Version 3.01 Last Updated 31/05/01
Author's Greetings
-------------------
Hello, I have been lurking around the old DotA forums which was DA.com to the current PD. I have only begun recently posting actively and do not let my post count fool you!
I have been playing DotA for roughly 3-4 years and it is time I start to contribute something to the community.
The reason that I decided to write out my Magina guide was because PD lacked the guides that do not punch out enough impact on any audiences and often do not help beginners in their learning curves.
On with the guide shall we?
Contents
========================
1. Author's Greetings
2. Hero's Introduction
3. Magina's Arsenal
- Expending the potential of Blink
- Expending the potential of Mana Void
4. Skill Builds
5. Item builds
6. A look at China's way of ricing with Magina
7. Required mindset in play Magina and DotA
8. Replays
9. Changelog
Hero's Introduction
========================
Lets start with some copy and pasta. Magina's skills.
Magina wasn't nicknamed the Anti-Mage for no reason. His passive Mana Break attack allows him to deal extra damage and cripple a caster's mana supply. With a great understanding of the spiritual realm, he becomes more resilient against magical attacks using his Spell Shield, along with the ability to Blink across short distances for superb maneuverability. Seeking out weary casters, he uses Mana Void to inflict immense damage for high amounts of missing mana. Although he will be at a natural disadvantage to casters early on, as his powers grow, there is none better suited for bringing the greatest of spell casters down to their knees.
Boy, was that introduction awesome? Am I so shameless to even copy pasta something from the hero's page and try to pass it off...? Maybe...anyway, my own personal words on Magina the Anti-Mage.
As mentioned, Magina's strength is to sap away and break opponents capability of casting spell by destroying their most precious resource pool, known as Mana along with their Health Points. The more the enemy try to retaliates by casting spells, not only does it tickles Magina, it tickles him to use Mana Void even earlier, a devastating spell that must not be underestimated!
Why would you want to play Anti-Mage? Few reasons...
Low BAT (Meaning that his animations are alot faster than the rest)
Look at how your enemies reduced to just a manaless creep and humiliate them by your finishing move...fatality...
You like to play carries, but not to the extent of a hard carry.
You love being aggressive!
Easy last hitting.
Blink
Why would you not play Anti-Mage?
You haven't seen totallnewbie's video
???
Now a look at his skills. More copy pasta incoming.
Mana Break
Ability Type: Passive
Targeting Type: N/A
Ability Hotkey: R
Description
Each attack burns mana based on skill level.
Notes
Damage type: normal
Deals 0.6 damage per point of mana burnt.
Mana Burn is blocked by magic immunity.
This skill is an Orb Effect.
You can lifeleech the damage dealt by this skill with a Lifesteal aura.
Author's Notes
Ahh yes, the good old Mana Break. The primary and most important asset to any MageSlayer...I mean Anti-Mage. Nothing to be said about this skill except that I must remind you that...
It is an ORB EFFECT
This skill is usually maxed first.
Blink
Ability Type: Active
Targeting Type: Point
Ability Hotkey: B
Description
Short distance teleportation that allows one to move in and out of combat.
Notes
If you used Blink to teleport to a distance over the maximum range, you'll be teleported 4/5 of the maximum range instead.
You can use Blink to dodge incoming projectiles.
Blink has a 0.33 seconds teleportation delay.
Author's Notes
Your main bread and butter positioning skill. Coupled with Mana Break, you are like a Ninja
that goes around burning their mana, rendering helpless and force them to follow your will! MWAHAHAHA. But seriously. 
Blink is one of the most overpowered, if not most overpowered skill in DotA. Do not ever underestimate this low Mana Cost skill of a Blink, it gets you out of stick situations in a snap, avoids incoming projectiles such as stuns, enables you to chase down a target and to position yourself in teamfights or small skirmishes. (SURPRISE BUTTSECKS)
Spell Shield
Ability Type: Passive
Targeting Type: N/A
Ability Hotkey: D
Description
Magina learns to protect himself with an anti-magic shield. Increases his resistance to magic damage.
Notes
Stacks with spell resistance items.
Author's Notes
This skill got seriously buffed by IceFrog over the last few versions, looking back when I started playing Anti-Mage, it only provided what? 30+% Resistance! Now it is a whopping 50%! This will totally destroy any nukes' incoming damage and it's also a potential cripple to the nuker's morale. Who would be high on morale if they see their only form of damage is through magical damage, and it only tickles Anti-Mage? Not to mention casting them costs mana...
Ultimate
Mana Void
Ability Type: Active
Targeting Type: Unit
Ability Hotkey: V
Description
Creates a powerful void in an enemy unit caused by a lack of mana. For each mana point missing, the unit takes damage.
Notes
Damage type: magical
Stuns target for a short while.
Damage is calculated based on the primary target's mana, but applied to all enemies within the AoE.
Stun works on magic immune units.
Author's notes
Your main nuke and also your trademark finisher. Works just like Necrolyte's Reaper, it deals damage based on the amount of mana missing. So be sure to check their mana pools while burning their mana! Do not be hasty when using this move, ensure that you can burn the most mana from the enemy before getting...disabled...dying..ganked; void to finish the job and grab your 250 gold and blink your ass out of there.
This skill is more than just a nuke, there is a whole strategy behind this skill and I see alot, and I mean ALOT, Magina Players simply using it wrongly.
How wrong, Y3H? How? Which brings us to the subsection of ...
Expending the potential of Mana Void
In small skirmishes, people tend to remember this as the OLD Mana Void, which has no AoE. And sometimes they void those who has the least HP thinking that this will work like Dagon. Which to their disgust, that hero has full MP, so no damage was dealt. To aid some of those who absolutely hates the Walls ofJericho texts, I brought visual aid to help you!
INSERT IMAGES (under contruction)
From this video, you can see that AM (me) is not really committed into whacking the tower, as I am aware that a Rogue Knight is gonna blink in and initiate, if he choses to disable me under his tower, I'm going to be cannon fodder.
And he does initiates, and he stuns Viper. His teamates quickly moves to support and fight him, in the process Obsidian Destroyer uses his Ultimate and kills off my teamate Drow. Lycan also dies in the process. Now it leaves Viper, he uses his ultimate (Viper Strike) hoping to slow Rogue Knight down and to stop him from catching up. Seeing as how Rogue Knight has blinked in, I stopped attacking the tower and start burning Rogue Knight's mana to stop any further stuns later on, and true enough his mana starts sapping away and his health starts to dip....
...This is where most people commit their mistake. They would choose to Mana Void Rogue Knight as he is in point of a Mana Void kill.
This might be the case, but from my knowledge, I know that Obsidian has used his ultimate (and barely damaged me at all) and his Guinsoo is under cooldown (not shown). So I stopped attacking Rogue Knight and head to burn away Obsidian's HUGE mana pool. As soon as Rogue Knight enters the estimated AoE of Mana Void, I immediately checked Obsidian's Mana Pool. Nearly empty, perfect. I Voided Obsidian and it caught PotM in the fray as well and resulted in a Triple kill.
Always try to see a big picture, and try to benefit from it. Most players would have voided the Rogue Knight and blinked out to retreat with Viper. If they have took proper calculated risks like what I did, it would have resulted in a triple kill and a easy raxing of their Mid Lane. Small little details always snowball into huge things later on.
Whats next? Oh man...do I have to...alright.
Skill builds
Main Build.
I have stuck to this build for ages and in my opinion is the best build for my aggressive playstyle on Anti-Mage.
Justification
I really hate doing justifications, but I will explain abit on this.
Blink is gotten on level 1. Why? It is to prevent incoming ganks at level 1, and to prevent a potential first blood. It can also be used to avoid projectiles that may be thrown at you at level 1. Such as Magic Missle. This certainly explains the defensive aspect of Blink at level 1.
For the offensive aspect, compared to Mana Break, Blink is much better off as a offensive skill at level 1. How so? If you are attempting first blood, most likely you will have an ally with a disable, and once you start chipping away at the hp, the moment they start to get away with a silver of hp, Blink and WHAM. First Blood. Why not Mana Break you say? Well, although Mana Break offers the tempting benefit of burning away mana and doing more damage, however with blink, a priceless repositioning skill, you can either choose to escape if things goes awry or if you need that last hit on that enemy. And blink just offers that.
Mana Break is then maxed first as this will maximise your lane control and your offensive capabilities. Not to mention easier last hitting on that ranged creep. Do not underestimate the damage of Mana Break, as long they have Mana, you do more damage as per usual and it chips at their HP and MP pools amazingly fast. Its almost a no brainer.
The alternate path (which I do not really prefer) is pursuing the path of maxing Blink first, rather than Mana Break. Do this only if you are not very aggressive and wants to play more defensively and still retain the offensive powers of Anti-Mage.
Mana Void is gotten whenever possible, its your only nuke...ffs...if you need a justification for this one..I'd say....well....F....F....F...F....F.....
fine.
As explained earlier, Mana Void is your trademark finisher and your 'Finish HIM' move. It makes killing easier at level 6 where you can afford to get extra aggressive (be smart). And finish off the enemy where blink can't do the job or is needed for the gtfo moment.
How so? Usually when an enemy is reduced to 0 mp, your Mana Break's damage will not kick in and you have only your base damage or whatever items on you to deal damage. Sometimes this is not enough to finish off the enemy. So get Mana Void and nuke him. It will finish him.
Spell Shield is then maxed out ASAP. No brainer.
And the rest is to max out your Mana Void and Attribute Bonuses.
That wasn't so hard was it?
Now to...aww man..more skill builds? Fine...
This is one skill build I have seen players propose or use. I personally do not use it, as they do not fit my playstyle. Heres my analysis and opinions on them.
The blinking turtle
When I first looked at this skill build, I punched through the computer screen hoping it would reach the fella who proposed it.
The justification for this build was that in early games, nukers dominate the entire game, and this will help to ease Magina's lane torture and increase his survivability. At a glance it seems fine... until you stop and think.
Magina's peak is Mid Game! Where Mana Break's damage will do the most to any spellcasters and severely hurt them! Being a fully defensive turtle is not going to offer much offensive power. And when it comes to important skirmishes such as burning that support's mana while the team fights. You are going to have alot to explain when that support lion is still walking about with mana impaling the rest of your team.
What I would do is that, instead of maxing spell shield, if you really want that 26%+ resistance, get Spell Shield at level 4. And then proceed to max Mana Break or Blink at your own preference and laning situations.
So in short, if you would like to have some defensive power due to harsh lane conditions, feel free to modify the build according to the situation.
Too much disablers? Call for ganks. Spell shield is not going to help you here.
Finally...its time for item builds!
Core Items (These are mandatory!)
Core Extensions
Situational Items
Rejected Items
Alright, as many of you who have competitive experience by watching replays or by personal experience. You may have seen China's way of ricing with their carries, earning the stereotype of Asians = turtling. Thanks China. Alot.
The skill build is roughly similar to the Blinking Turtle. SEE? EVEN THE SKILL BUILD SCREAMS TURTLE. GARH.
It involves maxing Blink and Spell Shield along with level 1 of Mana Break. The aim here is to farm asap and safely while their supports protect Anti-Mage.
Item Builds are mostly Poor Mans Shield , Vlads , Battlefury and Manta.
People here have seen how ZSMJ play his Anti-Mage, its mostly by farming a Poor Mans Shield and then followed by battlefury and vlads for blink juggling. It does increase the farm by a whole lot however, this build only works if your team plans to turtle and you are the main carry. This idea of farming vlads/battlefury just to substain jungling and the idea of 'farming an item to farm more' is kind of ridiculous, but I can see where they are going with this and this build is not wrong. I have tried it in CWs and it work wonders.
Try this if you are only planning on a turtling AM and speed farming. This build can also be pursued if you are farming ridiculously well in the early game. As this build is a jetpack for farming at speed.
Personally, on a fun level its as low as a 3/10 as what is the fun of killing creeps? The only thing fun is that you can see your gold increasing at speed and you are blinking around the forests jungling, blinking to ancients and blinking back again.
I'll try to find replays of this.
Required mindset of playing Magina and DotA
This section is a rip off of the Art of Mindgames...I think. By playing Magina, you have to have an aggressive mindset, do not show cowardliness, even when you are playing defensively, and you are fighting someone, stand your ground and fight. Burn as much Mana as possible, be aware of missing heroes or the potential disable that might be coming your way.
If you get engaged by a hero and you stand your ground to fight him, it might scare him off as it is a symbol of 'someone poking a hornet nest'.
Take calculated risks, dive towers if you are sure of killing a foe and escaping unscathed. Have good communications with your teamates, sometimes due to poor communications, I dived deep into enemy territory trying to finish off someone, and on hindsight it got 1-2 teamates killed along the way as they were trying to support me. I usually tell them that if it is too dangerous and too deep for them, they should abandon me. Usually I am able to survive by blinking and TP-ing. Skype works best here as situations usually change.
Always. Always check the Mana Pools of heroes. This cannot be reiterated more often! When preparing to Mana Void, check his Mana Pool, calculated the potential damage that you might do, and look at his HP, if it can not finish him off in one shot, try to sneak in a few more hits until a void is enough. If both of you are dying, try to make use of the ministun of Mana Void to get in another hit. Remembering the mana cost of spells might be handy. For example, during laning a 165 mana Sven is alot more dangerous than a 101 mana Sven. So 1 hit of Mana Break is going to make a difference if you are going in for the kill.
Do not rambo, although I promote high aggressivness from Anti-Mages, it does not mean you can jump into 5 heroes and be suicidal. Be smart play smart, or go back to school.
There much more stuff to be said and if I go on, I'd probably have to make a TL;DR version. There are much more guides out there that focuses playing mindsets and I recommend you to check them out. Even if they are sometimes covering the basics of DotA or stuff that you know, it is always good to take a refresher course and have a good read.
I'll post some links of those guides later on.
LINK
LINK
LINK
Now for replays
REPLAY
REPLAY
REPLAY
As you can see, this guide is still under much needed decoration. This is just my general layout of things. I will try to update as much as possible with the version. If I do not reply to your queries, it does not mean I do not care! I have my own life to. Well not really, I just lost my life. To my Singaporean buddies, you should know what it means (NATIONALSERVICE).
Changelog
------------
v1.00
------
-Started the guide
-Wrote content list and foreword
------------------------------------
v2.00 (11/2/11)
----------------
-Wrote out the entire guide. Left a few things to update.
-Renamed some of the sections
------------------------------------
v3.00 (12/2/11)
-Fixed grammar mistakes.
------------------------------------
v3.01 (31/05/11)
-Fixed English Errors
Credits
Author: Y3H (Chen Yuhao)
Source of images : PlayDotA.com
Special thanks goes to
d3stiny- who introduced me to DotA (Thanks cousin)
lDarkLinkl- Thanks for that awesome 2nd DotA match of my life. Troll vs Doom
bearbear9870- The one who actually increased my skill level alot just by playing with him
Elites (Nakamas) - My group of DotA mates. Best inhouses I ever had.
Totallnewbie - For inspiring me to play Anti-Mage and this guide is a tribute to him
Loda- First ever competitive player to follow, a legend I must say. Taught me the way of effective farming.
Author's Greetings
-------------------
Hello, I have been lurking around the old DotA forums which was DA.com to the current PD. I have only begun recently posting actively and do not let my post count fool you!
I have been playing DotA for roughly 3-4 years and it is time I start to contribute something to the community.
The reason that I decided to write out my Magina guide was because PD lacked the guides that do not punch out enough impact on any audiences and often do not help beginners in their learning curves.
On with the guide shall we?
Contents
========================
1. Author's Greetings
2. Hero's Introduction
3. Magina's Arsenal
- Expending the potential of Blink
- Expending the potential of Mana Void
4. Skill Builds
5. Item builds
6. A look at China's way of ricing with Magina
7. Required mindset in play Magina and DotA
8. Replays
9. Changelog
Hero's Introduction
========================
Lets start with some copy and pasta. Magina's skills.
Magina wasn't nicknamed the Anti-Mage for no reason. His passive Mana Break attack allows him to deal extra damage and cripple a caster's mana supply. With a great understanding of the spiritual realm, he becomes more resilient against magical attacks using his Spell Shield, along with the ability to Blink across short distances for superb maneuverability. Seeking out weary casters, he uses Mana Void to inflict immense damage for high amounts of missing mana. Although he will be at a natural disadvantage to casters early on, as his powers grow, there is none better suited for bringing the greatest of spell casters down to their knees.
Boy, was that introduction awesome? Am I so shameless to even copy pasta something from the hero's page and try to pass it off...? Maybe...anyway, my own personal words on Magina the Anti-Mage.
As mentioned, Magina's strength is to sap away and break opponents capability of casting spell by destroying their most precious resource pool, known as Mana along with their Health Points. The more the enemy try to retaliates by casting spells, not only does it tickles Magina, it tickles him to use Mana Void even earlier, a devastating spell that must not be underestimated!
Why would you want to play Anti-Mage? Few reasons...
Low BAT (Meaning that his animations are alot faster than the rest)
Look at how your enemies reduced to just a manaless creep and humiliate them by your finishing move...fatality...
You like to play carries, but not to the extent of a hard carry.
You love being aggressive!
Easy last hitting.
Blink
Why would you not play Anti-Mage?
You haven't seen totallnewbie's video
???
Now a look at his skills. More copy pasta incoming.
Mana Break
Ability Type: Passive
Targeting Type: N/A
Ability Hotkey: R
Description
Each attack burns mana based on skill level.
| Level | Mana Cost | Cooldown | Casting range | Area of Effect | Duration | Allowed Targets | Effects |
| 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Enemy Units with mana pool | Burns 28 mana per hit |
| 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Enemy Units with mana pool | Burns 40 mana per hit |
| 3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Enemy Units with mana pool | Burns 52 mana per hit |
| 4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Enemy Units with mana pool | Burns 64 mana per hit |
Notes
Damage type: normal
Deals 0.6 damage per point of mana burnt.
Mana Burn is blocked by magic immunity.
This skill is an Orb Effect.
You can lifeleech the damage dealt by this skill with a Lifesteal aura.
Author's Notes
Ahh yes, the good old Mana Break. The primary and most important asset to any MageSlayer...I mean Anti-Mage. Nothing to be said about this skill except that I must remind you that...
It is an ORB EFFECT
This skill is usually maxed first.
Blink
Ability Type: Active
Targeting Type: Point
Ability Hotkey: B
Description
Short distance teleportation that allows one to move in and out of combat.
| Level | Mana Cost | Cooldown | Casting range | Area of Effect | Duration | Allowed Targets | Effects |
| 1 | 60 | 12 seconds | Global | N/A | N/A | N/A | 200 - 1000 range teleportation |
| 2 | 60 | 9 seconds | Global | N/A | N/A | N/A | 200 - 1075 range teleportation |
| 3 | 60 | 7 seconds | Global | N/A | N/A | N/A | 200 - 1150 range teleportation |
| 4 | 60 | 5 seconds | Global | N/A | N/A | N/A | 200 - 1150 range teleportation |
Notes
If you used Blink to teleport to a distance over the maximum range, you'll be teleported 4/5 of the maximum range instead.
You can use Blink to dodge incoming projectiles.
Blink has a 0.33 seconds teleportation delay.
Author's Notes
Your main bread and butter positioning skill. Coupled with Mana Break, you are like a Ninja
that goes around burning their mana, rendering helpless and force them to follow your will! MWAHAHAHA. But seriously. Blink is one of the most overpowered, if not most overpowered skill in DotA. Do not ever underestimate this low Mana Cost skill of a Blink, it gets you out of stick situations in a snap, avoids incoming projectiles such as stuns, enables you to chase down a target and to position yourself in teamfights or small skirmishes. (SURPRISE BUTTSECKS)
Spell Shield
Ability Type: Passive
Targeting Type: N/A
Ability Hotkey: D
Description
Magina learns to protect himself with an anti-magic shield. Increases his resistance to magic damage.
| Level | Mana Cost | Cooldown | Casting range | Area of Effect | Duration | Allowed Targets | Effects |
| 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Self | Reduces magic damage by 26% |
| 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Self | Reduces magic damage by 34% |
| 3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Self | Reduces magic damage by 42% |
| 4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Self | Reduces magic damage by 50% |
Notes
Stacks with spell resistance items.
Author's Notes
This skill got seriously buffed by IceFrog over the last few versions, looking back when I started playing Anti-Mage, it only provided what? 30+% Resistance! Now it is a whopping 50%! This will totally destroy any nukes' incoming damage and it's also a potential cripple to the nuker's morale. Who would be high on morale if they see their only form of damage is through magical damage, and it only tickles Anti-Mage? Not to mention casting them costs mana...
Ultimate
Mana Void
Ability Type: Active
Targeting Type: Unit
Ability Hotkey: V
Description
Creates a powerful void in an enemy unit caused by a lack of mana. For each mana point missing, the unit takes damage.
| Level | Mana Cost | Cooldown | Casting range | Area of Effect | Duration | Allowed Targets | Effects |
| 1 | 125 | 70 seconds | 600 | 300 | 0.1 second stun | Enemy units with mana pool | Deals 0.6 damage per mana point missing |
| 2 | 200 | 70 seconds | 600 | 300 | 0.2 second stun | Enemy units with mana pool | Deals 0.85 damage per mana point missing |
| 3 | 275 | 70 seconds | 600 | 300 | 0.3 second stun | Enemy units with mana pool | Deals 1.1 damage per mana point missing |
Notes
Damage type: magical
Stuns target for a short while.
Damage is calculated based on the primary target's mana, but applied to all enemies within the AoE.
Stun works on magic immune units.
Author's notes
Your main nuke and also your trademark finisher. Works just like Necrolyte's Reaper, it deals damage based on the amount of mana missing. So be sure to check their mana pools while burning their mana! Do not be hasty when using this move, ensure that you can burn the most mana from the enemy before getting...disabled...dying..ganked; void to finish the job and grab your 250 gold and blink your ass out of there.
This skill is more than just a nuke, there is a whole strategy behind this skill and I see alot, and I mean ALOT, Magina Players simply using it wrongly.
How wrong, Y3H? How? Which brings us to the subsection of ...
Expending the potential of Mana Void
In small skirmishes, people tend to remember this as the OLD Mana Void, which has no AoE. And sometimes they void those who has the least HP thinking that this will work like Dagon. Which to their disgust, that hero has full MP, so no damage was dealt. To aid some of those who absolutely hates the Walls of
INSERT IMAGES (under contruction)
From this video, you can see that AM (me) is not really committed into whacking the tower, as I am aware that a Rogue Knight is gonna blink in and initiate, if he choses to disable me under his tower, I'm going to be cannon fodder.
And he does initiates, and he stuns Viper. His teamates quickly moves to support and fight him, in the process Obsidian Destroyer uses his Ultimate and kills off my teamate Drow. Lycan also dies in the process. Now it leaves Viper, he uses his ultimate (Viper Strike) hoping to slow Rogue Knight down and to stop him from catching up. Seeing as how Rogue Knight has blinked in, I stopped attacking the tower and start burning Rogue Knight's mana to stop any further stuns later on, and true enough his mana starts sapping away and his health starts to dip....
...This is where most people commit their mistake. They would choose to Mana Void Rogue Knight as he is in point of a Mana Void kill.
This might be the case, but from my knowledge, I know that Obsidian has used his ultimate (and barely damaged me at all) and his Guinsoo is under cooldown (not shown). So I stopped attacking Rogue Knight and head to burn away Obsidian's HUGE mana pool. As soon as Rogue Knight enters the estimated AoE of Mana Void, I immediately checked Obsidian's Mana Pool. Nearly empty, perfect. I Voided Obsidian and it caught PotM in the fray as well and resulted in a Triple kill.
Always try to see a big picture, and try to benefit from it. Most players would have voided the Rogue Knight and blinked out to retreat with Viper. If they have took proper calculated risks like what I did, it would have resulted in a triple kill and a easy raxing of their Mid Lane. Small little details always snowball into huge things later on.
Whats next? Oh man...do I have to...alright.
Skill builds
Main Build.
I have stuck to this build for ages and in my opinion is the best build for my aggressive playstyle on Anti-Mage.
| Level | Main Path | Alternate Path |
| 1 | Blink | - |
| 2 | Mana Break | - |
| 3 | Mana Break | Blink |
| 4 | Blink | Mana Break |
| 5 | Mana Break | Blink |
| 6 | Mana Void | - |
| 7 | Mana Break | Blink |
| 8 | Blink | Mana Break |
| 9 | Blink | Mana Break |
| 10 | Spell Shield | - |
| 11 | Mana Void | - |
| 12 | Spell Shield | - |
| 13 | Spell Shield | - |
| 14 | Spell Shield | - |
| 15 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 16 | Mana Void | - |
| 17 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 18 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 19 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 20 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 21 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 22 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 23 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 24 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 24 | Attribute Bonus | - |
Justification
I really hate doing justifications, but I will explain abit on this.
Blink is gotten on level 1. Why? It is to prevent incoming ganks at level 1, and to prevent a potential first blood. It can also be used to avoid projectiles that may be thrown at you at level 1. Such as Magic Missle. This certainly explains the defensive aspect of Blink at level 1.
For the offensive aspect, compared to Mana Break, Blink is much better off as a offensive skill at level 1. How so? If you are attempting first blood, most likely you will have an ally with a disable, and once you start chipping away at the hp, the moment they start to get away with a silver of hp, Blink and WHAM. First Blood. Why not Mana Break you say? Well, although Mana Break offers the tempting benefit of burning away mana and doing more damage, however with blink, a priceless repositioning skill, you can either choose to escape if things goes awry or if you need that last hit on that enemy. And blink just offers that.
Mana Break is then maxed first as this will maximise your lane control and your offensive capabilities. Not to mention easier last hitting on that ranged creep. Do not underestimate the damage of Mana Break, as long they have Mana, you do more damage as per usual and it chips at their HP and MP pools amazingly fast. Its almost a no brainer.
The alternate path (which I do not really prefer) is pursuing the path of maxing Blink first, rather than Mana Break. Do this only if you are not very aggressive and wants to play more defensively and still retain the offensive powers of Anti-Mage.
Mana Void is gotten whenever possible, its your only nuke...ffs...if you need a justification for this one..I'd say....well....F....F....F...F....F.....
fine.
As explained earlier, Mana Void is your trademark finisher and your 'Finish HIM' move. It makes killing easier at level 6 where you can afford to get extra aggressive (be smart). And finish off the enemy where blink can't do the job or is needed for the gtfo moment.
How so? Usually when an enemy is reduced to 0 mp, your Mana Break's damage will not kick in and you have only your base damage or whatever items on you to deal damage. Sometimes this is not enough to finish off the enemy. So get Mana Void and nuke him. It will finish him.
Spell Shield is then maxed out ASAP. No brainer.
And the rest is to max out your Mana Void and Attribute Bonuses.
That wasn't so hard was it?
Now to...aww man..more skill builds? Fine...
This is one skill build I have seen players propose or use. I personally do not use it, as they do not fit my playstyle. Heres my analysis and opinions on them.
The blinking turtle
| Level | Main Path | Alternate Path |
| 1 | Blink | - |
| 2 | Spell Shield | - |
| 3 | Spell Shield | Blink |
| 4 | Blink | Spell Shield |
| 5 | Spell Shield | Blink |
| 6 | Mana Void | - |
| 7 | Mana Break | Blink |
| 8 | Blink | Spell Shield |
| 9 | Blink | Spell Shield |
| 10 | Mana Break | - |
| 11 | Mana Void | - |
| 12 | Mana Break | - |
| 13 | Mana Break | - |
| 14 | Mana Break | - |
| 15 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 16 | Mana Void | - |
| 17 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 18 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 19 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 20 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 21 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 22 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 23 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 24 | Attribute Bonus | - |
| 24 | Attribute Bonus | - |
When I first looked at this skill build, I punched through the computer screen hoping it would reach the fella who proposed it.
The justification for this build was that in early games, nukers dominate the entire game, and this will help to ease Magina's lane torture and increase his survivability. At a glance it seems fine... until you stop and think.
Magina's peak is Mid Game! Where Mana Break's damage will do the most to any spellcasters and severely hurt them! Being a fully defensive turtle is not going to offer much offensive power. And when it comes to important skirmishes such as burning that support's mana while the team fights. You are going to have alot to explain when that support lion is still walking about with mana impaling the rest of your team.
What I would do is that, instead of maxing spell shield, if you really want that 26%+ resistance, get Spell Shield at level 4. And then proceed to max Mana Break or Blink at your own preference and laning situations.
So in short, if you would like to have some defensive power due to harsh lane conditions, feel free to modify the build according to the situation.
Too much disablers? Call for ganks. Spell shield is not going to help you here.
Finally...its time for item builds!
Core Items (These are mandatory!)
Core Extensions
Situational Items
Rejected Items
Alright, as many of you who have competitive experience by watching replays or by personal experience. You may have seen China's way of ricing with their carries, earning the stereotype of Asians = turtling. Thanks China. Alot.
The skill build is roughly similar to the Blinking Turtle. SEE? EVEN THE SKILL BUILD SCREAMS TURTLE. GARH.
It involves maxing Blink and Spell Shield along with level 1 of Mana Break. The aim here is to farm asap and safely while their supports protect Anti-Mage.
Item Builds are mostly Poor Mans Shield , Vlads , Battlefury and Manta.
People here have seen how ZSMJ play his Anti-Mage, its mostly by farming a Poor Mans Shield and then followed by battlefury and vlads for blink juggling. It does increase the farm by a whole lot however, this build only works if your team plans to turtle and you are the main carry. This idea of farming vlads/battlefury just to substain jungling and the idea of 'farming an item to farm more' is kind of ridiculous, but I can see where they are going with this and this build is not wrong. I have tried it in CWs and it work wonders.
Try this if you are only planning on a turtling AM and speed farming. This build can also be pursued if you are farming ridiculously well in the early game. As this build is a jetpack for farming at speed.
Personally, on a fun level its as low as a 3/10 as what is the fun of killing creeps? The only thing fun is that you can see your gold increasing at speed and you are blinking around the forests jungling, blinking to ancients and blinking back again.
I'll try to find replays of this.
Required mindset of playing Magina and DotA
This section is a rip off of the Art of Mindgames...I think. By playing Magina, you have to have an aggressive mindset, do not show cowardliness, even when you are playing defensively, and you are fighting someone, stand your ground and fight. Burn as much Mana as possible, be aware of missing heroes or the potential disable that might be coming your way.
If you get engaged by a hero and you stand your ground to fight him, it might scare him off as it is a symbol of 'someone poking a hornet nest'.
Take calculated risks, dive towers if you are sure of killing a foe and escaping unscathed. Have good communications with your teamates, sometimes due to poor communications, I dived deep into enemy territory trying to finish off someone, and on hindsight it got 1-2 teamates killed along the way as they were trying to support me. I usually tell them that if it is too dangerous and too deep for them, they should abandon me. Usually I am able to survive by blinking and TP-ing. Skype works best here as situations usually change.
Always. Always check the Mana Pools of heroes. This cannot be reiterated more often! When preparing to Mana Void, check his Mana Pool, calculated the potential damage that you might do, and look at his HP, if it can not finish him off in one shot, try to sneak in a few more hits until a void is enough. If both of you are dying, try to make use of the ministun of Mana Void to get in another hit. Remembering the mana cost of spells might be handy. For example, during laning a 165 mana Sven is alot more dangerous than a 101 mana Sven. So 1 hit of Mana Break is going to make a difference if you are going in for the kill.
Do not rambo, although I promote high aggressivness from Anti-Mages, it does not mean you can jump into 5 heroes and be suicidal. Be smart play smart, or go back to school.
There much more stuff to be said and if I go on, I'd probably have to make a TL;DR version. There are much more guides out there that focuses playing mindsets and I recommend you to check them out. Even if they are sometimes covering the basics of DotA or stuff that you know, it is always good to take a refresher course and have a good read.
I'll post some links of those guides later on.
LINK
LINK
LINK
Now for replays
REPLAY
REPLAY
REPLAY
As you can see, this guide is still under much needed decoration. This is just my general layout of things. I will try to update as much as possible with the version. If I do not reply to your queries, it does not mean I do not care! I have my own life to. Well not really, I just lost my life. To my Singaporean buddies, you should know what it means (NATIONALSERVICE).
Changelog
------------
v1.00
------
-Started the guide
-Wrote content list and foreword
------------------------------------
v2.00 (11/2/11)
----------------
-Wrote out the entire guide. Left a few things to update.
-Renamed some of the sections
------------------------------------
v3.00 (12/2/11)
-Fixed grammar mistakes.
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v3.01 (31/05/11)
-Fixed English Errors
Credits
Author: Y3H (Chen Yuhao)
Source of images : PlayDotA.com
Special thanks goes to
d3stiny- who introduced me to DotA (Thanks cousin)
lDarkLinkl- Thanks for that awesome 2nd DotA match of my life. Troll vs Doom
bearbear9870- The one who actually increased my skill level alot just by playing with him
Elites (Nakamas) - My group of DotA mates. Best inhouses I ever had.
Totallnewbie - For inspiring me to play Anti-Mage and this guide is a tribute to him
Loda- First ever competitive player to follow, a legend I must say. Taught me the way of effective farming.
Magina the Anti-MageAuthor: Y3H
Map Vers.: 6.72b
The MageSlayer
The Adroit Aggressor
Last Comment:12/11/2010
Total Votes: 0
Current Rating: 0.00
Views: 1787
