Anti-Mage

Anti-Mage is a fast melee Agility Hero whose true strength comes in his ability to annihilate enemy casters. He is granted with naturally high movement speed and low base attack time, both of which boost his physical damage output considerably. His signature ability is Mana Break, which makes him a huge threat to mana-reliant heroes, mainly Intelligence-based casters. Not only does it deal additional damage and burn mana with each attack, but it also leaves casters defenseless and vulnerable to his ultimate, Mana Void. Blink is a highly versatile ability that allows Anti-Mage to instantly teleport short distances, thereby allowing him to escape, chase, and even farm with ease. Spell Shield greatly increases Anti-Mage's magic resistance, allowing him to shrug off the assaults of enemy nukers without breaking a sweat, making him even more potent against casters. Finally, Mana Void finishes off targets after their mana has been burnt, inflicting heavy damage to both the target and enemies surrounding the target. The damage Mana Void can potentially deal scales extremely well into the late game, as enemies' mana pools only grow larger over time. If Anti-Mage cannot be contained early on, his power will grow the point that he is able to exterminate the most potent of casters, all in his devout quest to end those who would fight with magic.

Recommended items

 * Battlefury is one of the most important and necessary equipment for Anti-mage, as the splash significantly speeds up Anti-Mage's ability to farm. Combined with his Blink, Anti-Mage can clear and travel between jungle camps very quickly.
 * Quelling Blade is extremely common, and important for Anti-Mage if you are going to flash farm and split push. Together with Battlefury and Blink, it makes Anti-Mage one of the fastest farmer in the entire game. Some players in competitive games typically like to get it after getting Battlefury, but since it's an item they're going to get later on either way and it makes farming much easier despite the low cost, it could be a viable pickup at low levels.

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 Tarrasque.
 * A quick Battle Fury 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).
 * Don't just simply be farming. If the enemy is pushing Anti-Mage can push a different lane solo with a reliable escape mechanism with Blink and TP scroll and can indirectly defend by forcing the enemy to defend.
 * Be very wary of heroes like Shadow Demon and Dark Seer, as illusions created from you carry the Mana Break spell as well, and combined with Anti-Mage's high Agility, could easily turn the tides of a teamfight.
 * Once you get full slotted you could opt to sell your Battlefury for a different item but its creep clearing abilities are still very useful and sometimes critical. You should sell it if you absolutely need another item that can turn the tides, such as a Monkey King Bar.

Trivia

 * Anti-Mage's real name in DotA was Magina; in Dota 2, his name was removed for unspecified reasons.
 * Anti-Mage's alternative name, "BurNIng", is a tribute to the professional DotA player BurNIng.
 * Anti-Mage's twin brother is Soul Keeper.