You can max out this spell before Smoke Screen if you get an early Diffusal Blade to enable your pick-off potential even more with the extra damage.
Take the other level 25 talent over this suggested one if you need the extra mobility to get to particular enemy heroes who play from a very high range, such as Sniper.
Starting
A core item to increase your movement speed to stay on top of enemy heroes to right click them and roam around the map to set up kills with your Blink Strike and Smoke Screen. Gets upgraded to Power Treads later in the game.
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.
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
Start with Magic Stick if you expect high frequency of spells from enemy heroes on the lane.
A core Boots of Speed upgrade to improve your mobility and damage output with attack speed and stats. The agility stance also helps boost your Backstab damage.
A core item in the laning stage to slow down enemy heroes and do more damage with your right clicks by reducing the armor of your target. Also works well against tanky heroes by reducing their health restoration. The agility gain also provides armor and increases the damage you do with the Backstab right clicks.
Mid Game
A core item to do more damage with stats and slow down enemy heroes to keep them within Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade AoE. The agility significantly boosts your Backstab damage. Also helps burn mana of enemy heroes and renders them unable to escape or fight back with spells. Gets upgraded to Disperser later in the game.
A core item that prevents enemy heroes stuck in Smoke from getting help by their teammates with a Force Staff, Ethereal Blade, or Wind Waker.
An upgrade for Diffusal Blade to gain both an offensive and defensive dispel and become unslowable while escaping or chasing enemy heroes, as well as do more Backstab damage with the agility gain. Works well to dispel Dust of Appearance off yourself while outside its AoE to become invisible again with Cloak and Dagger.
A mobility item to quickly close the gap on enemy heroes and control them with Smoke Screen to follow up with your right click damage. Lets you get on top of squishy backline heroes on the enemy team to burst them down.
Late Game
A core item to increase your right click damage and burst down enemy heroes under Smoke Screen. The Critical Strike can also proc on your attacks during Tricks of the Trade.
A unique item to dispel enemy heroes and take off most buffs from spells and items that prevent you from right-clicking them freely.
An upgrade for Skull Basher to have reliable lockdown against elusive enemy heroes and keep them inside your Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade AoE.
A late game pick up that lets you hide inside an ally hero for protection with Tricks of the Trade and apply your physical damage to more units in its AoE.
Situational
A situational item to set up your Meteor Hammer channel to catch and stun enemy heroes. Also lets you dispel yourself and buy time when in trouble.
A mobility item to push yourself or one of your allies away from trouble, or close the gap on enemies. Also lets you push yourself over cliffs and impassable terrain.
A situational item to have more AoE damage and control in teamfights as well as clear creep waves and push towers. You can cast it from invisibility with Cloak and Dagger.
An upgrade for Tranquil Boots to improve your impact in teamfights with movement speed and attack speed auras. The Endurance active makes your team unslowable for a while to chase or run away from enemy heroes.
A powerful defensive tool to reflect single target spells. Also provides a dispel on cast and makes you tanky with armor.
Provides a Basic Dispel and the ability to push and farm waves safely with Illusions, so you don`t have to show on their minimap and let your opponents know exactly where you are.
A mid to late game pick up that utilizes your high attack speed to lock down elusive enemy heroes and keep them within Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade AoE. Builds into Abyssal Blade later in the game.
A cheaper alternative to Daedalus to add some magic damage and critical strike to your right clicks which bypasses the high armor of enemy heroes in the late game.
A right click damage item to pierce evasion and miss chance on enemy heroes.
A core item when playing more of a utility build in combination with Blink Dagger and looking to silence enemy heroes and cause chaos with lower cooldown on all your spells and items.
A late game upgrade for Blink Dagger that gives you movement speed and attack speed to stay on top of enemy heroes and do more Backstab damage through the agility gain. A great option to replace Boots when running out of item slots.
