Strategy Guide for Magnus the Magnataur

by Ingolf (as of v6.59)

http://planetdota.blogspot.com

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Pros
• Cons
• Stats
• Abilities
• Skill order
• Item build
• How to play
• Spamming Shockwave and utilizing the runes
• Using Kelen's Dagger with Reverse Polarity - The initiation combo
• Heroes and whatsoelse to watch out for
• Magnus' best friends
• Epilogue
• Replays
• FAQ
• Changelog

Introduction
A long time ago I was assigned to play Magnus the Magnataur solo middle in an inhouse game,
and at that time I didn't quite understand why. But since then I've discovered Magnus' huge and
all-raping potential he gets from being alone at middle. At this day I consider a solo Magnus my
ace. Many unaware people laugh at the choice of bringing this all-stage-game monster. Later as I
rape everything 5vs1 they blame the middle hero for feeding me. The truth is, however, that my
fellow hostile middle hero frankly has no chance to stand against the might of Magnus. With
help from this guide you will learn how to play a hero who will crush everything in his way -
early game, middle game and late game. After reading my tips you will learn to play a hero that
can own multiple heroes at any time, anywhere. In the beginning your allies will mock you and
your enemies will laugh at the stupidity of bringing a Magnus solo at middle. However, they will
soon tremble and despair when you hit them with crits higher than Phantom Assassin and cleaves
that will two-hit everything in its way.
An additional disclaimer

This guide is fully and utterly based on the fact that Magnus is soloing the middle lane. I will not
assure you of its reliability for either double laning him at middle or soloing/double laning him at
top or any additional lineups that do not follow this guide. This is a guide meant for this exact
purpose and thus I cannot promise I will let me be held responsible for any actions taken that do
not follow this guide.

I recommend you to play Magnus if you

• Are looking for a very, very strong hero who maintains his potential throughout the entire
game
• Want a hero who can gank, farm and kill everything in his way extremely effectively
• Want to play a hero who kills entire creepwaves with a single hit and heroes in two hits
• Want a hero who, if played correctly, cannot be held back by any other solo hero
• Want to play a hero who meets very little resistance
• Want to play a hero that can farm his entire item build in 50 minutes

I do not recommend you to play Magnus if you

• Easily feel pity for your enemies when you repeaditly kill them without hessitation
• Do not enjoy being depend on later in the game

If this sounds interesting, please continue reading.

Now let's have a closer look on Magnus' pros/cons, stats and abilities.

Pros

• Has an aoe nuke with high damage, low cooldown and very low mana cost
• Has a buff that can make everyone the most insane damage dealer
• Has an extremely amazing and astounding cleave attack
• Has a game breaking aoe disable ultimate
• Is an excellent farmer
• Is one of the best lane dominators if played correctly
• Is an excellent ganker
• Has the potential to kill an entire team 5vs1
• His skills have excellent synergizes with each other
• Is strong early game, astounding middle game and deadly late game
• A hero that has almost everything

Cons
• Highly dependant on the nearly nerfed Kelen's Dagger
• Can be rather hard to play and time against really organized teams
Stats

Description

Maybe the most tremendous being on the Scourge, Magnus is a power to be reckoned with.
Trained from birth to become a potent warrior, he is now at the peak of his strength. The
Magnataur's giant axe can cleave paths through his enemies, and create a bone-breaking
shockwave that ripples through the ground. Further strengthened by a demonic magic that
enhances his attacks, he can crush enemies with shocking ease. His greatest power, though, is the
ability to create an immensely strong magnetic field, sucking in helpless foes to meet their end.

Strength - 21 + 2,75
Agility - 15 + 1,8
Intelligence - 17 + 1,65

Attack range of 100.

Movement speed of 315.

Level 1 information:
- Health: 549
- Mana: 221
- Damage: 49-61
- Armor: 4
- Attack Speed: 1,48 sec

Level 25 information (without any worn items):

- Health: 2183
- Mana: 988
- Damage: 115-127 +20
- Armor: 10 +2,8
- Attack Speed: 0,96 sec.

Abilities

Shockwave

A wave of force ripples out from the Hero, causing damage to land units in a line.

Level 1 - 75 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 225 damage.
Level 4 - 300 damage.
Cooldown: 11/10/9/8 seconds.
Mana cost: 90.

Comment: I'd be careful not to call Shockwave your main ability as all your abilities will be just
about equally useful and equally important. However, during the early game there's no doubt
Shockwave is what makes you stand out from all other heroes. The mana cost is ridiculous low
and the cooldown is low as well which makes it excellent for spamming, farming and killing. It's
aoe and it has as much damage as all other nukes.

Useful information: There's not much to know about Shockwave. It's pretty straight forward.
Click it on a unit or on the ground and it'll launch from your hero dealing damage in a small
wave in front of you. The length of it is decent but not huge. The same goes for its width. It has
no stuns or no extra features, just one, simple, devastating aoe nuke.

Empower

Increases attack damage for a friendly unit.

Level 1 - 15% attack damage.

Level 2 - 30% attack damage.
Level 3 - 45% attack damage.
Level 4 - 60% attack damage.

Cooldown: 12 seconds.
Mana cost: 30.

Comment: This ability is your main source of damage and not only for yourself, but also
another teammate, preferably "the other" damage dealer of course. It adds so much damage that
it is undescribable. When it's activated - which it will be 24/7 when you've skilled it - your
damage will be unbelievably sky high and with this very simple buff you will outdamage nearly
every single hero in the game.

Useful information: The duration is 30 seconds. Simple math tells us that you can constantly
have it activated on two heroes. As you always want to activate it on yourself as first priority,
you ought to choose the "2nd damage dealer" to buff as well. The percentages get modified from
not only white damage (your base damage) but also green damage though only your +stats, in
this case Strength which means extra direct damage like Divine Rapiers don't boost Empower.
This means the more damage (Strength) you get, the more damage it gives. The skill can be
removed by Purge and it's uncastable on magic immunes which also means that a Black King
Bar will remove the buff.

Mighty Swing (Passive)

Magnus' halberd swings in a mighty arc, damaging all enemies in a fairly wide circle. Targets
beside the primary take less damage.

Level 1 - 12% damage is splashed.

Level 2 - 25% damage is splashed.
Level 3 - 37% damage is splashed.
Level 4 - 50% damage is splashed.

Cooldown: None.
Mana cost: None.

Comment: This cleave attack is what makes you able to kill an entire team alone. Not only is the
percentage very high (50%!), the aoe is also enormous. With this plus your items you will be
able to clear entire creepwaves with a single blow and deal almost equally amount of damage to
all nearby heroes no matter which one you focus.

Useful information: The cleave damage Mighty Swing deals is of the damage type "pure". This
means it will not be reduced anything like armor, spell resistance or whatsoever.

Reverse Polarity (Ultimate)

Through some unknown property of matter, the Magnataur sucks all nearby enemies to his
position and stuns them with a powerful slam, dealing damage.

Level 1 - 2 second stun, deals 150 damage.

Level 2 - 3 second stun, deals 225 damage.
Level 3 - 4 second stun, deals 300 damage.

Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Mana cost: 200/250/300.

Comment: This ability is probably one of the most devastating, crucial and all-raping initiation
spells in the game. Especially if you have teammates with aoe nukes and/or aoe disables to
follow up on this, getting a good Reverse Polarity off can decide the entire combat. However, the
downside is that it can be very hard to get off. The aoe suck/stun are relatively low so if you only
pull one or two enemies it will probably hardly matter and eventually you'll get stunned and
nuked to death because you're literally in the center of everything.

Useful information: The aoe of this ability is about 400 range which is about the same length a
Druid of the Talon/Necromancer shoots (500 range). It is, in very very very few cases, possible
that units can get stunned but not sucked in. However, it is a matter of 4 range (game mechanics)
and you will probably never experience it. What is good to know though is that it goes through
magic immunities like Black King Bar, Repel, Linken's Sphere and Rage.

Skill order

Level 1 - Shockwave
Level 2 - Stats
Level 3 - Shockwave
Level 4 - Stats
Level 5 - Shockwave
Level 6 - Reverse Polarity
Level 7 - Shockwave
Level 8 - Stats
Level 9 - Stats
Level 10 - Stats
Level 11 - Reverse Polarity
Level 12 - Empower
Level 13 - Empower
Level 14 - Empower
Level 15 - Empower
Level 16 - Reverse Polarity
Level 17 - Mighty Swing
Level 18 - Mighty Swing
Level 19 - Mighty Swing
Level 20 - Mighty Swing
Level 21-25 - Stats

Skills explanation

Shockwave is skilled as fast as possible, obviously because it's your only direct nuke and this
ability is what's making the one of the most powerful solo heroes in the game. Stats are skilled
over Empower and Mighty Swing because it will help you spam Shockwave a lot better. It also
adds more health which saves you from buying unnecessary stats items. Reverse Polarity is of
course taken when it can be. The damage and the stun duration increases so there's no reason not
to skill it. Empower is taken between 12-15 because this is around where you'll begin to have
stronger items thus making it more useful here than e.g. Mighty Swing. However, your cleave
attack is skilled right after the last level of Reverse Polarity. There's no reason to postpone it any
longer.

Item order

Core item build

The first item you should buy is the Bottle. This is the item that will help you through your entire
early game. If you play right (read the strategy walkthrough section), no other items will help
you dominate your lane like the Bottle does. This item is very, very important and should be
bought as the first item on the second you pick your hero. The next two items should be Kelen's
Dagger and Boots of Speed. The Boots of Speed should be self-explanatory. The Kelen's Dagger
will help you ganking much better in the early game and later it is essential in order to position
your ultimate perfectly. The Battle Fury will be bought because it gives you a huge damage
burst, fine mana- and health regeneration and finally it adds 35 % cleave damage. This cleave
attack stacks completely with your Mighty Swing which later means 85 % of your damage will
be cleaved. Auch!

Items afterwards

When you've completed your Battle Fury you should upgrade your Boots of Speed to a pair of
Power Treads (strength). The reason you don't want to buy Boots of Travel even though the
teleport is sweet is that your damage will be enormous. In order to deal as much damage as
possible (the term called effective dps) you want to buy the attack speed bonuses you can. Power
Treads give you 30 % increased attack speed. Anyway, after your footwear go straight for an
Armlet of Mordiggian. This single item is, especially on Magnus, completely insane. It's very
cheap and comes it very light pieces. When it isn't activated it gives weak stats, but once you
activate it you will get 40 damage and 25 strength (65 damage total) among 25 % attack speed.
Pawn! Once you've completed the Armlet, sell your Bottle (it's not gonna make a difference
anymore) and complete a Satanic for the lifesteal and damage purposes. Finally, Buriza-do
Kyanon is bought for the crititcal hit. Once you've completed your entire item build (which
happens in many games thansk to your astounding farming capability) you will have crits around
1100 damage and 85 % of this will be cleaved. Your health will be decent/good and your
lifestealing capability is high as well.

The complete build

What about adding a Black King Bar to the build? If you get chain disabled, you're
worthless!
Black King Bar makes you immune to Empower when used. Losing 60 % of your damage is the
same as being worthless to me. Well not really, but you might as well hit with 60 % extra
damage and be slightly extra stunned. Also if you manage to get off some good ulties, you will
kill most of your enemies including the stupid disable casters before they managa to move again.

Why don't you give me other item choices? Are these 7 items really all you want to buy? I
want more opportunities!
Yes, these items are everything you need. They have the perfect mix of damage, attack speed,
lifesteal, crit and everything. With these items it will only take 1 good ultimate and 4 hits to kill
everything around you. You don't need other item choices. You don't need replacements for any
of the items. Almost everything you need is damage and attack speed. Kelen's Dagger is also
essential though in order to get off perfect ultimates. End of discussion.

There's no room for Scrolls of Town Portals. How do I get forth and back?
Of course there's room for TP scrolls. You don't run around with all 6 items from the start.
Obviously it's a very good choice to wear atleast one Scroll of Town Portal for as long as you
can. However, once you complete all your items you will rape everything and everyone so much
and so fast that you will gain extreme amounts of gold. If you're far away in a lane for example
and your enemies are pushing, it's better to go offensive and push. With your total damage and
your astounding 85 % cleave you will even push just as fast as 4-5 heroes from their team. They
will either have to teleport back in order to kill you or lose equally amount of towers/racks. If
they choose to teleport back (which is the most common thing) and kill you, you can always
buyout yourself and voilá! You're back. Of course you'll have to be standing very far away in
order to make this effective. Else just run back manually if you sense a hostile push somewhere.

How to play
Early game

When you pick your hero, start with buy Bottle. If you're playing a mode more money (-pick & -
sd for instance) you can eventually buy 3 Ironwood Branches just to make it a little easier with
cheap stats. However, that's not very important. What is important though is that you inform
your allies that you're going to solo the middle. Let them laugh or mock you as much as they
want, just make sure you get the middle lane.
When you get there and when the creeps spawn you should obviously try to last hit and deny like
any other hero. However, you should begin to spam Shockwave on your enemy(ies) as much as
possible. A good rule of thumb is to try and last hit one or more creeps with the Shockwave but
still hitting the enemy. Doing this will assure you the creep kill and still harass your opponent.
Anyway, when you're level 1 and 2 (when Shockwave is only level 1) you still ought to spam it,
but yet hold again just a tiny winy bit. Use some mana but atleast try to last hit a few creeps with
it. When you're level 3+ just spam the Shockwave as much as possible. The more the merrier.
Eventually you'll force your opponent to go back or even kill him. The harass from your wave is
too hard. Not even tangoes, rings, flasks or bottles can withstand it in the long run. However, it's
common sense that you will run empty on mana from spamming Shockwave so much. This is
where your Bottle and the term called "Rune Race" come in.
As you hopefully know, the runes spawn every 2nd minute at the top or bottom river, starting at
2:00. This means a new rune will spawn 4:00, 6:00, 8:00...xx:00 with xx being an even number.
Two runes cannot be spawned thus meaning if there's already one rune, there's not gonna spawn
one more. However, if you pick one up a few seconds before the new spawn time (e.g. at 3:55) a
new one will still spawn. The rune's spawn position is random so you never know if it's up or
down. What is very important though is that you refill your Bottle all the time with these runes.
Not only do the runes help you better in your lane. E.g. a Regeneration rune helps you spam
Shockwave more. They also refill your Bottle completely thus refreshing your mana which
allows you for new Shockwave spam. It is very important that you get all or nearly all these
runes. Therefore, around each spawn time you should throw as many Shockwaves as possible,
use and empty your Bottle so you're not "wasting" too much mana from blindly using it and then
rush top/down and get the rune. If you play a "weak" game like a public game or TDA for
instance, most middle heroes will probably not even think about the runes so you're mostly
gonna have them for yourself anyway. However, better players know how to pick up runes and
how to use them for their domination in their lane. No matter how your enemy plays though you
should very quickly clear the current creep wave with Shockwave and then go look for the rune.
A smart thing is to look after it at the top because it's the shortest distance. If it's not there it's at
the bottom river and thus you should just hurry down there and get it. It doesn't matter that you
miss a few creep kills and a little experience because you will get it all back later. What is
important though is that you keep refilling your Bottle by grabbing the runes. Missing one
because someone else takes it can happen but try not to lose too much. From experience I can tell
you that spamming Shockwaves and replenishing yourself with your Bottle 3 times takes just
about 2 minutes. This means you can grab a rune, spam Shockwaves as much as possible while
you regain mana/health from your Bottle. When your Bottle is empty a new rune is about to
spawn or should have spawned already. Failing to repeaditly grabbing the runes brings you down
to a "mediocre" hero who will probably be outharassed, outdenied and outfarmed in a lane
because you don't have enough mana to harass and not enough health to last hit.
When you're level 1~3 your opponent(s) will probably just try to regenerate his lost health but
when you're around level 3~5+ he will have no chance standing against you as long as you get
the runes. As I said before, try to last hit as many creeps as possible when you throw your
Shockwave but still make sure you hit the hero. You might miss one or two Shockwaves which
doesn't really make a difference but don't do it too often. When you're level 6~7 you will
probably your Kelen's Dagger and if your lane hero isn't on low health already, someone else
will probably be. Either way you should start to look for opportunities to gank once in awhile
with Kelen's Dagger/Reverse Polarity/Shockwave and once you hopefully succes in a gank you
should immediatly return to your lane so you can keep on farming. Try to use Scrolls of Town
Portals to get around between the lanes when you gank because it saves you from a lot of
walking, and don't try to roam around too much like an intilligence hero who don't need items,
level or anything else. Farm/harass as the first priority and if you see an opportunity to jump in
with Shockwave/Reverse Polarity where you know you'll get the kill, do it. Then immediatly
return to your lane. If you're doing really well you can have your Magical Bottle, Boots of
Speed, Kelen's Dagger and Battle Fury once you're level ~12. Try to aim at getting atleast 100
creep kills before 30 minutes. On a good day I (and possibly you after a little practice) can have
around 140 creep kills and a few hero kills at the 30 minutes mark, which is really good. Every
time your Reverse Polarity is ready try to look for an opportunity to kill someone with your
combination described later in this guide. Successing in ganking enemies is not mandatory but
you shouldn't try to do too many failed attempts at ganking because it's wasting your time and
your ressources.
So to sum up, buy your Bottle, go to the middle lane and harass your enemy as much with
Shockwave as possible. Use your Bottle to replenish yourself and grab the runes when they
spawn. Make sure you win the rune race (very important!) and grab the rune before a new
spawns. Try to last hit the creeps with your Shockwave as you harass your target. Once you're
level 6 and have your Kelen's Dagger try to look for gank opportunities in either your lane or
your allies' lanes, but always return immediatly to your middle lane and continue farming.

Middle game

Rune racing is not bad anymore but much, much less important. It's not obligatory that you run
around to get the runes all the time. Most of the laning part of the game is probably over so you
don't rely on Shockwave spamming so much more. What you should do in your middle game,
however, is a mix of ganking and farming. With the same rule of thumb before, try to gank every
time your Reverse Polarity is ready. When it's not, stand in a lane and farm. You can easily get a
lot of creep kills by spamming Shockwave and your Empower (which you hopefully have by
now) will help you get last hits more easily and eventually get kills on low towers aswell.
Around this stage of the game you should have a few items already (probably Boots of Speed,
Kelen's Dagger of Escape, Battle Fury and probably even Power Treads if you're doing good) If
your team is ready for it you can attempt so pushes somewhere. A good idea atleast is to force a
teamfight if you know you can win it, which you probably can with a succesful Reverse Polarity.
The more teamfights you win, the more gold you team will get and the more gold your enemies'
team will lose. Obivously this will make it a lot easier to push because they can't withstand you
very good thus making the late game much more painless. If you know/have a feeling that you
cannot win a teamfight, not even with Reverse Polarity, try not to do it. Instead, try to catch 1-3
heroes in your ultimate and kill them seperatly with some of your own teammates. Lastly you
can still fight without Reverse Polarity, but try not to force a big fight if it's on cooldown and try
not to get too confident and eventually naïve. This is of course valid in general. Don't get too
cocky and too naïve or you might be surprised one or more times. You're a monster but you're
not unbeatable.
During the middle game, try to farm your Power Treads and Armlet of Mordiggian as fast as
possible. Not that this matters, but a tip is to buy the Gloves of Haste from each recipe first when
you work on them. This will increase your attack speed more for a slight periode and might
become useful in few situations. So when you work on your Power Treads, buy Gloves of Haste
-> Belt of Giant Strength -> Power Treads and then buy Gloves of Haste -> Helm of Iron Will
and Blades of Attack -> Armlet of Mordiggian. However, this is just a tip and the most important
part is that you finish your recipes rather fast. The faster the better. Anyway, when you get the
Armlet of Mordiggian, another tip is to activate the armlet, use Empower and deactivate it again.
This way you'll gain not much but some extra damage. It's not a very big deal, but as long as no
harm is done, there's no reason not to do it. It's simple and a slight damage boost.

To sum up, farm as much as possible and try to gank when Reverse Polarity is ready. Eventually
try to force some teamfights with some of your teammates if you think/know you can win the
battle. If you think/know you cannot win a teambattle, try to catch 1-3 heroes instead and kill
them. However, when you aren't ganking you ought to be farming. If you eventually win a big
fight and there're lots of enemies dead you can attempt a tower push. Try not to feel too
invincible and don't get too confident in your hero. Confident is the first sign of naïvety which
will eventually lead to your defeat.

Late game

Your late game is basically tank and spank. You hardly don't need to farm anymore as you will
probably have your full item build by now, atleast if you've been doing good. On a good day I
can have 10-0 or more kills and 400-500 creep kill in 50 minutes. It's not every time you get so
much though, but anything near it is still excellent. Try to stick more to your team now and try to
force as many team fights as possible whenever your have your Reverse Polarity. Every time you
get off a good ultimate you have as good as won the fight. It's even more easy if your team has
anything aoeish to follow up on your ultimate. Everything from Tidehunter's Ravage and
Enigma's Black Hole till Centaur Warchief's Hoof Stomp and Leshrac's Split Earth will do.
Normal aoe spells like Luna's Eclipse and Death Prophet's Exorcism do just fine as well.
Anyway, When you have your full item build you will have critical hits around 1100 of which 85
% will be cleaved (about 935 damage). This is enough to clear entire creepwaves in one or two
hits independant of how big they are. This makes you an insane farmer and insane pusher. You
can use this to try and push as much with your team as possible or eventually defend pushing
lanes. You should always keep yourself Empowered in case you suddenly have to fight. When
you have the time to prepare though, try to Empower yourself as the primary target and then
choose the other "most-carry" on your team. That would be the other hero with the most damage.
Keep in mind that you can constantly Empower two heroes, which means one + yourself. Not
doing so is more or less a waste. In despite of that, however, I myself often forget to do it and
mostly only use Empower on myself. Try not to make the same mistake, but let another one
enjoy 60 % damage too.
From this stage of the game where you have all your items you should gain enough gold to rebuy
yourself multiple times if you should die, so just killing you and push is not easy. Not only can
you buyout yourself one or more times, you will also regain the gold very, very fast.
Try to follow your team as much as possible, initiate the ganks, pushes and/or defenses with your
ultimate and kill as much/many as possible. Though you can buyout yourself if you should die
doesn't mean it's smart to just go out and get yourself killed without any reason.

So to sum up, follow your team in ganks, pushes and defenses. Initiate with your ultimate and
kill as much as possible. Try not to go too much alone and if you should die buy yourself out if
things get dangerous. If you die and your enemies are not responding with a counter push at all,
buyouting yourself isn't worth it though.

Spamming Shockwave and utilizing the runes

In this section I'm shortly gonna talk about your early game rune racing advantages. I'm mainly
gonna talk about what you can do with the runes you capture and how you use Shockwave most
effectively.

I'm gonna start with teaching you how to properly throw your Shockwave. Just to mention it,
Shockwave is a simple "path" aoe nuke with no stuns or extra features. It's targetable on both
ground and units. Once used, the Shockwave follows a straight path in front of your hero
damaging everything in its way. The Shockwave's aoe path looks like this:

The middle line is the maximum cast range of the Shockwave. However, the wave itself will
follow a longer path out to the 3rd line at the end. As you can see the aoe it covers is not
enormous, but it's still fine.

Now, once spamming Shockwave in especially your early game lane, there're a few things you
want to consider. First of all, the Shockwave range is about twice as long as the cast range. This
mostly, but not always, means that throwing it on the ground while standing a little further away
can be much more effective. This allows you to stand more in the back and take less harass. Of
course you can nullify some harass with your Bottle but there's always the risk of getting killed.
Let me demonstrate it to you:
As you can see, I hit Queen of Pain from a maximum range with my Shockwave. I clicked on the
ground and hit it perfectly. If I had clicked directly on her, my hero would have run into her
tower, I wouldn't have thrown the Shockwave at all and i'd perhaps even be dead. Instead I
clicked on the ground and threw it in her direction which allowed me to stand as far away as
possible.

Throwing your Shockwave on the ground in your enemy's direction will be the most common
thing against ranged opponents who stand far in the back. However, there's a little chance that
you might miss it by doing this. Therefore, if your enemy stands rather close to you, you can
always click on directly on him. By clicking directly on him you have 100 % chance to hit him
thus not wasting the Shockwave. However, as mentioned, only try to do this when he's standing
too close. Here's an example:

Queen of Pain has run up and screamed on me. Without hessitation and with no problems at all I
 cast my Shockwave directly on her so I know I don't miss her no matter if she turns around or
not. At the same time I timed it so I got an extra creep kill.

So basically when spamming Shockwave on your lane enemy, mainly in the early game, we've
come down to two possibilities:

1. Clicking directly on the hero which gives you a 100 % chance to hit him.
2. Clicking on the ground and timing the Shockwave to hit your target which will make you
able to stand much further back thus making you more safe, but gives a slightly
possibility that you will miss it

So to sum up, try to use situation 1 when your target is close enough. Try to use situation 2 if he
stands far away where you will have to run up and eventually behind your creepwave in order to
hit him. For both situations it'll be good if you try to time your Shockwave so you get one or
more creep kills on them. It's not obligatory but it's a good choice if you have the choice.

Now, when you're rune racing and get a lot of runes which you use to regain health and mana in
order to survive and spam Shockwave, the runes are not just "mana-fillers". All runes have their
use and here are some ideas of how you can use them as well as possible in your lane:

Regeneration: This rune regenerates your health and mana very fast, but it will cancel if you
take damage. If you get this rune, spam your Shockwave as much as possible to use up all your
mana. When you've done that, activate the rune, stay a little back and regain full mana. Once you
have full mana start spamming Shockwaves again untill the effect wears off or untill you take
damage. So basically spam your Shockwave as much as possible before and after using the rune.

Double Damage: This rune will double your damage which obviously gives you a huge damage
burst. You can either use it to help you last hit much, much better. You can run up to a hero and
start attacking him while spamming Shockwaves. Running all the way up to your lane partner
and attacking him manually will hopefully taunt him to attack you back. However, once you
hopefully stand and attack each other, activate your Double Damage and watch his health go
down. Using it too early will make him realize he will lose the combat and make him run back.
Finally, the rune can also be used to take down low towers if you've pushed your lane enough.

Haste: This rune will increase your movement speed to the maximum (522). If your lane partner
is low on health you can use it to rush after him and into his tower in order to finish him off with
either attacks or Shockwaves. It can also be used to quickly check for new runes, which basically
means hasting up and down the river to capture the runes fast in order to lose as little creep kills
and experience as possible.

Invisibility: This rune turns you invisible. You can use it to sneak up behind your target if he's
low but still thinks he can stand safely back in the lane. Catch him while he's unaware and
Shockwave/hit him to death.

Illusion: This rune creates an illusion of yourself. Use it and send the illusion to a rune spot a
few seconds before the rune spawns. This will give you sight of the rune's position so you know
exactly where to go.

Using Kelen's Dagger with Reverse Polarity - The initiation combo

To start very shortly, I'll illustrate both Kelen's Dagger's and Reverse Polarity's range/aoe so you
have an idea of what you're working with.

Kelen's Dagger's maximum blink range is pretty long. Though, as you might know, you cannot
use it 3 seconds after taking damage (Armlet of Mordiggian doesn't trigger this effect) you can
stand pretty far back and blink in in the right moment. Here's a picture to show you the range:

Reverse Polarity will as described stun and drag all enemies staying 400 range or closer in to
your hero. The actual aoe size looks pretty much like this:
Everything inside the red circle will be stunned and dragged in to Magnus. On this picture it will
happen to one of the Dark Trolls.

Now, the initiation combination between Kelen's Dagger and Reverse Polarity is pretty simple
and sugar sweet. It goes as follows:

1. Blink in between as many enemy heroes as possible. In a big fight, preferably 4-5, but 3
can be decent but that's up to the situation.
2. Use Reverse Polarity and start hitting everything. Eventually use Shockwave to damage
the heroes. Especially during the early/middle game, blink-ultying and Shockwaving is
very effective to kill/finish off damaged enemies.

Instead of describing more, a common situation looks like this:

 Tinker and Mirana are clustered, so I blink in with Kelen's Dagger and activate my Reverse
Polarity. Tinker quickly dies and Mirana takes a lot of cleave damage. In the second she gets out
of the stun and leaps I finish her off with my Shockwave and get a double kill. I escape nearly
unharmed. Notice how I activate the Armlet of Mordiggian from my inventory just before I blink
in to optimize my damage and attack speed. It's important that you remember to activate the
armlet before you jump to deal as much damage as possible.

A last note is that, if possible, try to smack on casters or other "weak" heroes whom you deal the
most damage too. Because your Mighty Swing's damage type is pure it means that if you target
the weakest link you will deal the most damage with the cleave. If you attack a very defense hero
and deal e.g. 200 damage per hit, your cleave will deal 200 damage too. If you attack a caster
and deal 400 damage, your cleave will deal 400 damage instead of 200. However, this technique
is not easy and the most important thing is that you hit someone, but if you think you have the
breadth of view to spot the caster and hit him while everyone is stunned, do it so you maximize
your damage as much as possible.
There's not much more to be said here. The only things to remember in team fights is that it's
very important that you catch as many heroes as possible. Stay in the back so you make sure not
to take any damage before blinking in. Try to do it as early in the fight as possible, the sooner the
better. Reverse Polarity doesn't only help you but obviously also your team mates. Especially if
they can help you cripple them any further with other aoe stuns, you're in heaven.

Heroes and whatsoelse to watch out for

Magnus doesn't really have any "natural" enemies. He doesn't really have any "hard" counters
and there're noone who can really withstand him. However, there're certain situations where
things might not be just as easy. Here's a list of few examples.

Disables

Seeing that you cannot/will not buy Black King Bar, multiple disables can be a problem to you.
However, if you manage to get off a good ultimate, it'll probably not gonna be a problem so
often. Also if we look at it as vice versa, your allies can always help you by counterstunning
those who are gonna stun you. It's not very easy, but it's doable and one of the "easier" way to
handle this problem. The main solution though is to capture as many enemies in your ultimate
before they can capture you.

Viper

I can't give you any exact and precise facts, but from personal experience I can tell you that
Viper has been my worst lane enemy. He can still be dominated but he's first of all a very good
last hitter, but also an even more strong harasser. It's also very hard to run away from him and his
Poison Attack and Viper Strike. You might want to show a little extra caution when fighting a
Viper in the middle.

Teams that split up

This is one of the most used and probably only ways to counter Magnus; Split up! Most
intilligent enemies will know what you're gonna do and thus they will split up so you can only
catch 1-2 of them. However, to counter this you need patience. With time they will, without
knowing, become more and more clustered in order to try to kill you and your allies. Don't rush
in stunning one hero and then getting chain disabled and nuked down. Have patience, wait untill
they cluster and then jump in. One thing you should be aware of though is to not let them flank
you. If they come from more sides, catching multiple enemies can be very hard. In order to
counter this, have an idea of where they are. Always maintain your map awareness and know if
there're any enemies around you. If you know there are/have a strong feeling there are, you ought
to go back a little so they end up clustering anyway. You want to have all or nearly all your
enemies at one place so you can position your ultimate perfectly.

Magnus' best friends

Heroes with aoe disable ultimates

Heroes with ultimates that mainly disables are definatly your best allies. The best about
ultimates' disables is that they're most often long, painful and that they can determine an entire
combat if landed correctly. With help from these ultimates (mainly Treant Protector's
Overgrowth, Enigma's Black Hole, Tidehunter's Ravage and Warlock's Rain of Chaos) you can
either help position their's perfectly or they can help position your's perfectly vice virsa. The
outcome is the same. Huge, long, butt-raping aoe disables which allow you to smack everything
within seconds.

Heroes with normal aoe disables

All heroes who can "normally" stun the entire mess with aoe abilities are also very good pals of
Magnus. This, however, mostly requires you to stun first which normally shouldn't be a problem
but can be in few situations. Also the abilities themselves are probably not as strong as aoe
disable ultimates, but they're still excellent and very good to extend the disable periode on your
enemies. Examples can be Tiny's Avalance, Centaur Warchief's Hoof Stomp and Burrowstrike
but the list goes much longer.

Heroes with aoe abilities

Normal aoe abilities to hit 4 or 5 enemies at the same time can be a huge pain to your opponents
and a big help to you. This list is enormous and ranges from everything from Dragon Knight's
Fire Breath and Stealth Assassin's Smoke Screen till Invoker's aoe combinations and Leshrac's
power house aoe. Almost every hero that has some kind of aoe ability will gain from you doing a
good ultimate. Lich, Death Prophet, Twin Head Dragon, Luna, Rhasta, Meepo and whatsoever.
You name it.

Strong carry heroes

Plain and simple. Empower helps them get even more crazy thus making them deal huge,
enormous amounts of damage. Especially carry heroes who rely much on stats (Drow Ranger,
Centaur Warchief, Priestess of the Moon and Moon Rider for instance) benefits the most for the
reason that +stats increases Empower's damage while +damage doesn't.

Epilogue

We have reached the end. I hope you are still awake after reading my minor novel. Hopefully,
you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feel free to ask of what your heart desires
and I will try to answer your questions as good as possible.

Again, thanks a lot for reading this.

Ingolf

Replays

Magnus_owning_everything_on_his_own.w3g ( 635.13k ) Number of downloads: 1042

Sentinel
vs.
Scourge
Mode: -rd
Game time: 50:19
Kills/Deaths/Assists: 20/2/8
Creep kills: 255

Magnus_absolutely_raping.w3g ( 746.63k ) Number of downloads: 648

Sentinel
vs.
Scourge
Mode: -pick
Game time: 60:34
Kills/Deaths/Assists: 21/3/9
Creep kills: 363

Magnus__AoE_team.w3g ( 509.82k ) Number of downloads: 259

Sentinel
vs.
Scourge
Mode: -pick
Game time: 40:16
Kills/Deaths/Assists: 11/3/12
Creep kills: 150

TAF_vs_CetD.w3g ( 631.03k ) Number of downloads: 373

Sentinel
vs.
Scourge
Mode: -apxl
Game time: 46:07
Kills/Deaths/Assists: 15/5/19
Creep kills: 184

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FAQ

Q: Why do you want to solo with Magnus? Is it important that he gains level or what?
A: Basically because Magnus can. If played correctly he can be one of the strongest and toughest
solo heroes in the game, mainly thanks to Shockwave which costs no mana and has no cooldown
and deal a painful amount of damage.

Q: Why do you want to solo middle and not either top or bottom?
A: Mainly because the rune race, which is the most

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