You can take this spell at level 1 instead of Maledict if the stun helps you secure the ranged creep in the first couple of creep waves. You can also take it first if the stun helps land a kill in a fight for the bounty rune.
You can take a point in this spell earlier than suggested at level 4 when facing a tough lane and requiring constant HP sustain for yourself and your core in lane.
Starting
A consumable for sustained HP regen in the laning stage. Helps you trade your HP with enemy heroes and heal back up without having to go to fountain. Provides double HP regen when eating a tree planted using an Iron Branch.
A consumable to do damage and slow enemy heroes for a small cost of your HP. Especially useful to chase and finish off enemy heroes.
Start with it if you expect a high frequency of spells from enemy heroes on the lane.
A consumable for a burst of HP. Especially useful to surprise enemies when you are at low health to survive an engagement. Also provides some useful damage in the laning stage.
The most cost efficient stats item in Dota 2. Useful in the laning stage to have an HP, mana, and damage advantage against enemy heroes. Can be used together with a Tango for double HP regen.
An item that lets you see enemy wards and invisible heroes in its AoE. In the laning stage, it helps you block and unblock pull camps.
Early Game
A core item to increase your movement speed to get near enemy heroes and set up kills with your control and damage spells. Builds into Arcane Boots later in the game.
An aura item that provides mana regen for yourself and your team. Builds into Arcane Boots or Vladmir`s Offering later in the game.
A core Boots of Speed upgrade to have some much needed mana sustain as your impact is highly reliant on your current mana pool. Lets you roam around the map and use your spells to get kills. Can be upgraded to Guardian Greaves later in the game.
Start with Magic Stick if you expect high frequency of spells from enemy heroes on the lane.
An early to mid game item to defend against bursts of magical damage. Also provides some useful mana regeneration.
Mid Game
A core defensive item that lets you or a teammate become invisible and get out of trouble. Can also be cast on yourself while channeling Death Ward to become untargetable without detection.
A core item that provides offensive and defensive traits. It can either be used in alternative to Death Ward to deal damage or it can be used to dodge projectiles and buy you some time out of trouble.
A core mobility item to get the ideal positioning in teamfights for a full duration Death Ward channel. Also lets you quickly close the gap on enemy heroes and lock them down with Paralyzing Cask to follow up with your damage spells.
A core item to massively increase your AoE damage output in teamfights through Death Ward. Can win you the teamfight on its own if the enemy team lets you channel your ultimate for its full duration.
Late Game
A core item to avoid most disables and silences on the enemy team to get off a full duration Death Ward in fights.
A defensive item that gives you another survivability tool in combination with Aghanim`s Shard to ensure you always get your spells off in fights.
A core item that maintains your kill threat on the map more often by reducing the cooldown of all your spells and items.
A late game pick up primarily for a second round of Death Ward in fights.
Situational
A powerful early to mid game item against heavy healing lineups to reduce their HP regen and tankiness. Has great synergy with Maledict to increase its burst damage. Also improves the HP sustain of your team after fights.
An early to mid game item to improve your mana pool and buff yourself or your cores against physical damage. Builds into Solar Crest later in the game.
A mobility item to close the gap on enemy heroes and lock them down with Paralyzing Cask to follow up with your damage spells. Also lets you reposition yourself or one of your allies away from trouble.
An early to mid game item to buff one of your cores against physical damage while boosting their attack speed and mobility. Can also be cast on yourself to gain a physical damage barrier.
A situational item that lets you cast spells and items from a distance and keep yourself out of danger in fights.
An aura item that improves your impact in teamfights by buffing your whole team with HP and mana sustain. Also lets you dispel yourself on cast.
A powerful defensive tool to reflect single target spells. Also provides a dispel on cast and makes you tanky with armor.
A situational late game item to have massive burst damage against an enemy hero in combination with Maledict.
