[Guide]Magina, The Anti-Mage Guide

[zEx_Drax]

Magina, The Anti-Mage Guide by Baconzilla

 

Updated for DotA - Allstars version 6.49c

 

 

 

What is a Magina?:

Through different levels of play and different versions of DotA it has been observed that Anti-Mage can be played in multiple ways. Pubs have always put bashers on Anti-Mage and higher level games have seen the mek/linkens and soulbooster days. The way you are playing him depends on your line-up and match-up, and of course the level of the game.

 

In my view Anti-Mage can be played in two ways. Firstly, you can play him as a secondary carry who ganks and carries the team later because upon analysing Anti-Mages spells you will see that his spells are most effective against heroes and are stronger early game than late game. He is not meant to farm all game and carry. Alternatively, you can play him as a tank who absorbs all enemy spells thrown at him because of the magic reduction of Spell Shield and the escape from Blink.

 

Remember to pick Anti-Mage if the opposing line-up is mainly nukers as they are food for Anti-Mage late-game.

This guide will analyse all his skills and give guidelines on how to use him. I will also provide strategical advice and hopefully this guide will aid you in gaining experience in playing Magina and DotA in general.

 

Abilities Discussion:

 

 

 

===Anti-Mage Skills/Stats and Descriptions===

 

Mana Break:

Mechanics: the damage is normal [(Mana Burnt x 0.6) damage] and it can be blocked by Vangaurd, reduced by armor and magic immunity prevents the mana burn so no damage will be dealt. May be disabled by Doom (like most spells QQ).

Strategics: this is both an offensive and defensive ability. This disables the enemy preventing them from using their spells when they are low on mana and it also deals 38 damage each attack which synergises with your ultimate. This is an orb effect so you will not be buying any orb effect items for him.

 

Blink:

Mechanics: it has 200 minimum range and 1000/1075/1150/1150 maximum range but if you click past the range you will Blink to around 800 range. Unable to teleport to areas that you have not explored.

Read Casting Ranges and AOE of Most Spells in DotA.

Strategics: the most important spell that makes a good Anti-Mage player. You can use it to travel, you use it to escape and you can use it to chase. This will be discussed more in the techniques section.

 

Spell Shield:

Mechanics: heroes start with 25% magic resistance and magic resistance stacks with diminishing returns, so you do not get a direct 40% spell reduction.

Read The Hitchhiker's Guide to Dota to see how magic resistance stacks.

Strategics: this allows you to tank spells like Laguna Blade and shrug them of.

 

Mana Void:

Mechanics: 600 casting range, has a mini-stun and is reduced by magic reduction. The formula for calculating Mana Void's damage is [Mana Missing x 0.6/0.85/1.1 x 0.75]

The damage is dealt before the animation is complete.

Against BKB - Stun but doesn't deal damage

Against Linken - Damage but doesn't stun

Read Which Spells Can Interrupt Channeling Spells

Strategics: use it to stop channeling spells if you need to, but mainly use it to finish off heroes once you have burnt enough mana. Use this spell decisively and don't regret it if it doesn't kill your target. The main problem for Anti-mage's mana is Mana Void which needs to be used wisely as you want to be able to use it whenever it is ready so remember the mana cost (175, 225, 275) and save your mana for it.

 

Skillbuild and Justifications:

 

 

There are mainly two skillbuilds for Anti-Mage but many factors can affect when you get skills.

 

Against an Easy Lane:

 

Level 01 - Blink

Level 02 - Mana Break

Level 03 - Mana Break

Level 04 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 05 - Mana Break

Level 06 - Mana Void

Level 07 - Mana Break

Level 08 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 09 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 10 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 11 - Mana Void

Level 12 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 13 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 14 - Blink/Spell Shield

Level 15 - Attribute Bonuses

Level 16 - Mana Void

17 to 25 - Attribute Bonuses

 

Maxing Mana Break early is necessary because it is your main damaging spell and also your main lane controlling ability.

 

A level of Blink is gotten first because you will might need it for escape. Now the branching occurs with wether to get Spell Shield or Blink. Max Spell Shield first against a caster lineup and max Blink first if you are not going to gank casters by level 10.

 

Mana Void should be taken whenever available because it is your finishing spells and saves you having to chase past towers and such.

 

Against an Aggresive Lane:

 

Level 01 - Blink

Level 02 - Spell Shield

Level 03 - Spell Shield

Level 04 - Mana Break

Level 05 - Spell Shield

Level 06 - Mana Break/Mana Void

Level 07 - Spell Shield

Level 08 - Mana Break

Level 09 - Mana Break

Level 10 - Mana Void/Mana Break

Level 11 - Mana Void

Level 12 - Blink

Level 13 - Blink

Level 14 - Blink

Level 15 - Attribute Bonuses

Level 16 - Mana Void

17 to 25 - Attribute Bonuses

 

This build is constructed for surviving an extremely deadly or aggresive lane like Lina/Sven/Leshrac.

 

You need maxed Spell Shield early to survive their combos and only one level of Blink to escape. Against such a fearsome lane you will not hav a chance to be aggresive so Mana Break will be levelled later. Get Hood when facing this lane.

 

Mana Void is not effective until you have more levels of Mana Break so it is gotten at 10/11. But If you think you will have a chance to use it then get it earlier.

 

Itembuild and Justifications:

 

I have created a very affordable item build which is also very flexible.

 

Survivabilty is a major problem for Anti-Mage during early-game and you also want to gank with your allies which includes being hit by creeps and tower-diving. The answer can be found with items that provide regeneration and damage reduction like Vangaurd or Hood.

 

Build order is: Circlets/Tangos/RoR/Branches > Vangaurd/Hood > Boots > Wraiths >  Treads > DPS Item

 

Starting Items - any starting items work on Anti-Mage. Get RoR if you plan to get Hood or get Circlets for your Wraiths. If you want to follow the league players then start off with RoR and a set of Tangos.

 

Vangaurd - beneficial to Anti-Mage because it provides damage block against creeps and hp regeneration for an extremely low price. Each of its components help Anti-Mage in the survival department.

 

Hood of Defiance - if you are facing heavy magic damage or against an aggresive lane then Hood will provide more benefits to Anti-Mage with its magic reduction and higher regeneration.

If you want to play Anti-Mage as a tank then you can grab both Hood and Vangaurd.

 

Power Treads - it provides everything you need after you have fixed your survivabilty problems with IAS and movespeed for an affordable price. The recent buff to treads means that you also have the ability to change the +10 attribute, I suggest you keep it at str at the start and change it to agi later when you have more hp. Remember to buy TP-scrolls.

 

Wraith Bands - I have chosen Wraiths Bands over Bracers because they provide a little IAS and damage but if you are facing survival problems then feel free to get bracers instead.

 

Butterfly - the best damage item for Agi heroes at this current version. It has everything Anti-Mage could ever want (evasion, IAS, damage). Magina’s source of damage comes from his Mana Break and attack speed synergizes better than pure damage. The evasion combined with Spell Shield (plus possibly Hood and Vanguard) makes Magina almost unkillable. The only negative side to this is the cost of it but upon completion the bonuses will be worth the cost.

 

Extended Item-Discussion:

 

 

In this section I will mention some of the good and bad items for Anti-Mage. I will discuss when and why to buy some of the items and why other items are complete no-nos. The red items are the ones I don't suggest.

 

Monkey King Bar - with the new way to build this item I find it to be the best alternative to Butterfly and easier to build. I suggest you buy this if you are unable to farm a Eaglehorn.

 

Linken's Sphere - this item is actually pretty good and could be called amazing but it is only necessary in some games. The spell-block was buffed to 40 seconds and Ultimate Orbs are now cheaper than before but you only need spell-block if the opposing team has many single target disables, which is not as common as aoe ones. Get this if you are finding single-target stuns a problem.

 

Black King Bar - even though you are immune to spell damage, being disabled the whole battle isnt helpful so get this if you are facing heavy disables. You also don't need this if you hav an Omniknight in your team.

 

Assault Cuirass - the attack speed and auras are really helpful to your team so get this if no-one else is. The high EHP is really nice and get this if your cashflow is good.

 

Radiance - Radiance's immolation provides crazy farming and Magina will be chasing his targets quite often and the sparkles can kill your target without you having to attack. The bad part is that it is more effective if you rush it because the immolation is strong when the enemy has smaller hp pools and lower regen and you need survability early so it will not be as effective because it will be delayed. Get this if you are farming like crazy and can get it within 30 mins after your survivability.

 

Buriza-do Kyanon - the criticals are really nice but the item itself is hard to build up compared to MKB and to be honest I have never had the chance to buy this for Anti-Mage. The criticals are only good after you have high base damage so get it after your main dps item.

 

Heart of Terasque - high survivabilty is gauranteed by this item and I suggest you get this if you want to tank it up later.

 

Boots of Travel - This is a really good item with the TP but I only suggest getting this if you are a confident farmer, you will be spending half the game with only boots and you will not be upgrading until after your other dps items.

 

Battlefury - the cleaving is really amazing for farming and that is why many players buy this, but the damage is much lower than many other dps items and the mana regeneration is not necessary. Only get this if you have an ally magnataur to suck the enemies in for you or if it is very late into the game and you really need to kill creeps fast to defend your base.

 

Cranium Bashers - every single pub games get this item and theres a good reason for that, this item owns with high attack speed. The only problem is if you're in a decent game you don't have time to farm up bashers becaus they dont provide much damage or survivability. It also costs 3k and that's almost an eaglehorn already.

 

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse - The disable is great, mana regeneration is not bad for unlimited blink, eul could be good but... It's too expensive for bonuses you don't really need. I suggest you get this in games where there are not enough disables in your team or a high evasion hero difficult to deal with.

 

Hand of Midas - Sure transmute is nice but the 2k spent on this item does not pay itself back due to shorter game times and you need to farm the other items, which are much more important. There are only a few good reasons to get Midas, if you are confident with your last hits and will be able to get it within 20 mins or so after your Vangaurd then get it.

 

Vladmir's Offering - I see many players get this and I find it useless compared to other items as it does not provide any solid bonuses while you build it up. You don't need Basilius and you can't hold a Mask of Madness because it ruins your Mana Break so I would toss this in the junk section.

 

Mekansm - is a really bad item for Anti-Mage as it adds even more mana problems to your low mana pool and you will need linkens to solve this mana problem, which you either complete it too late and have low dps or finish it and realise you spent too much money on survivability. The reason why many of the older competitive replays had mek/linkens was because Vangaurd and Hood had not been implimented and now Mek's survivability cannot be compared to them.

 

[Mpod]

all good that have dmg returne, best vs anti mage is Linken's Sphere.

[solace]

Another late game hero, pretty much hard running from him and not so friendly with int hero type...to kill this beast the easiest way is not to let him farm from the start or it will be a nightmare to come >_< nice guide keep up the good work..

[SpectraHacker]

my magina items are : 2 basheres , buriza and vladimir...