[Hero] Invoker

In its earliest, and some would say most potent form, magic was primarily the art of memory. It required no technology, no wands or appurtenances other than the mind of the magician. All the trappings of ritual were merely mnemonic devices, meant to allow the practitioner to recall in rich detail the specific mental formulae that unlocked a spell's power. The greatest mages in those days were the ones blessed with the greatest memories, and yet so complex were the invocations that all wizards were forced to specialize. The most devoted might hope in a lifetime to have adequate recollection of three spells--four at most. Ordinary wizards were content to know two, and it was not uncommon for a village mage to know only one--with even that requiring him to consult grimoires as an aid against forgetfulness on the rare occasions when he might be called to use it. But among these early practitioners there was one exception, a genius of vast intellect and prodigious memory who came to be known as the Invoker. In his youth, the precocious wizard mastered not four, not five, not even seven incantations: He could command no fewer than ten spells, and cast them instantly. Many more he learned but found useless, and would practice once then purge from his mind forever, to make room for more practical invocations. One such spell was the Sempiternal Cantrap--a longevity spell of such power that those who cast it in the world's first days are among us still (unless they have been crushed to atoms). Most of these quasi-immortals live quietly, afraid to admit their secret: But Invoker is not one to keep his gifts hidden. He is ancient, learned beyond all others, and his mind somehow still has space to contain an immense sense of his own worth...as well as the Invocations with which he amuses himself through the long slow twilight of the world's dying days.

Quas
Allows manipulation of ice elements and grants a permanent strength bonus. Each Quas instance provides increased health regeneration.
Gives you more HP and regeneration.


Wex
Allows manipulation of storm elements and grants a permanent agility bonus. Each Wex instance provides increased attack speed and movement speed.
Gives you faster move speed and attack speed.


Exort
Allows manipulation of fire elements and grants a permanent intelligence bonus. Each Exort instance provides increased attack damage.
Gives you higher attack damage.


Invoke
Combines the properties of the elements currently being manipulated, creating a new spell at the Invoker's disposal. Click the help button to see the list of possible spells. Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Creates a spell depending on what 3 orbs you have active at that moment. Aghanim’s Scepter removes the mana cost and more importantly shortens the cooldown.

Cold Snap
Legacy: Y
Invoker draws the heat from an enemy, chilling them to their very core for a duration based on the level of Quas. The enemy will take damage and be briefly frozen. Further damage taken in this state will freeze the enemy again, dealing bonus damage. The enemy can only be frozen so often, but the freeze cooldown decreases based on the level of Quas.
Cast it on a single enemy to ministun them. For a few seconds after that, every time they take damage they will be ministunned.



Ghost Walk
Legacy: V
Invoker manipulates the ice and electrical energies around him, rendering his body invisible. The elemental imbalance created as a consequence slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas, and slows Invoker as well based on the level of Wex.
Your escape skill. Cast it to go instantly invisible. Enemies around you will move slower. You will move slower too unless you have a high level of Wex.



Tornado
Legacy: X
Unleashes a fast moving tornado that picks up enemy units in its path, suspending them helplessly in the air shortly before allowing them to plummet to their doom. Travels further based on the level of Wex. Holds enemies in the air for a duration based on the level of Quas. Deals damage based on the levels of Quas and Wex.
Throw a long range tornado in front of you which sends enemies up into the air for a period of time. Does damage to them as well.



EMP
Legacy: C
Invoker builds up a charge of electromagnetic energy at a targeted location which automatically detonates after a duration based on the level of Wex. The detonation covers an area, draining mana based on the level of Wex. Deals damage for each point of mana drained.
Cast it at a location and after a few seconds it will explode draining the mana of all heroes in the area. Deals damage depending on how much mana drained.



Alacrity
Legacy: Z
Invoker infuses an ally with an immense surge of energy, increasing their attack speed based on the level of Wex and their damage based on the level of Exort.
Cast on a unit to make them attack faster and harder.



Chaos Meteor
Legacy: D
Invoker pulls a flaming meteor from space onto the targeted location. Upon landing, the meteor rolls forward, constantly dealing damage based on the level of Exort, and rolling further based on the level of Wex. Units hit by the meteor will also be set on fire for a short time, receiving additional damage based on the level of Exort.
Drop a fiery meteor on the ground which travels over distance. Enemy heroes that get hit receive some burn damage; heroes which are continuously hit by the meteor receive additional damage.



Sunstrike
Legacy: T
Sends a catastrophic ray of fierce energy from the sun at any targeted location, incinerating all enemies standing beneath it once it reaches the Earth. Deals damage based on the level of Exort, however this damage is spread evenly over all enemies hit.
Cast at a location anywhere on the map. After 2 seconds, a sunstrike will hit the location dealing pure damage evenly divided between all units that it hits. Keep in mind that Sunstrike does pure damage and thus goes through all forms of magic resistance (not invulnerability!)



Forge Spirits
Legacy: F
Invoker forges a spirit embodying the strength of fire and fortitude of ice. Damage, health, and armor are based on the level of Exort while attack range, mana, and duration are based on the level of Quas. The elemental's scorching attack is capable of melting the armor of enemy heroes. If both Quas and Exort are level 4 or higher, Invoker will create two spirits instead of one.
Create a pet that does damage and removes armor of any heroes that it attacks. If you have a minimum of four points in both Quas and Exort, you will create two pets.



Ice Wall
Legacy: G
Generates a wall of solid ice directly in front of Invoker for a duration based on the level of Quas. The bitter cold emanating from it greatly slows nearby enemies based on the level of Quas and deals damage each second based on the level of Exort.
Creates a wall directly in front of you which drastically slows any enemy units in it, as well as dealing a little damage over time to them.



Deafening Blast
Legacy: B
If Invoker has 1 Quas, 1 Wex and 1 Exort instances, Deafening Blast is invoked. Invoker unleashes a mighty sonic wave in front of him, dealing up to 280 damage to any enemy unit it collides with based on Exort. The sheer impact from the blast is enough to knock those enemy units back for a maximum of 1.75 seconds based on Quas, in addition to preventing their attacks for a further 1-4 seconds based on Wex.
Sends a wave out in front of you, dealing damage and pushing enemies back. Additionally, enemies hit by the blast are disarmed and cannot physically attack for a few seconds.

Invoker always has three elemental balls floating around his head. When you activate any of your three basic skills (Quas, Wex or Exort), it replaces the oldest element with the new one. For example, if you had originally cast Q W E, then cast a W, you would then have W E W.

When you cast your ultimate ‘Invoke’, the game looks at what three elements are floating around your head and creates one of the Invoked Spells depending on what combination you have. The order that you cast the elements does not matter. The newest spell that you invoke is put into your 4th spell slot, hotkey ‘D’ by default.

When you only have level 1 of ‘Invoke’, you can only have one spell Invoked at a time. Once you have level 2 Invoke (attainable at level 7) or higher, you can have up to two spells Invoked at any one time. Your newest spell will always go in the 4th spell slot, while the older one goes into the 5th spell slot, hotkey ‘F’ by default.

You cannot cast spells that you do not have actively Invoked and thus your judgement on what spells to have active at any time is very important, particularly at lower levels of Invoke when the cooldown is still quite long.

Introduction
The QW Invoker prioritises putting points in Quas and Wex over Exort. This Invoker provides more mid-game utility, focusing less on straight up damage. The most recognisable spell combination that QW Invokers use is the Tornado -> EMP combo, which wipes out a chunk of the opposing team’s mana pool, severely disabling their teamfight capability.

Advantages
- Easy laning phase with lots of regeneration
- Extremely fast move speed and attack speed
- Great teamfight spells in Tornado and EMP
- Easy escape skill with Ghost walk
Disadvantages
- Lower attack damage, slightly harder to last hit
- Not particularly high single target damage

Starting Items

OR

The first option gives you plenty of regen and some basic stats. 3 branches nicely set you on your way to a magic wand, not to mention they are the most cost-efficient item in the game as well. The circlet will later be converted into drums.
However, the main advantage of the QW Invoker when laning is that he has very good regen already thanks to Quas, but he is disadvantaged by his low attack damage. The second starting items option addresses these points. By buying a blades of attack instead of the tangos, you gain additional attack damage to help you last hit.

Laning

Magic wand is one of the best items in the game. Always carry a TP.

Boots

Phase boots are definitely the boots of choice for a QW Invoker. They give you a nice chunk of attack damage and allow you to go very fast, one of the main benefits of the QW Invoker. You don’t need any of the benefits that the other boots offer. I usually rush this even before getting my magic wand.

Core

Drums give you great stats (HP, int, attack damage, move speed as well as attack speed) and fits really well on Invoker. With drums, a high level of Wex, and phase boots, Invoker moves at close to max move speed at all times. Force staff provides even more mobility.

Late Game

Sheepstick is a great item in all circumstances. Gives you plenty of mana regen and the active ability is priceless. Aghanim’s scepter reduces your Invoke cooldown considerably allowing you to spam even more spells.

Optional Items

Depending on what line up you are against you may want to build a BKB or Linken’s sooner rather than later. Because of how much teamfight you can provide you will definitely be a priority target for disables. Eul’s provides an additional disable and allows you to move even faster. The silence from Orchid can be useful in some line ups. Skadi provides plenty of useful stats, though this item usually loses out to the other optional items. Boots of Travel becomes useful end game when you have nothing else to buy and need it for the added mobility around the map.

Rejected Items

You do not need the health regen since you have Quas, and your spells are too mana intensive for the Bottle to be useful. You also have next to zero rune control ability compared to almost any other solo mid hero. Let someone else on the team pick up a bottle and control the runes.
Refresher Orb is just not needed. Don’t be silly.

Skill Build

At the very start you put your points in Quas. The regen from Quas is far more important than the miniscule movement/attack speed you would gain from Wex. Cold snap is also much more powerful for laning/ganking than EMP this early in the game.
Although this skill build has 3 in Quas by level 5, this is very flexible. When you hit level 5, judge how much harass you are taking. If you’re against a QoP that is shadowstriking you on every cooldown, get a third level of Quas. If you’re not receiving too much harass, skip that third point in Quas for now and start focusing all your points in Wex.
Wex makes your Invoker move much faster, as well as make his Tornado and EMP stronger, which start to become your staple spells. Once you have maxed your Wex you can start to divide points between your Quas and Exort, making the rest of your spells more powerful.

When do I put a point in Exort?
Depends. Early game, your usual combination of Tornado -> EMP does not need Exort at all, and you should focus on maxing out your Wex first before anything else. However, should the game start to have a lot of teamfights and the enemy have several high physical damage heroes, you may want to put an early point into Exort, say around level 8 or 9. Once you have done this, your main combination will still be Tornado -> EMP, but your next spell will be Deafening blast rather than Cold snap. Deafening blast will disarm all the heroes you hit with it.

Invoked Spells

These will be the main spells that you use as a QW Invoker. Cold snap is extremely powerful in laning and ganks, it can almost seem like perma stun. You can Invoke this spell once you reach level 2 and use it to harass your lane opponent.


Cold snap is pretty great at stopping enemies with long cast times such as Nature’s Prophet, Earthshaker, etc.

Tornado is the second spell you will start to use, providing some disable and damage. Keep in mind that enemies in the air will be invulnerable and cannot take damage. The tornado also travels very far when you start putting more points in Wex, so you can use it to snipe escaping enemies.
Once you have about 4 or more points in Wex you can start combining your Tornado + EMP together. Cast the tornado at your enemies and immediately place your EMP underneath them while they are spinning in the air. It should explode just as they arrive on the ground, preventing them from avoiding the EMP. Practice it a couple times to get the timing right. Keep in mind that if the EMP explodes while they are still in the tornado the EMP will not affect them.
Ghost walk is your escape skill. It instantly makes you invisible upon casting (obviously revealable by dust/sentries/gem/etc).

How do you play?
Laning

You will almost always want to be in solo mid. Solo side lanes are doable. You are extremely level dependent early in the game so cannot afford to share XP with anyone else. Do not ever go into a dual/trilane, it will become very ugly.
When you get to the lane, feel free to trade hits with the opposing hero. Your first point in Quas means you pretty much have a free ring of health at the beginning and makes it very hard for opposing heroes to harass you down easily. Once you are level 2, Invoke your Cold snap. When you get the opportunity, use it on the enemy and hit him a couple times, he will be forced to back off allowing you to get free last hits. Focus on getting last hits and XP.
Once you are level 4 you will get your first point in Wex, giving you access to Tornado and Ghost walk. It becomes much easier to gank the enemy hero now, especially if an ally comes to help with a stun or slow. Keep in mind however that a Tornado with only level 1 Wex is extremely short ranged. If you are ganked, quickly Cold snap the most dangerous threat, then go into Ghost walk.
As mentioned earlier, although the skill build I posted has 3 in Quas by level 5, this is very flexible. When you hit level 5, judge how much harass you are taking. If you’re against a QoP that is shadowstriking you on every cooldown, get a third level of Quas. If you’re not receiving too much harass, skip that third point in Quas for now and start focusing all your points in Wex. However, don’t feel too upset about putting 3 in Quas if you have to, because Cold snap is just so ridiculously strong.
The one laning disadvantage of Invoker is that you cannot easily push your lane before the rune spawn timings. Remind your teammates to focus on collecting the rune every 2 minutes to deny the enemy solo mid from getting them.

Ganking

Once you reach level 7 you can gank very easily with Tornado and Cold snap, throwing EMP’s in once you start getting level 4 or higher in Wex. Feel free to start roaming the map to create ganks. Pay attention to which lanes need it most. Is the opposing carry farming too easily, or is your own allied carry not getting enough space to farm? Did the rune spawn at top or bottom? These things will influence which lane you choose to gank.

Teamfights

You are a huge presence in teamfights, make sure you are always there by carrying a TP with you wherever you go. Use your judgement on when to initiate. If you see the opponents out of place or clumped up together, send in a Tornado + EMP to wipe out their mana.


Although this is only against one person, you can imagine how devastating this combination can be against an entire team. Taking away all their mana is like silencing all of them for the rest of the fight!

This combo will work in all situations, when you are pushing or when you are being pushed. They will often back out since they will no longer have enough mana for their high cost teamfight ults, allowing you to dive in and mop up if necessary. Use Cold snap liberally to keep a hero almost permanently stunned, which also reduces how much damage the enemy hero outputs as it will interrupt all his cast/attack animations.
As the game goes later and the opposing team starts to pick up multiple arcane boots, your EMP will start to lose some effectiveness and you may choose to forgo the EMP for other spells.

Late Game
As the game goes later, your EMP will start to have much less effect so you may want to skip it entirely. Focus on using Tornado, Ice wall, Cold snap and Deafening blast in teamfights.
Once you have more points in Exort, you can start spamming all your spells. Use your Tornado -> Chaos Meteor -> Deafening blast for lots of AoE damage. Plant an Ice wall across everything, Cold snap their main damage dealer to interrupt as many of his autoattacks as possible. Cast Alacrity on your own team’s main damage dealer, often yourself. Use Sunstrike when needed. After casting everything, if the fight is still going on, Invoke your spells with low cooldowns such as Cold snap, Tornado, Ice wall and Deafening blast, and use them again.

When it’s late in the game and the physical carries start to dominate, one of your strongest spells will be Deafening blast. With maxed Wex, it will disarm all heroes that it hits for a full 4 seconds. Do not forget how powerful this is.

Introduction
The QE Invoker focuses more on Quas and Exort, forgoing points in Wex. This Invoker focuses on straight up damage. You have Sunstrike from level 2 onwards allowing you to provide some global gank, albeit slightly difficult to hit. You sacrifice some mid game utility for lots of early and late damage.

Advantages
- Lots of right click damage making last hitting very easy
- Provides global gank with Sunstrike
- Very high single target damage output early and mid game
Disadvantages
- Fewer teamfight spells in midgame
- Low movement speed
- Ghost walk not available as an escape skill till later

Starting Items

These items give you plenty of regen and some stats. The circlet can be converted into drums and the branches into a magic wand.
The reason the salve/blades of attack/branch option is not viable for QE Invoker is because your points in Quas come later, while you have plenty of last hit damage with your Exort points.

Laning

Magic wand is one of the best items in the game. Always carry a TP.

Boots
OR OR
The choice of boots for a QE Invoker is really up to personal preference. Power treads give you attack speed which is useful as your right click damage is really high. Arcane boots give you much needed mana regeneration as your spells all have very high mana costs. Phase boots give you a nice mobility boost.

Core

Drums give you great stats (HP, int, attack damage, move speed as well as attack speed) and fits really well on Invoker. These are important because without focusing on Wex, Invoker has a very low move speed. Additionally the drums will buff your Forge Spirits. Force staff provides even more much needed mobility.

Late Game

Sheepstick is a great item in all circumstances. Gives you plenty of mana regen and the active ability is priceless. Aghanim’s scepter reduces your Invoke cooldown considerably allowing you to spam even more spells.

Optional Items

If you choose not to go for Arcane boots, you will have no mana regen until you get your Sheepstick. Urn is one option to deal with this, providing 50% mana regen. Because of Exort’s lack of mobility, I will not completely argue against going for a blink with/instead of your Force staff, especially if you want to feel like Dendi. Depending on what line up you are against you may want to build a BKB or Linken’s sooner rather than later. Because of how much teamfight you can provide you will definitely be a priority target for disables. The silence from Orchid can be useful in some line ups. Skadi provides plenty of useful stats, though this item usually loses out to the other optional items. Boots of Travel becomes useful end game when you have nothing else to buy and need it for the added mobility around the map.

Rejected Items

You do not need the health regen since you have Quas, and your spells are too mana intensive for the Bottle to be useful. You also have next to zero rune control ability compared to almost any other solo mid hero. Let someone else on the team pick up a bottle and control the runes.
Midas is rejected because although in theory it helps you carry/gain XP, it delays your core items which increase your survivability and mobility (drums, force staff), which is what QE Invokers sorely need. You may argue this is seen in progames, but this is rare and only situational, like when they use it to counter a Chen/Enchantress.
Refresher Orb is just not needed. Don’t be silly.

Skill Build

This build aims to give you 4 in Quas and 4 in Exort by level 10, getting you two Forge Spirits which are incredibly powerful. Once you have done so you will get a point in Wex at level 11 to access the rest of your spells, most importantly Ghost walk. After this you will max out your Exort, followed by dividing your points in Quas and Wex as you see fit.

Extra tip: if you are taking next to zero harass and thus do not need a second level of Quas, do not put your level 6 point into Quas. Save it for level 7 where you can put your 2 points into Invoke and an extra point of Exort. This will make your Sunstrike hit even harder a level earlier than it otherwise would.

OR


This build delays the double Forge Spirits, focusing on making you hit harder and have a much more powerful Sunstrike. With this build you are flexible in when you put a point in Wex, giving you much earlier access to Ghost walk, Chaos meteor and Tornado if you need it this early.

When do I get a point in Wex?
Depends. If you’re rushing double Forge Spirits, ideally you don’t want to get it till level 11 since you need all your points in Quas and Exort. However if you’ve died 3 times before 10 minutes in and you find that the opponents are attempting to ganking you over and over again, feel free to put a point in Wex as early as you want so you can Ghost walk in a jiffy.
If you’re not going double Forge Spirits, feel free to put 1 point in Wex whenever you want.
Do not get a point in Wex early thinking ‘yay, I now can casts tornado/deafening blast/chaos meteor/EMP’. Too many pub Invokers do this and cast these spells when they are still extremely weak. Stick with your Forge spirits/Cold snap/Ice wall/Sunstrike until you’re level 15-16 or so. The point of getting Wex early is purely to open up Ghost walk as an escape skill.

Invoked Spells

These are the main spells you will use as a QE Invoker. The first spell you will get access to is Sunstrike. Cold snap is still extremely powerful, though slightly delayed at level 4 as your first points will be put into Exort. Once you reach level 7 you can start throwing Ice wall in the mix. It is an extremely powerful AoE slow that can be a little hard to place before you have your Force staff.Once you reach level 10 and have your double Forge spirits, you should ALWAYS have them both out.

How do you play?
Laning

You will almost always want to be in solo mid. solo side lanes are doable. You are extremely level dependent early in the game so cannot afford to share XP with anyone else. Do not ever go into a dual/trilane, it will become very ugly.
Your right click damage will be very high at the beginning so last hitting will be relatively easy. It is quite easy to throw extra shots at your opposing hero, keep trying to harass them.
Once you are level 2, Invoke your Suntrike. You should be constantly checking the other lanes to see if there are any low HP heroes that you can attempt a Sunstrike at. Ask your teammates to spam ping on anyone they plan to gank so you are ready to send a Sunstrike their way.
Once you get Cold snap at level 4, you have a pretty powerful combination. Try to predict where your opponent will be in 2 seconds, cast Sunstrike, then immediately Invoke Cold snap onto them. With a few hits from yourself back in 3Exort, you should be able to kill anything.


In this video I do not have to hit him as the Sunstrike + initial damage from Cold snap is enough, but you get the idea. Can also be done the other way round, by Cold snapping them first and then invoking Sunstrike.

Ganking

Before level 10, try not to gank too much. That’s not to say ‘don’t help your team on side lanes’, but prioritise staying on the lane and gaining as much gold and experience as possible.
Your main skills for ganks before level 10 will be Cold snap, Sunstrike and occasionally Ice wall. The combination is the same as mentioned in the laning phase. If you can get close, Ice wall is an extremely powerful skill that slows everything inside it.
Once you are level 10 you will have the double Forge Spirits. These should be out close to 100% of the time. They do a TON of damage (they have netted me many kills even after I have died), and also reduce the armor of enemy heroes each time they hit them. With a combination of Forge Spirits and 3 Exorts on yourself, you do a TON of right click damage. Don’t be surprised if you can suddenly 3 shot an enemy support from full hp.

Teamfights

What you lack in disables you make up for in pure damage. Throw down your Ice wall in the middle of the fight to try and slow everything, throw Cold snap on the main hero you want to keep disabled, and just right click everything. Make sure to micro your Forge Spirits to attack your main target as well. Use Sunstrike for a big burst on a disabled hero or save it to try and snipe escaping heroes.

Late game
Spam spells like a madman, especially once you get your Aghanims Scepter. Always have your Forge Spirits out, and have your Tornado + Chaos Meteor ready and invoked. Start teamfights with Tornado -> Chaos Meteor -> Deafening blast. Plant an Ice wall across everything, Cold snap their main damage dealer to interrupt as many of his autoattacks as possible. Cast Alacrity on your own team’s main damage dealer, often yourself. Use Sunstrike when needed. After casting everything, if the fight is still going on, Invoke your spells with low cooldowns such as Cold snap, Tornado, Ice wall and Deafening blast, and use them again.


Often, Tornado Meteor Blast is enough already!

When it’s late in the game and the physical carries start to dominate, one of your strongest spells will be Deafening blast. With maxed Wex, it will disarm all heroes that it hits for a full 4 seconds. Do not forget how powerful this is.

Of all your spells, the only one I wouldn’t bother to use is EMP. This late in the game, the mana drain is almost negligible, plus the enemies will probably have a couple arcane boots already anyway.

Introduction
Due to popular demand I have decided to include a section on the WE Invoker. The WE Invoker prioritises putting points in Wex and Exort over Quas, focusing much more on straight up damage than anything else.
There are two different ways to play the WE Invoker, dictated by your item choices. You can focus either on spell damage or on right click damage.

Advantages
- Extremely high nuke damage, can evaporate high HP enemies in a split second
Disadvantages
- Very little utility or control
- Not much damage outside of your wombo-combo
- Very low survivability due to forsaking Quas
- Countered by BKB

Starting Items

This gives you plenty of regen and some basic stats. 3 branches nicely set you on your way to a magic wand, not to mention they are the most cost-efficient item in the game as well.

Laning

Magic wand is one of the best items in the game. Always carry a TP.


Boots

They give you a nice chunk of attack damage and allow you to go very fast, one of the main benefits of the QW Invoker. You don’t need any of the benefits that the other boots offer. I usually rush this even before getting my magic wand.

Core


OR
Euls is core because it plays a large part in your spell combo, guaranteeing you hit your Sunstrikes. Force staff provides mobility, but you can get blink instead if you prefer.

Late Game

Sheepstick is a great item in all circumstances. Gives you plenty of mana regen and the active ability is priceless. Aghanim’s scepter reduces your Invoke cooldown considerably allowing you to spam even more spells.

Optional Items

Depending on what line up you are against you may want to build a BKB. The silence and amplify damage from Orchids gives you even more burst. Refresher allows you to use your big burst combo in quick succession without having to wait a minute for everything to come off cooldown. Boots of Travel becomes useful end game to be anywhere on the map.

Skill Build

Apart from the one point in Quas at level 4, you are maxing out Exort followed by Wex. This will give you access to all your spells early, particularly Deafening Blast. Your right clicks will hit very hard and you will do a ton of damage with your Sunstrike, Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast.

Invoked Spells

These are the main spells you will use as a spell casting WE Invoker. At the very beginning, you will stick to Sunstrike and Cold Snap, soon adding Meteor and Deafening Blast to your combination as soon as you get a few points in Wex.

How do you play?
Laning

Head to the middle lane. You are extremely level dependent and item dependent and thus should not share a lane with anyone else. Focus on getting last hits. Once you have Sunstrike, check the side lanes for any kill opportunities. You can try and combo Sunstrike and Cold Snap together to try and get a kill yourself.

Ganking

Once you hit level 7 you can start to attempt ganks. Before you have your Euls, you should walk around with Cold Snap and Meteor invoked and ready. When you find a target, Cold Snap it, cast Meteor on top and immediately invoke and cast Deafening Blast the target along the path of the Meteor. You can use Sunstrike to try and pick them off if they are still alive.
Once you have Euls, have Sunstrike and Meteor invoked and ready instead of Cold Snap. Euls the target, wait about a second, Sunstrike + Meteor on top followed by Deafening Blast. This may take a few attempts to time properly, but when done correctly can annihilate any hero from full HP.

Teamfights

Not much to add here. Use your Euls + Sunstrike combo on the biggest threat, then try and hit as many enemies as possible with your Meteor + Deafening Blast combo. Use Alacrity on yourself/your carry after that.

This WE Invoker is the most trolly of the Invoker builds, but can be a lot of fun. It plays like any other hard carry, focusing on attack damage and speed. This Invoker is capable of dishing out a ton of damage due to help from Alacrity and Exort orbs.

Advantages
- Extremely high sustained damage
Disadvantages
- Very little utility or control
- Very little burst outside Daedalus crits
- Very low survivability due to forsaking Quas and using Mask of Madness

Starting Items

This gives you plenty of regen and some basic stats. 3 branches nicely set you on your way to a magic wand, not to mention they are the most cost-efficient item in the game as well.

Laning

Magic wand is one of the best items in the game. Always carry a TP.


Boots
OR
Power Treads are the boots of choice if you are going for pure right click damage, though you may also go for Phase Boots if you prefer the additional mobility.

Core

On top of lifesteal, Mask of Madness gives you insane attack speed when combined with Alacrity. Daedalus gives you yet more damage, yippee.

Late Game

Terrible, terrible damage. More armor/attack speed for you, less armor for the enemy. Mjollnir is also more damage/attack speed but gives you a bit of pseudo-AoE damage, helping you to push/counter push. Boots of Travel is always amazing in late game, allowing you to be anywhere you want to be.
No such thing as too many Rapiers.

Optional Items

Drums provides HP, int, move speed and attack speed. BKB allows you to stand in the middle of everything and dish out the hurt without getting disabled. Orchids give you attack speed, some damage and lots of mana regeneration, as well as an excellent ability to silence people. MKB gives yet more damage and true hit, allowing you to ignore all those pesky evasion heroes or butterfly. Shadow Blade is a decent choice right now due to the damage + attack speed it gives you as well as the extra damage on reveal. The stealth active on it isn’t bad either, adding to your Ghost Walk as escape skills. Lastly, Butterfly provides a ton of attack speed, and the evasion is excellent if you are facing other physical damage heroes.

Rejected Items

Manta is usually one of those default ‘right click’ items. However it isn’t as good on Invoker as most of your damage comes from your three Exort orbs + Alacrity + Mask of Madness, none of which carry over to your illusions.

Skill Build

Apart from the one point in Quas at level 4, you are maxing out Exort followed by Wex. You will hit extremely hard and your Alacrity will give you a ton of extra damage on top. The one point in Quas is still important as Cold Snap is incredibly powerful for ganking, as well as giving you access to Ghost Walk as an escape skill.

Invoked Spells

These are the main spells you will be using as a carry WE Invoker. Stick to Sunstrike and Cold Snap at the beginning, throw in Alacrity once you have two points in Wex. Chaos Meteor and Deafening Blast become more useful very late game.

How do you play?
Laning

Head to the middle lane. You are extremely level dependent and item dependent and thus should not share a lane with anyone else. Focus on getting last hits. Once you have Sunstrike, check the side lanes for any kill opportunities. You can try and combo Sunstrike and Cold Snap together to try and get a kill yourself.

Ganking

Once you hit level 7 or so you can start to gank. Walk around with Alacrity and Cold Snap invoked. Cold Snap your target, cast Alacrity on yourself and proceed to hit him like a truck. Once you get your Mask of Madness you will do the same but hit him like 5 trucks, in quick succession. Sunstrike if he gets away.

Teamfights

More of the same. At this point your strength is not in your spells but in your items, like any other hard carry. Hit stuff. You can throw in a Chaos Meteor or Deafening Blast if you feel like it. Did I mention this was a troll build?

QQQ - Cold Snap (Y)
QQW - Ghost walk (V)
QWW - Tornado (X)
WWW - EMP (C)
WWE - Alacrity (Z)
WEE - Chaos Meteor (D)
EEE - Sunstrike (T)
QEE - Forge Spirits (F)
QQE - Ice Wall (G)
QWE - Deafening Blast (B)