Miscellaneous Items

Quelling Blade

Boots of Speed

Magic Stick

Orb of Venom

There are four other reasonable candidates for your starting items, but they are all very situational.225 GoldQuelling blade lets you last hit more easily! Who doesn't like last hitting? Not me! I love it! However, it gives you nothing else. No HP, no damage against heroes, nothing. Just lets you hit creeps. For this reason it's usually not a great idea to start with one - just pick one up at the side shop later on if you want it. Whenyou start Q-blade? If you're jungling! Not only does it let you kill camps much more quickly, but it lets you cut the trees and carve more efficient paths and safe little holes where you take less damage. Notice how in the image to the right, the red Hellbear is running around and unable to hit Doom at all. Quelling Blade isn't just about the damage!It's also a nice pickup VERY situationally on heroes like Pudge or Earthshaker, since you can hide in the trees to get exactly the right position for your spells. Securing just one early kill as a result will pay for your little hatchet immediately.450 GoldBoots are something every single hero in every single game wants, with almost no exception. Moving faster lets you farm more efficiently, position better in fights, chase enemies and run away if you're in trouble. It also fits into your budget for starting items, with enough cash leftover for a tango and even one GG branch if you're so inclined. However, once again, you're left wanting for other stats early on, and boots don't do much to help you last hit.While you shouldn't start with boots on a farming hero, it's actually not always a bad idea to pick up boots first in other roles. If you're in the offlane, certain heroes make excellent use of boots to weave in and out of danger to soak experience and even contest the lane - Tidehunter is a great example of this. As a support, if you're communicating well with your team and the other support is willing to take one for the team and buy all the support items, a fast boots pickup will make your roaming much more dangerous for the enemy team.200 GoldIt's very important to learn how to read the lanes and predict who you're going to be facing, as certain heroes can be dealt with much more easily with specific item choices. Zeus is a great example of one such hero - when facing a farming Zeus, you know for a fact he will be spamming his Arc Lightning like there's no tomorrow, right from level 1, and it. Grabbing a Magic Stick at level 1 will help mitigate this, and even counter it by giving you free mana every time he casts.This is also a solid pickup against Bristleback, but he usually doesn't spam too hard until a little later in the game, and you can pick up your Magic Stick from the side shop once you feel it's appropriate. Batrider also falls into this category - unless it's a mid Bat, you can grab it from the side shop with your first 200 gold instead.Note that you can upgrade this to a Magic Wand if combined with two branches and a Circlet, or even (if you know what you're doing) start with a Magic Wand and a tango. This gives a nice +4 to all stats, as well as letting you store up 17 charges (letting you burst heal for 255 HP and mana once full!)There's one other item that you can get at level 1, situationally - an Orb of Venom. There are only four heroes I have ever considered this on, but it can actually be extremely difficult to deal with.275 Gold Ogre Magi and Treant Protector can grab one and use their insane beefiness and level 1 damage respectively to just run at the enemies at level 1 and bop them over the head over and over. The slow will let you chase them right back to their tower, and if they don't run right away you can easily set up a kill.Groo--er, Treant Protector--hits for an insane 85 damage at level 1. In this screenshot, even though my health was a little low, I was able to drive Jakiro back just by running at him and hitting him a couple of times. If he had tried to fight back, my carry could have come up and abused the slow I placed on him to take him down.Omniknight can also do this well, but it becomes even more effective if you take Degen Aura at level 1. If the enemy doesn't see it coming, it's almost a guaranteed kill for your carry.The last contender for an early Orb of Venom would be Bounty Hunter - he can make use of it throughout the game combined with his Jinada to chase people indefinitely, and it also makes for great harassment early on with Shadow Walk.Note that all three items in this category can be bought at the side shop. For this reason, it's generally a better idea to start with more stats or regen, and pick them up later on.I know you really want your super fast Midas, but for the love of god don't buy a Glove of Haste as your first item. Attack speed at this early stage of the game is almost useless unless you're jungling with Nature's Prophet, and it limits you from having better last hitting power and regen.If you start with a Glove, your "super fast" Midas is going to become a superMidas, because you're going to be harassed and denied right back to your tower with little to show for it.