Iehava’s Advanced Invoker Strategy Guide
Kael the Invoker is by far the most dynamic hero in DotA. In the right hands he is absolutely devastating. Early game he is a dangerous opponent and a great laner (solo or otherwise); late game, (especially once equipped with a scepter) he can become a whirlwind of destruction with an unrivaled arsenal of AoE damage, disabling and crippling effects. A skilled Invoker can make it all but impossible for his enemies to win in a teamfight.
The most important thing is to make sure that Kael is in the right hands. This guide assumes you have used Kael enough to be comfortable with him and specific spell combos, hero/item synergies, item builds, etc. If you’re new to Invoker, this is not the right guide for you. I would encourage you to get a little used to him first (learn his reagents, how to keep track of the order you cast the instances and most importantly what spells require what reagents and be comfortable with casting them quickly), then return to this guide. I will be going over a few more advanced strategies, particularly solo mid lane opponents and my experiences with countering them and winning the lane, which sets you up for the rest of the game.
The style of Invoker I play varies from game to game. Sometimes, as Invoker, you will be required to carry or DPS. Sometimes your team will call on you to simply cripple the other team and play support. Either way, making sure you have the right skill and item builds is very important. For me, I usually focus on teamfights: usually they decide games outright.
So lets start with that.
If you’re going to be playing a general-purpose Invoker (i.e. your team has a tank, carry, stunner(s)/support, etc.) I rush scepter after getting treads/arcane boots and one mana regen item (RoB, Soul Ring, Urn, etc) + bottle. A lot of people disagree with that, but having your invoke cooldown be cut in less than half is absolutely priceless, not to mention the boost to mana and health. Typically, for this style/build I go treads. Early game, I keep them as INT, then mid game, after I start building scepter I change them to STR for the HP boost. You can do it either way, or even go Arcane Boots.
Your first focus should be winning the lane. Whoever you’re playing against, you should be dynamic in the way you level your skills and get items. Against an INT nuker, it can be best to start with Quas and a soul ring so they waste their mana nuking you and you just regen it right away. Against a Melee hero of any kind I will typically go with Exort first for the damage, but put one level in Quas and invoke cold snap right away. If ever they over-commit to cs’ing or try to take you on, cast a quick Cold Snap (since its already invoked, keep your orbs EEE) and burn his/her life down. Even though it doesn’t last long at level 1 Quas, Cold Snap has such a huge effect immediately that usually they will run right away. If not, invoke something else and go for the kill.
Against a ranged hero, it will all depend on what hero it is and how they play, but typically I will start with Exort to out-cs them.
NOTE: Against ANY hero, I almost always have Cold Snap invoked and ready. If they try to heal with a salve, clarity potion or bottle, you can simply cold snap them right away to remove the buff and waste their gold. Also, a lot of times I see people who’s friendly creep wave has just died but they see one enemy creep (i.e. your creep) that they can kill with one hit. They go back toward the you and your creeps with no support or creeps of their own with the hope that they can kill the creep, get the gold, and run back while taking only a couple of hits. Wrong! Cast a quick cold snap and you and your creeps can get several hits on the enemy hero before he can retreat. If you’re quick enough, you can also Ice Wall him after Cold Snapping to cut off his retreat and should have no trouble killing him.
Now lets go over some specific heroes that Kael will have as an opponent a lot of the time in the mid lane.
TEMPLAR ASSASSIN – Okay, this one’s interesting. Her Refraction makes her a huge bitch because she can completely ignore instances of damage. There are a couple of strategies here. First off, as with ANY hero that can naturally go invisible, get sentry wards right away (not just for her, but for her Psi Traps once she’s level 6). As for Refraction, there are 4 ways that I usually try to get around it, depending on the first few minutes of the game.
1) Harass her with a Forged Spirit to remove her instances before she directly engages
2) Pop Alacrity with Wex Instances to more quickly remove her Refraction.
3) My favorite: Drop the fucking rock on her head. She might ignore the impact damage, but the rolling damage is still huge. Follow this with a deafening blast (or even just cold snap her as you’re dropping Meteor) and she should die pretty easily.
4) Less effective because you have to kill her for charges – Get an Urn and use the DOT to remove her instances before engaging her.
KEEPER OF THE LIGHT – This is one of my favorite matchups because most Ezalors are left scratching their heads when they lane against me. First, get a magic stick/wand (so you can see when he starts casting illuminate when he’s out of sight but still near enough to hit you/creeps: Stick/Wand AOE is 1200, Illuminate’s max range is 1600, but at least its close). Second, keep cold snap invoked. Another good strategy, especially at night is to put observer wards on top of the hill on the other side of the river and also to the side so you can see when he’s channeling illuminate. The instant you see him start to cast Illuminate, COLD SNAP HIM. He will only channel 100 damage and it will instantly release his illuminate, wasting his 150 mana.
WINDRUNNER – Anyone who has to lane against Windrunner should obviously get a magic stick/wand so you can see when she starts to use her Powershot. When you see the animation on Kael, either MOVE to dodge or Cold Snap her right away to reduce the damage dealt. One of my favorite ways to counter her is to keep dodging her Powershots, and keep Ghost Walk + Cold Snap (or whatever you want, really) invoked. When she hits level 6, either let her engage you or go after her. At such a low level her stun is not very long (because any non-retarded Windrunner will level Powershot instead), so take it on the chin. She should start using Focus Fire. The instant she does, go into Ghost Walk. Even if she animation cancels, her next attack should hit a creep, thus, cancelling her ult. Immediately come out of Ghost Walk and her stun and ult should be down. At this point, cold snap + meteor is a great option especially if she still has Windrun available. If she already used it, Cold Snap + Alacrity should win you the fight. COLD SNAP IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT WILL KEEP HER FROM FULLY CHARGING HER POWERSHOT IF SHE IS STILL COMMITED TO THE FIGHT. YOU PROBABLY TOOK A GOOD DEAL OF DAMAGE FROM HER FOCUS FIRE WHILE YOU WERE STUNNED, YOU DON’T WANT TO TAKE 380 FROM POWERSHOT! Even if you don’t kill her, she should be pretty much completely out of mana, which should greatly help you in winning the lane.
LICH – One of my least favorite opponents because of his ability to spam Nova and keep regaining Mana. Only thing to do here is go Quas first to regen hp in between his dickish spamming and as soon as he gets to level 6 be very careful of getting caught with Nova + Chain.
ZUES, TINKER, ETC. – Same as Lich: Just go Quas to regen health after he, inevitably spams his nukes. A lot of people use Clarity Potions or Bottles to continue spamming. Use Cold Snap to cancel it! If they are bottle whoring with a chick/crow, another thing I like to do is drop the rock on them so they are forced to use their bottle to regen. Then I Ghost Walk around their first tower so I am in between their first and second tower. Wait for the courier, pop Alacrity (if it’s a crow) kill it and take/kill their bottle! You just cost them 800/1000 gold AND made them have to go back to base. Wards can also help with locating the courier.
SILENCER – Another one of my favorites to lane against because they think you should be easy. Here’s the key: INVOKE COUNTS AS A SPELL! As soon as he puts Curse of the Silent on you, just invoke whatever spell you want and lol at him wasting 2x+ the mana as you for little or no effect. He also is very squishy and easy to kill in a 1v1 fight even if you’re silenced for a good portion of it.
PHOENIX – I like to use EMP on him. Level Wex first, obviously. If he tries to use Sun Ray on you, its important that you recognize a few things. First, Phoenix just gave 25% of his current HP to activate his Sun Ray. Before any deductions, his ray does 6% of the target’s max HP + 15/30/45/60 Damage. At level 4 Phoenix can do a maximum of 108 DPS before deductions with Sun Ray if you have 800 HP. C’mon…you’re Invoker: You can do better than that. Either cast 3 Wex instances and run TOWARD him (the closer you are, the harder it is for him to keep up with you. His turning speed sucks. Its completely possible to kite his Sun Ray by running around him between each attack if you’re close enough). Cast an EMP on him and pop Alacrity and then ready either Cold Snap or Deafening Blast. When he gets low enough he’ll want to Dive and/or Supernova. By casting EMP, you’ve probably taken enough of his mana away that he won’t be able to do either, but in case he can cast your last spell. If you cold snap him it should stun him out of Dive. If you deafening blast him instead, you may be able to disable him for long enough to keep him from going into his Dive or Supernova. If he dives and makes it away…whatever, you pretty much just took him out of the lane and drained all his mana. If he goes into Nova (assuming he actually has the mana to do so) your Alacrity should enable you to kill him easily.
MIRANA – Because of Mirana’s Leap ability, I don’t like to use Meteor on her without setting her up: She’ll simply avoid all the damage by jumping away. I typically go Exort against her. My favorite strategy I use against her is to bait her to Arrow. Stay out in the open, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she has a clear shot with Elune’s Arrow. Have Ghost Walk invoked and cast it the instant she Arrows (a wand is helpful here for when she’s out of sight). Yes, you will take the damage from her Arrow, but that’s ok. She will typically follow this by Leaping at you and casting Starfall, hoping to kill you. By being in Ghost Walk, she can’t see you while you’re stunned, has wasted Starfall and, most importantly, LEAP. After she Leaps+Starfall, Drop the rock on her face and if you’re level 7, follow it up with a deafening blast. If you can dodge the arrow, instead, do it, but most Miranas won’t commit with Leap until right before the arrow hits you and they know you wont be able to dodge.
PUDGE – Bait, bait bait. That’s all you have to do against him. Just keep track of where he is at all times and be ready for his hook (a wand can again help with this). Have either Forge Spirits or Ghost Walk ready (depending if he is near a tower or not: GW is useless near a tower, duh). If you are baiting him, simply cast FS right as he hooks and he should get the spirit instead of you as long as you position yourself correctly. Its really funny when they dismember the spirit too because they thought they hooked you. Anyway, if you just want to farm the lane, use your FS to “interdict” between you and pudge. If pudge goes MIA from any lane, get GW ready immediately. Here’s whats important about this: Meat Hook DOESN’T stun you. As soon as you get hooked, mash “g” or whatever button you have for Ghost Walk after it’s invoked. You will go into Ghost Walk before he can Dismember you I guarantee it. Just don’t get caught near a tower and keep track if he has dust or not.
PIT FIEND – Two words: Cold Snap. Keep it Invoked. His Firestorm is a really great lane control spell, but keep in mind that it is CHANNELED. I don’t even try to dodge it anymore. Just like Ezalor, as soon as he starts to channel, cold snap him and laugh because he wasted 100-130 mana to do 70-145 damage to you. Make sure you get a couple hits on him while cold snap is active too.
HUSKAR – Usually Husk will play pretty safe until level 6. Other than a few flaming spears you shouldn’t have a really hard time taking him on in the lane. Just avoid as much as you can and stay alive in preparation for his inevitable Life Break at level 6. If you can, try to avoid it until level 7 as well. Either way, I level E, I, Q, W, E, E, I against him from levels 1-7. As soon as he casts Life Break, drop the rock and follow it with a Deafening Blast. If you’re level 7, it should be Cold Snap, Meteor, Deafening Blast. Either way as long as you’re prepared, he’s toast.
SHADOW FIEND – Another one of my least favorite lanes because of the lack of obvious lane-control counter to him. Anyone who is good at CS’ing can do well with SF. You HAVE to out-cs him, period. If you go with a couple mana regen items early you can use Alacrity nearly every wave and keep him from getting too many souls and therefore bonus damage. Because of his low HP Meteor is very effective against him, as is cold snap + alacrity. Not much more too him than that.
BATRIDER – By far my least favorite 1v1 lane. His ability to tower dive by level 2 is retarded IMO. Luckily though, I have come up with a solution: Tornado + Cold Snap! I know it doesn’t sound really groundbreaking, but hear me out. First, go with a magic stick/wand right away. Whenever you have 4+ napalm stacks on you, get back. Its not worth the risk of dying. Eventually, he will come after you even if you’re tower hugging. Just stay alive until level 3 and you can kill him. Level Wex, Invoke, Quas (in whatever order you want, but THOSE THREE). Okay, here’s what you do: Have Tornado ready and make sure that Invoke is on off cooldown. Stand BEHIND your tower and BEHIND your creeps. When he stacks napalms on you, let him come at you to tower dive. As soon as he is the closest thing to the tower (he won’t care because he won’t draw agro if the tower is going after another creep currently), cast Tornado AT THE CREEPS. In the time they are lifted in the air, the tower will choose the closest enemy unit as it’s new target: Batrider. Invoke cold snap quickly and cast it on him. You and the tower should kill him very quickly.
NOTE: If you can get EVERY creep AND Batrider with your Tornado (and Bat is the closest unit to the tower), do it – but only if you’re sure. Because he got hit by Tornado first, he will drop out of it first. Some creeps may also target him as well because of this, and the extra damge from Tornado is helpful.
+NAIX/LYCAN
Now, something a lot of people have been asking me recently is how to counter Naix or Lycan. It seems like everyone and their mom plays Naix or Lycan, rushes Basher/Armlet for Naix or Basher/BKB for Lycan. Its not hard to see why: its effective and really annoying. How can you fight Naix or Lycan who can simply go magic immune and make you, as Invoker, all but useless? Ice wall used to affect even magic immune heroes, but no longer (fucking lame). Your only spell option is EMP. Both Naix and Lycan typically have low mana, and if you level Wex to 7 before anything else, you can make them nearly useless with one EMP early and midgame.
People who play Naix or Lycan usually DEPEND on being able to become immune to magic. A lot of the times, they will charge in with impunity, thinking they can just shrug off anything and not have to worry about magic effects, etcf. If you can catch them with an EMP, they probably won’t be able to even go magic immune. Against a Naix or Lycan I will level Wex right away. If my team hasn’t been able to gank him while he’s trying to farm neutrals (which is really important. You can fuck up his whole game plan/farm with consistent, persistent pressure and a few wards in their woods), I will rush a dagger. If Lycan/Naix comes at you (especially with Naix’s slow), drop an EMP and blink away. Make sure your team is ready to take advantage of their being vulnerable by rushing in as soon as either EMP goes off, or their magic immunity fades.
Another strategy is Ghost Scepter. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this one because of the intrinsic vulnerability to magic.
And I know this sounds dumb, but its actually really effective for the late game: After Scepter, Dagger and Blade Mail (duh), Diffusal Blade can be incredibly effective when paired with EMP and Alacrity.
During the early/mid game, while Naix and Lycan are trying to farm neutrals, and I know that keeping them from farming is going to be the key to the game, I will go with a very specific build. Phase boots, and S&Y and maxed Wex. Ward their woods ASAP, and once you find Naix/Lycan farming, stay out of sight and drop an EMP where they can’t see it. Make sure you have Ice Wall also invoked. As soon as EMP goes off, drop the Ice Wall on their escape route (that’s the great thing about them being a melee hero and the way the neutral camps are shaped – the Ice Wall forces them to go through it to escape) and then invoke Alacrity and use it. While they are struggling to get through Ice Wall and can’t go magic immune (Naix) or transform (Lycan [he cannot be slowed in this form]) because of EMP you should have either killed them or made great strides in doing so by the time they make it through the Ice Wall…by which time they should also have gotten maimed by S&Y. Finish them off, wash, rinse, repeat.
+ANTI-MAGE
Anti-Mage is a bit different, IMO. His magic reduction sucks for you, so you really only have a couple good options. Typically, I go level 4 Exort, Level 4 Quas for the 2x Forged Spirits if he’s the opposing carry. As soon as he blinks in, cast Forged Spirits and Cold Snap him. Follow this with a Deafening Blast to disable his attack and push him back and you should be fine. Once he realizes hes not going to kill you, he will usually blink away if its not on cooldown. If you have scepter you can always invoke EMP to make him unable to blink or Sun Strike to try to catch him on the run after he blinks.
Late game against AM I like Likens to block his Mana Void. BKB, Ghost Scepter and Blade Mail are also options (be careful with Ghost Scepter if you’re already missing mana because you’ll take another 40% damage from Mana Void), as is Orchid and Sheepstick to keep him from blinking away when you want to kill him.
+OTHER FUN COUNTERS
Alchemist – As soon as he starts charging Unstable Concoction to stun you, cast Forged Spirits and Ghost Walk. He’ll end up stunning himself, all the while your spirits will be attacking him and you will be slowing him with GW. When he gets low enough, come out of Ghost Walk and beat his ass.
Spirit Breaker – Whenever he’s not visible somewhere, have Ghost Walk, Cold Snap, Deafening Blast or Tornado ready. Most SB’s will carry dust after you Ghost walk the first time or if you have another hero on your team that can go invisible, so I usually do Cold Snap instead, especially since it’s the cheapest and it allows you to get some good hits in on him too. As soon as you see the buff for Charge of Darkness try to move away from the center of the lane, press “C” (or whatever button you have set to Cold Snap after it is invoked) and hold the cursor on the screen near you. As soon as you see him, hit him with it. If you’re not sure you’ll be able to target him in time, just use Tornado or Deafening Blast instead.
Terrorblade – When he’s low, you know hes going to try to Sunder you. Lucky for you, the casting range is only 250! As soon as he’s low and starts coming toward you, either drop an Ice Wall or hit him with Deafening Blast to push him back (the latter is my preferred method because it disarms him also). Having depended on his ability to Sunder you he will have low HP and you can easily kill him.
Sand King – Cold Snap! As soon as you see him start to use his ult, you have 2 seconds to cold snap him (or Tornado or Deafening Blast). If you do, his Epicenter will be ruined.
Skeleton King – EMP! Ruins his Ult!
Kael the Invoker is by far the most dynamic hero in DotA. In the right hands he is absolutely devastating. Early game he is a dangerous opponent and a great laner (solo or otherwise); late game, (especially once equipped with a scepter) he can become a whirlwind of destruction with an unrivaled arsenal of AoE damage, disabling and crippling effects. A skilled Invoker can make it all but impossible for his enemies to win in a teamfight.
The most important thing is to make sure that Kael is in the right hands. This guide assumes you have used Kael enough to be comfortable with him and specific spell combos, hero/item synergies, item builds, etc. If you’re new to Invoker, this is not the right guide for you. I would encourage you to get a little used to him first (learn his reagents, how to keep track of the order you cast the instances and most importantly what spells require what reagents and be comfortable with casting them quickly), then return to this guide. I will be going over a few more advanced strategies, particularly solo mid lane opponents and my experiences with countering them and winning the lane, which sets you up for the rest of the game.
The style of Invoker I play varies from game to game. Sometimes, as Invoker, you will be required to carry or DPS. Sometimes your team will call on you to simply cripple the other team and play support. Either way, making sure you have the right skill and item builds is very important. For me, I usually focus on teamfights: usually they decide games outright.
So lets start with that.
If you’re going to be playing a general-purpose Invoker (i.e. your team has a tank, carry, stunner(s)/support, etc.) I rush scepter after getting treads/arcane boots and one mana regen item (RoB, Soul Ring, Urn, etc) + bottle. A lot of people disagree with that, but having your invoke cooldown be cut in less than half is absolutely priceless, not to mention the boost to mana and health. Typically, for this style/build I go treads. Early game, I keep them as INT, then mid game, after I start building scepter I change them to STR for the HP boost. You can do it either way, or even go Arcane Boots.
Your first focus should be winning the lane. Whoever you’re playing against, you should be dynamic in the way you level your skills and get items. Against an INT nuker, it can be best to start with Quas and a soul ring so they waste their mana nuking you and you just regen it right away. Against a Melee hero of any kind I will typically go with Exort first for the damage, but put one level in Quas and invoke cold snap right away. If ever they over-commit to cs’ing or try to take you on, cast a quick Cold Snap (since its already invoked, keep your orbs EEE) and burn his/her life down. Even though it doesn’t last long at level 1 Quas, Cold Snap has such a huge effect immediately that usually they will run right away. If not, invoke something else and go for the kill.
Against a ranged hero, it will all depend on what hero it is and how they play, but typically I will start with Exort to out-cs them.
NOTE: Against ANY hero, I almost always have Cold Snap invoked and ready. If they try to heal with a salve, clarity potion or bottle, you can simply cold snap them right away to remove the buff and waste their gold. Also, a lot of times I see people who’s friendly creep wave has just died but they see one enemy creep (i.e. your creep) that they can kill with one hit. They go back toward the you and your creeps with no support or creeps of their own with the hope that they can kill the creep, get the gold, and run back while taking only a couple of hits. Wrong! Cast a quick cold snap and you and your creeps can get several hits on the enemy hero before he can retreat. If you’re quick enough, you can also Ice Wall him after Cold Snapping to cut off his retreat and should have no trouble killing him.
Now lets go over some specific heroes that Kael will have as an opponent a lot of the time in the mid lane.
TEMPLAR ASSASSIN – Okay, this one’s interesting. Her Refraction makes her a huge bitch because she can completely ignore instances of damage. There are a couple of strategies here. First off, as with ANY hero that can naturally go invisible, get sentry wards right away (not just for her, but for her Psi Traps once she’s level 6). As for Refraction, there are 4 ways that I usually try to get around it, depending on the first few minutes of the game.
1) Harass her with a Forged Spirit to remove her instances before she directly engages
2) Pop Alacrity with Wex Instances to more quickly remove her Refraction.
3) My favorite: Drop the fucking rock on her head. She might ignore the impact damage, but the rolling damage is still huge. Follow this with a deafening blast (or even just cold snap her as you’re dropping Meteor) and she should die pretty easily.
4) Less effective because you have to kill her for charges – Get an Urn and use the DOT to remove her instances before engaging her.
KEEPER OF THE LIGHT – This is one of my favorite matchups because most Ezalors are left scratching their heads when they lane against me. First, get a magic stick/wand (so you can see when he starts casting illuminate when he’s out of sight but still near enough to hit you/creeps: Stick/Wand AOE is 1200, Illuminate’s max range is 1600, but at least its close). Second, keep cold snap invoked. Another good strategy, especially at night is to put observer wards on top of the hill on the other side of the river and also to the side so you can see when he’s channeling illuminate. The instant you see him start to cast Illuminate, COLD SNAP HIM. He will only channel 100 damage and it will instantly release his illuminate, wasting his 150 mana.
WINDRUNNER – Anyone who has to lane against Windrunner should obviously get a magic stick/wand so you can see when she starts to use her Powershot. When you see the animation on Kael, either MOVE to dodge or Cold Snap her right away to reduce the damage dealt. One of my favorite ways to counter her is to keep dodging her Powershots, and keep Ghost Walk + Cold Snap (or whatever you want, really) invoked. When she hits level 6, either let her engage you or go after her. At such a low level her stun is not very long (because any non-retarded Windrunner will level Powershot instead), so take it on the chin. She should start using Focus Fire. The instant she does, go into Ghost Walk. Even if she animation cancels, her next attack should hit a creep, thus, cancelling her ult. Immediately come out of Ghost Walk and her stun and ult should be down. At this point, cold snap + meteor is a great option especially if she still has Windrun available. If she already used it, Cold Snap + Alacrity should win you the fight. COLD SNAP IS VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT WILL KEEP HER FROM FULLY CHARGING HER POWERSHOT IF SHE IS STILL COMMITED TO THE FIGHT. YOU PROBABLY TOOK A GOOD DEAL OF DAMAGE FROM HER FOCUS FIRE WHILE YOU WERE STUNNED, YOU DON’T WANT TO TAKE 380 FROM POWERSHOT! Even if you don’t kill her, she should be pretty much completely out of mana, which should greatly help you in winning the lane.
LICH – One of my least favorite opponents because of his ability to spam Nova and keep regaining Mana. Only thing to do here is go Quas first to regen hp in between his dickish spamming and as soon as he gets to level 6 be very careful of getting caught with Nova + Chain.
ZUES, TINKER, ETC. – Same as Lich: Just go Quas to regen health after he, inevitably spams his nukes. A lot of people use Clarity Potions or Bottles to continue spamming. Use Cold Snap to cancel it! If they are bottle whoring with a chick/crow, another thing I like to do is drop the rock on them so they are forced to use their bottle to regen. Then I Ghost Walk around their first tower so I am in between their first and second tower. Wait for the courier, pop Alacrity (if it’s a crow) kill it and take/kill their bottle! You just cost them 800/1000 gold AND made them have to go back to base. Wards can also help with locating the courier.
SILENCER – Another one of my favorites to lane against because they think you should be easy. Here’s the key: INVOKE COUNTS AS A SPELL! As soon as he puts Curse of the Silent on you, just invoke whatever spell you want and lol at him wasting 2x+ the mana as you for little or no effect. He also is very squishy and easy to kill in a 1v1 fight even if you’re silenced for a good portion of it.
PHOENIX – I like to use EMP on him. Level Wex first, obviously. If he tries to use Sun Ray on you, its important that you recognize a few things. First, Phoenix just gave 25% of his current HP to activate his Sun Ray. Before any deductions, his ray does 6% of the target’s max HP + 15/30/45/60 Damage. At level 4 Phoenix can do a maximum of 108 DPS before deductions with Sun Ray if you have 800 HP. C’mon…you’re Invoker: You can do better than that. Either cast 3 Wex instances and run TOWARD him (the closer you are, the harder it is for him to keep up with you. His turning speed sucks. Its completely possible to kite his Sun Ray by running around him between each attack if you’re close enough). Cast an EMP on him and pop Alacrity and then ready either Cold Snap or Deafening Blast. When he gets low enough he’ll want to Dive and/or Supernova. By casting EMP, you’ve probably taken enough of his mana away that he won’t be able to do either, but in case he can cast your last spell. If you cold snap him it should stun him out of Dive. If you deafening blast him instead, you may be able to disable him for long enough to keep him from going into his Dive or Supernova. If he dives and makes it away…whatever, you pretty much just took him out of the lane and drained all his mana. If he goes into Nova (assuming he actually has the mana to do so) your Alacrity should enable you to kill him easily.
MIRANA – Because of Mirana’s Leap ability, I don’t like to use Meteor on her without setting her up: She’ll simply avoid all the damage by jumping away. I typically go Exort against her. My favorite strategy I use against her is to bait her to Arrow. Stay out in the open, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she has a clear shot with Elune’s Arrow. Have Ghost Walk invoked and cast it the instant she Arrows (a wand is helpful here for when she’s out of sight). Yes, you will take the damage from her Arrow, but that’s ok. She will typically follow this by Leaping at you and casting Starfall, hoping to kill you. By being in Ghost Walk, she can’t see you while you’re stunned, has wasted Starfall and, most importantly, LEAP. After she Leaps+Starfall, Drop the rock on her face and if you’re level 7, follow it up with a deafening blast. If you can dodge the arrow, instead, do it, but most Miranas won’t commit with Leap until right before the arrow hits you and they know you wont be able to dodge.
PUDGE – Bait, bait bait. That’s all you have to do against him. Just keep track of where he is at all times and be ready for his hook (a wand can again help with this). Have either Forge Spirits or Ghost Walk ready (depending if he is near a tower or not: GW is useless near a tower, duh). If you are baiting him, simply cast FS right as he hooks and he should get the spirit instead of you as long as you position yourself correctly. Its really funny when they dismember the spirit too because they thought they hooked you. Anyway, if you just want to farm the lane, use your FS to “interdict” between you and pudge. If pudge goes MIA from any lane, get GW ready immediately. Here’s whats important about this: Meat Hook DOESN’T stun you. As soon as you get hooked, mash “g” or whatever button you have for Ghost Walk after it’s invoked. You will go into Ghost Walk before he can Dismember you I guarantee it. Just don’t get caught near a tower and keep track if he has dust or not.
PIT FIEND – Two words: Cold Snap. Keep it Invoked. His Firestorm is a really great lane control spell, but keep in mind that it is CHANNELED. I don’t even try to dodge it anymore. Just like Ezalor, as soon as he starts to channel, cold snap him and laugh because he wasted 100-130 mana to do 70-145 damage to you. Make sure you get a couple hits on him while cold snap is active too.
HUSKAR – Usually Husk will play pretty safe until level 6. Other than a few flaming spears you shouldn’t have a really hard time taking him on in the lane. Just avoid as much as you can and stay alive in preparation for his inevitable Life Break at level 6. If you can, try to avoid it until level 7 as well. Either way, I level E, I, Q, W, E, E, I against him from levels 1-7. As soon as he casts Life Break, drop the rock and follow it with a Deafening Blast. If you’re level 7, it should be Cold Snap, Meteor, Deafening Blast. Either way as long as you’re prepared, he’s toast.
SHADOW FIEND – Another one of my least favorite lanes because of the lack of obvious lane-control counter to him. Anyone who is good at CS’ing can do well with SF. You HAVE to out-cs him, period. If you go with a couple mana regen items early you can use Alacrity nearly every wave and keep him from getting too many souls and therefore bonus damage. Because of his low HP Meteor is very effective against him, as is cold snap + alacrity. Not much more too him than that.
BATRIDER – By far my least favorite 1v1 lane. His ability to tower dive by level 2 is retarded IMO. Luckily though, I have come up with a solution: Tornado + Cold Snap! I know it doesn’t sound really groundbreaking, but hear me out. First, go with a magic stick/wand right away. Whenever you have 4+ napalm stacks on you, get back. Its not worth the risk of dying. Eventually, he will come after you even if you’re tower hugging. Just stay alive until level 3 and you can kill him. Level Wex, Invoke, Quas (in whatever order you want, but THOSE THREE). Okay, here’s what you do: Have Tornado ready and make sure that Invoke is on off cooldown. Stand BEHIND your tower and BEHIND your creeps. When he stacks napalms on you, let him come at you to tower dive. As soon as he is the closest thing to the tower (he won’t care because he won’t draw agro if the tower is going after another creep currently), cast Tornado AT THE CREEPS. In the time they are lifted in the air, the tower will choose the closest enemy unit as it’s new target: Batrider. Invoke cold snap quickly and cast it on him. You and the tower should kill him very quickly.
NOTE: If you can get EVERY creep AND Batrider with your Tornado (and Bat is the closest unit to the tower), do it – but only if you’re sure. Because he got hit by Tornado first, he will drop out of it first. Some creeps may also target him as well because of this, and the extra damge from Tornado is helpful.
+NAIX/LYCAN
Now, something a lot of people have been asking me recently is how to counter Naix or Lycan. It seems like everyone and their mom plays Naix or Lycan, rushes Basher/Armlet for Naix or Basher/BKB for Lycan. Its not hard to see why: its effective and really annoying. How can you fight Naix or Lycan who can simply go magic immune and make you, as Invoker, all but useless? Ice wall used to affect even magic immune heroes, but no longer (fucking lame). Your only spell option is EMP. Both Naix and Lycan typically have low mana, and if you level Wex to 7 before anything else, you can make them nearly useless with one EMP early and midgame.
People who play Naix or Lycan usually DEPEND on being able to become immune to magic. A lot of the times, they will charge in with impunity, thinking they can just shrug off anything and not have to worry about magic effects, etcf. If you can catch them with an EMP, they probably won’t be able to even go magic immune. Against a Naix or Lycan I will level Wex right away. If my team hasn’t been able to gank him while he’s trying to farm neutrals (which is really important. You can fuck up his whole game plan/farm with consistent, persistent pressure and a few wards in their woods), I will rush a dagger. If Lycan/Naix comes at you (especially with Naix’s slow), drop an EMP and blink away. Make sure your team is ready to take advantage of their being vulnerable by rushing in as soon as either EMP goes off, or their magic immunity fades.
Another strategy is Ghost Scepter. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this one because of the intrinsic vulnerability to magic.
And I know this sounds dumb, but its actually really effective for the late game: After Scepter, Dagger and Blade Mail (duh), Diffusal Blade can be incredibly effective when paired with EMP and Alacrity.
During the early/mid game, while Naix and Lycan are trying to farm neutrals, and I know that keeping them from farming is going to be the key to the game, I will go with a very specific build. Phase boots, and S&Y and maxed Wex. Ward their woods ASAP, and once you find Naix/Lycan farming, stay out of sight and drop an EMP where they can’t see it. Make sure you have Ice Wall also invoked. As soon as EMP goes off, drop the Ice Wall on their escape route (that’s the great thing about them being a melee hero and the way the neutral camps are shaped – the Ice Wall forces them to go through it to escape) and then invoke Alacrity and use it. While they are struggling to get through Ice Wall and can’t go magic immune (Naix) or transform (Lycan [he cannot be slowed in this form]) because of EMP you should have either killed them or made great strides in doing so by the time they make it through the Ice Wall…by which time they should also have gotten maimed by S&Y. Finish them off, wash, rinse, repeat.
+ANTI-MAGE
Anti-Mage is a bit different, IMO. His magic reduction sucks for you, so you really only have a couple good options. Typically, I go level 4 Exort, Level 4 Quas for the 2x Forged Spirits if he’s the opposing carry. As soon as he blinks in, cast Forged Spirits and Cold Snap him. Follow this with a Deafening Blast to disable his attack and push him back and you should be fine. Once he realizes hes not going to kill you, he will usually blink away if its not on cooldown. If you have scepter you can always invoke EMP to make him unable to blink or Sun Strike to try to catch him on the run after he blinks.
Late game against AM I like Likens to block his Mana Void. BKB, Ghost Scepter and Blade Mail are also options (be careful with Ghost Scepter if you’re already missing mana because you’ll take another 40% damage from Mana Void), as is Orchid and Sheepstick to keep him from blinking away when you want to kill him.
+OTHER FUN COUNTERS
Alchemist – As soon as he starts charging Unstable Concoction to stun you, cast Forged Spirits and Ghost Walk. He’ll end up stunning himself, all the while your spirits will be attacking him and you will be slowing him with GW. When he gets low enough, come out of Ghost Walk and beat his ass.
Spirit Breaker – Whenever he’s not visible somewhere, have Ghost Walk, Cold Snap, Deafening Blast or Tornado ready. Most SB’s will carry dust after you Ghost walk the first time or if you have another hero on your team that can go invisible, so I usually do Cold Snap instead, especially since it’s the cheapest and it allows you to get some good hits in on him too. As soon as you see the buff for Charge of Darkness try to move away from the center of the lane, press “C” (or whatever button you have set to Cold Snap after it is invoked) and hold the cursor on the screen near you. As soon as you see him, hit him with it. If you’re not sure you’ll be able to target him in time, just use Tornado or Deafening Blast instead.
Terrorblade – When he’s low, you know hes going to try to Sunder you. Lucky for you, the casting range is only 250! As soon as he’s low and starts coming toward you, either drop an Ice Wall or hit him with Deafening Blast to push him back (the latter is my preferred method because it disarms him also). Having depended on his ability to Sunder you he will have low HP and you can easily kill him.
Sand King – Cold Snap! As soon as you see him start to use his ult, you have 2 seconds to cold snap him (or Tornado or Deafening Blast). If you do, his Epicenter will be ruined.
Skeleton King – EMP! Ruins his Ult!
Kael the InvokerAuthor: iehava
Map Vers.: 2.67f
Iehava's Advanced Invoker Guide
Lane counters/specific heroes
Last Comment:16/11/2011
Total Votes: 0
Current Rating: 0.00
Views: 1363
