Anti-Mage

Anti-Mage is a very fast melee agility Hero with high magic resistance who can tear through enemies with high mana. However he has a small health pool, which means he must avoid damage at all costs; his Blink ability goes a long way towards achieving this. Like most Carries, he reaches his full potential in the late game.

Gameplay
Anti-Mage's true strength comes in his ability to decimate enemy casters. Though he's weak against armored heroes, such as Slardar and Tidehunter, his magic resistance and mana burning powers make him fearsome against many intelligence heroes. His signature ability is Mana Break. Not only does it deal additional damage, but it also leaves casters defenseless, and makes them vulnerable to his ultimate, Mana Void. Blink works as both an escape and a means of chase. If Blink is used constantly, however, it may be on cooldown when it is needed most, leaving Anti-Mage without an escape. Spell Shield allows Anti-Mage to shrug off the damage dealt from most nukes and abilities, making him resistant against the assaults of spell casters. Finally, Mana Void finishes off targets after their mana has been burnt.

Anti-Mage can be more effective against heroes with shallow mana pools than against heroes with large reserves, because he can quickly burn their entire mana pool with the aid of Manta Style illusions and prevent them from casting any spells at all.

Tips

 * Blink is the most common choice for your first skill point. Put some points into Spell Shield and stats if you are facing strong opponents or go for Blink, Mana Break if you have a superior lane.
 * Blink is the best escape mechanism in DotA. You can also use it to chase, maneuver, or to avoid spells during battles.
 * Manta Style is a commonly built item on Anti-Mage as your illusions can also burn mana with Mana Break, allowing you to burn 192 mana per hit. It also provides general stats and a means to remove most disables, especially silences, that could prevent escaping via blink.
 * Sometimes it's more useful to focus your Mana Burn on heroes with smaller mana pools, because every hero in DotA has to cast spells and leaving them mana-less in the beginning of the battle helps a lot. Unfortunately, this won't work on most of intelligence heroes since their mana pools are too large to be burned out quickly enough.
 * Anti-Mage becomes a real threat somewhere around level 13 if he is not underfarmed and underleveled too much. Keep farming, ignore distractions, don't hesitate to steal kills from your allies.
 * Your laning phase is an absolute nightmare. Many heroes can cripple your early game by harassing you and chasing you away. Also, if you don't utilize your laning phase the game may well end before you reach Anti-Mage's maximum potential. Ask your teammates to babysit you.
 * Anti-Mage has relatively low HP. If you don't have your core items yet or can't kill an enemy in a couple of hits, it's not wise to chase them for too long. The situation can go wrong at any time.
 * While Spell Shield does a very good job protecting you from magical damage it does not save you from nasty side effects like slows or disables.
 * Mana Void is very difficult to use to full effect. Constantly check enemies with large mana pools. Use it on enemy casters after they have used their skills and burnt most of their mana. It can absolutely devastate an enemy team if used properly. Note that it does have a stun, for when you need to break channeling spells and cancel teleports.
 * You are utterly useless in team fights if you can't physically attack enemies. There are many ways to counter raw physical damage in DotA, especially if it's melee. Decent players will buy items like Scythe of Vyse, Blade Mail and Ghost Scepter to shut you down. Timing your entrance into the battle is everything for you.
 * If you find yourself being killed quickly with stun locks and high physical damage, it is a good idea to pick up Vanguard for the HP boost and damage reduction. Alternatively, a vitality booster provides most of the benefit and can be later built into a heart of terrasque.
 * A quick Battlefury will greatly increase your farming ability which will greatly help later in the game. If you do not need a Vanguard, Battlefury is a good alternative.
 * Never use Blink to start a fight unless you know you can win it. Doing so could leave you stranded in a bad situation.
 * Although Anti-Mage has the potential to be a carry with his extremely low BAT (Base Attack Time), with his extreme mobility and manaburn in the middle game he can be played as a ganker and semi-carry (mana burn is more effective early as armor and mana pools are lower).