Top Preface Goddammit, I've been busy. It's been a while...



Anyway, bear with me. Here we go, sit a while and listen:

6.85 came out and it was a fairly mild patch in my opinion, nerfing what had to be nerfed, no huge changes for the most part (except bloody Undying Aghanim's Scepter Invoker



So I saw it and at first I didn't really care. Back around Ti3 I used to play a bunch of Invoker Cold Snap Forge Spirit



So I picked him 48 times in a row just to be sure.







And it seriously was like crack cocaine. 6.85 came out and it was a fairly mild patch in my opinion, nerfing what had to be nerfed, no huge changes for the most part (except bloodydamn), small buffs to unpicked heroes and such, one of themBack around Ti3 I used to play a bunch ofbut never spammed him or anything; this was back whencombo was the most OP thing ever. I had some memories of playing this hero, so all in all and with the nerfs to the disgusting mids of last patch he became much more playable.

Top 2. Quas, Wex, Exort, & How Invoker Works For this to be a complete guide I have to first go into the basics, and the mechanics that Invoker plays with. So...



This is how Invoker's spells look compared to other heroes:







The red square is where Invoked spells go, I'll go into that in a a second.

So: apart from Invoke Quas Wex Exort These orbs do three things:



* They are passive effects.

* They are buffs.

* They are used with Invoke



I'll explain each briefly, except the last one.



Also, keep in mind these three orb spells do not have any cooldown, cast time, backswing, mana cost, etc. You can move them completely freely. They will interrupt your channels though.

Passive Effect:

As you may or may not know, Invoker Invoke Invoker



Invoker Quas Wex Exort



- Quas Strength .



- Wex Agility .



- Exort Intelligence .



You can get up to 7 points on each of these orbs, meaning that at all max level you are getting 14 of all atributes.

Buff effect:

Apart from the passive effect of just having points in the spells, you gain extra passive effects when you have the orbs active.



For simplicity sake, I will be refering to the active orbs as Orb instances.







The effects are provided per instance, so you can mix & match with the effects of having different instances.



- Quas Extra Health Regeneration .



- Wex Extra Movement Speed & Attack Speed .



- Exort Extra Right Click Damage .

The provided bonuses per instance increase with each level you put on them.



* At max level Quas 7 health regen per instance.



* Wex 14 Attack speed and 7% extra movement speed, per instance.



* And Exort That's 63 damage (!).

Invoke use:

And lastly, Invoke Basically what makes Invoker Invoke



Depending on your configuration of instances, you will Invoke



There are 10 total spells you can Invoke I will be covering these in the following sections.



I'll just explain how Invoke



When you press Invoke Quas Wex Exort Invoke Deafening Blast The order does not matter. If you have one of each it will always invoke Deafening Blast



The newly Invoke



Now, if you Invoke Deafening Blast For example here invoking Sun Strike



Invoking the spell currently in the second slot will send it to the first one. And so, the first one to the second slot. Invoke Doing this will not puton cooldown, it will consume mana though.



You can use this to Invoke Sun Strike Forge Spirit Invoke



If you Invoke : mana is consumed and Invoker Invoke



I will explain more on this in the combo section, but that actually includes combat and playing around spell cooldowns and stuff.



Let's look at the invoked spells:

apart fromand all of the invoked spells we have the orbs,and* They are passive effects.* They are buffs.* They are used withAlso, keep in mind these three orb spells do not have any cooldown, cast time, backswing, mana cost, etc.As you may or may not know,cannot get points in stats (he has 7 points in each orb and 4 in, making 25). But's stats come from the passive effect from each orb.You can get up to 7 points on each of these orbs,Apart from the passive effect of just having points in the spells,* At max levelprovides youprovides* Andprovides you 21 extra damage per instance.Basically what makesthe special hero he is, you use your active orb instances and combine them with your ultimate,I will be covering these in the following sections.When you press, it looks at what instances you have active and gives you a spell accordingly. For example here: having one instance of each orb,and, willyouThe newlyd spell always goes into the first slot, as you can see here.For example here invokingAnd so, the first one to the second slot.You can use this toa spell you want to use once, likeors for farming, then bring the spell you had in the first slot back, thensomething else and get rid of that temporal spell.: mana is consumed andinsults you.is not put on cooldown.

Top 2.1.4. Endoleon's Malevolent Perturbation (EMP) EMP



EMP Wex three instances of



EMP Invoker



EMP Wex



* Mana Burned: 100/175/250/325/400/475/550



Delay: 2.9 secs

Radius: 675

Cooldown: 30

Mana Cost: 125

In my build, EMP Wex Now, listen:



You may be like: But goo dude its so cool you can like, do tornado and then u burns the manas and you only use 2 spells really good stuff and they cant use spells dude..



If you see EMP Wex EMP need to put points in Wex



A build that focuses on putting points on Wex Quas Exort Ghost Walk EMP



I want you to forget about all that nonsense of Quas Wex Tornado EMP EMP because it's not.



EMP is not a mana burn, it's a mana steal. It's strongest point is that half the mana burnt is sent to Invoker Invoker EMP



In my build, you are well armed by the time you reach high levels (23-24-25) and you start using EMP Aghanim's Scepter Octarine Core Invoke Ice Wall Cold Snap Refresher Orb EMP EMP



We will talk about this more in the combo section.

: After a 2.9 second delay, creates an electro-magnetic pulse that burns mana off enemies within the radius of effect, they also take damage equal to the burnt mana. On top of this,recovers 50% of the mana burned off enemies.100/175/250/325/400/475/5502.9 secs67530125In my build,is the weakest spell throughout the game, as I prefer delaying the points inIf you see's scaling, you will notice that you need at least like five points infor it to burn a decent amount of mana, and to get all these points early (where ancould turn a fight) youA build that focuses on putting points onearly leaves you with low strength from the lack of, and low damage and intelligence from the lack of, and it puts you at this sort of chaos initiator position, that has poor solo kill potetial, really no way of fighting back but escaping withand weak pushing, etc. And that doesnt even take into account the fact that you could miss yourIt's strongest point is that half the mana burnt is sent to. Yet another reason why QWis poor, because even if you land a huge, you have no other good spells to use that mana on.In my build, you are well armed by the time you reach high levels (23-24-25) and you start usinga bit more in your combos, also, because of(andsometimes) your's cooldown is so low that you can allow yourself to drop a couple more spells you generally wouldn't, like the casualor evena guy. You will even havesometimes at this point, using like 4 spells and then refreshing will take about half your mana pool, and you can usehere and really take advantage of it's mana steal, for the second round of refreshed spells. Landingon 3 heroes will give you about 1500 mana instantly, so that's pretty insane.

Top 2.1.5. Claws of Tornarus (Tornado) Tornado



Tornado Quas one instance of Wex two instances of



Tornado Tornado



Tornado Quas Wex



* Travel Distance: 800/1200/1600/2000/2400/2800/3200

* Bonus Damage: 45/90/135/180/225/270/315

* Cyclone Duration: 0.8/1.1/1.4/1.7/2.0/2.3/2.6



Cooldown: 30

Mana Cost: 150

Tornado Wex



Before getting the points on Wex Quas Chaos Meteor



* Tornado Mask of Madness



* Remember that enemies are completely invulnerable while cycloned, so you still need to time your spells to hit after they land. The cyclone duration is based on Quas Quas



* Keep in mind that Tornado Sun Strike



Tornado Wex

: Creates a cyclone that travels in a straight line lifting enemies, similar to euls, disables them while lifted, and deals damage when dropped back down to the ground.deals a base damage of 70.800/1200/1600/2000/2400/2800/320045/90/135/180/225/270/3150.8/1.1/1.4/1.7/2.0/2.3/2.630150is your best setup spell, it's the first spell in most combos and in the later game it can be used to catch fleeing enemies, as with maxit gets a whopping 3200 travel distance with a 1000 travel speed.Before getting the points onyou still have the points infor the disable time, just enough for landing, just like euls, also has a purge effect. You can use it to purge off a bunch of effects, runes, buffs like, etc.* Remember that enemies are completely invulnerable while cycloned, so you still need to time your spells to hit after they land. The cyclone duration is based on, so be mindful of how many levels ofyou have as well.* Keep in mind thatprovides flying vision along its path as it travels, so it can be used as a scouting spell of sorts if you need to find an enemy in the fog of war. You and your team can subsequently use this vision in combination with your other spells, such as following up a successful cyclone with a global range's cooldown is relatively short compared to other spells, in the late game it's a spell you can allow yourself to use to kill creepwaves. Remember you need a bunch of points into have decent damage.

Top 2.1.6. Gaster's Mandate of Impetuous Strife (Alacrity) Alacrity



Alacrity Wex two instances of Exort one instance of



Alacrity Invoker



Alacrity Wex Exort



* Bonus Attack Speed: 30/40/50/60/70/80/90

* Bonus Attack Damage: 30/40/50/60/70/80/90



Duration: 9

Cooldown: 15

Mana Cost: 45

Alacrity Invoker



So, in my build, naturally an Exort Exort



At level 6 (in the standard build), you get your first point in Wex Exort Alacrity Exort Power Treads Exort Exort plus 60 more from Alacrity .



If you add the fact that you can Cold Snap Urn of Shadows Forge Spirit Sun Strike



Also even if the game is going south you can take a large jungle camp in a few seconds with all that damage, and you become a beast at pushing towers.



Remember you can Alacrity Forge Spirit Alacrity You can also Alacrity



In the late game, Alacrity



Also you can help out disable-based right click heroes in your team (heroes like Faceless Void Sven



But yea, in terms of laning you don't really need Alacrity Exort Storm Spirit Forge Spirit

: Places a buff on an allied unit/hero orhimself for a duration. The buff provides an attack speed and attack damage bonus.30/40/50/60/70/80/9030/40/50/60/70/80/901545was one of the main buff points forin 6.85, especially in the early levels, which is fantastic and I'll tell you why:At level 6 (in the standard build), you get your first point inand you already have points in. That means that if youyourself and have three instances ofup your autoattacks can hit to up to 180 damage per hit (which is about 70-ish natural damage and from stats likeon intelligence, then about 40-something from theinstances (and theextra intelligence)If you add the fact that you cansomeone and use ancharge on them, AND you haves AND you can, you can pretty much solo kill anyone if you get close enough to them.Also even if the game is going south you can take a large jungle camp in a few seconds with all that damage, and you become a beast at pushing towers.You can alsoa siege creep if you think it's worth it.In the late game,becomes less of a fighting spell and more of a pushing/farming tool, but if you have put everything on cooldown it can help you a lot to dish out damage.Also you can help out disable-based right click heroes in your team (heroes like, etc), by giving them the buff before they go in.But yea, in terms of laning you don't really needto last hit, at all, because of, but it makes it so each attack you send as harass is much stronger. Really you can take something like adown to half health with 3 attacks despite their high armor, and you can send ato throw attacks on them and follow them around (which doesnt really do much damage, but takes their armor down) and harass them even harder with right clicks, and really zone them out without the need of spells (waveclears, etc).

Top 2.1.7. Harlek's Incantation of Incineration (Sun Strike) Sun Strike



Sun Strike Exort threeinstances.



Sun Strike Invoker



Sun Strike Exort



* Damage: 100/162.5/225/287.5/350/412.5/475



Cooldown: 25

Mana Cost: 175

To be honest, it's a global pure damage nuke, not much to it. I can't really tell you how useful it becomes until the combo section, but still:



* Sun Strike Invoker Invoker



Sun Strike



* One very useful way to use Sun Strike



* Beware that Sun Strike



* Sun Strike Blade Fury Rage

: After a small delay, deals pure damage in a small area.can cast this globally. The damage is divided and distributed evenly across all units it hits.scales only with100/162.5/225/287.5/350/412.5/47525175is one of's most useful spells, as it has utility at all points in the game. During the laning stage,can use it to add his striking power to a gank, especially if combined with a friendly stun that holds an enemy in place for more than 1.7 seconds. Once past the laning stage, it can be used to snipe fleeing enemies or check Roshan's pit.'s delay makes it hard to land on enemies, so some set-up or prediction is required in order to use it well. If you can predict an enemy player's movements, you can finish them off from across the map if they're already at low health.* One very useful way to useis to target it on the enemy's fountain if you or your teammates cannot finish off a teleporting enemy hero in time. As they are most likely going to arrive in their fountain, you can kill them inside their own base while they are still at low health.* Beware thatsplits its damage evenly among all struck enemy units, so if more than one enemy is within its effect radius the spell loses at least half of its potency. As such, smart enemy players clump up alongside their own low-health teammates in order to prevent Sun Strike from killing them.can pierce spell immunity. This means that if an enemy hero attempts to activate spell immunity and then teleport out (such asor), you can still damage them and potentially kill them before they can escape.

Top 2.1.10. Buluphont's Aureal Incapacitator (Deafening Blast) Deafening Blast



Deafening Blast Quas Wex Exort one instance of each orb,and



Deafening Blast Quas Wex Exort Deafening Blast Invoker Invoker



Deafening Blast Quas Wex Exort



* Disarm Duration: 1/1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5/4

* Knockback Distance: 45.6/88.6/133.5/171.5/205/242.1/274.3

* Knockback Duration: 0.25/0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75

* Damage: 40/80/120/160/200/240/280



Cooldown: 40

Mana Cost: 200

If you want to see the maths for the knockback, here they are:



Affected units are moved in 0.03 second intervals.



They are moved 8/16/25/33/41/50/58 times (Level of Quas * 25 / 3).



The first 1/3 times, units are moved linearly, by a distance of 6 per interval. 1/3 of the intervals is 2/5/8/11/13/16/19 times, which results in a distance of 12/30/48/66/78/96/114.



For the remaining 6/11/17/22/28/34/39 intervals, the units are moved exponentially with 0.98 times the speed of the previous interval.



So the remaining intervals together (on each level) move the units by a distance of (sum 6 * 0.98 ^ 1 to 6 * 0.98 ^ t =) 33.56/58.58/85.46/105.5/127.02/146.08/160.29.



Summed up, the total distance on each level is 45.56/88.58/133.46/171.5/205.02/242.08/274.29.



As conclusion, the knockback starts at a speed of 200 and decreases exponentially.

Deafening Blast Invoke



* In general, Deafening Blast Quas Exort Wex Quas Exort



* Never underestimate the disarm portion of Deafening Blast



* The displacement due to the push can be extremely powerful in the right situation. Cast in the right direction, Deafening Blast

: Creates a wave that travels forward, damaging, knocking back and disarming enemies caught by it. When allandare in level 7,creates multiple waves all aroundon cast (you can still aim the one in front oflike you would normally).1/1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5/445.6/88.6/133.5/171.5/205/242.1/274.30.25/0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5/1.7540/80/120/160/200/240/28040200If you want to see the maths for the knockback, here they are:Affected units are moved in 0.03 second intervals.They are moved 8/16/25/33/41/50/58 times (Level of Quas * 25 / 3).The first 1/3 times, units are moved linearly, by a distance of 6 per interval. 1/3 of the intervals is 2/5/8/11/13/16/19 times, which results in a distance of 12/30/48/66/78/96/114.For the remaining 6/11/17/22/28/34/39 intervals, the units are moved exponentially with 0.98 times the speed of the previous interval.So the remaining intervals together (on each level) move the units by a distance of (sum 6 * 0.98 ^ 1 to 6 * 0.98 ^ t =) 33.56/58.58/85.46/105.5/127.02/146.08/160.29.Summed up, the total distance on each level is 45.56/88.58/133.46/171.5/205.02/242.08/274.29.has a bunch of uses, it makes part of combos, it can just be dropped in a fight as a casual aoe disable and disarm, and also as a gap creator for escaping. It's also very easy to, as you can hit the three keys at once, and then invoke it with a second move.* In general,is best utilized with levels inandfor the stun, push and nuking power.applies the disarm after the stun, which is situationally useful depending on the target, but for general purposeandare more important.* Never underestimate the disarm portion of, however. If cast against an enemy carry in a teamfight, it can render them unable to attack at a critical juncture, all the more so if they have already used their spell immunity beforehand.* The displacement due to the push can be extremely powerful in the right situation. Cast in the right direction,can push enemies over impassable terrain, or in the direction of teammates.

Top 3. Combo-ing Spells In order to use Invoker's spells to their max potential you must combine them together.



These combos can be as simple as Forge Spirit plus Alacrity, or very complex as we will see in a second here. I will only teach you about the combos you will be performing with my build, I wont talk about Quas Wex combos (except on the final combos that include everything). A good way of getting ready use any of the combos is to say to yourself what spells you are going to cast before you do it, that way you make sure you don't invoke the wrong things.



Top 3.5. Multiple Cyclone Combo Very similar to the last combo, this one is based on cycloning multiple heroes with Tornado Chaos Meteor Deafening Blast This is a very strong combination for when going into the later game, without much setup and just with 3 spells you can dish out considerable damage and create chaos with the disarm and huge aoe damage over time.



I like going in on teamfights when they are already going, because you can sometimes catch low hp heroes that are killed just from the Tornado Deafening Blast Chaos Meteor also it's not that uncommon coming in the fight with Tornado



This combo isnt as nuke powerful as the single cyclone euls combo because you dont use Sun Strike . When I see an important hero I have to take down and this combo didnt kill them, I lift them up again with euls and pop a Sun Strike Ice Wall Sun Strike Forge Spirit Tornado Tornado Invoker



We will be talking about this combo in the refresher combo section.

, this one is based on cycloning multiple heroes with, to setup aand disable the enemies withI like going in on teamfights when they are already going, because you can sometimes catch low hp heroes that are killed just from theandeven when thedidnt reach them,. When I see an important hero I have to take down and this combo didnt kill them, I lift them up again with euls and pop ato finish them off (or at least take them down to a critical Hp and force them to back out) if there is a big clump of people sometimesis better than, for obvious reasons. Also spawnings is great for distracting enemy fire, and they passively take down enemy armor after a, because when performingbased combos, the enemy will either back out or focus, depending on how the combo affected them.

Top 5.2. Mid Game (First Items & Coming Online) The mid game is the fun time for most mid lane intelligence core kind of heroes, you start getting your items and killing people off before they get theirs. But for Invoker, the mid game is basically a combination of helping your team out and continue farming.



If we consider that the mid game starts when the sidelanes' formation starts to break apart, then by that time you should be sitting at something like level 13, maybe 12, with your Power Treads, Urn of Shadows and Force Staff, as I've said before, you can do some stuff with that, but here is the deal with Invoker is fights.



You have two ways of contributing, by throwing individual spells where they are needed, like Cold Snap on one guy, disarm this other guy, etc; and help out that way, as a sort of utility hero Rubick style. And second way is by throwing down a combo (see combo section), but basically what happens here is that your combo is lacking disabling power, for example, chaos meteor is a really powerful spell but it's also just very easy to dodge, you need setup for it; generally this is done with a Tornado], and then with Deafening Blast you can keep them knocked back and avoid them walking out. Your levels of Quas and Exort during the mid game are overall decent and the spells can do quite some work, it's Invoke's cooldown that's the problem. Basically it's tough for you to combo by yourself because of Invoke's cooldown, because of this you depend on your teammates to initiate with their disables, for you to follow up with the nuking.



And this takes us to the second mid game item you pick up: Eul's Scepter of Divinity. Euls gives you intelligence and mana regen, and the movement speed that you really need ( Invoker with Power Treads still has a sad 330 movement speed). The strong point of euls is that it gives you a setup ability outside of your spells, so like having a tornado for 1 person that doesnt put Invoke on cooldown. Allows you to perform the classic euls nuke combo and also you can use it defensively, purge silences, lift enemies chasing you to create a gap for Force Staff, all that stuff you can do with euls.



In a nutshell, the mid game is a time where you also farm, like in the early game, but this time you move around lanes, help push, and take fights with ally setup. If your team is pushing, use forge spirits and help push; if your team is farming, find an empty lane and go farm there. When a fight happens and your team wants to push a tower, and you can tell they dont really need you there to take it down, then thats the time you go out and farm your euls and get levels.



Oh and always keep an eye for sun strikes, always.



The mid game after euls drastically modifies your playstyle. You are still always trying to find those empty lanes and small spaces to farm, but now you have a full set and your kill potential is really good. At this point in the game maybe you wont be able to solo two heroes, but you can completely destroy heroes that are alone with the euls combo. In these times of farming around the map, every time you see a hero farming solo, go kil them and move on with your business, this pick off kills will help you boost in gold and exp, and allow you to break away a bit from the farming routine.



Just with your mobility item and euls you can hang on until late game and get your late game items with a bit more time. You dont have the rush of getting online as within the mid game.



Those later game items like Aghanim's Scepter and Octarine Core and Scythe of Vyse and all that stuff can wait a bit, you dont desesperately need them, but the earlier you have them the stronger your combo will be. Like, if you have aghs and something like level 18 during the mid game-ish, like 30-35 minutes in, you can easily combo and wipe an entire team, for the exception of heroes with magic immunity. So you have to find your balance between killing heroes and setting them back with euls combo and keep the pressure with pushing lanes, or to keep the arms race going and keep putting farming as your first priority to get the bigger items earlier.

