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Okay so people covered who and when it's MOST effective to get a wand, but I'll try to talk about some of the special cases.
a) many heroes start with a branch or two to help early laning, in this case a wand is a good way to get back that inventory space once you grab some boots or your first semi-big item (drum, aquila, blink, etc).
b) general survivability. Every other game I play I end up running away and either escaping with 50hp or nearly escaping but then dying to 1 attack. even having already used it those 2 or 3 stacks can be a game changer when the enemy team can't just snowball a million kills every time they gank.
c) picking up kills. same case as above, but when you're winning. having just that extra 50 mana right when you're 1 on 1ing a hero and you're both 1 hit away can make a huge difference, and even if you're not about to die that extra kill here or there can start to add up.
d) extra stats on a support. assuming you grabbed a wand and then got your boots, it's generally a good idea to spend most of your money on wards/counter wards/smokes/courier/salves/etc and you may not have that extra 1 or 2k gold for a decent stats item, but wand is much more affordable and a couple extra stat points are better than nothing.
e) quickbuying before you die. sure, grabbing a tp scroll is great, but you really don;t need more than 1 or 2 max, so slapping the sticks and recipe on quickbuy before a fight (and actually remembering to use the purchase quickbuy hotkey) can mean you get to don't waste that last 200 gold you have right before you die.
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On January 18 2013 02:49 TheYango wrote:
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.
Exactly this. I think way too many people think of it as a laning item, when it really isn't except in certain circumstances, such as against certain heroes and in lanes where there is a lot of battling, like tri-lane vs. tri-lane (or dual vs dual if there's a ton of fighting happening between you)
Otherwise, its effectiveness increases by a ton when you start participating in teamfights or ganks. So pick it up a bit later on if your hero needs some extra mana/health during a teamfight to get an extra skill off or keep yourself alive a bit longer (which is generally a lot of heroes that can use that help).
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On January 18 2013 13:13 sandyph wrote:
when you need the spaces from those 3 gg branches
this is pretty much the answer to the question "when do i upgrade my magic stick?"
if you didn't already have some gg branches at start you are either
1) bad
2) went qb, shield & tango (or some other "high level" starting build, btw qb OR shield with tango & 3x gg branch is way better and you have gold left over)
cost for cost gg branches are the best item in game. for 53g you get +1 to all stats, the same ratio of gold to stats doesn't exist. ultimate orb is 2100g for +10 to all stats, 4 times more expensive than the equivalent stats in branches. if you had unlimited inventory you wouldn't ever buy anything but gg branches. But inventory slots are a resource and early game there is no item that is better for cost than a branch.
in general in the early game if you have an empty slot, you are wasting one of your resources.
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Generally I get it on all heroes as soon as I need the inventory space of those branches free. Usually after boots to free up my inventory to start building other items.
I'll tend to have a couple of branches anyway and magic stick is good. My philosophy is:
- If I'm carry then a couple hundred gold isn't going to slow me down much and it provides a nice little +3 to all stats plus a potentially clutch heal ability. Really quite inventory efficient for a low gold output.
- If I'm support then that gold is more significant but I REALLY need those inventory slots if I'm support and its a cheap and cheerful +3 to all stats. Any form of cheap, slot-efficient stat gain for a support is going to be helpful.
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Just make a habit of buying a stick during early laning phase and always have one with you just like a tp scroll. Its so good for 200 gold that there's almost no reason (bar AM or void finishing their bfury that much quicker) not to have one. Upgrading it is largely a matter of feel for when the slots outweigh the price.
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Northern Ireland22208 Posts
Useful on supports where one or two inventory slots are going to be taken up by wards or smoke etc...
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EDIT: Sorry, wrong thread! Feel free to delete.
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On January 22 2013 21:56 Narw wrote:
Twice in row game ruined by fucking dc's, first 3-0 sniper which i was supporting then boom dc, next match 6-1 NS after first night, boom DC.
think this is thw rong thread, seems you were aiming for the Dota QQ thread!
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On January 22 2013 22:18 emythrel wrote:Show nested quote +On January 22 2013 21:56 Narw wrote:
Twice in row game ruined by fucking dc's, first 3-0 sniper which i was supporting then boom dc, next match 6-1 NS after first night, boom DC. think this is thw rong thread, seems you were aiming for the Dota QQ thread!
Ahaha, yeah, my bad! About stick, most been told already, it's excelent item and definitly get it on heroes that participate in ganks early and have definite mana problems (Slark is perfect example), upgrade it if you started with 3 branches and your laning went well, other way don't really bother too much about that and feel free to drop one branch to get slot for stick.
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I personally get a wand / stick on:
1. Squishy supports for the burst heal, especially when roaming.
2. Mana starved carries / midgame roamers [sven, gyro etc.]
3. Against spell spam heavy heroes [Batrider, Zeus etc.]
And like people above have said, upgrade it when you need more space
for additional items.
But honestly, if you are unsure if you should buy a wand or not, buy it. It's
worth the 200 gold 95% of the time.
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EPT
