General DiscussionAny Invoker tips???

1. Midas is not a MUST ever, but it is definitely an AMAZING item on Invoker because of the godly experience advantage it gives you (always use it on big creeps). Get it when you can get it early enough (if it takes you more than 11 minutes, it's way too late to get one, your goal is under 6 minutes but it's not too bad until 10). Make sure you buy the whole thing in one shot because if you buy the glove of haste and then can't get the recipe, you just wasted 500g. Same vice versa.

2. Refresher is for people who have memorized his skills so well that they can go through his whole combo twice with the refresher. Not recommended for new Invokers.

3. Yes, there are 10x better items you can get on Invoker.

4. Position yourself in a way that their ultis won't be an issue for you, get BKB for Silencer and Disruptor and get Linken's for Doom.

seperate control groups for minions

Here is a comprehensive invoker guide:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=185528211#158566

Midas is nice on Invoker, but the indirect nerf in 6.79 makes it less appealing. Midas can quickly boost Invoker's level in early-mid game so he can start dominating in late game. However, midas makes him and his team more vulnerable. As long as you don't get punished heavily for going midas, then do it around 6th minute. 99.9% invoker should not get refresher orb. Necronomicon 3 is good for invoker with 4-1-4 skill build. Do not build it every game. It works great against windwalkers and strong dps heroes like Ursa, Troll, TA, etc.

I ussualy go phase first then midas (8-10min midas) , the most common scenario if you pick invoker , someone will pick pudge.
In that case id recommend going q w build , it is hard to last hit untill you have phase , as my start items in this scenario i get tango , boots , clarity, by skilling first w you will have +-330 move speed which will give you more survive ability.
Yet i do not stay in q w build for to long at once i have 3q 3w 2ult i put everything in exort.
But there are amazingly lots of build for invoker.
I have played alot of games even without aganims , i do not know why but i very commonly get linkens, this because you can save team mates with it and survive when needed urself.
Refresher is only purhased in very few games , where i pubstump so hard that i can just do my combos and kill like 3 ppl at once.
And about silencer , doom , disrupt , linkens really helps against most played heroes
but for heroes like disruptor and silencer a fast bkb is a best choise

i think exhort stomps pudge pretty bad, no need to go QW. Most pudge players are stupid, just keep harassing him with your superior damage when he comes in for creep kills and when he over extends you can cold snap him with minion and do even more damage. Then just go and deny his rune (guess one way and minion to other) and its a pretty easy lane. As you are a range hero if you know how to mid properly you can almost always hold the lane towards your cliff so even a hook would never kill you at lower levels. If the creep wave is at his cliff you can just send your minion up there to scout so you dont get hooked.

TLDR learn to use your minions well.

@Urgromim
Thanks for the guide. I've read it many times and have seen all of your "raging fury" videos. You're the reason I started playing invoker!

@Desiderium

When i play pudge against an exort invoker , i can easly kill him at lvl 1

^
Against pudge, start with quas, snap asap, then forge spirit asap. Exort invoker should harass minimally at level one in most scenarios. One small gank and you are dead. Even without a gank, you can't kill the last creep (near pudge's tower) if pudge's wave is moving forward. 280 ms on invoker is so ridiculous.

How does a invoker die to a pudge at lvl 1 ? you can always be on your own cliff if you know how to mid properly against a melee hero. Just hit him to agro creeps and manipulate the wave. Unless you pick up a haste rune as the first or second rune i cant imagine dying to a pudge at earlier levels. Only situation is if im looking out for a sunstrike in another lane and get hooked while im not paying attention and also have my invoke on CD due to sunstrike.

Make sure to pick up your boots kind of early too - i tend to go for tranquil boots on 99% of my games (personal preference). Invoker is just so slow that tranquil boots gives more movespeed even when broken than all the other boots.

pudge is pretty easy mu for invo idk what u all talking about. u can even start with boots if u want u dominate him anywa

@DesideRium
never go tranquil boots on Invoker. 475 gold for 15 MS and 4 armor is a horrible investment. Tranquil is only for roamers.

Please don't start by memorizing and practice any combos. Make sure you spend time getting to know each spell, especially how they work, and when they work best. Then you can practice invoking the most relevant spell according to current situation. Master one spell at a time, even though you won't unleash Invoker's full potential during that time. When you have almost done that, any 2 spells you cast together in game will be a quite effective combo. Then you can start practicing complex combos like tornado + meteor + deafening blast or tornado + EMP + meteor + deafening blast (with Aghanim's Scepter).

The simplest combo for new invoker players is forge spirit + cold snap. I recommend you follow @Urgromim 's 414 build. It can get you started quickly with least knowledge of Invoker's other spellls.

Invoker is relatively universally suited hero, but it's very hard to play Invoker against heavy ganking lineups , since Invoker need to dominate at least one lane to get level advantage in order to make impact, beware of that before you pick him.

The last tip I wanna mention is that though Invoker has the highest damage dealing combos in the game, a BKB will make all your magic spells irrelevant. Luckily enough because of wex and exort orbs and Alacrity, Invoker has decent late game physical damage dealing ability. Make sure you prepare to change your tactics and item builds into physical right-clicker when you see multiple BKBs on your opponents.

complex combos like tornado + meteor + deafening blast or tornado + EMP + meteor + deafening blast
arent those the easiest combos ?

Nvm u call spirit+cs a combo so i guess they arent the easiest~

Against pubs? Mjollnir is beast with Quas maxed out. Fuck yeah

@Nova´
They are not the hardest combo but definitely not the easiest ones. For example cold snap + meteor is much easier to execute.
But they are definitely the most practical combos to max your magic damage output for beginners.

@grimorium Tranquil boots is actually a pretty good pick up on him i think. Its mainly down to preference though, Ive tried using all boots on him and feel i like this one the most.

Reasons:
It has higher MS than all other boots other than travels which is pretty vital on invoker as he is really slow at earlier levels. It gives HP regen when not broken which means you arent forced to skill too many into quas against a harass heavy opponent - meaning you can effectively trade hits and stuff much better and its really cheap compared to the other boots. My general build is tranq > midas > euls > blink/aghs depending on how im doing then i go for travels to be more mobile and increased M/S. I dont really like going phaze/treads/manaboots right now because i find i have enough mana from euls for mana boots, dont need the atk damage as earlier on i mainly use the euls combo and i never have a problem with HP. then i find it much easier to sell tranquils for travels rather than a much larger investment to sell usually about 15 minutes later.

I see what your saying, but after experimenting with all boots i just feel it fits my playstyle more and makes my item progression much smoother. I just hate running around really slow at the lower levels.

@DesideRium

I guarantee you and you can quote me anytime. 6.79 tranquil boots is very bad for invoker. The boots will almost always be broken, so you pay 475 gold for just +15 ms and 4 armor and delays core items.

@Urgromim
I don't like Tranquil on Invoker either, but I think @DesideRium made a point there. 15 ms and 4 armor isn't actually that bad for such a cheap item, it makes Invoker less vulnerable to to ganks because of the armor and regen(means he should be at near full hp anytime).

But the problem I can see here with tranquil is that he will have problem last hitting since invoker has really low base damage. Thus, he is forced to go exort-heavy builds, which means he will have less points for quas thus less strength and hp. So I suggest go for a bracer or drum if one choose tranquil.

However I personally prefer phase boot and use quas orbs for regen, because I can still have decent damage to last hit with 3 quas orbs if I go phase boot, plus more points into quas means more effective cold snap (which is the most reliable stun invoker has) and more strength and hp regen to survive in fights.

the only time your tranq will not be broken is when you are grabbing the rune and even then it will only be working for like 5secs

I was watching today icei*3 streaming. He played invoker the game i watched and OMG THE GUY IS GODLY. HE IS THE BEST INVOKER I HAVE EVER WITNESSED. Each one of his actions could easily be a part of grimorum's videos. WTF

^ yes i watched it too and it does look appealing for non-invoker players. But I can say on behalf of all invoker players, it wasn't anything "amazing" - it was more or less a standard match. I mean cmon, the chat was so hyped up because of an old euls+ss+meteor+blast combo.

I generally like to go midas every game though, i never rush midas pre-boots because against a lot of match ups i essentially lose the lane without a earlyish boots and it makes me way too vulnerable to ganks and deaths. Moving quicker than everyone else with tranqs can save you alot with deaths and it also means i would never get zoned out of lanes and can trade hits with anyone. At worst we both have to sit back a bit to regen and during this time, i can last hit with my minion. Naturally, if i dont go tranquils what i would be doing is going boots > midas > phaze > euls > blink > sceptor > bot.

It does sound ok actually but it delays my euls by a little then i sell it not long after. Getting a quick euls with higher MS makes it much easier for me to go snipe off farming carries and the second u get euls almost everyone for a brief period is a free kill. Going phaze, while delaying my euls gives everyone else a bit more time to farm up their core and surviving the combo.

But i agree i got tranqs everygame pre-patch and it was just so good and smooth in terms of item progression. Im having trouble adjusting my build and it just doesnt feel "perfect" switching to other boots so i think its just more my preferance.

@耿直小学生

Yes you are right this is for my exhort build only, QW i go phaze. Last hitting has become much easier in this patch with a minion up for the majority of the laning phase.