Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Greetings. This is my first guide and it is on the hero I find most interesting to play with. As my intention is to concentrate it on games of a higher level, I will skip any other information that can be found on the Invoker's profile like the hero story, hero model spell descriptions and basic information overall. Fancy pictures (not screenshots) are excluded as well because I want to make the guide as compact as possible, yet covering everything important. Some words (mostly skills and spells) are colored as this method improves the photographic memory (colors are essentially associated with the abilities). English is not my native language so pardon my grammar mistakes, if any.
2. The Hero
Okay so, Kael differs from all the other heroes in the game. His play style is unique and requires a lot of practice. The most important thing about this hero is the competent and adequate usage of spells, reading the game, picking the proper role and implementing mind games (more on that later).
As we are getting started, I would like to state that there is not possible in any way, shape or form to have a build/strategy suitable for all games, therefore there won't be an Alt-Tab mini guide. That form of summery is utterly helpful for most of the heroes, but Kael is an exception.
3. Overview and Statistics
3.1 Pros and Cons
Pros:
[+] Ranged
[+] Good Attack Animation
[+] No Casting Animation
[+] High MS with Wex Build
[+] Beyond Good lane control with Exort Build
[+] 10 Spells at his disposal
[+] Suitable for any role
[+] Good escape mechanism
Cons:
[-] Fragile
[-] Mana Dependant with some skill builds
[-] Level Dependant
3.2 Stats
STR - 19 + 1.7 per level + 2 per Quas Instance
AGI - 20 + 1.9 per level + 2 per Wex Instance
INT - 22 + 2.5 per level + 2 per Exort Instance
Many people include high/low stats gains in the Pros & Cons section (and what not for that matter). This is wrong as the results of the stats are more important than actual numbers. For example The Invoker has somewhat low STR/AGI which are compensated by the additional 2 from the Quas and Wex, respectively with each instance. And yes, Kael lacks the 10 levels of Attribute Bonus, meaning he would have 14+ to all stats, asuming Quas, Wex and Exort are maxed. And even though other heroes have 20+ to all stats when Attribute Bonus is maxed, The Invoker has benefits over them statistics wise in the long run, as he is capable of having 3 orbs, each giving additional improvements
(HP Regen/Speed Bonus/Damage) and being able to shift them freely, assembling any combination of them at all times, depending on the situation.
4. Skills
Quas
When to use:
-Early game in lane - at early levels with proper micro and considering Kael knows how to prevent an early gank, Quas can reduce the number of healing items needed to stay in a lane, considering its not overly aggressive, (but still should have at least one set of tango for juking purposes if anything backfires) allowing Invoker to get a chicken as he is not going to carry with the Quas build... more on that later.
-When under the effect of a DPS spell. Examples: Doom, Venomous Gale, Poison Nova, Viper Strike, etc. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 x3 HP regeneration per second is not likely to turn the tide of battle as it affects only Kael, but it sure can make a huge difference for him when he is under the effect of a DPS spell (Reminder: Each hero has 20% magic resistance). A non-under-leveled Invoker will survive any DPS spell if he does not get nuked to oblivion and keeps his distance in the battle. (Reminder #2: Invoker is very likely to get Doomed in battle...for obvious reasons).
-When going for a Quas build it is often better to have 2 orbs of Quas and one of Wex, as this is the combination for Ghost Walk and hitting R and V hotkeys is all that is needed to activate the escape mechanism (asuming default hotkeys are used). Unlike some Exort or Wex builds, where 3 of the same orbs make huge difference, this one does not require triple Quas. In other words 7 hp regen per second (asuming Quas is maxed) is sacrificed for easier activation of the escape mechanism. This is highly recommended because shifting orbs cancels movement and that is a bad thing to do in the heat of battle, it can make huge difference, also chain stunning/disabling will screw the sequence up. Ghost Walk is always situational and it should not be one of the two active spells.
Wex
-Wex is used for fleeing and chasing. 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%/12%/14% AS and 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%/6%/7% MS per instance make up for the low MS of 280 and drastically boost the attack rate of Kael. Reminder: Each time Wex is leveled, Invoker gains +2 to AGI and each point in Agility gives 1% attack speed.
-At higher levels the provided mobility (increased turn rate as а result of the speed bonus) can be useful to dodge certain spells like Lina's Light Strike Array, Leshrac's Split Earth, Admiral's Torrent, Phoenix's Sun Ray, etc.
-If Wex is the prioritized skill, in most cases all 3 orbs should be set to Wex. With a Wex build, orbs should be set to Quas only when the opposing team has heroes with DPS spells like Doom, Venomancer, etc. (considering Quas is at significant level), as the bonus speed is preferred than the extra HP regen. Ghost Walk is gotten situationally again, only that this time the longer sequence should be used (QQWRV, assuming default hotkeys are used), because sacrificing 2 orbs of Wex that equal 14% MS and 28% AS is rarely a good decision just for the possibility to activate the escape mechanism easier.
-If Wex and Exort are the same or almost the same levels, Wex orbs are taken over the Exort ones, as the damage bonus is not as much as significant as it would be if Exort is prioritized and the speed bonuses, especially the MS one makes the difference.
Exort
-Exort provides the ultimate lane control, making last hitting a child's play. At max level it provides damage as a high tier damage item, assuming the 3 orbs are set to Exort, and that makes it 21 x3 = 63 bonus damage.
-If Exort is prioritized, the 3 orbs should be set to that instance, as the huge bonus damage is very important in the early game. Late game when both Exort and Wex are maxed, Wex is preferred if Kael opted for raw damage items. Yeah, the +61 damage is exchanged for permanent 42% AS and 21% MS bonus.
-There will be a point of time in the mid game where Exort will be maxed and Wex - either maxed as well or almost maxed. In that scenario, in order to get the best DPS possible, Exort and Wex orbs can be mixed, depending on the items obtained so far. The damage per second will be slightly higher and most of the time it won't have any effect over the game but I mention this because we are aiming for perfection here. It takes practice to decide whether or not and when you should mix the orbs. You never know... anything can happen and sometimes the smallest of details decide matches.
-Asuming with the Exort build, The Invoker has gotten at least one level of both Quas and Wex, Ghost Walk is still used as an escape mechanism, but nothing else as it will slow you down a lot and your opponents - barely due to the low levels of Quas and Wex.
Invoke
-Okay, so Invoke is not necessarily taken whenever possible. Some skill builds don't require/allow you to lay down a barrage of spells (due to lack of mana, chainbreak or low orb levels in the early game which result in either nearly useless spells or such that are not worth the mana), therefore an extra orb is sometimes more useful than leveling up the ult, as its only benefit consists in decreasing the cooldown by 5 seconds. That applies after the first two levels of Invoke because the second one gives you another available spell. People tend to forget that after using both active spells in a battle, another one can be invoked right away (assuming Invoke is not on cooldown).
-For example, with an Exort oriented build the first level of Invoke can be skipped at level 2 and taken at level 4 due to the weakness of some spells in this very early stage of the game (a competent player will not die to Exort spells this early). In this scenario Exort is taken at levels 1 and 3, Quas or Wex at 2 and Invoke at 4. The second level of Exort will improve damage and therefore last hitting significantly. The first level of Wex is nearly irrevelent at level 2 as Exort orbs will be used, however leveling up Quas once will passively increase the hero's HP by 38 (2 STR = 38 HP, 19 per point) and, believe it or not, this can make a big difference in the early game. This doesn't go just for Exort orientated builds.
-Chainbreakers (Silencing, disabling and mana burning heroes) make multi-casting much, much harder. More on that later.
-Always invoke your two primary spells outside of battle in order to have Invoke off cooldown during the fight.
-Some spells are better for ganking than others. If your primary spells are not appropriate for ganking, replace them temporarily (during the gank) with appropriate ones, even if they are weaker on paper.
5. Spells and Tricks
Invoker's array of 10 abilities covers every aspect of the word spell. However, Kael won't always have access to all of his spells, so in some cases using a secondary spell is necessary in order to pull something off. In this section, I will illustrate every single possible way to use each one of the ten spells.
Their order is equivalent to the one of the -invokelist (-il) command in the game.
Sun Strike
Exort Exort Exort Hotkey: T
Overview
Unlimited range, its damage scales greatly for a spell with 7 levels (62.5 per level). This makes Sun Strike a solid nuke.
Sun Strike is used to kill, harrass and scout. 1.7 delay before it hits, but do note that sometimes anyone can have delay of their own for whatever reason. Before using Sun Strike try to calculate it, approximately of course, in order to improve accuracy as much as possible.
Killing
-If Kael is away from a fight, he should keep an eye on it and always try to snipe enemies from afar. Its okay to steal a kill from your teammates (as long as you're not dead sure that a carry will get it), as both them and you will get experience and gold from it if it dies from Sun Strike, plus the Exort build can be an opening for a carry or semi-carry role.
-Fleeing enemies from such battles should be at low HP and easy to strike.
-Should be used in low ranged battles as well.
Support
-The following is an advanced way to be supportive with Sun Strike. If your team decides to tri-lane, use the nuke as soon as their target is stunned or slowed. 75 damage at level 1 from the other side of the map is a lot for someone, who is being smacked by 3 foes.
-Always Sun Strike when you see an ally fighting to help them win the battle. When its a matter of life and death, it does not matter who will get the kill, make sure the foe drops dead and the ally perseveres. Anything can happen at any time so strike as soon as possible.
Scouting
-Rune Scouting. If your team's wards have expired and a rune is about to spawn, Sun Strike can be used to check. Best use of this make Invokers who picked a supportive role, otherwise the mana and sometimes the use of this spell will be much needed elsewhere, so its rarely worth to waste on such scouting.
-Neutral Scouting. When hunting in the enemy forest (after counter-warding, of course, because only complete retards would run around in their forest after they see an upcoming gank) you should Sun Strike the creep camp that is far away from you and your party in order to see if the victim is there. There are 3 scenarios:
-Number one. He is there, the spell hits him and he runs away towards base, a tower, or allied heroes. Beware if any heroes are MIA (missing in action) if you continue to chase. In most cases the target will live and the gank attempt will fail, carry a TP scroll to get back to your lane or start another gank without wasting time running around.
-Number two. The target is not there, but there are creep corpses. This means they were creeping seconds ago and either left the forest or kept creeping. If they left the forest, nothing can be done, use TP and and abort the gank attempt (make sure you don't ditch your allies, keep track of MIA enemies). If he kept creeping split the ganking group in two and check creep camps that are nearby the scouted one. In most cases three people will gank forest so the party will be split 2:1. The one should be a disabler (yes its recommended to hunt in the forest with at least 2 disablers), because if he sees the enemy he will slow/stun them while the other two party members come to help and kill the foe. If the group of two finds the enemy, he will try to escape for obvious reasons. Depending on the HP and the ganking heroes, the foe has a decent chance to live through the ambush, this is where the third party member's role comes in - flanking. He should not go back to his team in the same direction they departed, but towards the area where the victim might to in order to stun/slow him with a well executed flank.
-Number three. There are either neutral creeps at full HP or no neutral creeps not their corpses. In this case the foe has not crept the spawn yet or has done it long ago (as the corpses have disappeared). Walk together around for a little while to see if the victim is there just in case, if not abort mission.
Tip: Make sure you watch the timer, neutrals spawn every full minute.
Note: Some creeps do not leave corpses.
-Roshan scouting. At some point in the mid/late game (if there are no heroes that can solo Roshan early on) when the enemies are MIA, scout Roshan's lair (if no wards cover that area) and choose whether or not to go kill them because if not enough team members are there to go with you, this will be a bad decision. Note that Roshan's lair is a choke point, Exort Invokers can land perfect Chaos Meteors there. If There are heroes that can kill Roshan early, its better to ward the area and not rely on Sun Strike for scouting. Early Roshan killing attempts happen from the 7th-8th or 10th-12th minute marks.
-Blind Spot Explenation. There are two blind spots in the game. Roshan's Lair and the ramp west of it. Blind spots are areas that won't be revealed if the hero/unit doesn't cross a particular line, regardless of how close they are to it. The area around Roshan has a name already so we will call the ramp near it The blind spot. Now picture two heroes - A and B. Hero A is chasing hero B. B runs towards the blind spot, A is right behind him (lets say 200 range). They both get up the ramp at nearly the same time. If hero B turns around and goes back down the ramp after reaching the top edge of it and hero A still hasn't reached the top edge, hero A will not see hero B going down the ramp.
So, if a friend of the Invoker is chasing a hero that is running towards the blind spot, Kael should use Sun Strike on the ramp in order to reveal it and prevent the fancy juke that not many people know about (asuming Sun Strike cannot kill the fleeing target).
-Juke Prevention. When a fleeing enemy is trying to juke you and/or your team, use Sun Strike on the juke spot. At this scenario do not try to kill the foe because they will suspect it and probably dodge the strike. Reveal the juke area and you/your team should finish them with another spell or flank and kill them.
Speaking of preventing jukes, I think its best to mention the following trick here:
-Courier Wall Hack Trick. Mostly used in smaller games (3v3/2v2/1v1). Try to have have a flying courier to hover over foes that are trying to juke in order to gain vision of them. The Burst ability gives the bird max MS so it will be able to keep up with the target, Courier Shield will ensure that it will survive if the running enemy gets greedy and stops/turns around to kill it. Calculate their damage and don't activate the shield of the crow right away if the greedy retard tries to smack it. Wait until the bird is one hit away from death, as turning the shield right of the bat will discourage the adversary and they will keep running. This is a good way to keep track of juking enemies (its not like Balanar in the night with Aghanim Scepter or Rexxar's Hawk, but its still enough). It might sound like a silly tactic that and would work once in a million times, but its not true, I've done it many times with great success.
-Scouting Key Positions. Later on in the game when foes might be hiding on ramps and cliffs or in the forest, use Sun Strike to reveal the area and prevent an ambush.
Death Trap Trick
This is something that I thought of. I do not claim to be the first one that has done this but since I haven't seen anyone use this tactic, I took the liberty to give it a name. This is how its done:
-Reveal an area near the enemy fountain with Sun Strike and out of any tower's range.
-You must have Furion on the team. Have him buy a TP scroll and wards and use Teleportation on the spot that you have already revealed.
-Have him place a ward outside the fountain area so that it reveals a part of it plus it's entrance.
-Furion teleports out.
-Now you have vision over their fountain area, making you able to land strikes on enemies that have escaped a battle with low HP right before they reach the fountain.
Tips:
-When using Sun Strike to reveal a spot for Furion to teleport on, pick an area near the tree wall as it is less likely the foes will note what the Prophet is doing.
-It is better when Furion has a single ward in his inventory when teleporting to the enemy base. If they enemies spot the Prophet after he has planted a ward they will note there is one more in his inventory and realize whats going on. So they will counter ward.
-When you have already done this once with success, you can get Furion to teleport once again with one ward in his inventory and run around for a few seconds there (you want them to see him carrying a single ward in his inventory), then teleport out. The enemies will assume you have done the same trick and waste another sentry ward just to find out that you faked it.
Screenshots to be added soon.
Cheating Death
The only downside of the spell is that if it hits multiple units the damage will be divided among them. Good opponents will try to maintain the same path when fleeing in order to dodge the supposedly coming Sun Strike, however patient Invokers that take their time to calculate the landing spot often score a kill. A better way of escaping death is if the target has an ally nearby, rather it be a creep, hero or a summon of their own, and hugs them (while moving if the player can synchronize the movement of both units). In that scenario survival is almost assured, as the damage is split.
Chaos Meteor
Exort Exort Wex Hotkey: D
Overview
This is Invoker's most offensive spell, it is capable of inflicting colossal damage. It damages victims twice - initially, while being overrun by it and once more for 3 seconds after the last portion of initial damage taken (the burn damage works in and outside of the meteors path), in other words, when the victim is under the meteor, they will receive burn damage as an addition to the initial damage and the expiration timer of the burn damage will be restarted once every 0.5 seconds. Note that the initial damage is dealt every 0.5 seconds and the burn damage - every full second. Chaos Meteor can be used for killing, confusing and controlling foes as well as for ending chase attempts.
Important: The meteor has MS of 300 and casting range of 700. It needs time to land so it can be used on fleeing enemies that are at most 500 range away from the Invoker. Here is why:
Move Speed Value Explanation: The MS of any unit spell or attack projectile is determined by the distance it travels per second. For example, Chaos Meteor has 300 MS. This means it travels 300 range per second. Same applies to heroes. The maximal MS of a hero can be 522 - this is the distance the hero can walk through for one full second. Why exactly 522? Because the Warcraft 3 engine cannot exceed this limit for some unknown to me reason. This frontier can be extended over 522 by changing triggers in the World Editor, but the edited unit will not retain the movement animation. In reality, when breaking this limit, the trigger "teleports" the unit every 0.01 seconds to a little forward of its facing angle. Attack projectiles and some spells have higher speed, its called PS or projectile speed.
Killing
Needless to say, this spell finds its best use in team fights. Best team battles you can have are the ones at choke points because, basically, the only way to avoid meteors is by retreating or charging head on. In other words the targets either have to try to retreat and soak up a great portion of the damage or stay at one place/advance in the opposite of the meteor direction and still take a lot of damage.
Confusing
Most appropriate for Quas and Wex builds because the damage of the meteor would be just about insignificant due to the low level of Exort. The basic idea of this is to cast the spell and make your opponents think the worst part is over, while you prepare the real threat.
Control
One word - distraction. More on this topic after the explanation of EMP as this technique finds there its best use, Chaos Meteor will be mentioned as well.
Ending chase attempts.
Plain and simple. When being chased cast the spell on the ground and run under the meteor. Enemies that decide to keep chasing will get killed or seriously damaged.
Mirror Casting:
This is something i call Mirror Casting as i don't know if it has an actual name. I have not the slightest idea why it works that way but I'm dead sure its not intentionally implemented by IceFrog, but a glitch/bug of the Warcraft 3 engine. It consists in casting a spell like Chaos Meteor, Elune's Arrow, Burrowstrike, etc. to the east while running west by targeting the hero's portrait. The hero does not turn around to cast the spell. It only works when your hero is facing west (and the spell will be executed to the east, respectively)
Screenshot will be added.
1. Introduction
2. The Invoker
3. Overview and Statistics
4. Skills
Quas
Wex
Exort
Invoke
5. Spells,Tricks and Explenations
5.1 Sun Strike
-Blind Spot Explenation
-Courier Wall Hack Trick
-Death Trap Trick
5.2 Chaos Meteor
-Move Speed Value Explanation
-Mirror Casting Trick
5.3 Forge Spirits
6. Skill Builds
7. Item Builds
8. Synergies
9. Role
10. Replays
11. Conclusion
12. Changelog
2. The Invoker
3. Overview and Statistics
4. Skills
Quas
Wex
Exort
Invoke
5. Spells,Tricks and Explenations
5.1 Sun Strike
-Blind Spot Explenation
-Courier Wall Hack Trick
-Death Trap Trick
5.2 Chaos Meteor
-Move Speed Value Explanation
-Mirror Casting Trick
5.3 Forge Spirits
6. Skill Builds
7. Item Builds
8. Synergies
9. Role
10. Replays
11. Conclusion
12. Changelog
1. Introduction
Greetings. This is my first guide and it is on the hero I find most interesting to play with. As my intention is to concentrate it on games of a higher level, I will skip any other information that can be found on the Invoker's profile like the hero story, hero model spell descriptions and basic information overall. Fancy pictures (not screenshots) are excluded as well because I want to make the guide as compact as possible, yet covering everything important. Some words (mostly skills and spells) are colored as this method improves the photographic memory (colors are essentially associated with the abilities). English is not my native language so pardon my grammar mistakes, if any.
2. The Hero
Okay so, Kael differs from all the other heroes in the game. His play style is unique and requires a lot of practice. The most important thing about this hero is the competent and adequate usage of spells, reading the game, picking the proper role and implementing mind games (more on that later).
As we are getting started, I would like to state that there is not possible in any way, shape or form to have a build/strategy suitable for all games, therefore there won't be an Alt-Tab mini guide. That form of summery is utterly helpful for most of the heroes, but Kael is an exception.
3. Overview and Statistics
3.1 Pros and Cons
Pros:
[+] Ranged
[+] Good Attack Animation
[+] No Casting Animation
[+] High MS with Wex Build
[+] Beyond Good lane control with Exort Build
[+] 10 Spells at his disposal
[+] Suitable for any role
[+] Good escape mechanism
Cons:
[-] Fragile
[-] Mana Dependant with some skill builds
[-] Level Dependant
3.2 Stats
STR - 19 + 1.7 per level + 2 per Quas Instance
AGI - 20 + 1.9 per level + 2 per Wex Instance
INT - 22 + 2.5 per level + 2 per Exort Instance
Many people include high/low stats gains in the Pros & Cons section (and what not for that matter). This is wrong as the results of the stats are more important than actual numbers. For example The Invoker has somewhat low STR/AGI which are compensated by the additional 2 from the Quas and Wex, respectively with each instance. And yes, Kael lacks the 10 levels of Attribute Bonus, meaning he would have 14+ to all stats, asuming Quas, Wex and Exort are maxed. And even though other heroes have 20+ to all stats when Attribute Bonus is maxed, The Invoker has benefits over them statistics wise in the long run, as he is capable of having 3 orbs, each giving additional improvements
(HP Regen/Speed Bonus/Damage) and being able to shift them freely, assembling any combination of them at all times, depending on the situation.
4. Skills
Quas
When to use:
-Early game in lane - at early levels with proper micro and considering Kael knows how to prevent an early gank, Quas can reduce the number of healing items needed to stay in a lane, considering its not overly aggressive, (but still should have at least one set of tango for juking purposes if anything backfires) allowing Invoker to get a chicken as he is not going to carry with the Quas build... more on that later.
-When under the effect of a DPS spell. Examples: Doom, Venomous Gale, Poison Nova, Viper Strike, etc. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 x3 HP regeneration per second is not likely to turn the tide of battle as it affects only Kael, but it sure can make a huge difference for him when he is under the effect of a DPS spell (Reminder: Each hero has 20% magic resistance). A non-under-leveled Invoker will survive any DPS spell if he does not get nuked to oblivion and keeps his distance in the battle. (Reminder #2: Invoker is very likely to get Doomed in battle...for obvious reasons).
-When going for a Quas build it is often better to have 2 orbs of Quas and one of Wex, as this is the combination for Ghost Walk and hitting R and V hotkeys is all that is needed to activate the escape mechanism (asuming default hotkeys are used). Unlike some Exort or Wex builds, where 3 of the same orbs make huge difference, this one does not require triple Quas. In other words 7 hp regen per second (asuming Quas is maxed) is sacrificed for easier activation of the escape mechanism. This is highly recommended because shifting orbs cancels movement and that is a bad thing to do in the heat of battle, it can make huge difference, also chain stunning/disabling will screw the sequence up. Ghost Walk is always situational and it should not be one of the two active spells.
Wex
-Wex is used for fleeing and chasing. 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%/12%/14% AS and 1%/2%/3%/4%/5%/6%/7% MS per instance make up for the low MS of 280 and drastically boost the attack rate of Kael. Reminder: Each time Wex is leveled, Invoker gains +2 to AGI and each point in Agility gives 1% attack speed.
-At higher levels the provided mobility (increased turn rate as а result of the speed bonus) can be useful to dodge certain spells like Lina's Light Strike Array, Leshrac's Split Earth, Admiral's Torrent, Phoenix's Sun Ray, etc.
-If Wex is the prioritized skill, in most cases all 3 orbs should be set to Wex. With a Wex build, orbs should be set to Quas only when the opposing team has heroes with DPS spells like Doom, Venomancer, etc. (considering Quas is at significant level), as the bonus speed is preferred than the extra HP regen. Ghost Walk is gotten situationally again, only that this time the longer sequence should be used (QQWRV, assuming default hotkeys are used), because sacrificing 2 orbs of Wex that equal 14% MS and 28% AS is rarely a good decision just for the possibility to activate the escape mechanism easier.
-If Wex and Exort are the same or almost the same levels, Wex orbs are taken over the Exort ones, as the damage bonus is not as much as significant as it would be if Exort is prioritized and the speed bonuses, especially the MS one makes the difference.
Exort
-Exort provides the ultimate lane control, making last hitting a child's play. At max level it provides damage as a high tier damage item, assuming the 3 orbs are set to Exort, and that makes it 21 x3 = 63 bonus damage.
-If Exort is prioritized, the 3 orbs should be set to that instance, as the huge bonus damage is very important in the early game. Late game when both Exort and Wex are maxed, Wex is preferred if Kael opted for raw damage items. Yeah, the +61 damage is exchanged for permanent 42% AS and 21% MS bonus.
-There will be a point of time in the mid game where Exort will be maxed and Wex - either maxed as well or almost maxed. In that scenario, in order to get the best DPS possible, Exort and Wex orbs can be mixed, depending on the items obtained so far. The damage per second will be slightly higher and most of the time it won't have any effect over the game but I mention this because we are aiming for perfection here. It takes practice to decide whether or not and when you should mix the orbs. You never know... anything can happen and sometimes the smallest of details decide matches.
-Asuming with the Exort build, The Invoker has gotten at least one level of both Quas and Wex, Ghost Walk is still used as an escape mechanism, but nothing else as it will slow you down a lot and your opponents - barely due to the low levels of Quas and Wex.
Invoke
-Okay, so Invoke is not necessarily taken whenever possible. Some skill builds don't require/allow you to lay down a barrage of spells (due to lack of mana, chainbreak or low orb levels in the early game which result in either nearly useless spells or such that are not worth the mana), therefore an extra orb is sometimes more useful than leveling up the ult, as its only benefit consists in decreasing the cooldown by 5 seconds. That applies after the first two levels of Invoke because the second one gives you another available spell. People tend to forget that after using both active spells in a battle, another one can be invoked right away (assuming Invoke is not on cooldown).
-For example, with an Exort oriented build the first level of Invoke can be skipped at level 2 and taken at level 4 due to the weakness of some spells in this very early stage of the game (a competent player will not die to Exort spells this early). In this scenario Exort is taken at levels 1 and 3, Quas or Wex at 2 and Invoke at 4. The second level of Exort will improve damage and therefore last hitting significantly. The first level of Wex is nearly irrevelent at level 2 as Exort orbs will be used, however leveling up Quas once will passively increase the hero's HP by 38 (2 STR = 38 HP, 19 per point) and, believe it or not, this can make a big difference in the early game. This doesn't go just for Exort orientated builds.
-Chainbreakers (Silencing, disabling and mana burning heroes) make multi-casting much, much harder. More on that later.
-Always invoke your two primary spells outside of battle in order to have Invoke off cooldown during the fight.
-Some spells are better for ganking than others. If your primary spells are not appropriate for ganking, replace them temporarily (during the gank) with appropriate ones, even if they are weaker on paper.
5. Spells and Tricks
Invoker's array of 10 abilities covers every aspect of the word spell. However, Kael won't always have access to all of his spells, so in some cases using a secondary spell is necessary in order to pull something off. In this section, I will illustrate every single possible way to use each one of the ten spells.
Their order is equivalent to the one of the -invokelist (-il) command in the game.
Sun Strike
Exort Exort Exort Hotkey: T
Overview
Unlimited range, its damage scales greatly for a spell with 7 levels (62.5 per level). This makes Sun Strike a solid nuke.
Sun Strike is used to kill, harrass and scout. 1.7 delay before it hits, but do note that sometimes anyone can have delay of their own for whatever reason. Before using Sun Strike try to calculate it, approximately of course, in order to improve accuracy as much as possible.
Killing
-If Kael is away from a fight, he should keep an eye on it and always try to snipe enemies from afar. Its okay to steal a kill from your teammates (as long as you're not dead sure that a carry will get it), as both them and you will get experience and gold from it if it dies from Sun Strike, plus the Exort build can be an opening for a carry or semi-carry role.
-Fleeing enemies from such battles should be at low HP and easy to strike.
-Should be used in low ranged battles as well.
Support
-The following is an advanced way to be supportive with Sun Strike. If your team decides to tri-lane, use the nuke as soon as their target is stunned or slowed. 75 damage at level 1 from the other side of the map is a lot for someone, who is being smacked by 3 foes.
-Always Sun Strike when you see an ally fighting to help them win the battle. When its a matter of life and death, it does not matter who will get the kill, make sure the foe drops dead and the ally perseveres. Anything can happen at any time so strike as soon as possible.
Scouting
-Rune Scouting. If your team's wards have expired and a rune is about to spawn, Sun Strike can be used to check. Best use of this make Invokers who picked a supportive role, otherwise the mana and sometimes the use of this spell will be much needed elsewhere, so its rarely worth to waste on such scouting.
-Neutral Scouting. When hunting in the enemy forest (after counter-warding, of course, because only complete retards would run around in their forest after they see an upcoming gank) you should Sun Strike the creep camp that is far away from you and your party in order to see if the victim is there. There are 3 scenarios:
-Number one. He is there, the spell hits him and he runs away towards base, a tower, or allied heroes. Beware if any heroes are MIA (missing in action) if you continue to chase. In most cases the target will live and the gank attempt will fail, carry a TP scroll to get back to your lane or start another gank without wasting time running around.
-Number two. The target is not there, but there are creep corpses. This means they were creeping seconds ago and either left the forest or kept creeping. If they left the forest, nothing can be done, use TP and and abort the gank attempt (make sure you don't ditch your allies, keep track of MIA enemies). If he kept creeping split the ganking group in two and check creep camps that are nearby the scouted one. In most cases three people will gank forest so the party will be split 2:1. The one should be a disabler (yes its recommended to hunt in the forest with at least 2 disablers), because if he sees the enemy he will slow/stun them while the other two party members come to help and kill the foe. If the group of two finds the enemy, he will try to escape for obvious reasons. Depending on the HP and the ganking heroes, the foe has a decent chance to live through the ambush, this is where the third party member's role comes in - flanking. He should not go back to his team in the same direction they departed, but towards the area where the victim might to in order to stun/slow him with a well executed flank.
-Number three. There are either neutral creeps at full HP or no neutral creeps not their corpses. In this case the foe has not crept the spawn yet or has done it long ago (as the corpses have disappeared). Walk together around for a little while to see if the victim is there just in case, if not abort mission.
Tip: Make sure you watch the timer, neutrals spawn every full minute.
Note: Some creeps do not leave corpses.
-Roshan scouting. At some point in the mid/late game (if there are no heroes that can solo Roshan early on) when the enemies are MIA, scout Roshan's lair (if no wards cover that area) and choose whether or not to go kill them because if not enough team members are there to go with you, this will be a bad decision. Note that Roshan's lair is a choke point, Exort Invokers can land perfect Chaos Meteors there. If There are heroes that can kill Roshan early, its better to ward the area and not rely on Sun Strike for scouting. Early Roshan killing attempts happen from the 7th-8th or 10th-12th minute marks.
-Blind Spot Explenation. There are two blind spots in the game. Roshan's Lair and the ramp west of it. Blind spots are areas that won't be revealed if the hero/unit doesn't cross a particular line, regardless of how close they are to it. The area around Roshan has a name already so we will call the ramp near it The blind spot. Now picture two heroes - A and B. Hero A is chasing hero B. B runs towards the blind spot, A is right behind him (lets say 200 range). They both get up the ramp at nearly the same time. If hero B turns around and goes back down the ramp after reaching the top edge of it and hero A still hasn't reached the top edge, hero A will not see hero B going down the ramp.
So, if a friend of the Invoker is chasing a hero that is running towards the blind spot, Kael should use Sun Strike on the ramp in order to reveal it and prevent the fancy juke that not many people know about (asuming Sun Strike cannot kill the fleeing target).
-Juke Prevention. When a fleeing enemy is trying to juke you and/or your team, use Sun Strike on the juke spot. At this scenario do not try to kill the foe because they will suspect it and probably dodge the strike. Reveal the juke area and you/your team should finish them with another spell or flank and kill them.
Speaking of preventing jukes, I think its best to mention the following trick here:
-Courier Wall Hack Trick. Mostly used in smaller games (3v3/2v2/1v1). Try to have have a flying courier to hover over foes that are trying to juke in order to gain vision of them. The Burst ability gives the bird max MS so it will be able to keep up with the target, Courier Shield will ensure that it will survive if the running enemy gets greedy and stops/turns around to kill it. Calculate their damage and don't activate the shield of the crow right away if the greedy retard tries to smack it. Wait until the bird is one hit away from death, as turning the shield right of the bat will discourage the adversary and they will keep running. This is a good way to keep track of juking enemies (its not like Balanar in the night with Aghanim Scepter or Rexxar's Hawk, but its still enough). It might sound like a silly tactic that and would work once in a million times, but its not true, I've done it many times with great success.
-Scouting Key Positions. Later on in the game when foes might be hiding on ramps and cliffs or in the forest, use Sun Strike to reveal the area and prevent an ambush.
Death Trap Trick
This is something that I thought of. I do not claim to be the first one that has done this but since I haven't seen anyone use this tactic, I took the liberty to give it a name. This is how its done:
-Reveal an area near the enemy fountain with Sun Strike and out of any tower's range.
-You must have Furion on the team. Have him buy a TP scroll and wards and use Teleportation on the spot that you have already revealed.
-Have him place a ward outside the fountain area so that it reveals a part of it plus it's entrance.
-Furion teleports out.
-Now you have vision over their fountain area, making you able to land strikes on enemies that have escaped a battle with low HP right before they reach the fountain.
Tips:
-When using Sun Strike to reveal a spot for Furion to teleport on, pick an area near the tree wall as it is less likely the foes will note what the Prophet is doing.
-It is better when Furion has a single ward in his inventory when teleporting to the enemy base. If they enemies spot the Prophet after he has planted a ward they will note there is one more in his inventory and realize whats going on. So they will counter ward.
-When you have already done this once with success, you can get Furion to teleport once again with one ward in his inventory and run around for a few seconds there (you want them to see him carrying a single ward in his inventory), then teleport out. The enemies will assume you have done the same trick and waste another sentry ward just to find out that you faked it.
Screenshots to be added soon.
Cheating Death
The only downside of the spell is that if it hits multiple units the damage will be divided among them. Good opponents will try to maintain the same path when fleeing in order to dodge the supposedly coming Sun Strike, however patient Invokers that take their time to calculate the landing spot often score a kill. A better way of escaping death is if the target has an ally nearby, rather it be a creep, hero or a summon of their own, and hugs them (while moving if the player can synchronize the movement of both units). In that scenario survival is almost assured, as the damage is split.
Chaos Meteor
Exort Exort Wex Hotkey: D
Overview
This is Invoker's most offensive spell, it is capable of inflicting colossal damage. It damages victims twice - initially, while being overrun by it and once more for 3 seconds after the last portion of initial damage taken (the burn damage works in and outside of the meteors path), in other words, when the victim is under the meteor, they will receive burn damage as an addition to the initial damage and the expiration timer of the burn damage will be restarted once every 0.5 seconds. Note that the initial damage is dealt every 0.5 seconds and the burn damage - every full second. Chaos Meteor can be used for killing, confusing and controlling foes as well as for ending chase attempts.
Important: The meteor has MS of 300 and casting range of 700. It needs time to land so it can be used on fleeing enemies that are at most 500 range away from the Invoker. Here is why:
Move Speed Value Explanation: The MS of any unit spell or attack projectile is determined by the distance it travels per second. For example, Chaos Meteor has 300 MS. This means it travels 300 range per second. Same applies to heroes. The maximal MS of a hero can be 522 - this is the distance the hero can walk through for one full second. Why exactly 522? Because the Warcraft 3 engine cannot exceed this limit for some unknown to me reason. This frontier can be extended over 522 by changing triggers in the World Editor, but the edited unit will not retain the movement animation. In reality, when breaking this limit, the trigger "teleports" the unit every 0.01 seconds to a little forward of its facing angle. Attack projectiles and some spells have higher speed, its called PS or projectile speed.
Killing
Needless to say, this spell finds its best use in team fights. Best team battles you can have are the ones at choke points because, basically, the only way to avoid meteors is by retreating or charging head on. In other words the targets either have to try to retreat and soak up a great portion of the damage or stay at one place/advance in the opposite of the meteor direction and still take a lot of damage.
Confusing
Most appropriate for Quas and Wex builds because the damage of the meteor would be just about insignificant due to the low level of Exort. The basic idea of this is to cast the spell and make your opponents think the worst part is over, while you prepare the real threat.
Control
One word - distraction. More on this topic after the explanation of EMP as this technique finds there its best use, Chaos Meteor will be mentioned as well.
Ending chase attempts.
Plain and simple. When being chased cast the spell on the ground and run under the meteor. Enemies that decide to keep chasing will get killed or seriously damaged.
Mirror Casting:
This is something i call Mirror Casting as i don't know if it has an actual name. I have not the slightest idea why it works that way but I'm dead sure its not intentionally implemented by IceFrog, but a glitch/bug of the Warcraft 3 engine. It consists in casting a spell like Chaos Meteor, Elune's Arrow, Burrowstrike, etc. to the east while running west by targeting the hero's portrait. The hero does not turn around to cast the spell. It only works when your hero is facing west (and the spell will be executed to the east, respectively)
Screenshot will be added.
Kael the InvokerAuthor: iAmAlexander-
Map Vers.: 6.71b
Advanced Tactics
Competitive Guide to Invoker
Last Comment:22/05/2011
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