Invoker/Guide

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This build primarily focuses on bringing disables and crowd control to the table, at the cost of striking power and a reduced mana pool due to lack of Exort. Invokers using this build focus on casting EMP and Tornado in teamfights in order to disrupt the enemy and destroy their ability to cast spells, while using Cold Snap for single-target disable. It also specializes in ganking, allowing players to use Ghost Walk to roam and Cold Snap and Ice Wall for single-target disable. With a value point in Exort, Invoker can also utilize Alacrity to boost the attack speed of himself or an ally, and use Deafening Blast for additional disable. This build is usually best combined with teammates who already have damage, but are lacking crowd control such as Zeus, Ursa, Leshrac, and many others. A disadvantage to this build is usually the lack of farm Invoker usually gets compared to Quas-Exort builds.

Quite common in the competitive scene.

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This build improves Invoker's nuking and disable potential, but leaves him lacking in reach. The main objective is to get 4 levels in each skill so that you have access to two Forge Spirits, which can be done at level 8 by skipping leveling your ultimate. Two Forge Spirits, in combination with Cold Snap, can inflict tremendous amounts of damage on a single target, which can get you kills against lone enemies without escape abilities. Invoker can also use Sun Strike, Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast to great effect, inflicting large amounts of Magical and Pure damage on enemies. This build is normally suited best against melee-heavy lineups, or lineups that have many heroes that need to be closer to their opponents. It can also be played as a more farming oriented build, with use of forge spirits and perhaps alacrity (if you have one value point in Wex) to push waves and gain farm, and relocating to different areas on the map with Boots of Travel. This works quite well because Forge Spirits can kill one camp (or give extra damage),while Invoker pushes creep waves with Alacrity. However, Invoker can also kill solo heroes and assist in teamfights, especially if he gets Aghanims Scepter within 15-26 minutes of the game. However the main focus of Quas-Exort in a game usually is to get enough farm for quite a number of items (by farming, getting solo kills and participating in teamfights), and also pushing around the map, relieving pressure from other teammates perhaps in teamfights. You don't often see many pro players going for an early win with Quas-Exort Invoker (if they wanted an early win, they usually would go for Quas-Wex for the added teamfight ability). A disadvantage of this build is that it requires Invoker to be very good at farming, overall map awareness, team fighting ability, and generally requires higher skill than Quas-Wex. It also isn't a very good build if the other team has a very early oriented lineup, however it doesn't mean it's a bad build early game as Invoker has Sunstrike to assist lanes and Forge Spirits and Cold Snap (situationally Meteor and Deafening Blast) to use in fights.

Probably the most used in the competitive scene.

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This build gives Invoker a combination of striking power and reach, but leaves him unable to disable opponents effectively and results in a comparatively frail caster due to lack of Quas. Invoker should generally focus on nuking targets or providing utility via Alacrity, which can greatly increase the right-clicking power of an ally or Invoker himself. This build gives Invoker the ability to deal large amounts of damage with Sun Strike, Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast, as well as a measure of crowd control via EMP and a long-reaching Tornado. This ability build is most effective against heroes that are excellent at kiting their enemies, such as Drow Ranger and Sniper. However, it is also extremely potent if your allies have strong initiators such as Clockwerk, Jakiro, and Faceless Void. Disadvantages are that it provides next to no control at all, needing other allies to keep enemy heroes in place. Also Invoker isn't really designed to be a right click hero, he is more of a hero that uses powerful spells to change the tide of a fight.

Relatively rare seen in the competitive scene.

General

 * Quas Exort Invoker needs lots of farm. Getting an early Boots of Travel to get faster around the map and kill creeps is always a good thing. Usually followed by Drums of Endurance, Blink Dagger or Force Staff and Aghanims Scepter.


 * Invoker is highly dependent on levels to make his spells effective.
 * Many of Invoker's spells are linear AoE effects, which can be devastating in chokepoints.
 * Many of Invoker's spells have strong synergy with each other. Understanding how to combo them is key to playing Invoker well.
 * All of Invoker's spells have fairly long cooldowns. If your spells are on cooldown and there is a fight, try to push towers to make enemies teleport back to their base and then teleport back yourself.
 * Preparing the right orbs before an engagement makes it easier to chain spell combos.
 * It is fairly easy to say, but using each spell and to it's best ability rather than just spamming them (unless you're doing combos) can often separate good and amazing Invoker players.
 * A build that some pro players use is Boots of Speed, Ring of Aquila, (optionally Midas) Boots of Travel/Drums of Endurance (can be both or swapped around), Blink Dagger and Aghanims Scepter at around the 22-27th minute mark.


 * Quas raises Invoker's strength, and therefore raises his maximum health.
 * Active Quas orbs gives health regeneration, which is especially useful for staying in lane.
 * Often the last orb to be maxed as it doesn't provide much for Invoker other than 2 Forge Spirits and health regen.


 * Wex raises Invoker's agility, and therefore armor. This is not very useful for Invoker.
 * Active Wex orbs increase Invoker's movement speed, and can be useful for chasing down enemies.


 * Exort raises Invoker's intelligence, and therefore his attack damage.
 * Active Exort orbs gives even more damage.
 * Players often level up Exort first to make last-hitting easier in lane.


 * Invoke should usually be leveled as soon as it is available, as reducing the cooldown can let you be ready to bring a third spell to bear on short notice. At higher levels, being able to bring a spell to bear every five seconds makes Invoker a very dangerous threat in teamfights.
 * Whenever a new spell is Invoked, the oldest of his two currently Invoked spells is removed from selection. Beware of which spell combinations you wish to execute, and queue them through Invoke accordingly.
 * The above can be facilitated more easily by switching the spell orders as needed. If the oldest currently Invoked spell is Invoked, it will swap positions with the newest one without putting Invoke on cooldown, allowing Invoker to immediately queue another spell for Invoke. This can be crucial for quickly ordering spell combinations if a required spell for that combo is already the oldest Invoked spell.
 * Careful not invoke a spell that's still on cooldown, as this will waste Invoke's cooldown. Since the ability icon disappears after being replaced, players will have to rely on instinct and experience to know whether or not a spell is on cooldown.
 * If you want to cast three spells in quick succession, it can help to have the orbs for the third spell prepared before casting the other two. This allows you to cast your first two spells and then Invoke the third immediately once the oldest Invoked spell is on cooldown. This can let you cast nuke-heavy combos such as Sun Strike + Chaos Meteor + Deafening Blast, as the first two spells have delays that allow you to queue up the third so that you can land all three on a target simultaneously.
 * With an, it is possible to Invoke spells every two seconds once you hit level 16 or higher. If your reflexes are good enough, you can barrage the enemy with spells as quickly as you can queue them up. However, this is only truly useful in the late-game once all of your orbs have been leveled up enough for their associated spells to be truly potent.


 * Cold Snap has strong utility in the early and mid-game, however it decreases in effectiveness later in the game.
 * Using Cold Snap on an low armor enemy under attack by creeps will cause that enemy to be stunlocked from creep attacks.
 * Cold Snap stuns upon cast, and has a long 1000 range (Invoker's auto attack range is 600). This is useful for interrupted channeled spells and items.
 * Cold Snap is very strong when combined with any spell that deals damage over time, as each small damage instance procs the mini-stun and damage.
 * Forge Spirits have strong synergy with Cold Snap, as each spirit's individual attacks (as well as your own) can proc the mini-stun, and both spells are based on Quas. When attacking a target afflicted with Cold Snap, try to stagger the Forge Spirits so that they attack at different intervals, in order to increase the chances of proccing the mini-stun.
 * Cold Snap can greatly impede the attack and cast animations of enemy players, preventing them from retaliating for the duration of the debuff.
 * A unit under the effect of Cold Snap cannot cast spells with a cast time higher than/cannot perform attacks with an attack time higher than 0.37/0.34/0.31/0.29/0.26/0.23/0.20(/0.17) seconds, assuming Cold Snap always triggers exactly when off cooldown.
 * Cold Snap is hard countered by abilities like, , and.


 * While using Ghost Walk, Invoker's footprints can be seen when he is close to an enemy. This will reveal his presence to the other team.
 * Ghost Walk can be used as an escape ability, or to sneak up for a gank.
 * Without a few levels in Wex, Invoker is very slow while using Ghost Walk.
 * At least 4 levels of Wex in order to negate the movement penalty.
 * Consider shifting to three Wex orbs before going invisible to offset the movement penalty.
 * With higher levels of Wex, Invoker is faster than normal with Ghost Walk, allowing him to chase down or ambush enemies.
 * Using any items or queuing any orbs will break invisibility. As such, if the goal is to run away, do not change orbs or activate Phase Boots, as doing either instantly reveals Invoker.
 * Ghost Walk can also be used as a roaming and ganking spell, as its extremely long duration relative to the spell's short cooldown allows Invoker to remain invisible indefinitely with enough mana.
 * With enough levels in Wex, Invoker can maintain up to a 61% movement speed bonus with Ghost Walk (up to 40% from the spell, and a maximum of 21% from three active Wex orbs), making him extremely fast and able to move around the map quickly.


 * Ice Wall is a strong slow and damage-over-time spell that works best if the enemy is forced to stand in a particular area. The slow and wall duration is based on Quas, while the damage over time is based on Exort.
 * The wall is placed perpendicularly in front of him upon casting.
 * Placing Ice Wall in the middle of a teamfight can greatly inhibit the positioning and mobility of enemy heroes should they decide to commit to battle. The tremendous slow can easily trap any hero who does not have spell immunity or a Haste buff, giving Invoker's team a powerful edge.
 * Ice Wall is best used as a disengagement spell, as it drastically slows chasing enemies and give teammates time to escape and its wide area prevents enemy players from easily getting around it to avoid the slow. It can also be used against solo enemies attempting to escape, as it can lock them down in position for casting your other spells.
 * Cold Snap has strong synergy with this spell, as both spells are based primarily on Quas. Using Cold Snap on an opponent who is already in the wall causes them to take the mini-stun every second and prevent them from moving outside of the damage and slow zone, effectively pinning them in place.


 * Due to its delay, EMP can be hard to land on enemies. However, its long cast range and wide effect radius also make it difficult to avoid. When attempting to cast EMP on enemy heroes, it is best to hit them with a set-up spell first.
 * Tornado has the strongest synergy with EMP since it can disable multiple enemy heroes for up to 2.9 seconds, and both spells are based on Wex. Hitting the enemy team with a Tornado while simultaneously deploying EMP can virtually guarantee connecting the spell.
 * While it loses much of its potency in the late game due to mana pools getting larger, EMP can still greatly disrupt enemies at all stages of the game. Destroying the mana on low-intelligence heroes, particularly strength and agility casters, can render them impotent in the early- and mid-game, while doing so in the late-game can hinder an enemy carry's ability to cast spells (such as or ) or use item abilities that require mana (such as ).
 * Experienced players will reserve their to recharge their mana right after being hit, so don't assume an EMP will disable them for good.


 * Tornado is Invoker's most powerful crowd-control and set-up ability, as its long range allows him to disable the entire enemy team from long range, and remove buffs from them, setting them up for subsequent spells. Its range and damage is based on Wex, while the cyclone duration is based on Quas.
 * Remember that enemies are completely invulnerable while cycloned, so you still need to time your spells to hit after they land. The cyclone duration is based on Quas, so be mindful of how many levels of Quas you have as well.
 * Tornado dispels enemy buffs. Heroes relying on combat buffs such as, and  can be easily countered with a single well-placed Tornado that hits multiple heroes. In single-encounter situations it can also remove powerful buffs such as , ,  and.
 * Tornado's extremely long range allows good Invoker players to snipe fleeing enemies with good prediction. You can use it to interrupt Town Portal scrolls, or simply outright kill enemy players who are at low enough health.
 * Tornado gives a small 200 AoE flying vision along its path, so it can be used as a scouting tool.
 * If Invoker gets caught by surprise, he can instantly react with Tornado as a last ditch escape mechanism, throwing enemies into their to buy him enough time to escape.
 * With good timing, Tornado can be used to stack creeps by lifting them into the air just before their respawn time.


 * Alacrity is a very strong single-target buff on a low cooldown that greatly amplifies the physical damage output of a friendly carry, one of Invoker's summons, or Invoker himself. The attack speed buff is based on Wex, while the damage bonus buff is based on Exort.
 * Alacrity is not very useful in the early game due to its scaling, however it is extremely strong in the late game once you or your teammates have more damage output. Increasing the damage and attack speed of your team's hard carry can allow them to inflict large amounts of physical damage against their targets.
 * Keep in mind that this spell can be cast on all allied units, not just heroes. As such, you can use it on allied summons, such as Lone Druid's Spirit Bear and Warlock's Golems, as well as siege creeps, depending on the situation.
 * Spamming this ability along with Forge Spirits can bring down Invoker's mana to low levels.


 * Sun Strike is a deadly nuke with global range, which is perfect to kill fleeing Heroes. Its damage is based purely on Exort.
 * Sun Strike is one of Invoker's most useful spells, as it has utility at all points in the game. During the laning stage, Invoker can use it to add his striking power to a gank, especially if combined with a friendly stun that holds an enemy in place for more than 1.7 seconds. Once past the laning stage, it can be used to snipe fleeing enemies or check Roshan's pit.
 * Sun Strike's delay makes it hard to land on enemies, so some set-up or prediction is required in order to use it well. If you can predict an enemy player's movements, you can finish them off from across the map if they're already at low health.
 * One very useful way to use Sun Strike is to target it on the enemy's fountain if you or your teammates cannot finish off a teleporting enemy hero in time. As they are most likely going to arrive in their fountain, you can kill them inside their own base while they are still at low health.
 * Beware that Sun Strike splits its damage evenly among all struck enemy units, so if more than one enemy is within its effect radius the spell loses at least half of its potency. As such, smart enemy players clump up alongside their own low-health teammates in order to prevent Sun Strike from killing them.
 * Sun Strike can pierce spell immunity. This means that if an enemy hero attempts to activate spell immunity and then teleport out (such as or ), you can still damage them and potentially kill them before they can escape.


 * Forge Spirit is one of Invoker's signature spells, allowing him to summon one or two Forge Spirits to do his bidding. Its attributes are affected by Quas and Exort.
 * In general, players who wish to specialize in using Forge Spirits level up at least 4 each of Quas and Exort, getting the ability to summon two of them as early as level 8. Forge Spirits can bring a great amount of offensive potential to the table, allowing Invoker to use them to harass, push, or scout.
 * One of the strongest aspects of Forge Spirits is that they reduce enemy heroes' armor with each attack, increasing their vulnerability to physical damage at the same time as they are dealing that damage. This makes them very strong at killing enemy heroes with enough lockdown, such as from Cold Snap.
 * Beware that each Melting Strike attack requires expending mana from the Forge Spirits' mana pool, so the amount of armor that they can reduce is dictated by how many Quas levels Invoker has.
 * Forge Spirits make good targets for Alacrity, as they can deal tremendous amounts of damage when focusing a single target, whether in a teamfight or while pushing.
 * Forge Spirits usually last longer than the cooldown on summoning them, based on how many levels of Quas Invoker has learned. As such, leveling Quas can allow Invoker to have the Forge Spirits active while having different spells on Invoke, which can allow Invoker to have two spells for immediate use and a third queued to Invoke, while the Forge Spirits are active.
 * Summoning Forge Spirits while there are active instances immediately destroys them, with no gold or experience bounty for enemy heroes. Be sure to re-summon your Forge Spirits if they are about to be killed by the enemy, in order to deny them any gold or experience they may earn from killing them.


 * Chaos Meteor summons a meteor that, after a delay, rolls forward and deals damage and inflicts a burn debuff to all enemies it passes through. Its roll distance is based on Wex, while its damage and burn are based on Exort.
 * Due to the delay, Chaos Meteor is best combined with a set-up spell, such as Tornado or the active from Eul's Scepter of Divinity. Unlike sun Strike, Chaos Meteor does not have a global range that allows room for prediction.
 * In order to get the most from a single meteor, it is best to try to keep enemies inside of the meteor itself for as long as possible. Spells that can forcibly displace the enemy such as Deafening Blast synergize well with Chaos Meteor as the target also gets disabled for the duration of the displacement.
 * Chaos Meteor has the longest cooldown out of all of Invoker's spells. Be careful about when you cast it, as you have to wait almost a minute to cast it again.


 * Deafening Blast is Invoker's most general-purpose nuke and disable. It stuns and pushes based on Quas, disarms based on Wex, and deals its nuke damage based on Exort.
 * In general, Deafening Blast is best utilized with levels in Quas and Exort for the stun, push and nuking power. Wex applies the disarm after the stun, which is situationally useful depending on the target, but for general purpose Quas and Exort are more important.
 * Never underestimate the disarm portion of Deafening Blast, however. If cast against an enemy carry in a teamfight, it can render them unable to attack at a critical juncture, all the more so if they have already used their spell immunity beforehand.
 * With seven or more levels in each orb, Deafening Blast sends out an omni-directional wave that hits all targets around Invoker. With good positioning, it is possible to nuke and disable the entire enemy team with this spell.
 * The displacement due to the push can be extremely powerful in the right situation. Cast in the right direction, Deafening Blast can push enemies over impassable terrain, or in the direction of teammates.

Items
Starting Items:
 * s are bought to stay in lane longer, since they give good health regeneration for a low price.
 * is recommended as it increase Invoker's overall stats, particularly his attack damage so that he can last-hit more easily. It should generally be sold once bigger items are needed, as it does not build into anything useful for Invoker.
 * is often bought to increase his starting damage for lasthitting, and to consume in an early fight, potentially avoiding death for a low cost.

Early Game:
 * are important to get quickly, as Invoker has one of the lowest base movement speeds in the game. Getting a movement speed advantage over your opponent allows you to position yourself for casting your spells more easily.
 * provides Invoker with additional mana and health with its charges, which is important on any frail caster. Using the charges can give Invoker enough health to survive an attempted gank, or allow him to cast one more spell to ensure a kill.
 * gives Invoker more stats, particularly strength for increasing his survivability. It also builds into a Drum of Endurance.
 * gives Invoker the much needed mana regeneration to stay in lane and cast spells after nerfs to his mana and mana regen.
 * gives solid stats for only one item slot.

Core items:
 * are the best boots for Quas-Wex Invoker, as the speed boost offsets his low base movement speed. Additionally, the bonus damage makes last-hitting easier, important on Invoker since he requires lots of gold in order to be effective.
 * are the best boots for Quas-Exort Invoker (along with Boots of Travel), as they give him stats and attack speed, making last hitting easier.
 * further increases Invoker's attack and movement speed, and provides him with extra attributes and damage.
 * gives Invoker stats and larger charge storage when upgraded from Magic Stick. A full charge Wand can allow Invoker to cast any of his spells so long as he has the mana to Invoke it first.
 * drastically reduces the cooldown time for Invoke, removes the mana cost for queuing spells, and increases the maximum possible level of each of his orbs by one while also providing him with an additional level in each. It increases Invoker's effectiveness across the board by making all of his spells more potent and allowing him to bring many more spells to bear in fights through Invoke's reduced cooldown.
 * should be carried by all heroes all the time. In Invoker's case, his ability to bombard the enemy with his spells makes him a powerful ally to have in any fight.

Situational items:
 * should be picked up if Invoker had a good early game, especially with Quas-Exort build. It increases his experience gain which is incredibly important for Invoker.
 * is a useful item, allowing Invoker to split push and farm with Forge Spirits, and teleport to team fights. It also gives him lots of movement speed.
 * gives good attributes and plenty of mana and mana regeneration, increasing Invoker's survivability while also giving him the mana he needs to cast his spells. Hex is also one of the strongest hard-disables in the game that can completely turn teamfights around.
 * is a very useful item. Its active ability can be used to escape, to chase enemies or to save teammates from sure death, as well as re-position yourself for your spells. As well, it provides Invoker with more intelligence and health regen, allowing him to cast spells more easily.
 * is a very strong item to build on Invoker, as he requires good positioning in order to make the most of his spells. Its mobility greatly increases his offensive potential as well as survivability.
 * is a great utility item, as it gives Invoker many powerful benefits for a cost-effective price. It increases his intelligence and gives him powerful scaling mana regen, allowing him to cast spells more frequently, and the increased base movement speed offsets his low mobility, making positioning for spells much easier. The Cyclone is also a very powerful disable and is often used to set up difficult-to-land spells such as Sun Strike, Chaos Meteor, EMP}, and so on.
 * is a good item to build on Invoker if you're constantly being focused or disabled by the enemy. The spell immunity allows you to stand on the front lines to cast your spells without being interrupted.
 * turns Invoker into an unstoppable nuker. Two back to back spell combos will kill just about any hero.
 * is extremely strong on cast-heavy nukers, and can make Invoker a force to be reckoned with. The item grants a tremendous amount of health and mana, reduces the cooldowns on all of his spells as well as Invoke, and allows him to lifesteal from his nukes, making him much harder to bring down in fights.