Mask of Madness

The Mask of Madness is an Item purchasable at the Main Shop, under Artifacts.

Recommended heroes

 * After using, , and , Sven has very high armor and does not need to cast more spells, allowing him to kill enemies easily with high damage and attack speed.


 * The attack speed allows Ursa to quickly apply stacks to the enemy while  is not active, as well as increasing his farming speed.
 * The damage reduction from, as well as Ursa's high Strength and overall tankiness, help Ursa mitigate the armor reduction.


 * The attack speed increases the chances of triggering, allowing Sniper to deal more damage per second while keeping enemies at a distance.
 * Sniper's long attack range from and the slows from both  and  make it harder for enemies to get close to him, making the reduced armor less of an issue.


 * Once he jumped with and placed  Void can activate Berserk to increase damage output.


 * Berserk's debuff is negligible on Wraith King. The minus armor is not very scary since he has a secondary life and the silence does not matter if he uses it after he has stunned someone with Wraithfire Blast. Berserk is one of the best choices to maximize DPS and movement speed. Lifesteal also stacks with his Vampiric Aura.

Tips

 * Mask of Madness is the most cost-effective DPS and Attack Speed item in the game, costing only 15.83 gold per point of attack speed. The second best DPS item is the for an agility hero then a.
 * Use your abilities before activating the Mask of Madness, particularly if you have a disable such as a passive stun.
 * The active is extremely useful while farming. Taking more physical damage is negligible when simply running between lanes or hitting lane or jungle creeps, especially when the item itself provides sustain by its lifesteal.

Items synergy

 * : the high attack speed of the mask of madness synergize with the chance based Bash. The movement speed allows you to chase and the bash prevents your prey from hitting you back effectively.
 * : will protect you from being focused while the Mask of Madness is active.
 * : with an Agility hero to burn mana quickly with the 120 attack speed granted by the Mask of Madness. You can lifesteal from Manabreak. The Diffusal Blade's active Purge can also apply a 100% movement slow.
 * : will make all your attack crits allowing you to deal a lot more damage and lifesteal quickly and also will silence your enemy from disabling you.
 * : it allows you to move at or close to the maximum movement speed. Activate the Mask of Madness before going invisible. It can also be used to escape.
 * : can reduce your enemy's damage output, making the negative armor debuff less threatening. You can increase your movement speed if you activate your mask of madness before getting invisible.
 * : protects you from disablers and nukes.

Counter Items

 * : will return the damage you take, the armor reduction debuff will make you return more damage than you take.
 * : will disarm your ennemy, can disarm for 5.5 seconds a ranged hero (3 seconds against a melee).
 * : will make the ennemy unable to attack for 3.5 seconds, escaping and using a Black King Bar.
 * : will slow your ennemy, it's more effective to get it on a ranged hero against a melee hero.
 * : the root is powerful against a melee hero.
 * : disable an ennemy and allow you to escape.
 * , and : can be used to outrange an ennemy.