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.
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
An early game pick up that helps you get through the laning stage with more stats. The mana regen is particularly useful when your hero spams spells for farming and fighting.
Start with Magic Stick if you expect high frequency of spells from enemy heroes on the lane.
A core item to increase your movement speed to get in better positions to cast March of the Machines, as well as save your allies with a timely Defense Matrix. Gets upgraded to Arcane Boots later in the game.
A core item to increase the healing done by March of the Machines with the Repair Bots facet. Also improves the healing capabilities of Guardian Greaves later in the game, while letting you provide a burst of HP and mana to one of your cores.
An aura item that provides mana regen for yourself and your team. Builds into Arcane Boots or Vladmir`s Offering later in the game.
Mid Game
A core Boots of Speed upgrade to have mana sustain for your entire team while increasing your mana regen to cast spells more often every time you leave base. Builds into Guardian Greaves later in the game.
A core item that gives you armor and provides HP sustain for your entire team to group up and push for objectives and have more impact in teamfights. Gets upgraded to Guardian Greaves later in the game.
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 core defensive item to make yourself or an ally invisible and get to safety when in trouble. Also provides a magic damage barrier, which has great synergy with Defense Matrix to survive against heavy magic damage lineups.
A core item to find the optimal positioning in tree lines every time you leave fountain. Lets you close the gap on enemy heroes to keep them in Laser range.
Late Game
A core item to put some distance between yourself and an enemy hero while rooting them. Gives you a better chance to refresh your spells with Rearm, as well as survive getting bursted down.
A core item that lets you cast spells and items from a distance and keep yourself out of danger in fights. Works well in combination with Aghanim`s Scepter to increase the cast range of Laser.
A core upgrade for Laser to hit two units with each cast to massively increase your AoE damage in teamfights. Works well against high HP pool heroes with the percentage damage.
A core item to amplify your magic damage on an enemy hero and burst them down with all your spells. Also lets you save yourself or an allied hero against physical damage. Has great synergy with Dagon.
A core item that gives you instant lockdown against elusive enemy heroes to follow up with all your spells to burst them down. Also provides some much needed mana pool and regen.
Situational
A core item for mid laners to gain some HP and mana sustain. Also allows the potential to make plays with power runes past the 6 minute mark.
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 amplifies your spell damage on enemy heroes and creeps in an AoE around you. Also provides some survivability with armor and HP sustain. Builds into Shiva`s Guard later in the game.
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.
An aura item that improves your impact in teamfights by buffing your whole team with magic resistance.
A powerful defensive tool to reflect single target spells. Also provides a dispel on cast and makes you tanky with armor.
A defensive item to survive enemy initiations and turn the fight with all your spells. Works well in combination with Defense Matrix to escape when in trouble.
A unique item that provides debuff immunity against most disables and provides a dispel on cast. Also improves your right click damage and tankiness through HP pool and magic resistance.
A situational item to do more AoE damage in fights and clear creep waves quickly. Also makes you much more tanky with armor. Goes well with Overwhelming Blink to become extremely tanky and do massive AoE damage.
A powerful defensive tool to block single target disables and debuffs. Also provides effective damage through stats for universal heroes.
An upgrade for Eul`s Scepter of Divinity to dispel yourself when in trouble and reposition in and out of fights. Also provides some much needed mana pool and regen.
A core upgrade for Blink Dagger to lower its cooldown and increase the range for more mobility. Also makes you more survivable by providing some HP and mana every time you Blink. Has great synergy with Octarine Core and your innate for a very low cooldown Blink.
