Skywrath Mage

Dragonus, the Skywrath Mage is a ranged Intelligence hero. Equipped with tremendously powerful nukes, able to enhance magical damage and to scale into lategame thanks to his Arcane Bolt, he is a powerful hero not to be underestimated. Although very powerful, he's one of the most fragile heroes in the game, making him an easy prey for most gankers.

Tips

 * Try to max Arcane Bolt and Ancient Seal first, as the amplification of magic damage couples nicely with arcane bolt's bonus intelligence damage. Ancient Seal also silences your target, so use this to net kills early game.
 * Arcane Bolt deals a lot of damage at level 1 to level 1 heroes. When coupled with Intelligence bonus items like Mantle of Intelligence, even more damage is dealt. The mana cost is also very low, so it's a wonderful harrassment tool. It will also make last-hitting an easy task when you have some good mana regen going.
 * Skywrath Mage is a very squishy hero, so HP items are commonly built. When laning or in a teamfight, try to stay out of range of enemy auto-attacks, and use your skills from a distance, only jumping in when necessary. Force Staff solves this problem easily, allowing a quick escape if danger arises.
 * Mystic Flare is much more efficient on single heroes during ganks, since they receive the full, undistributed damage amount. Try to use this with an ally's stun, however, as the AoE is very small, and very easy to escape out of when not disabled. Using Mystic Flare during a teamfight isn't a bad idea, but it only really works if all the enemies are stunned by a large AoE teamfight Ultimate, such as Magnus's Reverse Polarity. Mystic Flare can be used to kill off the remaining heroes after the stun has been successful.
 * Rod of Atos can be a good early-mid game item, as it gives health and Intelligence: you will be more difficult to kill, and your Arcane Bolt will deal even more damage. Furthermore, the slow can be used to set up a perfect Mystic Flare.
 * You will need to be extremely careful when facing heroes that can deal damage based on your mana pool or intelligence. Examples of this include Pugna's Nether Ward, Anti-Mage's Mana Void and Nyx's Mana Burn. If these heroes are giving you trouble, you may even wish to consider a Black King Bar of your own later in the game to keep you protected from these powerful counters during teamfights.