Maelstrom

The Maelstrom is an Item purchasable at the Main Shop, under Artifacts.

Recommended heroes

 * Chain Lightning increases Sniper's farm speed, allowing Sniper to get more items quickly as a carry.
 * Sniper's long range from allows him to safely clear waves. This makes it an essential item in base defense situations.


 * Alchemist's increased attack speed while in effect of increases the chances of Chain Lightning proc, increasing the item effectiveness even more.

Tips

 * Maelstrom is the third most cost effective DPS item in the game after and a  (agility heroes).
 * Maelstrom is a very good item for speeding up farming. If the extra experience is not needed, it is good alternative to the . Since the lightning has a huge bounce range, it can be used to damage multiple camps at once when farming in the woods, if vision over the camps is present.
 * It is also great to deal with illusions or mass-summons like 's spiders, 's treants, etc. Especially useful for ranged heroes that lack area damage, since they cannot make use of cleave.
 * The Chain Lightning deals magical damage which ignores armor and Damage Block, making it good against heroes that get a Vanguard, or Tidehunter with his Kraken Shell, and against heroes with high armor like or.
 * Consider buying an to counter Maelstrom's Chain Lightning damage.
 * The maelstrom is effective to defend against mega creep.