S&Y no longer orb, main not an orb now, will try it and update the guide accordingly, cming soom

Preface:

artwork by Armymen

The most handsome and scandalized

hero in dota. Playing with the anti mage is fun and keeps you and your opponents on the edge of your seats.

introduction
Pros'n'Cons
Skills
Skill Build
Game Play
Item build
Friends and Foes
Credits

Introduction

Magina is normally taken
1. not a first pick
2. against spell casters
3. noobs who think they can blink to avoid harsh environments :P

This guide will show you how to use magina against any hero, be it strength, agi or intelli. If played well he is a night mare to agi and strengths. What can a hero do without mana?? nothing, he becomes a creep.

Remeber your ulti may be your fourth spell, but magina needs to be built around his 1st spell, break.

[IMG] http://www.playdota.com/img/hero/43/character.gif [/IMG]

I have edited the original guide cuz it was getting criticized for not giving him enuf survivability.

I will still put that build in it cuz i think that is the most effective build for magina. There is scarce gold and we need to make sure that we make the best out of it

Pros'n'Cons

thanks to Zephirdd for editing and improving the pros'n'cons

Pros
+ Lowest B.A.T in the game, meaning an excellent last-hitting animation and an excellent innate attackspeed.
+ Second best MS of the game - 320 - second only to Chaos Knight's 325.
+ Huge mobility, and the best escape mechanism of the game: Blink.
+ Good damage, excellent with Mana break.
+ Good lane control with Mana Break
+ Casters are pure food with Mana Break and Mana Void
+ Principal counter to Medusa, the arguably best tank-carry of the game
+ Nukes are nothing to magina thanks to Spell Shield

Cons
- Third lowest health in the game. Second least strength gain (after slark) in the list of meele heroes
- Silence completly screws his mobility and escape tool
- Rather weak mid game, where the most important fights occur
- Easily outcarried by real carries ala Void, Destroyer, troll and Mortred etc
- No farming tool
- Situational pick which is countered on armor-based lineups(think of Slardar, Dazzle, Venge, Tide and Lanaya)
- He is blind.

Hero Skills

burns mana

+ deals 60% of the mana burnt in damage
+ killer early to mid game, wana get first blood? harras the enemy with a cple of hits, get a disabler ally and finish him off
+ level 1 break is 28 damage, = plus 16.8 damge for you, USE IT
break has no cool down as some other passives of others heroes, so it is done on every attack, thats y our emphysis is on IAS.
break is an orb, so NEVER take any orb effect with it. the damage done from break
+CAN BE LIFELEACHED with a life steal aura, so vlads is a good item on him.

+ the most desired spell in dota
+ 3G speed
+ Chase and destroy
+ has a high cool down initially so use it wisely
need to practice range, cuz if you over do it magina will blink only 4/5th of the distance
+ learn and explore the map, know locations and obstacle, you can blink over hurdles and obstacles,
+you can only blink to a place which has already been explored by you or your allies.
+ Hero concept is chase and kill , when a hero runs with low HP, blink infront of him in between his path so that he has to move around you, gives you time for 2 or 3 hits, if you blink behind him you would only be able to maybe hit him once or not hit at all
+ when being chased blink over a hurdle
+ avoid projectiles, like tower hits, difficult but doable, blink once a projectile hits you and another is sent by the tower, the 2nd misses you, you look PRO

+ upto 40% spell resistance other than basic resistance
+ stackable with all spell resistance items,
once the spell shield is leveled up, magical damage is a joke for you

+ deals damage on a ratio to missing mana in a hero
+ very difficult to be used to full effect
+ devastating if use correctly in a team fight on a heavy nuker, can turn around the outcome.
+ you need to click on an enemy to see the missing mana pool so always have a hot key for your hero, never void blindly as if you cast void on a hero with no mana missing, it would be a real teasing sight
+ playing anti mage is different than other heroes where you are relying a lot on your ulti, but antis ulti really is his mana break, void comes in as a secondary but devastating spell to assist the damage done by break

SkillBuild

NEW SPELL BUILD AFTER 6.68c, TRY it and give feedback plz

Spell buildup can be altered as per the requirement but always have break maxed out first, blink and shiled is where you can put in your preference, but as a rule of thumb have blink at level one or 2 and another level should be taken before level 10.Below mentioned skillset is mostly used against a balanced team with a couple of carries, intellies and a tank

Chase and kill magina build, better build to get more kills.

then ofcource start taking stats and get level 3 of your ulti.

The ANTI-Mage skill build

People love to take magina when the opponents have a lot of intellies, 3 or even 2. The upper build woud not be that efficient against 2+ spell spammers,

Even in this spell build we donot comprise on leveling the break, as that is your most wanted spell. we gave him more survivability against spell casters, remeber in this build you have a high cool down on your blink, so use it wisely

BLINK OR BREAK at level one

Blink or spell shield,

Game Play

Hero Model:
+ chase and destroy+ blink and break
+ Attack speed
+ understand the fragility of magina
+ knowing your enemy

Factors to keep in mind when playing magina
+ remeber the title of this guide. Quicly Now, what ever you are onto, be quick. you cannot afford to be lazy. killing, ganking or chasing. be on your toes. If you notice hard, magina even runs on his toes

+ You need to have a good control on mouse and keyboard :P
+ never underestimate break, its damage early to mid game is exceptional
+ your main skill is break, break is on every attack so give him IAS.
+ glass canon, he is very fragile, and some times one stun is all that is needed for the other team to bring you down
+ play cleverly, early use blink to either last hit an enemy or escape, dnt spam it as it has a high cool down early on
+ if you are facing spell casters or spammers, having level one blink is enough and max your shield aftr maxing break.
+know your enemies better
+ if you are double minded to go for attack speed, raw damage or crits, go for attack speed.
+ save your ultimate never use it at the start of a battle , as it would keep the enemy double minded as they wont want to get rid of their mana on spells and get hit with your void
+ no matter he has a low HP, magina's presence in a team is threatning because of his abilities related to mana, casters would always be weary of casting spells in your presence.
when you start a game, its pretty common to recieve a certificate of selfishness from team mate, you have no disable no tanking and not stun to help a friend in trouble. A friend in need is a friend indeed. but here you are the friend in need of farming, so the sacrifices made by your commarades should be apreciated :P and return the favour when you farm enough.

Before moving forward you need to keep in mind, that the max potential for the anti mage is early to mid game, very late game his main skill the mana burn has little effect as enemy heroes are made and they have ample items, if you cannot utilize the early to mid game period, anti is no good. he is NOT a carry like mortred or troll. u need to be in the battle zone since early on to make up your items, NEVER EVER EVER waste his early and mid game potential

Early game:

+ Lane: sentinal bottom/ scourge top. Have a ranged hero with you, a disabler or stunner is your best bet.
+ have a baby sitter with you, even better a disabler. take mana break at level 1, early on all heroes have sorry ass hp and mana pool. with break taken all you need is a couple of hits to enemy and a stun with damage or a disable with some hits from the anti mage to get a kill. getting kills is pretty easy early on with the help of an ally, use it. get blink at hero level 2. i understand that a lot of people may differ here as they want to take blink at level 1, but try break at hero level one and im sure you will understand how deadly it can be, with heroes like, rhasta, veno, vengi & lion etc yoou can get a kill easy at level 1.
+ Go for the ranged creep first as it has mana and you can out do him easy, same rlue for jungling, go for creeps with mana. on creeps mana burn damage is 100%. you need life steal/ survivability to jungle . better to get a poor mans shield if you need to jungle, magi is not a good jungler early on, but his IAS can be used to a great effect on enemy creeps, better farm there and jungle once you have any survivabilty item or life steal
+ Harras the enemy meele heroes with mana break, (melees preferred, ranged sometimes if you have enough regen) a hero with no mana is no threat at all and you can get rid of his mana in a couple of hits, so harras them and dnt let them farm.

Mid game,

+ by mid game you should have PTs, yasha and some survivability(in form of wraith bands or maybe bracer)
+ Mid game most heroes have enough survivability but magina is pretty fragile mid game, your mobility makes up for your fragility, you team mates need to understand that you are fragile and in case of any dire situations you would need to blink off. Do not initiate, NEVER INITIATE with anti until you have manta or BKB. they will get you or you would need to blink away with little to no hp. if you have manta, then you can play a good role as initiator by blinking in.

+ once the battle has been initiated, keep an eye on who is casting most spells and getting short on mana,
+ better NOT use void early on. FEAR OF THE DARK, if the enemy knows you still have void, they would not like to empty their mana pool, that is a passive advantage of void. keep your blink handy to pursue a fleeing enemy, this depends on your skill build though. if your team is really pushing level up blink faster than shield, if your team is not pushing but being pushed level up your shield before maxing blink.

late game,

Simple, Blink in, make illusions, focus fire one enemy, he will go all apells so to avoid losing abilities by your imba mana burn, SMILE if there is only one enemy chase him and kill him if they are a couple, USE void.
1v1 you are the predator, mana burn will turn then enemy into a creep, basher will keep him at bay, blink to follow him and may be void to finish him off. i dnt recommend wasting void on one enemy as with your mobility they cannot out run you,.. void is much better in team battles. there are a few heroes who dnt need mana that much and can get you whopped. you will find a hero counter section at the end of this guide.

Tank-carry Magina,

Beware Rape Magina Strategy,

Item Build

core items: the items which may never be compromised for the anti mage and need to be taken what ever the opponents are and what ever the situation is

survivability items, the items which make up for anti's fargility make him enough survivability to stay in battle

situational items, items which are required as per the game and your opponents

Starting items,

tangoes

first recepie to complete is the Poor Man shield

and then the Power treads.

Core items

Power treads, gold = 1450

at 450 get belt of giant strength then
add gloves of haste and lastly get the boots, keep your PTs in strength

Yasha first or Vanguard??

After getting the PT you have 2 choices,
1. go for yasha which is very important for you, gives you armor, MS, IAS and damage.

2. Get vanguard, helps you survive more, jungle to a much better extent, etc. We already have taken the PMS which is more than enough to make up for the early phase and to some extent the mid game as well

I personally dont go for vanguard as it delays your core and your mid game potential is wasted. But a lot of players love to get vanguard on it. I have a few observations below. Decide cleverly what to get, if you have a good tank/ally with you, better get the yasha first as it would insanely increase your mid game potential, which is magi's time. If you are getting harassed a lot and cannot stay in battle because there are a lot of carries in your team or inexperienced allies, go vanguard. BUT IF YOU GO VANGUARD FIRST IT BECOMES YOUR DUTY TO MAKE YASHA IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES. JUNGLE AND FARM.

Yasha:
+ blades of alcracity 1000
+ boots of elven skin 450
+ recipe 750

vanguard:
+ vitality booster 1100
+ ring of health 875
+ stout shield 250

It may be better to get both of these items, but money and timings are the crucial

+if you make yasha first then on next 2100 gold you would want to convert it into manta which delays vanguard to late game, and vanguard isnt that effective late game,
+ if you get vanguard first then you are delaying your core items.
+ My suggestion is to better get yasha first and then convert it into manta if you have good support from your team mates, otherwise go for vanguard right after PTs and farm ASAP to complete your core,vanguard does make farming easy.
+ Remember, vanguard is not a core item for anti mage it is only to give him survivabilty during mid game, if you have good allies and tanks, skip it and go manta.

MANTA

IM LOVIN' IT

Yourcore, your heart and sole. They have mana burn, one you have it you have 3 MANA burning predators, IMBA IAS, every hit with them to an enemy = 192 mana gone, 60% of damage from MANA BURN = 115 damage only from MANA burn + your physical damage

thats like GOD strength from SVEN with trolls AS. LOL

Situational items,

Vladimir offering,
[img] http://www.playdota.com/img/items/122/thumb.jpg [/img]

once manta is made, anti has an imba IAS, also the damage dealt by mana burn can be life leached, check with your team, if some one else is making vlads, skip it, life leach is very important for the antimage, he has a high AS and thus this becomes a heart for anti. chances are your carries would get life steal for them, better ask them to get vlads if they are meele so that you can save the money, otherwise do get it yourself. Lifestea with your AS gives you insane HP regen

Black King bar

+ if there are a lot of disables in the enemy team, go BKB, you have very less heath and being disabled is some thing magi cannot afford.
+ 5 second magic immunity (the least time provided by bkb after 5 uses) is all you need. blink in BKB, start hitting a high mana pool enemy, burn mana, once bkb is over, use manta illusions, once enemy mana pool is low, do the void, and kabooom.

PS, if you have manta and there are not a lot of AOE nukers then illusions is all you need rather than BKB, go for basher 1st or Monkey. BKB is not so much for anti as it is for heroes like nevermore.

Cranium basher,

magina has no disable, we need to cover those grounds so that we can use our imba AS. basher is a great item for anti, and you need to have it when playing against heroes with bash or heroes with good escape mechanisms, like Akasha and POTM. Basher can be included in magina's core, depends on you and the situation as we can only have 6 items in total

ButterFly

a dream come true for any agi hero, butterfly = imba anti mage

Monkey King bar,

this item is required for heroes like, panda, mortred and troll and against items like Talisman of evasion. YOU NEED TO HAVE IT if you want to fight them,

Orchid Melavolich

There are some heroes in dota who have insane damaging spells and you would want to have them silenced, orchid is a great item for people like Obsedian Destroyer etc. 5 seconds of silence, is heaven for anti mage, have it if you donot have a silence skill in your team.

Guinsoo:

Another item, this can replace orchid as it has a 3.5 second hex. and you know hex removes magic resistance and armor etc. so this becomes an amazing item, plus it gives you +10 agi and +10 strength, A good substitute for orchid giving hp and agi, but gives less damage and IAS. and rememebr anti could do well with any form of additional strength stats

Dream build for antimage

I tell you if you can get this build in a game, there is no one stoping you, this is my dream build for anti, Imba AS, deception from illusions and evasion, true strike, bash and silence. OOOOOOOOH orgasmic!!!!!,,,,,,,,

More items worth mentioning

Other items which may be used on magina

(though im not a big fan of crystalis on the anti mage, crystalis is more suited to troll), but it works good on magi beecause of his imba BAT,

you can only keep 6 items in your inventory and gold is scarce (once again we have the financial slump

), so chose wisely, never compromise on PTs, manta and stick. Stick is an imba item if you use it efficiently

Rejected items,

+ all items other than yasha from enchanted artifacts, as they are orb effects
+ blink dagger, refresher orb etc, are not just for anti mage
+ radiance, high cost and no sychronization with his skills
divine rapier, you have got to be kidding me
+ force staff etc
+ Aegis, it is better for any other carry or tank in your team, and that is where it should be.

Friends'n'Foes

Foes

counters

Linkens,

+ pay good attention to this item ,if an enemy has one, then, well. your void is useless on him untill linkens is in cool down. so make sure you have a looksie at his inventory. in team battels save it at the start cuz of spell attacks chances are that it will go in cool down, ONLY USE VOID ON AN ENEMY WITH LINKENS WHEN LINKEN IS IN COOL DOWN.

SILENCE:
Magina with no blink is no good. BBe very carefull of the silencers, they can destroy all your hard earned respect and killing power with one shitty spell.

Agility heroes,
Most carries will outmatch you late game, feed on them early to mid game DONOT let them farm.

Mortred,

+ she does not need mana that much, has a low mana pool and has blink strike. and once she is made, she is a force to rekon with, all she needs is one critical on you, and if she has a basher, stay away untill you have manta, and monkey. If she comes for you blink in a dark area where she cannot see you and is unable to bklink strike you.

intelligence heroes, let them cast there spells on you, you need life steal, keep on attacking them and use void, donot forget to use your magic stick

Obsedian Destroyer,

the bad bad enemy intelligence hero, you can damage him cuz of his high mana pool, but the problem is it never, goes down as his passve brings back 25% of mana in that too at a high rate, and his orbs will get you in 5 hits.
The way to counter him "silence", ORCHID Melovilcih pr Guinsoo. DONOT TRY TO COUNTER HIM WITH BKB, he will go astral and your immunity duration would be wasted, the best item to counter him is orchid, silence him, 5 seconds, and destroy him. If you dnt wanna spend that much money on orchid, you better have a silence skill in your team, other wise the games pretty much over for you lads.
A clever OD will have linkens on him, in that case, either your Orchid or your void is blocked by linknes. if an ally is there ask him to use a spell on him so that linken goes in cool down and then silence him., if you are alone and you need to kill him ,waste your void on him, then silence him. and destroy him, this is tough but can be done.

strength heroes, if they are alone, burn their mana make them a creep and chase them, basher is required to counter and finish them off

Taurean Chieftain

so you are famous for your imba spell shiled, well not any more lad, the chieftain is here to fuck your shield up, NATURAL ORDER maties, seriously he is imbalanced and this is his passive OMGWTF and with you sorry ass hp, you are no good against him, yes you can avoid his ulti and stun but if you get stuck in his presence, you are just a good looking creep yourself. He is a counter against you, and remeber he is not intl he is a tank

addition by imnotsonoob

Huskar.

+ Thanks to Kawumm for bringing him up. What can anti do against a hero who does not need mana so much and the more damage he gets the more imba IAS and damage he gains. Stay away from him early game, he can rape you single handedly. Mid to late game he is not much trouble to you, life break is reduced due to your shield and spears do less damage as well, but his initial lane control is imba, so change your lane if you are against him

Good Allies, (in works)

disablers, stunners, healers.
Disablers and stunners when paired with you need to stun or disable only after you have given a couple of hits so that you cn hit more while he is disabled. and once he tries to run away, blink infront of the enemy to finish him off.

steroid junkies, friends like, troll, ogre magi, vengeful spirit make your attacks more power ful or increase you As. use it to your advantage

Healers, healers like enchantress/huskar, lifesteal of SK and armour of treant keep you stay in the battle, the more you can survuve the more effective you are.

Skeleton King: Needs a special mention in allies, he has two things you love, imba lifesteal and stun, he is one of your best friends, if he is in your team, be with him mid game onwards, his stun and life steal aura is great for you.

Lion and Shadow Shaman:
Who does not love them, the ultimate disablers of the game and if they are against you, you are their worst night mare but when they are with you, you couldnt wish more, their disables and your break is IMBA

Credits

many thanks for the helpful critisisam, assistance and reasoning of the below mentioned. the guide woud not have been possible with out them.
Zephirdd, Burninglegion, FunnyWarfare, kawumm, mrwoodenshoes,

Armymenfor his great artwork
PIEMONGER

(i donot knw who he is, but im sure he is the ultimate guru on Antimage, it was after reading his guide I started to use "blink infront of an escaping hero" technique, and its good