Introduction

Come closer, my new apprentice, don't be afraid and let me welcome you to my 3rd guide

on dotafirefeaturing

INVOKERformer known as "Kael".

 Invoker, known for many things like to be one of the strongest heroes in the game, the most difficult hero to play within the game and for example the hero with the most potential if used correctly.

I am going to explain several things to you like why   Invoker is currently constantly picked and banned in the competetive scene. Why he is difficult to play. How his spells work. How they actually scale and how to use them to their full potential.

This guide is focused on explaining every aspect of   Invoker. It's designed to help new

player's to get an idea on how to play   Invoker. Nevertheless intermediate player's may learn something too.

The guide is as well explaining things on a quite high level while trying to pull you through the basics too. Don't be afraid of the length of this guide, it might demotivate you but I really try to make sure that even new players get an idea of what I am actually talking about.

If you care about supporting me or you just like to be up to date with what I am doing, you might considersubscribeing to my youtube channel. 

It would be really appreciated if you that you consider rating this guide later on, read the whole guide before you actually judge on it. Thanks in advance!Top

Guide-Overview

Before I start to get you a little bit closer to   Invoker I feel I am in need to at first explain the 3

different "build's" you may noticed at the top of this guide. These don't just differ item-and

skillwise they also really differ in the way they are commonly played. More unexperienced

player's are advised to skip this part and read it afterwards for better understanding purposes!

1. The Quas-Wex-Invoker

The combination of both,   Quas and   Wex, granting great teamfight abilities, long range initiationcoupled with a crippling huge aoe manaburn rendering low manapool enemies completely useless if catched unprepared. Means this build is mostly providing control and the ability to position yourself much easier due to the higher

movementspeed granted by   Wex instead of dealing huge amounts of damage. Means you have superior team fighting, initiating and tower defending abilities but are less effective in simple pickoffs.

2. The Quas-Exort-Invoker

The pure pushing build. Focuses on the ability "  Forge Spirit's" to push towers much easier. This is seenquite rare even in the current metagame. (which contains early tower pushing to get yourself a good advantage for the midgame - really simplified) You are able to push great and stunlock by yourself for several seconds and being useful in pickoff situations. The big disadvantage however are your limited teamfight abilities which are simply not existent for quite some time when choosing this style of play. You are able to adapt later on and adjust your skillbuild by yourself if something doesn't work out. I strongly recommend you to only play this build if you are playing on a quite high level or in a team with friends where your lineup is focused on pushing.

However seems like this kind of playstyle is fadeing out nowadays.

3. The Exort Invoker

Deals massive amounts of damage and provides superior lasthitting power. Requires excellent

timing and coordination to be really effective. Somewhat squishy due to the lack of   

Quas and   Wex early on, can geteasily picked off. With some levels able to completely disintegrate a whole team if spells are timed precisely, however hard to execute well, damage differs much depending on how you hit your spells.

Notice that all of these builds and playstyles focus on the beginning of the game. You will be able to use every single spell in the lategame, morphing into a real fearsome power, like you actually are anyway before that time.Top

Pros and ConsPros

+ extremely versatile+ can be very hard to kill or chase+ able to deal massive amounts of damage+ ranged

+ good attack animation+ really dominant in lane

Cons

- hard to master- requires presice timing to be really effective- low standard movement speedTop

Know your arsenal

Before we get started we at first need to differ between your 4 normal abilities which are:

-   Quas

-   Wex

-   Exort

and your ultimate:

-   Invoke

and secondly your Invoke Spells which are:

-   Cold Snap

-   Ghost Walk

-   Ice Wall

-   Tornado

-   Deafening Blast

-   Forge Spirit

-   EMP

-   Alacrity

-   Chaos Meteor

and

-   Sun Strike

Right, you have 14 abilities in total. The difference between your normal spells and your invoke

spells is that you always have your normal spells but you can only have 2 invoke spells at the

same time.(requiring   Invoke at atleast lvl 2)

Your first 3 Spells are orbs which are circling around you when you use them, you can have 3 orbs

around you at the same time but you can decide which one's.

The Invoke Spells are created by your ultimate depending on the current constellation of the orbs

around you,the order doesn't matter. If you already have two spells invoked and you invoke a new

one, always the oldest invoked spell gets replaced by the new one.

Your 4 normal abilities are:

Quas

Type:Targets: Active

untargetable

Allows manipulation of ice elements and grants a permanent strength bonus. Each Quas instance provides increased health regeneration.

Level

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Mana

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Cooldown

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Range

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

AoE

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Duration

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

Effect

passively grants 1 HP regeneration/ + 2 STR

passively grants 2 HP regeneration/ + 4 STR

passively grants 3 HP regeneration/ + 6 STR

passively grants 4 HP regeneration/ + 8 STR

passively grants 5 HP regeneration/ + 10 STR

passively grants 6 HP regeneration/ + 12 STR

passively grants 7 HP regeneration/ + 14 STR

Notes:

Passives work per instance and stack.

Invoker can only have 3 of any instances. If there already are any instances, the last one will always be the one replaced.

Wex

Type:Targets: Active

untargetable

Allows manipulation of storm elements and grants a permanent agility bonus. Each Wex instance provides increased attack speed and movement speed.

Level

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Mana

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Cooldown

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Range

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

AoE

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Duration

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

Effect

passively grants 1% MS and 2% AS/ + 2 AGI

passively grants 2% MS and 4% AS/ + 4 AGI

passively grants 3% MS and 6% AS/ + 6 AGI

passively grants 4% MS and 8% AS/ + 8 AGI

passively grants 5% MS and 10% AS/ + 10 AGI

passively grants 6% MS and 12% AS/ + 12 AGI

passively grants 7% MS and 14% AS/ + 14 AGI

Notes:

Passives work per instance and stack. Invoker can only have 3 of any instances. If there already are any instances, the last one will always be the one replaced.

Exort

Type:Targets: Active

untargetable

Allows manipulation of fire elements and grants a permanent intelligence bonus. Each Exort instance provides increased attack damage.

Level

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Mana

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Cooldown

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Range

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

AoE

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Duration

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

infinite

Effect

passively grants 3 damage/ + 2 INT

passively grants 6 damage/ + 4 INT

passively grants 9 damage/ + 6 INT

passively grants 12 damage/ + 8 INT

passively grants 15 damage/ + 10 INT

passively grants 18 damage/ + 12 INT

passively grants 21 damage/ + 14 INT

Notes:

Passives work per instance and stack. Invoker can only have 3 of any instances. If there already are any instances, the last one will always be the one replaced.

Invoke

Type:Targets: Active

untargetable

Combines the properties of the elements currently being manipulated, creating a new spell at the Invoker's disposal. The invoked spell is determined by the combination of Quas, Wex and Exort.

Level

1

Mana

20 (0*)

Cooldown

22 (16*)

Range

N/A

AoE

N/A

Duration

N/A

Effect

number of Invoke Spells Allowed: 1

2

3

4

40 (0*)

60 (0*)

80 (0*)

17 (8*)

12 (4*)

5 (2*)

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

number of Invoke Spells Allowed: 2

number of Invoke Spells Allowed: 2

number of Invoke Spells Allowed: 2

Notes:

Invoke can be leveled 4 times, at levels 2/7/12/17. The arrangement of instances does not matter. If the maximum number of invoke spells has already been reached, invoking a new spell will

replace the oldest invoked spell. If the spell Invoker is attempting to invoke is already in his first slot Invoke will fizzle, spending

Invoker's mana, putting Invoke on cooldown, and otherwise doing absolutely nothing. Invoker has separate responses for fizzled Invokes.

* Shows improved Aghanims Scepter values.

Invoke Spells

Cold Snap (QQQ)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 3 Quas instances. Invoker draws the heat from an enemy, chilling them to their very core for a duration based on Quas. Further damage taken in this state will freeze the enemy again, dealing bonus damage. The enemy can only be frozen so often, but the freeze cooldown decreases based on the level of Quas.

Stun Duration: 0.4Damage: 60Cold Snap Duration (based on Quas level): 3/3.5/4/4.5/5/5.5/6Stun Duration upon taking damage: 0.4Bonus Damage upon taking damage: 30Cooldown Between Stuns (based on Quas level): 0.7715/0.7430/0.7145/0.6860/0.6575/0.6290/0.6005Range: 1000Cooldown: 20Manacost: 100

Usage: Your commonly used spell while lanening or in simple pickoff engagements, use it to harass your enemy in lane or to get a kill, dont understimate the range which is insane and can help out mates of you in some situations. Keep in mind it stuns instantly on casting therefore interrupting channeling abilities.

Ghost Walk (QQW)

Type:Targets: Active

Self

Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Quas and 1 Wex instances. Invoker manipulates the ice and electrical energies around him, rendering his body invisible. The elemental imbalance created as a consequence slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas, and slows Invoker as well based on the level of Wex.

Slow Radius: 400Slows Enemy (based on Quas level): 20% / 23% / 26% / 30% / 33% / 36% / 40%Slows Self (based on Wex level): 30% / 25% / 20% / 15% / 10% / 5% / 0%Duration: 120Cooldown: 60Manacost: 200

Usage: Ghost Walk has different uses, you can use it to survive a gank just by getting invisble and walk away, atleast if your enemy has no detection. You can use it to "scout" or to get through ward spots remaining unseen. Or just to dodge an on you targeted stun, sometimes may come in handy.

Ice Wall (QQE)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Quas and 1 Exort instances. Generates a wall of solid ice directly in front of Invoker for a duration based on the level of Quas. The bitter cold emanating from it greatly slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas and deals damage each second based on the level of Exort.

Duration (based on Quas): 3 / 4.5 / 6 / 7.5 / 9 / 10.5 / 12Movement Slow (based on Quas): 20% / 40% / 60% / 80% / 100% / 120% / 140%Damage Per Second (based on Exort): 6 / 12 / 18 / 24 / 30 / 36 / 42Cooldown: 25Manacost: 175

Usage: Use Ice Wall in fights to control the enemy heroes mobility or if you need to prevent pushes onto your towers. It is also useful to drop an Ice Wall while backing off to prevent getting chased and maybe killed.

EMP (WWW)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 3 Wex instances. Invoker builds up a charge of electromagnetic energy at a targeted location which automatically detonates after a duration based on the level of Wex. The detonation covers an area, draining mana based on the level of Wex. Deals damage for each point of mana drained.

Delay (based on Wex): 3.7 / 3.4 / 3.15 / 2.85 / 2.6 / 2.3 / 2Radius: 675Damage (based on Wex): 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200Mana Drain (based on Wex): 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 / 350 / 400Cooldown: 30Manacost: 125

Usage: Use it in teamfights or general engagements to render heroes useless by removing all their mana. you can also useless while getting chased, just drop it behind you so that your enemy has to get hit by it if he wants to continue the chase.

Tornado (WWQ)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Wex and 1 Quas instances. 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. Travels further based on the level of Wex. Holds enemies in the air for a duration based on the level of Quas. Deals damage based on the levels of Quas and Wex.

Range (based on Wex): 800 / 1200 / 1600 / 2000 / 2400 / 2800 / 3200Disable Duration (based on Quas): 0.8 / 1.1 / 1.4 / 1.7 / 2.0 / 2.3 / 2.5Damage (based on Wex and Quas): 70 + 20 * (Level of Quas + Level of Wex)Cooldown: 30Manacost: 150

Usage: You can use Tornado as initiation possibility or to save mates from a high range by spinning their hunter's up in the air. You can also use it to farm or to scout out certain positions like roshan since you can do it from really far away, 3200 range is completely insane, utilize this to your advantage.

Alacrity (WWE)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Wex and 1 Exort instances. Invoker infuses an ally with an immense surge of energy, increasing their attack speed based on the level of Wex and their damage based on the level of Exort.

Duration: 9Increased Attack Speed (based on Wex): 20% / 30% / 40% / 50% / 60% / 70% / 80%Increased Damage (based on Exort): 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80Range: 650Cooldown: 15Manacost: 100

Usage: Use it on yourself if there is noone that actually benefits more from it, if you have a really farmed carry who is in position do move freely in the fight cast it on him after getting you usal combo off.

Sun Strike (EEE)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 3 Exort instances. Sends a catastrophic ray of fierce energy from the sun at any targeted location, incinerating all enemies standing beneath it once it reaches the Earth. Deals damage based on the level of Exort, however this damage is spread evenly over all enemies hit.

Delay: 1,7Damage (based on Exort): 100 / 162.5 / 225 / 287.5 / 350 / 412.5 / 475Range: GlobalRadius: 175Cooldown: 30Manacost: 175

Usage: Try to aim it where the enemy is heading or chain it with stuns, in most situations you will be in need to anticipate your enemies movement.

Forge Spirit (QEE)

Type:Targets: Active

N/A

Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Exort and 1 Quas instances. Invoker forges a spirit embodying the strength of fire and fortitude of ice. Damage, health, and armor are based on the level of Exort while attack range, mana, and duration are based on the level of Quas. The elemental's scorching attack is capable of melting the armor of enemy heroes. If both Quas and Exort are level 4 or higher, Invoker will create two spirits instead of one.

Number of Forge Spirits Summoned: 1 (2 if both Quas and Exort are level 4 or higher)Forge Spirits' Duration (based on Quas): 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80Forge Spirits' Mana (based on Quas): 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 / 350 / 400Forge Spirits' Attack Range (based on Quas): 300 / 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 / 800 / 900Forge Spirits' Damage (based on Exort): 29 / 38 / 47 / 56 / 65 / 74 / 83Forge Spirits' HP (based on Exort): 300 / 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 / 800 / 900Forge Spirits' Armor (based on Exort): 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8Cooldown: 30Manacost: 75

Usage: Use it to push towers or scout certain areas with your summons, like roshan. You can combo

this up with   Cold Snap to stunlock your enemy.

Chaos Meteor (WEE)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 2 Exort and 1 Wex instances. Invoker pulls a flaming meteor from space onto the targeted location. Upon landing, the meteor rolls forward, constantly dealing damage based on the level of Exort, and rolling further based on the level of Wex. Units hit by the meteor will also be set on fire for a short time, receiving additional damage based on the level of Exort.

Main Radius: 275Main Damage Per 0.5 Seconds (based on Exort): 57.5 / 75 / 92.5 / 110 / 127.5 / 145 / 162.5Meteor Range (based on Wex): 465 / 615 / 780 / 930 / 1095 / 1245 / 1410Additional Damage Per Second (based on Exort): 11.5 / 15 / 18.5 / 22 / 25.5 / 29 / 32.5Cooldown: 30Manacost: 75

Usage: Use it in teamfight and try to hit as most enemy heroes as possible for maximum damage, you

can combo in with   Deafening Blast if you target many heroes or you can use it with   Cold Snap for only one certain enemy hero.

Deafening Blast (QWE)

Type:Targets:

ActiveEnemy Units

Ability invokes if Invoker has 1 Quas, 1 Wex and 1 Exort instances. Invoker unleashes a mighty sonic wave in front of him, dealing damage to any enemy unit it collides based on the level of Exort. The sheer impact from the blast is enough to knock those enemy units back for a duration based on the level of Quas, then disarm their attacks for a duration based on the level of Wex.

Stun Duration (based on Quas): 0.25 / 0.5 / 0.75 / 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75Attack Prevention Duration (based on Wex): 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4Damage (based on Exort): 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 / 280Range: 1000

Cooldown: 30Manacost: 75

Usage: Use it to defend towers or to get view in certain area's which it provides in its radius. Works

well togheter with   Chaos Meteor and   Ice Wall.Top

Quas-Wex-Invoker

Before I get to explain the different playstyles of   Invoker I want you to notice something, everytime you see this: "(*)" it has the following meaning: I choose to explain every item in every build even if I already mentioned it before in another build for a simple reason, the item might have other uses or reasons to be good in these different cases. Everytime you see this sign, it means that I already explained the certain item before in another build where you could look it up for more detailed information.

Why you should play Quas-Wex-Invoker?!

ADVANTAGES

+ quite tanky+ great teamfight+ high movement speed+ cost effecient spells+ Ghost Walk(Escape Mechanism)

DISADVANTAGES

- lower pickoff potential due to missing global capability- less damage than Exort Invoker- low mana pool

- low lasthit damage

Skillbuild-Explanation-Justification

You are getting 2-3 early levels in   Quas because the regeneration granted from   Quas makes you like immune to harrassment in lane, means guranteed levels because its hard to force you out of the lanewith this much regeneration. The spell which helps you to win the lane or to

dominate is   Cold Snap. Just combine   Cold Snap with a few hits, you deal good damage and your enemy is unable to hit you or use any spells that require some casting time.

The reason for maxing   Wex after getting a few points in   Quas is because your most powerful

spell as a Quas-Wex-Invoker is   EMP, its dealing more damage and draining more

mana based on   Wex to a maximum of 400 mana drained rendering every support and low manapool hero complteley useless in a teamfight.

 Invoke is taken every single time you can take it because the improvements are immense. You may already have noticed that your ultimate has 4 levels and the time you can actually skill your ultimate differs as well. You can take your ultimate at level 2, 7, 12 and 17 which you should always do.

The one point in   Exort is really essential and shouldn't be overlooked. This one point grants access to 4 more spells which can easily mean a kill or an opportunity to save a teammate.

At the point you completely maxed   Wex you can freely decide how to skill furthermore.

Choose   Exortfor more damage or skill   Quas to get more sustain and defensive

improvements, if you want to provide some push power make sure you have atleast 4 points in   

Quas and   Exort, move on to the descison above.

Items-Explanation-Justification

STARTING ITEMS

Start Items are pretty standard for a Quas-Wex-Invoker, if you recognize the player "Ferrari 430", currently playing for IG, you may not even dare about questioning this Start Items which are the ones he gets when he is playing Quas-Wex-Invoker. If you dont know him, here comes your justification.

 Tango's are enough for lanening with Quas-Wex-Invoker because

you already have enough regeneration and you dont need a   

Healing Salve. You can easily regen up with   Quas and if this isn't

enough for you, just eat one   Tango.

The   Blades of Attack might sound questionable for you, let us take a closer lookat it. They grant you 9+ dmg, as you may have noticed your standard hitdamage is really low, for a Quas-Wex-

Invoker where you won't get damage through   Exortyou will most

likely get ****ed in terms of lasthitting in mid lane.   Blades of

Attack helps you to avoid this and are easily upgraded into   Phase Boots which are really essential for a Quas-Wex-Invoker, dont you think so?

 Iron Branch is the most cost efficient item in the game therefore never a bad thing to invest in, talking about Starting

Items. You can upgrade it into   Magic Wand later on if you wish.

EARLYGAME

 Phase Boots are the most viable choice in most cases because you greatly benefit from movementspeed meaning better

positioning. You don't need the heal of   Tranquil Boots nor do you

need the attackspeed or stats from   Power Treadsnor are your

spells so expensive that you need   Arcane Boots at any given time.

 Magic Wand shouldn't actually be in need to justify, shortly it will save your *** so often it isn't even funny and considered overpowered anyway. This item can provide a single target heal of 225 hp and 225 mana for a price of ~500 gold. You really can't ask for much more.

 Town Portal Scroll, always for gods sake, ALWAYS carry a tp scroll at any given time starting at 6-7 minutes into the game. You can use it to maybe save an allied hero or to shift into a certain lane to gank. Really important at any stages of the game.

CORE ITEMBUILD

 Sage's Mask, this item stands more or less for a certain group of items which provide mana regeneration, you start with this little item

and later upgrade it into  Eul's Scepter of Divinity, in most cases if you don't waste toooo much mana you should be able to get

through the earlygame with   Sage's Mask.

 Bracer, this item also stands for a certain group, we are talking about stats in general which enhance your hero in many ways, dont forget about them. A really useful and often built item on Quas-Wex-

Invoker is   Drum of Endurance which providesstats and is built with a bracer which makes you harder to kill early game, let yourown decisions apply.

EXTENSIONS

 Drum of Endurance is really useful and often built item because it helps your whole team with its aura as well as with the charge you can pop to improve attack-and movementspeed. Provides stats for you which are really good and rendering this item an overall useful choice, only skip if you really need other item's or if someone of your team already builds it.

 Force Staff one of the best items for initiating, fleeing or postioning. Normally not needed because you already have a great amount of movementspeed asQuas-Wex-Invoker but can be really useful in certain situations and alwayscomes in handy, if your personal playstyle tends to be more aggressive then try it out yourself, a good extension anyways.

 Eul's Scepter of Divinity provides great mana regeneration and int as well asgranting you a sort of initate to combo your spells with. Can be a really good item and really fits into playing Quas-Wex-Invoker where you can make great use of all of its improvements like

even the movementspeed. With   Phase Boots,   Drum of

Endurance and   Eul's Scepter of Divinity you are around ~450 movementspeed at any given time, getting haste whenever you use

your   Phase Boots active.

 Aghanim's Scepter is probably the best item available for   Invoker, removing the mana cost of his ultimate as well as lowering the cooldown by a significant amount down to only 2 seconds on lvl

17.(  Invoke lvl 4) You should in like every game try to get this item, if you say you can't even handle the 5 second's cooldownthen screw you, you better learn it fast. Definetly one of the best item's if not the

best you can purchase on   Invoker.

LUXURY

 Heart of Tarrasque rendering you a really heavy target to bring down if you are not stunlocked to death. Allows you to get many spells off due to your high hp.Great regeneration effect togheter

with   Quas when out of battle. If you haveproblems with stuns or physical dps from your enemy, there might be better choices.

 Necronomicon is a really good item for pushing or to counter enemy heavy Aoe strategys because someone of your enemy in the fights will most likely kill your Necrowarrior which results in a 600 pure damage punishment for the one slaying it. The aura provided by the other necro guy is really useful as well.

 Bloodstone if you have a really good game you might transtion into an early Bloodstone to render you a really heavy force, you greatly benefit from the lower respwan time if you actually die you will also heal your allies in a huge Aoe. The mana regeneration is really great and coupled with a few more charges really fearsome, I

don't recommend you to build this item in standard situations though because you really miss out other more important items this way.

 Scythe of Vyse, the most superior item of all mentioned in this section. Allows you to take an enemy hero out of the fight for 3,5

seconds and deactivating his passive abilities. Hexing a   

Faceless Void for example will deactivate his beloved Backtrack ability making it much safer to use spells on him and don't actually waste them maybe or just kill him really fast in general. You might interrupt an importantenemy teamfighter or the enemy carry. This item can turn whole fights aroundand should been built

on   Invoker in nearly every possible scenario.

SITUATIONAL

 Black King Bar, is simply the best item to make sure you can move freely in the fights and get all your spells off. You can also use it to escape out of completely horrible situations by activateing BKB and

tp outunless there are heroes like   Beastmaster which ultimates break magic immunity.

 Linken's Sphere is really close to get the same job

done as   Black King Bar does. Letting you move freely in fights and providing mana regen, this item is however only useful if you have to really go into the lategame which shouldn't actually happen, though it might be useful in a few situations where you are missing mana regen and you only need to protect yourself against like 2-3 directed spells in a fight.

 Refresher Orb one of the most powerful items in the game granting you to reset all your abilities instantly which basically means you can pull out your whole repertoire 2 times instead of one or just drop a certain combo twice in a row. Never underestimate an Invoker who is brave enough to purchase this item. The only one who ever did this in a competetive match, as far as I remember, was "Dendi" from Na'vi.

 Shiva's Guard is really useful against a physical dps focussed team. It is protecting yourself with the high armor it grants as well as your teammates because of the -attackspeed aura your enemies receive. Theactive slow ability will help you to control the fight and helps you to hit your spells.

 Veil of Discord is a really good item but only in teams where your team is focused on magic damage which shouldn't be the case tooo often.

I don't recommend this item because it is really high situationaland only in a few situations useful, however may become a valid choice in the right

team, don't however let this item delay your   Aghanim's Scepter tooo much.

 Ghost Scepter is really useful if you have to deal with heroes which have like only physical damage, for

example   Lifestealer or   Ursa, you can do some

other things too with this item like dodge   Tinker's   

Heat Seeking Missile or the   Ensnare of   Naga Siren which can come in handy. Note that this item transfers yourself into the "ethereal" form which means you are immune to physical dps while any sort of magic damage is highly amplyfied as long as you stay in that status, so you either use it wise or don't buy it if you have really heavy nukers in your enemy

team like   Lina.Top

Quas-Exort-Invoker

Why you should play Quas-Exort-Invoker?!

ADVANTAGES

- great pushing power- burst damage and lockdown- good sustain- great lasthit damage

DISADVANTAGES

- low movementspeed- no escape mechanism- weak teamfight

Skillbuild-Explanation-Justification

You will take 2 early points in   Quas for the usal sustain, you can actually reverse and take   

Exort first instead of   Quas if you feel you need the lasthit damage more early. Nevertheless you

will end up with 4 levels in   Quas and   Exort, as well as 2 levels in   Invoke. Thats where

your pushing starts to get really strong. You can now take a point in   Wex to enable the

remaining spells you could   Invoke. For pushing purposes I recommend you to go on with   

Exort. If you feel you need a little more sustain, then just take like 1-2 points in   Quas but

you should definitely max   Exort and   Wex before   Quas, there is really no point in

maxing   Quas instead of anything else. You get your ultimate everytime you can for obvious reasons.

Items-Explanation-Justification

STARTING ITEMS

 Tango and   Healing Salve, as I recommend you to

skill   Exort over   Quas, you will need the heal in this case but you will do well in lasthits and so somehow even it out or pull your advantage through.

 Gauntlets of Strength and   Circlet are providing great starting statsand can be build really

early into   Drum of Endurance which you should get instead of any other hero in your team when playing Quas-Exort-Invoker. The charges are really useful in either pushing situations orfleeing situations or chasing situations rendering it very useful at any given time, especially earlygame.("pushingstyle")

 Iron Branch can be easily build into   Magic Wand which is one of the best items in the game for its price, do the math and you gonna seewhat I mean.(*)

EARLYGAME

 Boots of Speed, every hero needs them as early as possible, shouldn't require this much of justification.

 Magic Wand, really awesome item, granting good stats build with

the most cost effecient item in the game, the   Iron Branch. (*)

 Bracer, provides good survivability and can be build into   Drum

of Endurancelater on which are crucial for your pushing concerns.

 Town Portal Scroll is one of the most important items in the game, just pls for the love of god, always carry one! (*)

CORE ITEMBUILD

 Arcane Boots are really essential in this kind of build because pushing means high mana cost for your whole team which can be

refilled by your   Arcane Bootsmakeing them really useful in pushing situations.

 Drum of Endurance will greatly help you through the earlygame as

well as inpushing scenarios, make sure you don't get more than 3   Drum of Endurance's in your team, 2 might sound crazy but are quite legit even though they doesn't stack.(*)

EXTENSIONS

 Force Staff is a really good item positionwise as it grants you to get out or into acertain situation, not only you, keep in mind you can forcestaff your mates as well providing some sort of initiation or escape mechanism.

 Aghanim's Scepter lowers your ultimates cooldown drastically

and removes its manacost as well. Every   Invoker should get this item in every game and scenario.(*)

 Blink Dagger has its up's and down's like almost every item in Dota

2(DotA). You can compare it really good to   Force Staff if you want to, guess what: I want to. You get an almost everytime

better initiation with   Blink Dagger instead of Forcestaff, in better words you have more range and a shorter travel time than with

a   Force Staff. You however loose the stats from   Force Staff as well as theability to forcestaff mates, feel free to make your choice.

 Necronomicon one of the best items for pushing purposes, also really useful against heavy Aoe lineups. Dont understimate your little 2 Necro-guys, they got some really nice tricks in their backhands.(*)

LUXURY

 Heart of Tarrasque, when you are pushing and you might go for some risks or have to take some harrasment, items that regen you

up like   Urn of Shadows active ability or   Mekansm's really come

in handy, a job which   Heart of Tarrasque does best, as long as out of combat. Provides the right endurance to procced pushing in many cases. (*)

 Bloodstone can be really good for pushing, because it provides vision where you died, lowers your cooldown on respawn and heals your allies in a huge Aoe if you actually die. Mana and hp regeneation are really useful too.

 Scythe of Vyse helps you to shut an enemy hero down for an amount of 3.5 seconds which can help you to secure an escape or to win a teamfight, try to get it if possible after your Core items if you feel an additional disable is actually needed.

SITUATIONAL

 Black King Bar is a great item against heavy focus from enemy heroes if it is disable or magic damage wise. If you experience getting shut down in fights rendering you quite useless, then BKB is the right choice for you. (*)

 Assault Cuirass is obviously a great item for pushing but shouldn't get on your itemlist unless you get focussed by enemy hardcarry's, other heroes that are more in the focus of the enemy's hardcarry should get it instead of you.

 Eul's Scepter of Divinity is really helpful in terms of stats and its active ability which really shouldn't be forgotten. It can save you or disable an enemy hero/unit. You candodge stuns with it or use it as initiate, really useful item all in all. (*)

 Linken's Sphere helps you to avoid that you get picked off in most situations but is not that safe like

for example a   Black King Bar whichneeds to be activated by yourself. So doesn't really help you to avoid pickoffs, you need to decide what is the best in your situation. (*)

 Pipe of Insight is a wonderful item for pushing, you are not really the right hero to get it on though but if there is no other that benefits from itself better than you, you should definitely get it. Your team benefits so much from it that it's not even funny anymore.

 Refresher Orb, speaks for itself quite a lot, the one who is able to use this item to it's greatest potential should buy it if you can't simply don't.(*)

 Shiva's Guard gets really useful if your team gets initiated on. It alsolowers the enemy heroes amount of attackspeed in a big Aoe. If you get focused by enemy physical dps get this item as well.

 Veil of Discord is a good item but only useful to a certain extent. If you have a high magic damage dealing team it might be a good item but usally it would be taken by another hero. Only in really rare situations a good item but worth mentioning it.

Top

Exort-Invoker

Why you should play Exort-Invoker?!

Advantages

- great teamfight power- immense burst damage- great lasthit damage

Disadvantages

- low movementspeed- no escape mechanism- really hard to execute

Skillbuild-Explanation-Justification

The first 3 level's are really opened up for you, you either take   Exort,   Invoke,   

Exort or   Quas,   Invoke,   Quas. However you should have around 2 points into   Quas and

then try to max   Exort. In most cases you will go for   Exort first to help out on other

lanes especially if you face up an enemy trilane with atleast 2 heroes. You max   

Exort because you want your   Sun Strike to do as much damage as possible, later on when you

start to leave your lane you should definitely pick up 1 point in   Wex to get access to your 2

most important spells,   Chaos Meteor and Defeaning Blast. You max   Wex after you

maxed   Exort to improve your spells which were named before. You can if your team requires

pushing switch to get 4 points in   Quas in total, after that you should definitely max   

Wex out instead of skilling   Quas.

Items-Explanation-Justification

STARTING ITEMS

Healing items, because you play Exort-Invoker you

will highly focus on getting   Exort instead of   Quas which will cause you missing the regen and therefore require more healing items than a Quas-

Wex orQuas-Exort   Invoker. You take one set of   

Tango's and a   Healing Salve to be able to heal up

enemy harrasment with   Tango's and if you lost a high amount of hp you can heal yourself up again with

your flask.(=  Healing Salve)

 Iron Branch's are the most cost effecient items in Dota 2(DotA) which makes them perfect to fill missing slots in your start inventory. (*)

You will remain with ~250 gold after you bought the listed items. In this case now you should decide freely what you want to buy but I recommend you to

save the money for really early   Boots of Speedbecause you are really slow with a standard movementspeed of 280.Exort-Invoker's might need

early   Boots of Speed to survive a gank in mid because you have no sustain because you are

skilling   Exort and you just are a really easy

target without   Boots of Speed, think about it andgive it a shot but you can decide yourself what to get with

the remaining gold instead of saving it up for   Boots of Speed.

EARLYGAME

This might look a little bit empty but thats essentially everything you need in the earlygame:

 Boots of Speed really important to even out your poor movementspeedespecially really early on. (*)

 Magic Wand grants stats and is build out of your start items. Really good item in terms of surviveability and its uses in teamfights where it fills its charges like crazyare really great too. (*)

 Town Portal Scroll is a really important item for either helping your teamdefensively or punish enemy heroes which are diving your

towers even useful forshifting into a lane to push.   Town Portal Scroll has so many uses and shouldalways be carried at any given time by every hero on the map, don't make the mistake to not have any, might cost you a game. (*)

CORE ITEMBUILD

 Phase Boots should be your choice in terms of boots. The reason is quite simple and often gets overlooked: You have really low

movementspeed and it still low after purchasing   Boots of Speed if

compared to other heroes with   Boots of Speed.  Phase Boots help you to even the missing movement speed out due to its active

ability. You could also choose to go for   Power Treads which are a poor choice in my mind but increase your physical damage output by a lot, a choice of personal playstyle but I don't recommend it though.

 Force Staff is a really good item to help you to get in position or out of dangerous situations. It has many other uses like helping a mate

to initiate or to get him out of trouble.   Force Staff is a Core item because it also helps you to navigate in a fightand chase or

escape at any given time,   Phase Boots are just not enough for an 

Invoker who is not skilling   Wex for a long time.

EXTENSIONS

 Blink Dagger might sound crazy now because you

should actually have   Force Staff at this time but here

it comes, you more and more often see really good   Invoker players useing both for abolutely overwhelming positioning purposes. You can for

example blink in   Ice Wall and forcestaff yourself out again and things like that. It also makes youreally hard to catch and grants you a really long range initiate if you think about it. Hard to use but I highly recommend you to try it out. (*)

 Black King Bar is adapt in situations where you experience to be useless due to some certain disable flying on your head every time. Bring an end to this by purchasing BKB because it's really important that you get your spells off. (*)

 Aghanim's Scepter renders   Invoker just simply so much more powerful. A must have item in every

game when playing   Invoker. (*)

 Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a really useful choice for a variety of reasons, it basically helps you in any kind

of situation and is really common among   Invoker players.

 Scythe of Vyse is one of the best items in lategame because of its strength to disable an enemy for 3.5 seconds but it is even more fearsome if gotten really early and not that late means it's a really viable

choice but don't prolong your   Aghanim's Scepter too long for this.

LUXURY

 Heart of Tarrasque makes you an ultimate tank but you should only buy it if that iswhat you really truly need. (*)

 Bloodstone is somehow similar to   Heart of Tarrasque but a little weaker in terms of tanking ability and better in terms of mana regeneration and this 2 or 3 special things it got in its arsenal. (*)

 Shiva's Guard is incredibly good against a team that trys to push you or to initiate you. Keep in mind that this item gives flying vision in the area where you use itthat might come in handy to juke your enemies or to forsee their jukes. (*)

SITUATIONAL

 Linken's Sphere is really good at stoping you to get initiated on. It will help you to move freely in fights but there will be some certain items which are probably better so you need to consider yourself what item might be best in certain situations. (*)

 Ghost Scepter is an incredibly good item if you experience getting killed by physical damage. It protects you for an incredible amount of 5 seconds from any physical damage but amplifies magical damage though. Use it wisely. (*)

 Refresher Orb, you might already thought about that item I guess, well it can be incredibly good if you have the time to drop all your spells which requires a huge presence of mind to know what you actually did and can do again. I only recommend this for players

that actually played   Invoker often enough and are brave enough to try this out. (*)

Top

Know your role

What is it really what you actually do you might ask, this section will help you to understand your task in the game throughout the game.

The most important thing for you to understand is that you are by no means a what is mostly considered "ganker". You are either a "pusher", "initiator" , "counterinitiater" or in general a "teamfighter"kind of hero. You are not supposed to solo gank with runes or just solo gank at all.

You can support ganks with  Sun Strike when you are Exort-Invoker. You are at first supposed to stay in your lane, win your lane and the most important thing: Don't die!

You are supposed to get levels because you get freaking powerful with levels. Means stay in your lane,lasthit, get experience and try to make it as hard as you can for your opponent in lane. If you see a chancecapture it and go for the kill. There are some certain counters against you but you can however do what you need to do in most cases.

Ganking however as a Quas-Wex-Invoker might be appreciated in pub games but is actually not your task.As soon as you have got some levels and the first teamfights or towerpushes occur you do what you do best. You cause absolutely havoc in the fights. Avoid getting picked off and counterinitiate. When you counterinitiate, whatever you skilled, try to always hit as much enemy heroes as possible with your spells.

You need to be aware that you are really hitting either fast or hard depending on your skillbuild, so don't just run away after you got your spells off unless you expect getting focused.Top

Laneing

 Invoker's Laneing position matters really much. Here I am going to explain how to lane   

Invoker and how to play in the lane itself. I will go a bit into strategy here, I really tried to make things

as easy and clear as possible, so even newer players understand what I am talking about.

 Invoker requires levels that is why he is either laned in the so called "safe lane" aka the

"short lane"or in mid.Short lane for Radiant is bottom, short lane for Dire is top, short lanes always

meet the enemy "hard lane" also called "suicide lane" if you are facing up against 2 or more

enemy heroes.

 Invoker will most commonly go mid, where he is able to level and farm quite well. You can

howeverimprove his farm and really secure his levels if you lane him in the safe lane. If you fear

of getting countered to much in mid because for example the enemy got a   Queen of Pain then

you can safe lane  Invoker and send another quite good solo hero to mid.

In your own safelane you will most commonly stand against 1 hero besides from pub games where

you will face a common dual lane as long as the enemy got no jungle hero. I don't

recommend you to play Invoker at a sidelane, even the safe lane. Your team's carry will in most

cases get this lane because he can farm freely and provides much more then an Invoker in the

lategame with equal farm.

In a 2v2 setup you are not guaranteed to win the lane with   Invoker that's why you shouldn't

lane there if you expect an enemy dual lane there then just went mid instead and try your best.

But if you face up against 1 hero, you will if played correctly farm freely and uncontested. Your

support has to make sure that the enemy hero in lane is unable to get close to the

creepwave. If you got lvl 2 means you got your first spell either   Cold Snap or   Sun Strike. You

need to be more agressive yourself and try to combo up with your support to achieve kills if your

enemy dares to come close to the creeps.

Your most important task while laneing is to control the creepwave or the so called "Lane

Equilibrium" while your support is keeping the enemy solo hero off the lane. Controlling

the Lane Equilibrium means to keep the creepwave at the same spot all of the time. You achieve

that by only doing the lasthit on creeps and by denying your own creeps from time to time. I

hope this video helps you to understand what I am talking about and shows you how you can achieve

that.

If you however ****ed up yourLane Equilibrium you need your support to pull a double stacked

camp to kill your creep wave and help to restore the previous situation, the problem in this

case is that the enemy solo hero is able to come close to the creeps means you have to

play much more aggressive at this time tokeep that hero out of experience range(around

1000). The enemy hero might be able to get some exp and levels which shouldn't have

happend but does happen sometimes.

If you execute this nearly perfectly you can force the enemy solo hero to remain lvl 1 all of the

time, requires lasthit knowledge and coordination with your support, a question of training.

Source:

http://www.dotafire.com/dota-2/guide/in7-gankers-guide-to-invoker-1794

Author:

iN7.Ganker