Initiating

Initiating is the capability of Heroes to cripple a group of enemies before a clash to gain an upper hand. The concept of initiating is central to success at the mid-and late game phase of any game of dota, and mainly deals with the art of starting a teamfight in such a way that your team already is advantaged when the fight begins. In a team without heroes well suited to this task, each Teamfight could become a messy affair, or your team runs the risk of always getting attacked first.

There are several ways to accomplish this: Either catch the other team while they are badly positioned, at a time when your own teammates are ready to pounce on them, or isolate and immediately kill one enemy, then mop up the rest when they clump up to try to defend him. There are a hundred ways to handle a good initiation, but often, the ingredient is a hero with a Blink Dagger and a game-changing Ultimate, a warded map, and a very good sense of intuition and map awareness.

Being the Initiator means that you are basically in charge of aggression for your team. However, some heroes who are commonly labelled as Initiators (Sand King, Earthshaker, Enigma) are equally good at immediately winning a team fight that is already underway, because the other team might be loathe to clump themselves together under the threat of huge aoe damage until they have an opportunity to actually attack the other team.

Heroes
Initiators are the most important driving force in winning team clashes. Most Initiators have an area skill/s that delivers heavy damage and/or severe crowd control status effects to multiple enemy heroes. Initiators generally double as a Tank, Support, or Roamer. Some Initiators focus more on damaging singular targets to help eliminate them, usually the enemy Carry.

Be aware that playing an Initiator requires one to be bold and to be aware of the intentions of one's team. Should one initiate, one's team must be able to commit.

Heroes whose primary function is Initiation are Tidehunter,  Earthshaker,  Sand King,  Clockwerk,  Axe,  Enigma, and  Vengeful Spirit. The full list of heroes with initiative capabilities is below.

Items
Items really depend on what type of Initiator one could be. If their initiating skill requires them to be close such as Earthshaker's Echo Slam and Tidehunter's Ravage, an item such as Blink Dagger, Force Staff, or even Shadow Blade can really ease the job. If their initiating skill requires them to be uninterrupted throughout the battle such as Sand King's Epicenter or Crystal Maiden's Freezing Field, Black King Bar allows them to to remain active throughout the clash for them to deliver the most out of everything. Initiators also need to disable the most amount of enemies at one time, so Eul's Scepter of Divinity and Scythe of Vyse are also great items. Area debuff items such as Shiva's Guard and Assault Cuirass also greatly help. Initiators also make great carriers of area support items such as Mekansm and Pipe of Insight. Items that increase survivability such as Heart of Tarrasque and Blade Mail also work.