This guide is intended to popularize the use of a highly underrated hero. The Invoker. Lets begin by pointing out his weaknesses.
280 ms ==> above average gankin + weak hero control by user
=certain death. assuming that u will be on a solo lane
early game you cannot afford to make mistakes on
moving. this ms means that kael requires
concentration, good positioning and map control (the
latter to watch out for gankers as even if team should
always report it's better when you are aware of the
situation yourself)
511 HP ==> along with a poor 1.4 strength growth and no
attributes bonuses fully justify the requirements i
stated in the ms area above. Some strength items would
be a great idea. 2 Bracer's, a PT for strength and a
Scepter will be of great help and i think that are
enough for him. (Note this are not obligatory items)
AA/atk ==> his attack animation is somewhat slow and his attack
ranges 44-50 with a growth of 2.5 per level. this can
be improved by instances of wex or exort (personaly i
prefer the latter, the reasons i will state below)
anyway his attack animation may be mastered perfectly
so that is mostly a practice and user skill problem.
(example if CHU plays invoker he would score a 100%
farm without the need of exort or wex :P)
Spells ==> Invoker highly depends on level for his spells ergo
supporting/ganking/nuking power to be developed. He is
definitely no early game hero but against a
lower-than-user-skilled player he can be a pusher even
at those early levels (positioning and perfect timing
with attacks). against a equally skilled player the
user can effectively hold the lane by spamming EMP or
by very careful play.


Now that we know what are some basic requirements for this hero to be played in competitions we can proceed to note his strong side.

10 spells.....
Doesn't that just speak for itself?
0 spell animation.....
(although his spells have some effect delay example meteor and ss) Nobody will notice what spell will u cast and when you will cast it. If someone can look your reagents and predict your spells and fully evade them while in the middle of the fight than perhaps he deserves to win the game...

Kael is the most versatile hero in the game. By this i mean that he can be an important asset in every team u can think of (by team i mean competitive picks made by at least mid skill captains). However his versatility is in direct proportion with his levels (higher level=more spells+more powerful ones) a great way to counter him is to gank him a lot or a early game play style will do great too.

The invoker has 3 attributes so by combination he will have 4 play styles (QUAS/EXORT QUAS/WEX WEX/EXORT and QUAS/WEX/EXORT)
With play style i consider the early game build. You should pay attention to your enemies play style so by mid game you can counter effectively wit your various spells. For example: you went for a full gank team and you don't have enough aoe to push back that brood with her spiders (last picked ffss) then its kael's job to add some skill in attribute which favors aoe (wex)
you are being ganked a lot and your aoe spells cant do nothing to protect you? go for a little protection (quas).

I will begin with the play style i know most of.

QUAS/EXORT: Note that this build has different sub-builds
depending on which element you give priority to.
-priority to QUAS
this makes your play style defensive and helps you become a
ganker. you will have cold snap and ice wall as your main
spells. with those you should be able to gank a lane if you
are supported by your team mates. i think this sub-build is not
worth it because your movement speed and low level will impair
greatly your ability to gank. at level 7 if you have 4 Quas
your cold snap will last 4.5 sec and will ministun at most 4
times and your ice wall will slow 50% ms of opponents and last
7.5 seconds. however this is happening at level 7 so at early
levels i you should stick to your lane and get to level up.
invoker moving to gank from early game is a bad idea since we
stated that he needs level for his spells to be strong and in
and in addition to that if the gank goes wrong kael would be
in a very bad position if they counter attack due to his low ms

skilling suggestion- quas/exort/quas/invoke/quas/exort/quas/invoke/quas
this is just a suggestion for this build (wex should be taken a level for ghost walk and deafening blast). you must build your skills according to the game. this is one of the biggest advantages kael has so there can be no static skill build. it would be a great mistake to stick with just one play style. this way you will be treating Kael like an ordinary hero (when we know that he is very unique)
items suggestions-
you made a bold choice to play invoker with quas to gank and defend teammates good.
BOT is obligatory in this case, it enables you to gank/defend effectively and also compensates your natural lack of ms.
Blink dagger helps a lot with ganking and positioning for your ice wall but should be supported by ghost walk.
Hex if you made good ganks and farmed good is very helpful and after that scepter (if ganks and farming aren't going as expected then scepter comes first)