Outworld Destroyer/Guide

Ability Builds

 * Astral Imprisonment is almost always the best level one point, as it is OD's only utility spell and can be used in the early game to disable an enemy to escape, or to give time for allies to help.


 * An early point in Arcane orb gives OD a way to harass the enemy without drawing creep aggro, and an effective but expensive way to secure contested CS.


 * Maxing Essence Aura first provides a large pool of mana and a source of mana regen, allowing him to cast his expensive spells indefinitely.


 * The Spell to max after Essence Aura is best determined on how the laning phase went.
 * Maxing Arcane Orb second maximizes his kill potential in the midgame, but a maxed Arcane Orb requires >1600 mana in order to cast indefinitely, which requires that one successfully farmed enough early items to supplement his natural int growth, and will often require one to hoard the later skill points until he reaches his level ten talent.
 * Maxing Astral Imprisonment second gives him a powerful AOE nuke to flash-farm waves and jungle camps, while leaving Arcane Orb at a cost low enough to allow him to leave it on autocast while farming.


 * Sanity's Eclipse is an extremely stat dependent spell, and delaying it in favor of maxing your second spell faster is often worthwhile.

General

 * Stealing intelligence from enemy heroes for 80 seconds (140 with the talent) can make a big difference between enemy heroes and give you a high advantage.
 * At level 7 (which is where can be maxed out) with  to intelligence, 2x,  (or  because it have same intelligence) and 8-10 intelligence steal from enemy hero or  (to  for great crowd control) its nearly impossible to lose your mana.


 * Arcane Orb is incredibly costly as an auto skill, and as such, you should only invest into it when you have the mana capacity to sustain it.
 * This is your main damaging ability later on in the game. As an intelligence carry, you directly benefit from items which increase your intelligence due to the increase in your right-click damage, mana pool and resultant Arcane Orb damage.
 * Arcane Orb deals pure damage, making it a great skill to harass enemies with very high armor.
 * Due to Outworld Devourer's skill set, Arcane Orb would be your main consumption, and recovery, of mana.
 * Casting Arcane Orb on neutral or enemy creeps is a good way to recover lost mana, as every 3rd shot is guaranteed to recover mana, provided that you have learnt and are able to recover more than 300 mana in the process.


 * The first point should generally be invested in Astral Imprisonment, as is too costly early game and your mana pool is too low for it to be an effective use of mana consumption for pure damage.
 * Astral Imprisonment's supportive utility allows for creative application of the spell in.
 * It can be used to save yourself or allied heroes from spells with long delays, such as and  if timed correctly.
 * In addition, you can save allied heroes from potentially lethal abilities such as and.
 * Similarly, it can also be used to dodge projectiles. It is important to time it so that the projectiles connect while imprisoned, since the spell does not disjoint projectiles.
 * Astral Imprisonment can be used on them to negate some of the damage from damage over time abilities, such as and, which can potentially end up saving the ally. Against long lasting debuffs, it can be cast twice before the debuff expire.
 * When misused and poorly timed, the application of Astral Imprisonment heavily backfire.
 * Just like how it can save allies from spells and damage, it can also do the same for your opponents, so communication with the team is important to prevent wasting of spells.
 * It's entirely possible for you to cause a teammate's demise by casting Astral Imprisonment on them at the wrong time (such as when they have just begun to channel an escape ability).
 * Casting Astral Imprisonment removes your opponent from the battlefield for 4 seconds. This buys you or your allies enough time to use or a  to escape to safety.
 * Astral Imprisonment is applied to all enemy heroes when they are hit by an 's . As mentioned above, timing is key, as placing enemies in a state of Astral Imprisonment can heavily disrupt the flow of battle.


 * Essence Aura is a great support aura for Heroes with low cooldown and low cost abilities that are used to harass their opponents (such as 's, 's and 's ).
 * Essence Aura can be considered as the first skill to learn depending on your hero line-up, as early-game spell harassment can greatly deter your opponents and mess up their ability to last hit effectively.
 * Essence Aura carried by illusions are fully active and will trigger the mana recovery aspect of the skill, allowing the illusions of Outworld Devourer to be of even greater support for the team by providing multiple areas of coverage.
 * Early points in Essence Aura can be useful if you find yourself in need of mana, as it provides a respectable amount of 125 mana at level one, which is half of what an energy booster provides.
 * As Essense Aura uses a pseudo-random distribution mechanic, Outworld Devourer needs 1000/1200/1400/1600 mana in order to not run dry of his mana pool.
 * Casting Arcane Orb on neutral or enemy creeps is a good way to recover lost mana, as every 3rd shot is guaranteed to recover mana, provided that you are able to recover more than 300 mana in the process.
 * Essence Aura does not proc on item abilities. Be wary of your mana consumption when using items such as.


 * This ability is best used as a finisher; after acquiring enough stolen intelligence in a teamfight or gank, can be used to snuff out any remaining enemy heroes, especially escaping invisible heroes like,  and
 * Keep in mind that heroes which gain intelligence at extremely high rates such as, and  will often take minimal if not zero damage from this ability. As such, it's best to refrain from using this ability against these heroes unless you're significantly ahead in intelligence and certain it can finish them off.
 * is applied to all enemy heroes when they are hit by an 's Sanity Eclipse. As mentioned above, timing is key, as placing enemies in a state of Astral Imprisonment can heavily disrupt the flow of battle.
 * An Aghanim's Scepter's Sanity Eclipse can be used as a means to temporary remove all the enemy heroes from the field, giving your team time to regroup and follow up with other spells, or to retreat to safety.

Items
Starting Items:
 * provides cheap compact stats for a mid-laner with low base damage.
 * gives a little bit of extra damage, and can be consumed to turn the tide in a close fight.
 * from supports allows the mid-laner to maximize their early game stats.

Early Game:
 * will make Harbinger even faster, which is important in middle lane.
 * and/or provide OD with more regen, making him less reliant on shrines.
 * A second is a common item for intelligence heroes during the laning phase, as they can be built into.

Core Items:
 * gives more attack speed and intelligence to cast more Arcane Orbs.
 * provides both initiation and escape mechanism, which he lacks.
 * is the natural upgrade from Force Staff, giving more cheap stats, improving OD's low attack range, and providing a sizable attack speed bonus when used on an enemy target.

Situational Items:
 * provides some much-needed regen and armor, and is a cheap way to amplify the damage of his ultimate and Astral Imprisonment.
 * increases his mobility even more, allowing OD to blink to safety after a self-cast Astral Imprisonment.
 * protects against most disables and nukes, buying Harbinger the time to stack intelligence and use his ultimate more effectively.
 * will give him more armor for survivability, as well as more intelligence. The slow also helps him either chase, or escape.
 * provides him with both additional intelligence and a silencing disable, giving him more time to deal damage with his Arcane Orb.
 * gives the most mana in a single item, as well as immense survivability for Outworld Devourer by lifestealing from his Arcane Orb and his other spells. It also allows Sanity Eclipse to be used more frequently.
 * gives a high attack speed boost, allowing to deal more damage in battles and steal intelligence faster.
 * will provide him with additional health and intelligence, as well as the ability to root against a single target.
 * gives him even more intelligence and attack speed, and also gives him a Silence ability that also amplifies his damage for the time period. Also builds later into.
 * is one of the strongest late-game items on OD, as it allows Sanity's Eclipse, as well as items like BKB and Hex to be cast twice, which can be devastating in teamfights.
 * provides all round stat, health and mana boost, as well as causing Sanity's Eclipse to apply Astral Imprisonment to all enemy heroes under the effects of it.