I've read a lot that wand is really good, but I don't know when it's good to get. Sometimes I decide to get one and it hardly gets charges. I'm guessing this is because one of two things

1. My positioning isn't as good, so I'm out of range to gain charges (I don't know what the range is)

2. I'm laning against heros that don't spam their abilities that much (I'm still unfamiliar with laning styles for most heroes)

So in what lanes is it good to get a wand?

yeadog

United States54 Posts

January 17 2013 17:48 GMT

1. The range on wand is 1200 - think about pudge's hook at full length for a comparison (technically its 1300, but close enough). It's pretty safe to say that if you're in the same screen as your enemies, you'll be picking up charges. It's especially useful in team battles because you can rack up charges quickly. The most important thing is reminding yourself to use it, and use it quickly, because it will save your life.

2. It is definitely more useful against heroes who spam their abilities. For me, whenever I see batrider I grab a wand, to stack charges every time he uses sticky napalm. Shadow Demon is another good bet if he's spamming poison, or zues because of his spells. You don't necessarily have to KNOW all of the spells of heroes, but if you're in the lane and you see someone casting a lot of spells and you're having trouble with it, snatch up the magic stick at the side shop. You don't have to buy it in advance before you know who you're laning against.

TheYango

United States47024 Posts

January 17 2013 17:49 GMT

Wand isn't a laning item except against a few heroes (Batrider, Zeus, Shadow Demon, etc.). It's effectiveness is largest when you expect to participate in early teamfights, where you'll pick up charges, and when the burst 225/225 heal is extremely high-value.

JohnnyReverb

Switzerland132 Posts

January 17 2013 17:50 GMT

hello

i think the wand is viable at every stage of the early to mid game, especially as roamer, or someone that uses spells often. the 1200 radius should be pretty big. but most people forget about the wands most useful function: it could give you that extra 15, 30 mana you need for a kill.

ZerG~LegenD

Sweden1179 Posts

January 18 2013 00:52 GMT

On January 18 2013 02:48 yeadog wrote:
1. The range on wand is 1200 - think about pudge's hook at full length for a comparison (technically its 1300, but close enough). It's pretty safe to say that if you're in the same screen as your enemies, you'll be picking up charges. It's especially useful in team battles because you can rack up charges quickly. The most important thing is reminding yourself to use it, and use it quickly, because it will save your life.

On a related note: 1200 also happens to be the range of blink dagger as well as the experience range. Playing with a 1200 range circle (dota_range_display 1200) can be really helpful.

TheAppetizer

United States146 Posts

January 18 2013 01:02 GMT

In the laning phase, wand isn't very useful unless your enemy is spamming spells. Where it really shines is when start to participate in ganks and team fights. I usually don't get wand on a hard carry that farms until late game, as you won't be fighting enemy heroes very often, but it's situational. I cannot tell you how many times wand has saved my life or has helped me secure a kill. The hardest thing about using wand though is actually remembering to use it. Once you get the hang of it though, you'll realize how great of an item it is.

DucK-

Singapore11447 Posts

January 18 2013 02:39 GMT

Sometimes, don't waste gold upgrading it to Wand. Just leave it at stick. It's sad to see so many players spend precious 150-309 gold early on upgrading to Wand. Sometimes, you should just drop the branch and get other items instead. The worst players are those that have a no Branches on them, but still spend 309 gold to upgrade to Wand. It's pointless and a waste of gold.

Your question should be when should I get Magic Stick, and not Magic Wand. Stick does the exact same thing as Wand. That extra 5 Charges isn't that gamebreaking, since during laning/early on, you hardly save your Wand till max Charges.

Severedevil

United States4839 Posts

January 18 2013 03:32 GMT

Magic Stick isn't a blind opener. Good in lane versus spell-spammers, great in team fights. Early on, treat it as a mana regenerative item -- health regen consumables are cheap and convenient, whereas mana regeneration is more expensive and less convenient.

On January 18 2013 11:39 DucK- wrote:
Sometimes, don't waste gold upgrading it to Wand. Just leave it at stick. It's sad to see so many players spend precious 150-309 gold early on upgrading to Wand. Sometimes, you should just drop the branch and get other items instead. The worst players are those that have a no Branches on them, but still spend 309 gold to upgrade to Wand. It's pointless and a waste of gold.

Your question should be when should I get Magic Stick, and not Magic Wand. Stick does the exact same thing as Wand. That extra 5 Charges isn't that gamebreaking, since during laning/early on, you hardly save your Wand till max Charges.

309 for +3 all stats and no additional inventory space is a decent deal, even early on. (Obviously there's no sense upgrading until you're restricted by inventory space.) Only a little worse than Bracer/Null/Band.

sandyph

Indonesia1640 Posts

January 18 2013 04:13 GMT

when you need the spaces from those 3 gg branches

AkalineMess

249 Posts

January 18 2013 06:48 GMT

#10

when Valve release Bristleback, you better buy your wand.

Cyx.

Canada806 Posts

January 18 2013 08:45 GMT

#11

On January 18 2013 13:13 sandyph wrote:
when you need the spaces from those 3 gg branches

basically when I decide to buy wand most games.

Ydriel

Italy516 Posts

January 18 2013 08:45 GMT

#12

On January 18 2013 15:48 AkalineMess wrote:
when Valve release Bristleback, you better buy your wand.

This pretty much ^^

TheYango gave the best answer though: unless you're going to lane with spammy heroes like Zeus or Bat, the Wand isn't really a good laning item. You get it so you can get your charges during early ganks and teamfights. Some people underestimate the amount of HP a full charged wand can heal (also it helps with early mana struggles).
That said though, if you're planning on sticking around your lane or you simply can't see an opportunity to get charges early on, you might as well skip it.

igotmyown

United States4291 Posts

January 18 2013 08:49 GMT

#13

Get in trilanes, otherwise after you get your most basic items (boots, bottle if mid).

Although some carries skip it even before getting a tier 4 item.

Luminous in dotacommentaries had some video where he talked about magic stick being the best item in the game, and his argument went like this:
You'll have a full magic (wand) before a big teamfight. You take one nuke, then you pop wand instantly, getting back 225 hp. Then after a full set of exchanges, it will be full again and you'll have the chance to cast it again, so 450 hp/mp total for one item in the teamfight.

DucK-

Singapore11447 Posts

January 18 2013 10:38 GMT

#14

While you should get Magic Stick most of the time, there is little reason to upgrade it early on during the laning stages. Other items should be prioritised, such as upgraded Boots, TP, Bottle etc.

In fact, the only reason that you upgrade to Magic Wand should be to condense 4 items into 1 slot. Even then, it's not exactly necessary to do so, as you can just throw branches away 1 by 1 for your other items.

Mafe

Germany5966 Posts

January 18 2013 13:03 GMT

#15

I think as soon as teamfights start to happen you should have a magic/wand. It's especially useful to buy/upgrade it when you have some spare gold before you tp to an about-to-happen teamfight, say when there is an obvious towerpush attempt by either team. In case you die early, you might loose less gold, but otherwise the charges stack up sooo fast in a fight and help you to survive/contribute in fight. I'd say there are more than enough situations where you have no need get magic wand/stick for laning, as explained by the posters before me.

But I feel as a midgame-item it is simply too useful to not have it in fights. Unless you happen to play a hardcarry and yourplaystyle is mainly to avoid the enemy team and focus on farming/counterpushing while the rest of your team fights.

edit: now I feel I just repeated what has been said before multiple times, but well, at least I can't be that wrong then.

klo8

Austria1960 Posts

January 18 2013 14:14 GMT

#16

As for Magic Stick vs Magic Wand:
If you have 2 or more branches left over and you have a magic stick, you might as well upgrade it. If you have no branches, just leave it.

Nub4ever

Canada1981 Posts

January 18 2013 16:26 GMT

#17

It really doesn't matter when you buy it. It is more or less a universally good item. Laning it isn't AS good but it's still very powerful. The 2 charges you might get from the spells they cast when trying to gank you might just push your hp high enough to barely survive the last auto-attack. The gold spent to upgrade from stick to wand really isn't very significant. +3 all stats is really quite nice. And the additional potential 5 charges can be quite significant at times.

meegrean

Thailand7699 Posts

January 19 2013 03:17 GMT

#18

Buy it whenever you start engaging in team fights. By that time, you should be able to afford it too.

edit: Not before boots though.

Clarty

Australia162 Posts

January 19 2013 08:22 GMT

#19

I rarely get wand, but if I have three branches and a stick lying around in my inventory, and I am playing a support who needs those extra inventory slots and wants to get involved in early fights I will upgrade it. For the vast majority of heroes though I find that just a basic stick is enough, and on hard-carries I don't get either.

sandyph

Indonesia1640 Posts

January 21 2013 09:15 GMT

#20

On January 19 2013 12:17 meegrean wrote:
Buy it whenever you start engaging in team fights. By that time, you should be able to afford it too.

edit: Not before boots though.

depends on your lane composition, if you laning against a spammy hero then its better to get wand before boot.