By Cutecankil:

Hero Description: Born with an unusual relationship to mana, Magina can see and manipulate mana in its purest form. The Scourge's tainting of Hyjal and the World Tree damages the very fabric of magic woven into this world, and Magina will sacrifice himself to preserve the balance of nature.

Base Movespeed: 320

Agility: 22+2.8

Hp: 454

Intelligence: 15+1.5

Strength: 16+1.9

Armor: 2.1

Mp: 195

Damage: 46-50

Skills:

Mana Break (passive)

- Each attack burns mana based on spell level

Level 1-16 mana

Level 2-32 mana

Level 3-48 mana

Level 4-64 mana

Description: This skill is your bread and butter! It is what makes Magina so special! So this is one of the three things my guide will be based on.

Blink (B):

Short distance teleportation that allows one to move in and out of combat. Costs 60 mana.

Level 1-20 second cooldown

Level 2-15 second cooldown

Level 3-10 second cooldown

Level 4-05 second cooldown

Description: You surviving as well as hunting skill! Use it in its full potential and you will see why it is considered as the best skill in game.

Spell Shield (passive) :

Magina channels a powerful warding magic, damping the negative effects of spells.

Level 1-Reduces magic damage by 10%

Level 2- Reduces magic damage by 20%

Level 3- Reduces magic damage by 30%

Level 4- Reduces magic damage by 40%

Description: Helps Magina in surviving because even if your HP has reached yellow none of the ultimates would kill you (Lion, Lina, Lucifer, Bloodseeker, Luna,Crixalis,Axe etc), except about 10 remote mines from goblins!

Mana Void (V) :

Creates a powerful void in an enemy unit caused by lack of mana. For each point missing, the unit takes damage.

Level 1-.6 damage per mana point missing

Level 2-.85 damage per mana point missing

Level 3-1.1 damage per mana point missing

Description: What a skill! In late games it could do even 1500-2000 damage to an intelligence hero. Also, it stuns the enemy for about 0.1 second.

Skill Builds

Battle Skill Build (non-heavy nuker)

1 Blink

2 Mana Break

3 Mana Break

4 Blink

5 Mana Break

6 Mana Void

7 Mana Break

8 Blink

9 Blink

10 Spellshield/Stats

11 Mana Void

12 Spellshield/Stats

13 Spellshield/Stats

14 Spellshield/Stats

15 Stats

16 Mana Void

17-25 Stats

This build is designed for non heavy nuker games, meaning mainly agility heroes or heroes with only 1 nuke. This build makes magina a strong assassin fast, maximizing his blink and mana break skills immediately. If there is any damaging spell among your opponents team, dont hesitate get spellshield. Spellshield cuts the damage from stormbolt/burrowstrike/any ability which deals magical damage by 40%. Magina does not have much health, so spellshield will be a better choice than stats. Unless the opponents' team has no damaging stuns/nukes dont bother to get this skill.

Heavy Nuker Build

1 Blink

2 Spellshield

3 Mana Break

4 Mana Break

5 Mana Break

6 Mana Void

7 Mana Break

8 Blink/Spellshield

9 Blink

10 Blink

11 Mana Void

12 Spellshield/Blink

13 Spellshield

14 Spellshield

15 Stats

16 Mana Void

17-20 Stats!

This build is for a nuker intensive game (zues/lich/lina). Be very careful during the early game. Even a decent regen item won't help you if you are careless. You need spellshield by level two but be careful with it even when leeching experience. Check your opponents' mana deposit and wait for the time to strike. By level 14, the nukers can't really do much to you anymore. Firing of all their nukes and a Dagon won't kill you yet, but still dont get cocky.

Item Build(s)

Side Note: Add BKB in any of these builds if there are too many stunners/nukers right after Power Treads, then resume the build. The only exception for BKB might be the Guinsoo build, provided you have enough support.

All-Out Damage Build

This is quite a challenging build, but the pay off is very rewarding. It is very effective against mages who have too much mana to burn late game or agility heroes who farm for late game. Exceptional chasing skills are required for this build, because there are no disables to aid you.

Animal Courier (225)

Ring of Regen (375)

Wraith Band (2x) (1020)

Boots of Speed (500)

Gloves of Haste (610)

Power treads (420)

Helm of Iron Will (950)==>Optional

Broadsword (1200)

Claws of Attack (650)

Crystalys Scroll (1100)

Demon Edge (2600)

Burize do Kanyon (750)

Eaglehorn (3400)

Quarterstaff (1150)

The Butterfly (1400)

Demon Edge (2600)

Quarterstaff (1150)

Monkey King Bar (1650)

Guinsoo Build

One of the favourite builds in 5.84c for Magina pros, this build quickly lost popularity in version 6 due to the increase in price of Guinsoo's Scepter of Vyse. The price increase only benefited intelligence heroes, adding an extra 25 damage on top of the 35 bonus damage. However, its still quite a good build, but it will take sometime to build up. It is very effective against Windwalkers and Blinkers since it prevents escape.

Animal Courier (225)

Ring of Regeneration (375)

Bracer (510)

Gloves of Haste (610)

Power Treads (420)

Robe of Magi (450)

Wizadry Staff (1000)

Void Stone (900)

Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Robe of Magi (450)

Quarterstaff (1150)

Sobi Mask (325)

Oblivion Staff

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse (900)

Mithril Hammer (1610) / Quarterstaff (1150)

Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (150) / Demon Edge (2600)

Cranium Basher (1460) /

Monkey King Bar (1600)

Quarterstaff (1150)

Eaglehorn (3450)

The Butterfly (1400)

Cranium Basher Build

One of the most popular Magina builds to date , this build focuses on late game perma-stunning.

Animal Courier (225)

Ring of Regeneration (375)

Wraith Band(510)

Wraith Band(510)

Gloves of Haste (610)

Power Treads (420)

Mithril Hammer (1610)

Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (150)

Cranium Basher (1460)

Mithril Hammer (1610)

Gauntlets of Ogre Strength (150)

Cranium Basher (1460)

Eaglehorn (3400)

Quarterstaff (1150)

The Butterfly (1400)

Animal Courier - Great for staying in your lane and leveling up as much as possible. Its also great for harass, and you can use it to buy items or flasks if you made a mistake.

Ring of Regeneration- The number 1 antimage survival item. It gives you regen which will help you stay in battle as well as push your opponents back and its dirt cheap.

Boots of Speed- Movement speed bonus. DO NOT GET THIS AS YOUR FIRST ITEM! You will end up going to base after getting nuked a few times. Ring of Regen always beats this when playing Magina.

Helm of Iron Will- Gives you +5 armor as well as 2 hp regeneration. Useful item, gives you some bonus armor as well as another ring of regen in it. If you plan on buying two of them, sell the ring of regen.

Power Treads- Increases Movement speed and attack speed. One of the cheapest attack speed bonus items.

Black King Bar- It is imperative you get this item when there are too many disablers or a LION, The Demon Witch. Lion can hex you, which will immediately negate of spellshield, making you take a FULL Finger of Death. The only way to counter this is to use bkb and kill him while you can. If you managed to take anough mana during your chasing, chase him until you kill him. BKB is also needed when there are 2 or more stunners, mostly for deflecting their stuns. Even though it has been nerfed, Magina has not much choice.

Cranium Basher- A good item when facing sthe strong top-tier strength/agi heroes. Grantss Magina a 15% chance to stun an opponent for 1 second and +30 damage. When your attack speed is high enough the stun will keep going off very often. This item should not be taken if you went for MKB.

Monkey King Bar- An economical item for the Antimage (even better in 6.10). Gives a good damage and attackspeed boost, and will make farming alot easier. Only buy this if you dont have enoug money for The Butterfly. The 30% chance to do 90 passive damage +0.1 second stun is also useful during combat.

The Butterfly- Great item for antimage. Magina's attack speed becomes insane with this item and extra evasion makes Magina tougher. With butterfly, Antimage should be able to solo towers (towers can miss if a character has evasion).

Burize do Kanyon- Extra damage and critical strike really help late game. Very useful in farming too. Pawning will become so fast that your opponent wont have enough time to react.

Strategies (VERY IMPORTANT)

This part is where all the strategies will be listed down. Magina requires a quick brain to play and alot of strategising. as well as good judgement..

Blink Break

THE most important strategy of playing the Anti-Mage. This should allow Magina to pawn by level 5. Blink breaking should start at level 3 (Level 2 Mana Break is needed).

How to Blink Break

Choose a solo lane in the start (prefferably the top lane). Stay back during the early levels. Try not to kill any creeps if the opponent is intent on harassing. By level 3, wait for the enemy to start farming. Then Blink behind the enemy and start attacking him. You should be able to get around 2-5 hits when doing this. If your opponent engages combat with you, keep fighthing (assuming he uses his normal attack). The Antimage will almost always win, since he has the extra 36 damage. When your opponent starts to run, dont chase him, just stay back and wait for your hp to regenerate or maybe farm abit. Run back when your opponent comes back again. Wait for another oppurtunity to blink behind him and start attacking him again (with sufficient hp of course). If the opponents reaction is slow, you should be able to get a pawn. If they start running, just sit back and let your hp regenerate and farm a little. Try to stop them at using a flask of saphire water. You can even opt for buying a flask for yourself via Chicken to outlast the enemy. Repeat the strategy over and over again.

You will either get kills or you will send your opponent back to the fountain. Always scout for runes, as they provide you an extra edge over your enemy (I love regen runes!). When he comes back, you should have almost full hp again as well as a few levels ahead of him. Continue Blink breaking him over and over again. By the time you get mana void, prepare to get a kill. Make sure you have enough mana for a blink and a mana void AT LEAST (2 blinks and a void would be better). Next, blink BEHIND your enemy and start slashing him. Void him around RED life or so and you should get a kill. When chasing, always blink INFRONT of your opponent. This is the general strategy of Blink Breaking and is one of Magina's most important weapons. Use it and abuse it.

Blink Chasing

To get your kills, sometimes you will have to chase characters for a great distance, sometimes until your barracks. The null talisman inside the item build is there to help your mana pool for extra blinks, and this is where it becomes important. Sometimes, you will bring your opponent to yellow health(1/3 hp). You know very well that a single mana void will not kill him so chase him abit before you unleash your mana void. Blink directly infront of the rettreating enemy, blocking his path. For every blink, you should be able to get about 2 extra hits at him. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the amount of health your opponent has, please remember to up blink to level four. Then, mana void to finish him off. If you feel like your mana void will not kill him before you cast it, then cast mana void and blink infront of him after that. Mana void has a shot 0.5 second stun and you should get a the few last hits at him.

Escape Routes

When running away after killing an enemy, chances are the opponent is probably waiting to ambush you when you retreat. Never take your eyes of your character then running away, sometimes you get unlucky and a Sladar is waiting for you on your way back. To avoid these collisions, you have to abuse blink by taking escape routes that normal characters usually cant. Remember, when returning to base, use cliffs to survey the river to see if anyone is waiting for you (especially important when fighthing Luna/Juggernaut). If someone is waiting for you just wait for them on top of the cliff. When you see them moving towards the cliff, quickly blink into the river and make your escape. Blink past an enemy whenever seeing them when you are en route to base. The escape routes are

Right Lane/Roshan- This is one of the most important escape routes you have to know. After killing your opponent somewhere around the scourges second right tower, make your way towards the roshan area. Survey the rune spawn area for any heroes waiting for you. If theere arent any, quickly blink into the river and escape either by taking the cliff on the other side of the river (wolves) or the sentinel middle/right lane. If you are scourge and you are running from the second right sentinel tower, Go through the forest and survey the lake. Then blink into the lake and run past the roshan area back to safety.

Top Lane- When killing your opponent at the second left scourge tower, quickly make your way into the forest. Do not take the top lane back to the base via turning left at the forest. Instead run down towards the kobold (somekind of pig things) spawn area. Once again, survey from on top of the cliff. Once again, if theres nobody waiting for you, make a run for it. Exit through the middle lane cliff (near the dragon spawn point) When escaping from the sentinels second left tower, run towards the sentinel secret shop. Click on the lake and press blink. You will end up in a forest on a cliff before you hit the river. Survey the river once again and then blink in and exit through the top scourge towers.

Middle Lane- Blink to either the forest in the right lane/left lane and follow the escape I have written down above.

Fighthing Blink Chasers

There are a few characters which can easily chase and kill blinkers thus posing a threat to Magina. Examples of such heroes are the Juggernaut/Spirit Breaker/Akasha. When facing these heroes when backstabbed, always try to burn out as much mana as possible before blinking out. If you don't burn enough mana, they will easily follow with you and kill you easily. Staying too long could also result in getting killed by a nuke. Remember though, never try this when its a 2 v 1 situation, Magina will fall fast.

Blink Dodging

This is alot more advanced than blink breaking and should only be attempted when you have enough experience with AM. Blink dodging means using blink to dodge a projectile nuke(stormbolt, shadowstrike, magic missle, impale). If timed right, Magina wil Blink somewhere else (preferably behind the opponent for blink breaking) and the projectile nuke will hit the ground. It requires alot of practise, and dodging magic missle is EXTREMELY hard (projectile moves very fast). Dodging the stun/nuke means half the battle is won. Please note that all lightning based attacks cannot be dodged (lightning bolt, finger of death, chain lightning). If you fail, leave spell shield on as a faill-safe.

Blink Catching

Mentioned in Dota Sensei's Anti-mage guide, this is the most elite move an Antimage player can master. Blink catching means blinking right infront of the enemy and blocking him when he is running away. This will cause the enemy character to move back for a while then resume its path. Blink catching can land 3-4 hits instead of the usual blink chasing. Requires extreme practise, and doesnt work against characters with small models.

General Playing Style (Also Important!)

At early levels, stay back and take last hits on the creeps until level 3. By level 3, you should have level 2 mana break, unless the opponent is using a nuker. Peform blink breaking to lower his mana. Keep on using it to lower his hp and mana (remember, you should last longer with RING OF REGEN) and sooner or later, kill him or drive him back to base. Try to stop him from using flasks of saphire water if you get the chance. Repeat this strategy until your low on mana or hp. Most of the time you can easily outlast them with an Animal Courier/Chicken. Get the chicken to bring Flasks of Saphire Water if you loose too much hp. With the help of runes, netting kills will be quite easy. Keep jumping lanes and look for characters on low life. By the time you have bought everything up to powertreads, you should be level 10 (Helm of Iron Will is OPTIONAL). You should also have around 2-5 kills by now with maybe 1-2 deaths. If you have more deaths than your kills, you need to spend some time farming and leveling.

By mid-game, antimage is still quite strong and will help to participate in gangbangs and base defenses. Keep looking for heroes farming solo to kill (Always go for medusa!).

If the first tower is down your can chase your enemy quite far without anything to worry about. Get BKB if there are too many diablers or start farming up to follow one of the item builds above.

By late-game, alot of towers are broken and you have some good items. Its really a match to see who has the godlier items. Remember, you have level 3 mana void now, which can finish characters instantly at 40%-50% of their max hp (dont forget to lower/check their mana first). If you manage to get Butterfly, you can go on backdooring missions to destroy towers/barracks/temple. Whether you win or loose, its what you learnt from the game. Antimage is a no easy hero to use, but one of the most rewarding ones once mastered.

Advanced Tactics

Things I will be covering

1) Fighthing 2 vs 1 (Early Game)

2) Countering Windwalk

3) Facing Specific Heroes

I) Bradwarden, the Centaur Warchief

II) Naix, the Life-Stealer

III) Lesale Deathbringer, the Venomancer

IV) Terrorblade, the Soul Keeper

V) Rhasta, the Shadow Shaman

VI) Mortred, the Phantom Assassin

VII) Lion, the Demon Witch

Fighthing 2 vs 1 (Early Game)

What happens when you confront 2 opponents in 1 lane when you solo? Most of the time you will ask for help as fast as possible/change lanes. What you should do is stay in your lane, hug the back of your creep wave. Now, if they stay on your side of the creepwave to deny you some exp, dont worry. Most of the fighting should be done at your tower. With the ring of regeneration, you should be able to withstand their level 1/2 nukes they throw at you . Please remember, DO NOT BLINK BREAK THEM. This would result in a stun/nuke/slow and most probably an early game death. When they reach your tower, you should be about level 2-3. Just fall back, they can still kill you at your tower.

By level 4, you should have lvl 1 Blink, lvl 1 Spellshield (highly advised for fighthing 2 v 1's) and lvl 2 Mana Break. Your opponents should feel rather overconfident now, and they will get within tower range to take some pot shots. Now the minute you see 1/2 creeps left, your opponents should start to run. Just as they turn around, blink in front of the one closest to the tower (block his way with your body).Try to avoid any nukes possible. Take 2-3 shots at him and run back quickly. This requires very well timed blinks because if both of them are not running away yet, they will spam their stuns/nukes and hurt you bad. Remember, only blink when one opponent runs back to the next creep wave. The slow one will get mana breaked, and the other opponent will be running away, not suspecting you to try anything daring since you have been leeching xp/hugging the tower since the start of the game.

Continue the tactic, they will have less and less mana. The enemy will likely use a Flask of Saphire Water and they can easily heal all the damage done. However, opponents will rarely carry enough or any Clarity Potions with them, meaning they will be low on mana. At this point, ask a teammate to backstab them (preferably a stunner), you should be 2-3 levels higher than them. Once they are backstabbed, quickly blink in and attack the one with the lowest hp and mana. If this is pulled of properly, your target should have 0 mana and Mana Void will reach its highest damage potential.

If you dont manage to kill him, the next opponent should be back. You may blink break freely/buy items when there is only opponent. Just be reminded, you have to be aggresive, because there is only a limited time before the other opponent returns (town portal can be a threat). If they are pushing too hard/hindering you too much/unsuccesful in execution, just ask for a friends help.

Countering Windwalkers

Windwalkers tend to be insanely strong late game (clinkz and bounty >.<). Now the windwalkers you fight on blue server tend to MERCILESSLY hunt down feeders/new players. Now to stop them, you require some aggresiveness, precaution and a bit of luck. Now, the best way to hinder them is to land in their lane by some off chance. If you wind up, in the same lane as the windwalker, thank god for granting you this chance to punish them. Windwalkers fall real fast for the blink break tactic. Keep using it whenever you see them, they will be forced to run or windwalk. If the bounty uses a clarity potion, quickly blink behind him and start slashing him. The most important thing is to deny a proper start for them. If they run to another lane, follow them (not too many times though). Now what are you farming for? You will be farming mostly for a Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse.

Now when it reaches mid game, the playing field will be more balanced. They are free to roam around the map and cruising for kills. It is important that you buy wards at this stage of the game. Hopefully you have guinsoo by now. Always becareful when facing opponents, windwalkers are always on a look out to 2 on 1 a target. Try your best not to fight them when they backstab you unless you are clearly stronger than them. Always be prepared to hit them fast and hard when they are attacking your team mate. When you see a windwalker backstabbing a team mate, quickly blink behind his team mate and burn his mana fast. When he hits around 2/3 hp, quickly hex him and rape him as fast as possible. This would almost always kill a windwalker, since he has no more mana to activate windwalk. Sometimes they have enough mana and escape, but at least you saved a team mate. It would be better to get ready for a backstab with a good disabler, I find this almost always an instant kill against them. It should be quite safe if your team decides to invest in a gem, you should be carrying it because you have blink anyway.

Now late game, quickly go for damage items, their mana pool will be too big to cut away at full, so the priority is to kill him before hex runs out. Keep your gem safe, you might be forced to buy it back a few times, but it saves you from a good clinkz/bounty. Always be on the look out for their mana, they are very comfortable hanging around with 1/4 of their mana left so prepare a hex + void. What if the windwalker gets BKB? RUN. Do not stay and fight them just run for it. With blinks ability to jump past terrain, you should be able to outrun them most of the time (use the escape routes too).

The time to kill them is during team fights. They will pop out the last so save the hex just for them. If you are halfway killing a person and they come out, quickly hex them and resume killing the opponent. Blink away when you got the kill and try to run through the forests (they have trouble catching up there). If you find the windwalker alone, quickly hex and burn their mana. With a high enough damage output they will likely die before the hex ends. Good luck and remember, becareful when there are team fights, the windwalkers will always be missing...for a while.

Note: This is one of the situations where bashers dont work very well. If you go for basher, they can immediately windwalk when they start loosing the fight. Only get bashers if you cant kill them fast enough after a guinsoo (if their mana pool is too large).

Facing Specific Heroes

This section of the guide is for facing all those heroes Magina have problems with. If you guys could add a few techniques in bringing down some strong heroes, I would be more than happy to include them in the guide along with credit to the poster.

I) Bradwarden, the Centaur Warchief

This guy is a walking tank. Tons of hit points, high regen/base damage along with the usual blink dagger the centaur invests on. He is almost invincible, but he has one weakness towards the Anti-Mage, he is [highlight=orange]Mana Dependant![/highlight] Thats a start you have to work with. No matter what, centaur ALWAYS needs mana for a warstomp. Another thing you will need to fight him is a cranium basher or two. Guinsoo can substituite the bashers too.

Sometimes, centaurs tend to warstomp to stop large creep waves. Remember to always wait for him to use his warstomp first. After he uses warstomp, blink in and cut his mana down to 0 (guinsoo if you can), and make a quick retreat. Remember to turn on spellshield, double edge will end up hurting him more than it hurts you. Even with bash, chances are centaur can still kill you because of his freakish amounts of hp. If he blinks away, just run back for a while, just outside the creeps line of sight. If he decides to come back and farm, quickly blink behind him and attack him. He should attempt to escape, so you better blink properly because centaur moves fast. Finish him off with a calculated Mana Void. As usual, its alot easier if you bring along a stunner to kill him.

To increase your chance in beating centaur [highlight=orange]FOLLOW ALL THESE RULES[/highlight]

1) Always fight him with spellshield on unless he has no mana (take advantage of spellhield and double edge).

2) Fight him with strong items (Guinsoo/Basher/Butterfly). Do not approach him if all you have is an MKB. Double Helm of Iron Will is advised when fighthing centaur.

3) Always max out blink. It will be quite a challenge to catch him with blink dagger/mask of madness. Try to blink infront of him and pray for a bash.

4) Keep spellshield on when you sense centaur is around. If he tries to blink stomp you and double edge, the spellshield should absorb most of the damage.

II) Naix, the Life-Stealer

To be honest, Naix is one of those heroes Magina was NEVER designed to fight. I wont tell you to get godly items here, Naix would probably have godly items too. Instead, leave killing Naix to the nukers. Naix hahs the lowest hp in the game, making him fast food for any nuker as long as he doesnt have rage/bkb.

What you should do is to get rid of Naix's mana. Calculate Naix's mana. Most of the time you should be able to destroy his entire mana pool within 6 mana breaks. Wait for him to farm, and blink behind him and burn all his mana away. If he turns on rage, just blink away theres nothing you can do. Most of the time, Naix ends up with 0 mana while I retreat with yelow-redish health. Call your spellcaster (Lion/Lina/Luna .etc) to backstab and kill him. Never approach him 2 v 1, that would cause him to turn on rage and kill your teammate. If Naix is following a bunch of heroes, I suggest a buying a bkb. This would allow you to destroy Naix's mana without being hurt too badly. Remember, Naix is NOTHING without rage/bkb!

III) Lesale Deathbringer, the Venomancer

Although not many pro venomancers are seen, you should be prepared for a first encounter. Venomancer owns magina hard in the beginning. He can ruin your entire game if your not careful. You might think, I can always run from poison nova with blink, well you havent seen anything yet.

From what I have experienced, poison sting owns you hard in the beginning. It does not require mana and it cuts of your regen. Getting spellshield helps, but you can still get killed. Try your best not to get hit in the starting by him. Never ever blink break him, it would result in you loosing ALOT more life than he did. Only blink break when he is within tower range. Other than that, stay far away from him. Remember to blink whenever you get hit by a shadowstrike (a good venomancer will take like 4 shots of you), his poisons wear you down fast. Try your best to change lanes in the start with your teammate if you face him.

By the time it hits mid game, I advise you to max out spellshield. Spellshield cuts down the damage from all his poisons, and you should be able to pawn him alot easier by now. Just blink behind him and start attacking him. If you were killed by him in the start, chances are he woudl expect you to be a free pawn. He would stand and fight, casting poison nova (try to dodge this), shadow strike and attacking with poison sting. Once you survive his spell combo, burn his remaining mana and mana void.

VI) Terrorblade, the Soul Keeper

Terrorblade is easily one of the strongest of characters in DotA IMO. He has a constant supply of images, thus making backstabbing a cunning terrorblade a hassle. To make it even worse, Terrorblade has the highest base damage late-game, even more than sven (Only thing he lacks is a disable). Early game, he just farms his items, and sunders someone when his enemies gangbang him.

Terrorblade is easily one of the most vunerable characters to Magina during the early game. With low mana and hp, he is best targeted early game when he is vunerable. Now Terroblade has one of the higher base damages in dota and an insanely fast attack speed (0.01 faster than magina by calculation). Coupled with soul steal, bringing him down early game should be harder compared to most melee heroes. Terrorblade should be farming at melee range just like you do in the starting, so start taking of some pot shots at him. Only blink behind him when he is casting soul-steal or if he stays behind the creeps. Do not fight him if he casts soul steal on you, just run/blink away.

As long as you keep burning his mana, you should have little to fear. Sunder will be totally disabled so you dont have to worry yet. After you have killed him the first time, start blink breaking him. He should be a bit more cautious right now, so charging up to him may not work very well. The most important thing is to deny terrorblade money and experience. If you keep raping him early-mid game, he should not be too much of a threat late game.

Now if you did poorly in harrassing him during the start, start farming for a diffusal blade. This should dispell the real terrorblades metamorphosis / kill his image instantly. When you find the real terrorblade lategame, remember, he has high base damage and attackspeed. You will not be able to fight him if he has too many images around him and he will have sufficient mana to sunder even though mana burn. I suggest getting prepared for a sunder when he is reaching low life (calculating his mana also helps). Sunder does not have a very good cooldown time, so make use of it. Blink away once you are sundered and run. Heal back to full and take him on a second time (with less mana this time). If he did not run the first time, Mana void would do insane amounts of damage when you burn all his mana away. A purge and a bit of chasing would insure a kill.

Never ever blink behind terrorblade when he has 2 images with him. He should be able to kill you before your blink recharges. Instead run up and purge one of his images, then engage combat. You should be able to blink away if you loose with only one image by his side. The main idea is to wear terrorblade down late game, never try to kill him in one sitting unless you have godly items. Early game should be the best time to strike, make the most of it.

V) Rhasta, the Shadow Shaman

Rhasta is easily one of the most polished disablers in the entire game. Sometimes fighthing him may pose a threat, since he can disable you for around 9-10 seconds with hex and shackles. Rhasta has an insanely large mana pool, so watch when his mana is low. Sometimes, a mana void would be able to kill a full life Rhasta if he is careless enough.

Rhasta alone is not too much of a threat, just a potential danger. A simple platemail/double helm of iron will would be more than enough to cover the serpent ward damage coupled with shackles. Just be careful and look for any teammates around. You can survive a shackles and wards, but you wont be able to survive rhasta and his teammates. If there is more than one disabler, prepare for a bkb. If you dont have one, just dont stand to close to your enemies, wait for your opponent to shackles someone/run out of mana casting fork lightning. Rush for a bkb if rhasta is getting the components for guinsoo. You could be looking at a close perma disable if your not careful.

Once you have obtained bkb, killling him should be fairly easy. Just blink behind him and burn his mana, finish up with a void, he should not be able to do anything but put wards. Try not to give him space to place wards, constantly attack him. If he is getting guinsoo, chances are he will not have much health, thus posing little challenge to blink chasing.

VI) Mortred, the Phantom Assassin

Mortred is the strongest late game hero in DotA. Her evasion and coup de grass (15% x 4 critical strike), make her a monster in combat. Although there are not many good mortred players, be wary if you see one. First things first, do not let her farm, harass/kill her frequently. She suffers from one of the worsts early games besides Naix, so you better take advantage of it. Morterd has a low mana pool, so dont expect doing to much damage via mana beak.

The best solution is to ganbang her/ask a nuker to solo her. She should be feeding alot if your teammates are good. No what if your teammates are bad? Mortred managed to farm a battlefury! Heads up, once she has battlefury, her other items will flow in very easily. One of the best items to counter Mortred is the Butterfly. It gives you evasion from her critical strikes as well as minor bonus armor. Blademail is anotger good choice, although you might not be able to survive too many crits still. Please note, do not get craniums when facing her. Her evasion will take care of most of the bash(s), so its a waste of time. Getting a damage items are advised, she does not have much health. With proper damage items, killing her will be possible if you get the initiative. Guinsoo might be able to save you from her a few times, but it will leave you with low life throughout the game, making you very vunerable to her.

VII) Lion, the Demon Witch

Lion is a freak hero killer once he reaches level 6 during early game, and a nasty disabler once he gets hold of his Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse. He is one of the only spellcasters which can easily take down Magina without much effort. This is because his hex will instantly disable spellshield, leaving you open to a finger of death which would deal full damage (normally nulified by spellshield). This makes you an easy target for Lion, since you have low hp, and little resistance to hit finger.

If you are stuck in Lions lane in the beginning, prepare for some opposition. You have to blink break him aggresively before he reaches level 6. Plan your blink breaks correctly, calculate his mana, and he will not be any problem before level 6. Even if he has hex, I advise you to still get spellshield, since it nullifies impale. Once he reaches level 6, be very cautious. Try switch lanes quickly once he reaches level 6 and track his movements. Find other targets, or wait until he used his finger on someone else. Try not to fall in to Lion's trap

at all costs.

Start rushing for a bkb quick to counter his hex. Once you have aquired bkb, blink behind Lion and activate bkb. Start attacking him and use your gigantic bkb body to block his way. Remember to calculate his mana before engaging him. If he has 1/2 or 1/3 of his mana, you should be able to kill him when he has half life with a mana void. If he manages to flee until your avatar wears off, run away if he still has enough mana. Most of the time he wont, and mana void will make quick work of him. Remember, always targert him first in a team. Having 3 disables is a major threat and should be dealt with as fast as possible.

VIII) Rikkimaru, the Stealth Assassin

Rikkimaru just got alot dirtier in v6.xx. His new skill, smokescreen, makes it impossible to fight him while within the smoke screen (80% miss, 20% slow, silence). By no means are you going to fight this little devil when he has the upper hand (he gets the initiantive). First things first, Rikkimaru is more mana reliant now, it is possible to fight him head on and own him. In the start, he can fall victim to Blink Breaking quite easily. Just watch out for smoke screen, as long as you run out fast enough, it wont be much of a problem. What else does he have now? No more critical strike, but only backstab. This only takes effect while you are running away, so fighthing him head on is relatively easy.

The cool thing about the new SA, he is mana dependent but you still need a gem to kill him. With a gem, you can chase him like most heroes without any mana (except he is so damn small!). Chasing this little demon is going to be alot more challenging when compared to most other heroes. Once he has no more mana, he cant blinkstrike to save himself anymore, so no problem. Guinsoo is a great item to own him. Once hexed his mana pool should be burned away rapidly, forcing him to retreat. Time it in such a way that there are not any creep waves approaching him from the back.

At this point, he has two options; Smokescreen or Blink Strike. Most of the time they will smoke screen and try run with their tiny legs. Simply walk out and intiate the chase, he should be down in no time with proper blinking. Now if he decides to Blink Strike, you have to be alert. You must know where the creep wave is (as I said make sure there is no approaching creepwave). If the creep wave arrives, keep on chasing, he can only live for so long. Rikkimaru is still flimsy, so it should be relatively easy to kill after a Guinsoo.

IX) Mogul Kahn, the Axe

This new hero in version 6.xx can be a pain in the ass to Magina when built well. He has Counter Helix, one of the strongest anti melee character skills. This skill has a 15% chance to do a 1 second blade storm, dealing 175 damage. His second skill, Beserker's Call, is a real threat to Magina, it forces Magina to attack him (which isnt so bad) and gives him an additional 20 armor. Fortunately Mana Breaks damage is not reduced, however it will make your physical damage do nuts to him.

A simple way to counter his Counter Helix is buying a blademail (its now a physical attack). Counter Helix is actually a 1 second bladestorm, but is still a physical attack. Be mindful, this skill can still do a lot of damage over prolonged fights. There is one very bad weakness Magina has over this guy though, Mana Break does not take effect when Counter Helix is activated. Although Counter Helix triggers after an attack (might not negate mana break), watching his mana pool is still extremely important. If you don't, he can easily turn the tables with a last minute Culling Blade, which instantly kills a hero if he is below 300/450/625 hp. This skill also does not take Spellshield into effect so make sure your hp does not drop too low. This skill costs dirt in terms of mana, 120/160/200 mana for levels 1, 2 and 3.

Early game, try and get rid of as much mana as possible. Axe starts off with one of the lowest mana pool, so burning his mana fast can limit his options. I might suggest getting Mana Break at level one and pull of pot shots as often as possible. By level two, he should not have enough mana for Beserker's Call. Get a level 1 spellshield to reduce his Counter Helix damage. It is possible to take 2 hits at the Axe without activating Counter Helix (thanks to the nerf). Repeat the process until level 6 when you can kill him with a Mana Void. Magina has an advantage in terms of movement speed against him, dont worry too much about chasing but still watch out for his Coutner Helix.

The All-out damage build or Guinsoo works against him, but only to a certain extent. I suggest a guinsoo over bashers, since Counter Helix does not take effect in Hex. The All-out damage build can kill him pretty fast if he's not careful so its an effective choice too. When chasing, make sure he does not have enough mana for Beserker's Call. He can turn on Beserker's call at red life, preventing your mana void, and dance around the tower until you die. Becareful at all times when engaging combat/chasing this hero. Always monitor his Mana.

Imprtant Tips When Fighthing the Axe

- Try get rid of most of his mana early game, he cant do much with his low mana pool

- Always monitor his mana, he can easily turn the tables with a Culling Blade

- Be mindful of Beserker's Call when fighthing him, the armor boost can nullify most of your damage

- Watch out for a Beserker's Call when he's around the tower, Pro Axes love torturing Magina's with that move.

Azwraith, the Phantom Lancer

The Phantom Lancer can easily be one of the most feared Late Game heroes in DotA. With a fast enough attackspeed, he can duplicate 5-6 Images in a matter of seconds. The most important thing is not to get swarmed. In the start, he will be just a nuisance, but it will be quite difficult to kill him with dopplewalk. Spiritlance does quite a bit of damage, but he shouldn't have enough mana to use it if you blink break.

Make him constantly Dopplewalk when you blink break him during the early game. This will deny the good start he needs for his items. He should be no trouble early-mid game but watch out for backstabs with dopplewalk + spirit lance. If you weren't in his lane or he got a good start, he can easily farm up all of his items. At this point a gem is really needed. Phantom Lancer tends to have a habit of dopplewalking whenever he sees a hero. Simply backstab and chase him when he does so (only the real one can windwalk), his dopplewalk only gives a 10% movespeed increase.

When it hits lategame , he will be a walking army. However, he only gets images when he attacks something, and his Images last for only 15 seconds. Hopefully you will have 2 bashers or Guinsoo late game as well as a gem of true sight. Follow a fresh creepwave towards the Phantom Lancer (assuming he is alone). More often than not, all his images will start disappearing before the creeps attack each other. Quickly blink behind him and Guinsoo/Bash him before he can attack the creeps and duplicate. If you stunlocked/disabled him properly, he should be fleeing in dopplewalk the first chance he gets. Chase and Void for the kill.

Tell your teammates about this tactic during teamfights, backstab the enemy team and aim for the phantom lancer just before the creepwaves start fighthing. You can even try using your teammates bodies (line up in one line) to block the creepwave for a few seconds so that the creepwaves meet later. The Phantom Lancer will be caught off guard without any images and should be an easy kill if there are any disablers on your team.