Knowledge is Power - A Quas Wex Build

B3yondl
April 4, 2012

1. Introduction - So Begins A New Age of Knowledge

2. Skill Order Analysis
3. Active Skills Usage
4. Item Justification And Game Strategy
5. Final Comments

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Introduction - So Begins A New Age of Knowledge

This is a guide I did for DotaHut and I thought I would put it on this website as well. This
guide is aimed at new/intermediate players. It will be discussing the Quas-Wex Invoker (I
may do an Exort Invoker build later on, I haven't played him that way yet). Whenever I read
a guide personally, I go straight to the skill/item build and don't bother reading the actual
content. I'm sure there are many of you that do the same, and it's fine if you do that with this
one, but it would be worthwhile to take a quick glance at the Item Justification and Game
Strategy section of this guide. I put some decent pointers that you might find helpful.

Invoker is a challenging hero to master in terms of getting the key combinations down. His
skill set is completely different than the majority of the heroes, and you probably will need to
adjust your bindings so you are comfortable using him (I personally use completely different
bindings whenever I play him).

With that being said, once you do master his skills and can begin to use them effectively and
fluently, he can be one of the most devastating heroes in the game. His incredible movement
speed gives you a huge presence on the map and his Tornado-EMP followed by Cold Snap is
a very powerful ganking tool. He has an enormous amount of disables that make chanelling
spells by the opponents useless. Let's take a quick look at his pros and cons;

Pros;

One of the strongest solo mids

Great escape mechanisms

 Wide array of disruption spells

Good movement speed buff with Wex

Insane early regeneration with Quas

Annoying mana burn for your opponents

Can be fun as hell if played right

Cons;

Difficult to master

Can fall off in effectiveness if not kept up to level with others

Only access to 3 offensive spells in Early to Mid Game/true flow of all spells rapidly
only in late game

Can run into some mana problems early game (partly negated with Void Stone)

Difficult to master

Next I'll be giving you the reasoning behind why I leveled Quas/Wex/Exort the way I did
above.
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Skill Order Analysis

The skill order for Invoker is pretty flexible as we get into Early-Mid Game. With more
experience, you'll know when to skill Quas or whether to go Wex. If you are unsure at this
point, just go ahead and use the one I provided above which is quite standard.

Up until level 7, you always want to start of that way. 2 Quas is going to provide you with
decent HP regeneration while 3 Wex gives a nice little movement/attack speed bonus which is
good for ganking. You may want to trade one of your Wex for a Quas if you are getting
harassed too much, but in most cases 2 Quas will be sufficient since you'll have tangos as
well.

At level 12, I have 4 Quas and 5 Wex and a level 2 Invoke. The 4 Quas provide insane regen,
you basically won't need to go to fountain for HP since you will be regening so quick. The 5
Wex will give you great movement/attack speed that is essential for ganking and the EMP
will be draining quite a chunk of the enemy's mana which is always annoying for them.
After level 12, it's up to you. If you are a new player who can't pull of chain casting Invokers
spells, don't go for Exort. Instead, just focus on Quas-Wex and trying to get comfortable with
the new key bindings/gain experience with this hero. If you are confident in your ability to
chain cast, go ahead and level Exort now.

Now I'll go over some detail about the actual active skills.

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Active Skills Usage

Cold Snap

Provides nice mini stuns and a bonus 30 damage after each successive autoattack. During
your lane phase this spell is absolutely killer if used correctly. Try to use this spell when the
enemy pulls creep aggro. The creeps damage will cause your opponent to stun and you will
stun them as well alongside your damage. Another good tip is to use the spell when your
autoattack projectile is in mid air. This will maximize the damage and stuns they receive. You
also want to make sure you walk closer after each auto attack so the enemy stays in range.

If you think your opponent is low enough for a kill, quickly Invoke Tornado and finish him
up with that, and if he still doesn't die, one or two autoattacks should do. Knowing when your
opponent is low enough for a kill just comes with experience.

Tornado-EMP followed by Cold Snap

These spells are going to be your bread and butter throughout most of the game. You always
want to start of with Tornado since that will almost guarantee that your EMP will land.
Immediately after using your EMP, use Invoke to get your Cold Snap and cast that on
whoever you feel needs to die.

Whether you are ganking a lane or simply even initiating a team fight, this is one
combination that you are going to use the majority of the game. If you initiated a team fight
with Tornado, you may want to wait before blindly casting Cold Snap on any old hero. Look
for channeling spells to disable.
 Ghost Walk

Your escape mechanism. Not much to say here, provides invisibility when used. I mostly use
this to escape, but it can also be a great tool to use when a team fight doesn't go your way.
Simply use this and your opponents will have a tough time catching up to your wounded
team. You can also use this to scout the enemy jungle and set up a quick kill if you happen to
find an isolated hero.

Big cool down, so use it wisely.

Forge Spirit

Once it's late game, you always want to have these guys up before you start a team fight.
They can provide a significant amount of damage and can be quite beefy to take down. Other
uses include lane/tower pushing and scouting.

Alacrity

Use this on carries in a team fight and watch them destroy as they get a HUGE attack
speed/damage buff. Other times when you can use this is on yourself when pushing a
lane/tower. Use it on a carry if your doing Rosh so he dies quick. Use it on yourself if your
going for a 1v1 quick gank, this along with Cold Snap can be pretty lethal.

Deafening Blast

Yet another disable. See a channeling spell? Use this and cancel it. Enemy carry getting big
hits on your team? Use this and prevent them from attacking for up to 5.75 seconds (stuns up
to 1.75 seconds, THEN disables attacks for up to 4 seconds). Some annoying douchebag
chasing you? Use this to push 'em away.

Another good tactic is when you see a bunch of enemies pushing a tower. When it drops
down low enough, use this and try to land it on all of them. After the stun is up, they'll
helplessly try to autoattack the tower but won't be able to. Quickly deny the tower safely with
your 600 attack range and then proceed to LAWL as they watch.

Sun Strike, Meteor and Ice Wall

These three spells I don't really have a specific time to use them. Somewhere along the midst
of the team fight when I've used the previous spells, I'll quickly put the key combo for these
in and just throw 'em down. Meteor can be hard to land, Ice Wall can be hard to place so I just
randomly use them when I see some enemies grouped up together. Sunstrike I mostly use for
stranglers to hopefully finish them off.
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Item Justification And Game Strategy

Starting Game/Items

I like to start with these. I buy tangos for some extra regen alongside my Quas and a single
GG branch to ensure a good game. The reason why I go with the Blades of Attack is because
it provides with some decent damage that helps your last hitting/denying. I also like to get my
phase boots up quick so I can begin to gank really early since Tornado + Cold Snap is perfect
for ganking.

During your lane phase, you want to harass as much as possible however without losing out
on your last hits. You have Quas orbs, your opponent does not. Use this to your advantage
and just get as many auto attacks as you can on them. Don't worry about trading hits, you can
easily regen back. If you see the enemy pop a Salve, use Cold Snap to cancel it. Cold Snap
has a gigantic range and is instantaneous. Like mentioned above, good time to use Cold Snap
is when your opponent pulls creep aggro, capitalize on your opponents mistakes and if he
drops too low, quickly Invoke Tornado and clean him up.

You can begin to gank before level 7, a lot of novice Invokers don't realize that you can easily
Invoke a second skill. Just because you have one slot for a spell doesn't mean you can only
use one spell. When ganking before level 7, start off with Tornado (make sure to land it) and
quickly Invoke Cold Snap to finish the target.

Early Game

Phase Boots active synergies well with Invoker's Wex orbs. You basically wanna spam Phase
constantly. Phase boots also give +24 damage which beefs up your auto attack. You want to
pick up a Bracer now since it will help with survivability and will go towards making your
Drum. Void Stone will also be mandatory since using your Tornados will drain your mana a
lot and you need that mana regen to keep yourself from going to fountain. It will also go into
making your Eul's. Make sure to keep a TP scroll so that you can quickly help out a lane in
trouble or alternatively escape from someone like NS/Riki/Drow.

Now that you have your Phase Boots and are level 7+, you want to gank gank and then gank
some more. I can't stress enough how strong his spells are for ganking. Since Invoke is level
2 now, you can use Tornado+EMP then Invoke Cold Snap and cast it on whoever is more
prone to dying.

Early Game you want to run around the map like a mad man spamming Phase and having
your orbs on Wex and just gank the hell outta lanes. Pulling off successful ganks will
determine whether your team wins or not, in other words, you are one of the biggest factors
in deciding a win or a loss. If your opponent leaves mid to gank, call SS and proceed to push
his tower hard. Tornado the creep wave, have your orbs on Wex and proceed to push while
still farming the last hits. That attack speed bonus from Wex will definitely wear down the
tower and the enemy mid is gonna have to think twice before ganking since Invoker is
capable of pushing.

Mid Game/Core

The Bracer and Void Stone you got earlier will go into making Drum and Eul's. Drum is an
all around awesome item for you and the team as well. Also provides you with movement
speed. Eul's has a good active and great mana regen and by now, your mana problems should
be non existent. And what's this, even MOAR movement speed. Heroes like
Slardar/NS/BH/DS/etc are gonna be no problem for you to escape from.

Mid game is when we have some team skirmishes and laning is pretty much over. We've all
been in dat situation where either your team or the enemy's is pushing a tower and *****
about to go down. Before the fight starts, I would recommend you throw down a quick
Tornado-EMP combo so that there HP/Mana takes a good hit.

Once the fight erupts, use your Drum. Then, you want to lay down your Tornado-EMP again
(assuming you have it) and quickly Invoke Cold Snap. Look for channeling abilities from the
enemy and if there is one, Cold Snap to shut it down. You also have your Eul's to shut down
channel spells as well, but I mostly use that to toss enemy carry in the air or something. At
this stage in the game, your Invoke will most likely be level 2-3 and it's gonna have quite a
big CD. You're just going to have to manage with effectively using your 3 spells.

Honorable Mention
A very viable and awesome item choice to replace Eul's would be Force Staff. Some say it is
even better than Eul's on Invoker and it comes to down to the situation I would say. There has
been many times where I've picked up a Force Staff instead, a good time to pick this up
would be when there's dat douche Riki, you can quickly get yourself outta the smoke with
this beast.

Late Game/Situational/Team Fights

Late Game you definitely want to pick up Scepter. Invoke will have almost no CD which will
allow you to chain cast the hell outta his spells. You also want to consider picking up a Hex if
the enemy's team carry is being a problem and Hex is just a great item overall for a team to
have. Find yourself getting chain stunned/mass disables? Pick up a BKB. By now the game
should be over but if not, pick up an Ult Orb.

Late Game is all about team fights. Positioning is oh so important because you do not want to
get caught and make it a 4v5. Stay in the back and cast spells from afar. Never be in the
middle of the fight. Like mentioned before, have your Forge Spirits up before it starts. Begin
with a Tornado-EMP combo and from there it really just depends on what you want to do,
Invoke will barely have a CD so the possibilities are endless. Sometimes I'll Invoke Alacrity
and place it on a carry. Then I'll do something like Deafening Blast --> Meteor --> Cold Snap.
There is no set in stone way to cast your spells. Just stay alive and be positioned well in a
team fight and constantly spam whatever you have. Don't forget about your items, if you
have charges left on your Drum, use 'em. Use your Hex, use your Cyclone, use your BKB.
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Final Comments
That's pretty much concludes all of the guide. I hope it has assisted you in playing him a little
better. It will definitely take some time getting used to his skill set and mastering him is
challenging, but once you do, it is extremely rewarding and satisfying. For me, nothing feels
better than getting my Scepter + lvl 4 Invoke and just chain casting the hell outta his spells.

Here is a quick image compilation of 4 of my matches plus my profile. As you can see, I
didn't really have the best team. Don't mean to sound boastful, but a major factor for these
wins would be because of me winning mid lane and running around like hell pulling off
successful ganks.