Invoker

Invoker is a ranged intelligence hero who is very difficult to master. He is unique in that he possesses a total of 14 abilities in his arsenal; three of them - Quas, Wex , and Exort - are reagents and one is his special ultimate Invoke. The three abilities he learns throughout leveling up can have three instances, which serve as the basic ingredients or components for him to create a new ability using his ultimate. Once the reagents or elements are combined, he can invoke one out of ten different abilities. All of his invoked abilities are capable of a multitude of actions, from damaging enemies to aiding his allies, and even saving himself from danger. His three reagents can be upgraded up to level 7 which determines the power and potency of his invoked abilities, making it more powerful than an ordinary spell. Because of this, he can be played in almost any role possible. Invoker can be a carry, semi-carry, ganker, pusher, initiator or even support. His three reagents provide passive attributes with each level, and each instance of his reagents provides a passive bonus, allowing for specialization at early levels and situational boosts at later levels. His extremely flexible nature allows him to use many different combinations of items effectively but also make him dependent on solid builds and a good gold advantage. Because of the extra points needed to level his three reagents, Invoker also has a special Attribute Bonus ability at level 25 that allows him to gain 6 points in all stats.

Recommended 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.

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.

Core items:
 * are the best boots for 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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:
 * can be picked up if Invoker has a good early game. Doing so means that Invoker will be fairly weak into the mid-game.
 * 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.
 * 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 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 a useful late game item, allowing Invoker to appear at any fight, and even do a bit of split pushing with Forge Spirits.
 * 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.

Trivia

 * In the earliest version of Invoker, the order of instances mattered when Invoke was cast. Invoker therefore had access to 27 spells, including most of the 10 still in the game (though with some differences). For more information, see here.
 * Invoker is (or used to be) a Magus like, who calls him the Rubick rival 01.mp3 Rubick rival 02.mp3  rubick ally 01.mp3 Arsenal Magus.
 * Invoker's Deafening Blast cast response invo ability deafeningblast 06.mp3 "Sonic boom!" is a reference to the signature move of Guile from the Street Fighter fighting game series.
 * Invoker (Along with some players and casters) sometimes jokingly refers to his Chaos Meteor as a meatball ( invo ability chaosmeteor 07.mp3 "Behold the meatball!"), due to their highly similar appearance.
 * One of Invoker's lines when he casts Chaos Meteor is invo ability chaosmeteor 06.mp3 "Gallaron's Abyssal Carnesphere!" Carne is Portuguese, Spanish and Italian for meat, and a sphere is the geometric shape of a ball. So, "carnesphere" is another way of saying "meatball".
 * Invoker's line for purchasing a invo blink 02.mp3 "Dagger of the mind." references the "Dagger" monologue from Shakespeare's play, Macbeth.
 * Invoker's respawn line invo respawn 10.mp3 "Knowing me... knowing you." references the song by the band Abba, of the same name.
 * Invoker's voice actor, Dennis Bateman, also voices the Spy from Team Fortress 2. Invoker's killing response Invo kill 10.mp3 "You die as you lived: insipid and ignorant." is a reference to this, as the Spy also has 2 similar killing responses: "You died as you lived: running away!" and "You died as you lived: morbidly obese!".
 * As referenced in the details of his name, Invoker was known as Kael, or Kael'thas Sunstrider, in DotA. Kael'thas is best known as the Lord of the Blood Elves in the Warcraft universe. The Invoker of DotA also makes use of his Warcraft 3 model and voice.
 * 's responses when meeting Invoker may also be related to this, as Dragonus was also a blood elf in DotA.

Name

 * In DotA, Invoker's name is Kael, based on the WarCraft Blood Elf Mage character, Kael'thas Sunstrider. His fun name is Kal-El, a pun conflating the name Kael with the birth name of Superman.
 * In April 2011, a fake DotA 6.72 Chinese changelog referred to Invoker as "卡尔" ("Kael", transliterated as "Kǎ'ěr"). A PlayDota forum member translated the changelog with Google Translate, in an attempt to get a quick, rough translation. Google Translate mistakenly translated "卡尔" as "Carl". PlayDota forum members were at first confused, then entertained by the mistake. IceFrog, the lead developer of DotA and Dota 2, joked "Carl had it coming".
 * In December 2011, drafts of Invoker's Dota 2 lore referred to him as "Garral" twice, presumably a nod to "Carl". This name was excised upon Invoker's release in January 2012; the lore currently refers to him only as "the Invoker".
 * Invoker's voice lines include the name Carl three times. Invoker has a small chance to speak one of these lines when his model is selected:
 * invo spawn 01.mp3 "Carl!"
 * invo rare 04.mp3 "Throughout the eons I have been known by many names…but my true name of power…is Carl."
 * invo rare 05.mp3 "Behold before you, the illustrious, the imperious, ingenious arch-mage… CARL."
 * Undying uses the name Carl once, when meeting an allied Invoker on the battlefield, and even then only 5% of the time:
 * undying ally 10.mp3 "Carl, is that you?"
 * Mirana uses the name Carl once, when killing an enemy Invoker, and even then only 5% of the time:
 * mir rival 16.mp3 "Carl, meet Sagan." A pun on Carl Sagan. (Mirana's feline mount is named Sagan.)
 * In summary, whether Invoker's "real" name is Carl appears to be a subject of humor and is intentionally ambiguous.