huge wave of enemy creeps near you, use it to clear them.
See if you can farm your Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse as fast as possible. Try to always be ready to invoke Ghost Walk in case you should be ganked. Try not to invoke too many other abilities. Either have Chaos Meteor or Sun Strike invoked whatever you think is necessary and then have Invoke ready for your Ghost Walk so you can escape ganks.
Middle game
When you feel it becomes more necessary, probably around level 11, start to run into other lanes and gank people with your Cold Snap + Chaos Meteor. Do it on occasions though as your gold is not to run around and gank people yet. If you didn’t get it yet, still see if you can farm your Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse fast. As soon as you have it you will experience that mana will mostly not be a problem. Besides from ganking enemies with Cold Snap + Chaos Meteor here and then, try to reach level 15 as fast as possible. Consider reaching level 15 your main goal. Level 15 makes you able to have two abilities invoked and it bisects the cooldown of Invoke to 15 seconds.
At this point of the game you can have two abilities invoked. These two abilities should be Chaos Meteor and Cold Snap in case that you get an opportunity to get a kill on somebody. You can then always invoke Ghost Walk for escaping or Sun Strike for finishing off opponents.
Try to be more around your team now instead of going on lone journeys. Gank with them and push with them, especially when you have Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse.
When you travel somewhere summon 3 Wexes. When you fight either creeps or heroes summon 3 Exorts. Don’t think about summoning 3 Quases, they’re almost useless at level 1.
Late game
During the late game where big fights and pushes are going on, you should use Chaos Meteor and EMP as your main abilities instead of Chaos Meteor and Cold Snap. Chaos Meteor and Cold Snap are still really viable when ganking or killing single targets, but in pushes and against multiple enemies, try always to use EMP in the beginning. As soon as you’ve summoned that you can invoke Cold Snap and use it on your team’s main target or you can invoke other abilities such as Defeaning Blast if you want. It depends on what you feel is necessary. Around this state of the game you should be somewhere around 15-20 and your experience gain doesn’t really matter extremely much anymore. Try to create as much chaos and damage as possible with your high damage aoe spells and help beating on people with your 3 Exorts. Most teams have a carry hero and if your team does so too and if he/she is farmed, try to use Alacrity on him as soon as he is inside the combat and is not getting disabled. Alacrity has an extremely low duration but if your carry is allowed to hit someone for the 5 seconds it can be crucial.
When you’re above level 20 and fighting, try to throw as many spells as possible with Chaos Meteor, EMP and Defeaning Blast as the main spells. When you start to level Quas, Ice Wall, Forge Spirit and Tornado are also really good pushing and disable spells. All in all just try to aoe your enemies as much as possible and deal as much damage as you can.
Exort + Quas
Level 1 - Exort
Level 2 - Quas
Level 3 - Exort
Level 4 - None (save your skill point)
Level 5 - Invoke and Exort
Level 6 - Wex
Level 7 - Exort
Level 8 - Quas
Level 9 - Exort
Level 10 - Invoke
Level 11 - Exort
Level 12 - Quas
Level 13 - Exort
Level 14 - Quas
Level 15 - Invoke
Level 16 - Quas
Level 17 - Quas
Level 18 - Quas
Level 19 - Wex
Level 20 - Invoke
Level 21 - Wex
Level 22 - Wex
Level 23 - Wex
Level 24 - Wex
Level 25 - Wex
Description
Exort + Quas reminds a lot about Exort + Wex. Basically, you still deal damage with your meteor, but you cover a smaller area thus dealing slightly less damage. The bonus though is that you get much better at disabling and cripling enemies.
Game level focus
Middle game.
Main role(s)
Pusher.
Disabler.
Main spells and spell combinations
IPB Image
Like the Exort + Wex build, Chaos Meteor is in Exort + Quas used mainly for the damage, farm and push. However, which is slightly difference from Exort + Wex, the meteor is more pushing intensive. It covers a much smaller area now thus making it more “intented” to clear the creeps etc. in a team fight. Of course it still deals a whole lot of damage, but it can’t exactly follow the enemies like Exort + Wex’ meteor.
Ice Wall is a significant disable. Basically use it when you e.g. push or defend towers but don’t be afraid to use it in other combats either. The damage is pretty much negligible but the slow is just wonderful.
Defeaning Blast has, again and obviously, two sides in the Exort + Quas build as well. This time it’s the damage and the knockback. The physical damage silence will still be active but nowhere near as strong as with a high level Wex. The stun is therefore basically what we need from Defeaning Blast in Exort + Quas.
The Tornado’s disable is, like Defeaning Blast, what we’re aiming for. Its damage is not extremely high and the range of it is relatively low, but the disable is actually pretty good. It can be used for many things like catching up on running enemies or interrupting channeled spells.
Forge Spirit is in this situation good pushers. The downside is that they won’t last for very long in the beginning, but their damage is good and their pushing potential is fine. Always summon these in the start of the push so you don’t have to invoke them and do it in the middle of a combat.
The idea of using Chaos Meteor followed by Defeaning Blast is that you throw the meteor first and then push your enemies into it with the blast. By this you’re not only making your enemies stand still in the meteor’s path, you’re also pushing them along it making them take a considerable amount of damage.
The idea is exactly the same as Exort + Wex. Use meteor on an enemy and then apply Cold Snap on him, making him getting permastunned in the meteor’s area.
Pros
Fine disables.
Strong damage.
Good pushing power.
Good farming capability.
Cons
Low range on spells.
Low movement speed.
Core item build
Like before, Kael really needs some health which is why you, again, should get one-two Bracers depending on what you feel comfortable with. Exort makes you able to last hit and farm really good thus making you able to farm Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse rather fast. And as before Kael needs mana thus making Guinsoo an obvious choice.
Items afterwards
You will have to decide whether you should buy Necronomicon instead of Eye of Skadi or not. It depends much on how you farm, but mainly it depends on how much your team is pushing and if they need it or not. Necronomicon can be really strong against a few heroes. Skeleton King is a good example. But its pushing capabilities is also great so if your team is very pushing oriented I suggest you get this instead of the Eye of Skadi.
Gameplay walkthrough
Early game
Start with buying 1 Bracer and a pair of tangoes, summon 3 Exorts and then head off to a random lane. The lane preferred would be a solo lane because it makes you gain double the experience. A double lane is not terribly bad either though and Exort will give you a good lane control after all because of its +damage for last hitting and denying. And like any other hero this is what you should start doing. Try to get as many creep kills as possible and if your enemies run into the creep wave to farm, show them who’s the boss and harass them with your Exort damage. If you get harassed, summon 3 Quas shortly on occasions when you’re not near the creeps last hitting. That would be when you’ve pushed your wave into your enemies’ tower for example. As soon as you’re level 5, quickly invoke Sun Strike. From this point try to always keep an eye on what’s happening with your enemies, also in the other lanes. If you see your teammates attempting to kill somebody, be ready to instantly back them up with a Sun Strike nuke which will essentially get you the kill. Its damage at level 5 and/or 7 is not extremely high but nonetheless it’s okay for last hitting escaping opponents. With a little bit timing and a small portion of luck you’ll get a few easy kills during the early game just by Sun Strike only.
From level 7 you can invoke Chaos Meteor and use it to farm and harass. But before you do that, make sure that you don’t need to use Sun Strike two seconds after you’ve invoked the meteor. Take a quick look around the map and if no enemies are threatened or about to get killed, overwrite Sun Strike with Chaos Meteor. From here you can always quickly invoke Sun Strike for a fancy kill or Ghost Walk if you need to escape. Basically run around with Chaos Meteor though because its damage is really strong for pushing, farming and harassing.
Try to farm gold for your Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse without running around ganking too much. Atleast try to farm gold for one of the major items, either Mystic Staff or Ultimate Orb. If you can do this rather fast and painless you’re already doing a good job. Try always to have 3 Exorts summoned because it helps your harassing and farming a great deal.
Middle game
Exort + Quas’ game level focus is based around middle game. Around here you should be atleast level 10 or above. The main point is making Invoker fit around a pusher orientated team. Try to always have Chaos Meteor and Defeaning Blast invoked. So hopefully this is where your team’s role as a team begins. Pushes are happening and you should assist in them by trying to deal as much damage as possible with meteor comboed with different disables, mainly Defeaning Blast and Cold Snap. Try not to use your spells too much to clear normal creep waves without any enemy heroes. Have 3 Exorts summoned and help clear the creeps “the old fashion way”. Eventually, if you’ve begun to max Quas a bit, summon two Forge Spirits to help you push. When the essential of the fight starts, try to throw your meteor along as many enemies as possible. When it rolls over them, push them along it with Defeaning Blast. Also instantly be ready to run in and cut the combat in two halves with your Ice Wall. If you collide with a tower before the enemies arrive, cut them off from their side with it. If you collide with your enemies first, try to throw it in the middle of everything before they can run away. Eventually try to catch escapers in your Tornado. Don’t use it too late because its range is pretty short without a high level Wex.
While your team is not pushing or doing anything in particular, see if you can farm for your major items, probably Boots of Travel and/or Necronomicon/Eye of Skadi around this time. Eventually use Chaos Meteor to clear large creep waves.
While pushing you should summon two Forge Spirits from the start if possible and then have Chaos Meteor and Defeaning Blast invoked for the combat itself. While farming though you should have Chaos Meteor and Cold Snap ready for a possible gank. In both situations you should always have 3 Exorts summoned so you can assist your team in dealing single target damage. In some occasions, but only few, you can summon 3 Quases. This can be effective against dots for example (damage over time debuffs), especially Venomancer. It’s not effective against burst damage though so summoning them in the heat of the combat would be stupid.
Late game
When you’re level 20 and above you can pretty much use all the abilities you want without having to think about the cooldown of Invoke. From this point you should litterally spam all the spells you can in combats. When you fight, start as always with throwing Chaos Meteor and push your enemies along it with Defeaning Blast in order to maximize your damage. Run in instantly and throw your Ice Wall and eventually follow up with EMP (mostly used for damage in Exort + Quas) and/or Tornado. Also see if you can get a Cold Snap rather quick on one of the targets, preferably the main one.
Farming is not so important anymore but when you do, you can from now on run around with Chaos Meteor and Defeaning Blast. Try to always have your Forge Spirits summoned because they help you farm and push. Their range is incredible, their damage is high and their duration and survivability is sufficient. Like before, run with your team as much as possible and help them push, crible and deal damage in fights. Still have 3 Exorts summoned or 3 Quases in rare occasions. Basically just follow the flow of the game from here.
Quas + Wex
Level 1 - Exort
Level 2 - Quas
Level 3 - Quas
Level 4 - Wex
Level 5 - Invoke
Level 6 - Quas
Level 7 - Quas
Level 8 - Wex
Level 9 - Quas
Level 10 - Invoke
Level 11 - Quas
Level 12 - Wex
Level 13 - Quas
Level 14 - Wex
Level 15 - Invoke
Level 16 - Wex
Level 17 - Wex
Level 18 - Wex
Level 19 - Exort
Level 20 - Invoke
Level 21 - Exort
Level 22 - Exort
Level 23 - Exort
Level 24 - Exort
Level 25 - Exort
Description
Quas + Wex is Kael’s main disabler build. It’s really strong for crippling, interrupting, stunning, silencing, slowing and whatsoever and it can be extremely good for when your team needs to e.g. position themselves and whatsoever. The biggest downside, obviously, is that you will have nearly no damage compared to an Exort included build.
Game level focus
Early game, middle game and late game.
Main role(s)
Disabler.
Ganker.
Main spells and spell combinations
The Tornado will be your primary ganking and disabling tool. The damage on it is just fine and the disable, speed and distance is really nice. It’s not extremely hard to aim though you might miss it a few times. Also, it’s really good to capture fleeing enemies.
Like Tornado, Defeaning Blast will be used to disable as well. The positive thing is that you can disable your target(s) while your allies still hit on them, which they can’t with Tornado. The negative thing though is that it doesn’t last just as long and that it doesn’t have the same range as Tornado. Nonetheless it will be a strong disable after all and definatly not negligible in any way.
Another main disable in the Quas + Wex build. It pretty much has the exact same function as in Exort + Quas.
EMP’s damage is terrible in this build but the mana burn of it can cripple mana dependant heroes a lot. Especially with all your disables (Tornado, Defeaning Blast, Ice Wall) you will find it to be much easier to land in pushes and team fights.
Cold Snap is fine in Quas + Wex, but it’s nothing like when you have your Chaos Meteor to back it up. The debuff will last longer on your target now, but he probably won’t get stunned as much unless your team has a lot of burst damage on him.
The concept of using Ice Wall with Tornado is that you start with disabling your enemy. Then you quickly run up to them and place Ice Wall just in front of them. When they come down from the tornado effect they will either have to run into you and your allies or run through the wall and get super slowed. Either way you will almost secure your team a kill if they’re ready to follow up on your combination.
Pros
Good movement speed.
Great disables.
Good ganking capabilities.
Strong physical damage silence.
Cons
Low damage.
Low lane domination.
Weak pushing power.
Core item build
Like the other builds, 1-2 Bracers and Boots of Speed are mandatory. The difference, however, is that you should buy Necronomicon instead of a Guinsoo. The reason is that you’ll find it much harder to last hit and farm without Exort thus making Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse difficult to get. Necronomicon provides fine health and mana and the demons are great as well. It’s also pretty easy to mana burn a hero with your demons with all your disables and slows.
Items afterwards
Also like the other two builds, Linken’s Sphere and Boots of Travel are included here. Eye of Skadi is taken out though for the same reason as Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse. In most games you will probably not be able to farm it because you have nearly no damage compared to an Exort build.
Gameplay walkthrough
Early game
Start with buying one Bracer and a pair of tangoes. Then head off to whichever lane you prefer. In opposition to the two other builds which include Exort, a solo lane is not as important here. Sure, level is still good for you, but you don’t have the same kind of last hit capability now thus a lower lane control. Start doing last hits and denies with 3 Exorts summoned. They will give you a cute +9 damage, which is okay from the beginning but kind of sucks later. Anyway, try to stay passive and concentrate on farming your lane. As soon as you’re level 5, invoke Tornado and when you’re around level 7-9 you should begin to gank other lanes. Try to stand hidden in the forest and when you’re ready send your Tornado through the trees towards your target. If it’s possible, try to invoke Defeaning Blast on the spot and use it quickly to disable your opponent a few extra seconds.
Basically try to run around and gank a lot as much as possible, but don’t roam. You still need to gain experience so roaming like Venomancer or Vengeful Spirit would not be a good idea. Just gank on occasions, obviously with your teammates and not alone because you don’t have the damage yourself to kill your enemies.
Try to have 3 Wexes summoned as much as possible. If you take damage and need some healing you can summon 3 Quases instead, but basically summon Wexes. This is negligible though from around level 1-5 where the +9 damage from your Exort is still okay for last hitting and denying. Have Tornado invoked all the time and should it get necessary you can invoke some other abilities in certain situations like Ghost Walk for escaping or Defeaning Blast for disabling.
Middle game
When you can have two abilities invoked at the same time, have Tornado and Defeaning Blast ready. You should still run around and gank with your teammates by initiating with Tornado and then hit them with Defeaning Blast. Both spells are easy to hit with. If it gets necessary you can try and cripple your enemies with Ice Wall or stun them with Cold Snap. See if you can gank and push down towers, mainly the 3 outer ones. You’re still very dependant on your teammates’ damage so ganking alone is bad. You have to be lucky to kill a full or almost full hp hero on your own.
Go with your team most of the time. Farming is not so important to you as in an Exort build. Basically keep trying to gank and push towers with your team. Start every fight with throwing Tornado as a weak initiation ability. As always follow up by using Defeaning Blast. Try to hit any physical damage dealers if possible. Disallowing them from dealing damage during the heat of the combat is good. Try to run in and throw your Ice Wall across the combat field as fast as possible. If you push and collide with a tower before your enemies are there, try to shut them out of the combat by separating it in two halves with Ice Wall as well.
Basically just run around with your team and help them gank and/or push. Try to always initiate with Tornado, but be careful if your allies try to stun the target with a Storm Bolt for example. If you hurl him into the air, their stun might be a waste. Use Defeaning Blast like any other stun and of course only use it when the target is not already stunned. If your team has a lot of disables you won’t necessarily have to initiate with Tornado. You can save it to capture the target instead should he escape.
Always have 3 Wexes summoned. If you get damaged, but not bursted though, you can heal yourself over time with 3 Quases. Don’t forget to use your Necronomicon as well, especially during ganks and pushes.
Late game
Just like your middle game, your late game team combats is about disabling and crippling with Ice Wall. Disable as much as possible with Tornado. Try to aim your Defeaning Blast on as many enemies as possible but the first priority is the hostile carry hero(es). Get your Ice Wall off as quickly as possible. Use Cold Snap on the hero your team targets. If you find it necessary, use EMP as well to burn your enemies’ mana. Buff your carry hero with Alacrity. Just wait untill a moment where he isn’t permadisabled. Like always, follow your team’s flow of combat. You’re not an initiator yourself like Earthshaker, Enigma or Tidehunter so stand behind your team and disable from there. That doesn’t count for Ice Wall though because you are forced to run into the center, or even behind it, in order to place it effectively. All your main spells will have a major range so you’re a Sniper-like hero who needs to stand back and do your job from there.
Eventually when you get nearer level 25 and begin to max Exort, you can start dealing damage with Chaos Meteors and EMPs. Forge Spirit will also get much stronger once your come close to your final levels. Just like rest of the game, try to always have 3 Wexes summoned or 3 Quases when and if it gets necessary. Still remember to use your Necronomicon in the start of every fight as well as every gank. The Mana Burn is sweet, the aura is decent and the True Sight is good against Loth
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