Item Summary
Consumables
- Tangos
- Keep you topped off on HP
- Technically heal less total HP than a Salve
- Are not cancelled by being attacked
- Can be useful for juking, or against a Nature's Prophet (Sprout)
- Salve
- Restore a lot of HP quickly
- Can be cancelled if attacked
- If you live on the edge, use this while being chased and juking to turn the battle by recovering HP then surprising your persuer
- Can easily be used on an ally
- Clarity Potion
- Slowly recovers mana
- Good for restoring mana so you can play aggressively with your spells
- Can be cancelled if attacked
- Can easily be used on an ally
- Observer Wards
- Great use of early money because of the vision they provide
- Can be used to block neutral spawns (good for anti-pulling and countering jungle heroes)
- Nice to have one on the Rune Spawn for your mid hero
- Prevent ganks
- Courier
- Always great because it helps the whole team, especially mid
- Pretty cheap to get a ground courier (back in the day, it was 200g for ground, 200g for upgrade)
- Dust
- Awesome against heroes that get invisibility early (e.g. Broodmother, Bounty Hunter, etc.), they won't expect it --> Easy First Blood
- Smoke
- If you get 3-5 heroes together, this is a great way to get an early first blood by roaming the enemy jungle (or your own in some cases)
- Can also be used if your lineup allows for level 1 Roshing
- Some heroes (e.g. Dark Seer) can use this to jungle harder creeps at level 1
- Ion Shell --> Smoke --> Stand by Creeps (they take damage, but cannot attack you)
- Sentry Wards
- In some games, you know the other team will ward, so it can be a cheap way to immediately get rid of the enemy vision and hurt them bad in the lane phase
- Great for counter-warding your pull
- Generally best as an early item, but not as a starting item (unless you have courier + wards already)
Bottle
Bottle is a highly controversial starting item. Most Pros would say its a "trash starting item". In my opinion, if used correctly (i.e. timing, positioning, etc.), any item can be good. Here are the pros and cons though:Pros:
- Fast HP/Mana Recovery
- More able to spam spells like Hook/Rot
- Already have it at the 2 minute mark (to get rune)
- Can ferry to and from the fountain if you have a courier
- No Stats --> Harder to last hit, can take less hits, have less mana
- Cancelled if hit
- If ganked early, you'll probably have to immediately use all your bottle charges
Stats Items
- Iron Branch (53g)
- Nicknamed the "GG" Branch for a reason - a lot of stats for only 53g. However, each takes up an item slot and they are built into a limited amount of early items (e.g. Magic Wand)
- Excellent for Stats and Filler
- Gauntlets of Strength / Mantle of Intelligence (150g)
- I generally find these to be a waste because for a little more, you could have bought 3 Iron Branches and got +3 to all stats
- Mantle can be decent on some Int Carries (e.g. Carry Silencer, Outworld Destroyer, Storm Spirit)
- Gauntlets can be good for survivability or if you plan to go early Urn of Shadows / Drum of Endurance
- Likewise, you can get Mantle for going early Dagon
- Mostly, these are used for taking up less space and giving you more ability to last hit
- Slippers of Agility (150g)
- Situationally, these are good for better last hit ability as an AGI carry
- Can be built into a Poor Man's Shield
- Circlet (185g)
- I also find this to be a waste. For 106g, you could have bought 2 Iron Branches and got the same effect (though they take up 2 spots in inventory)
Other
- Ring of Protection (175g)
- Some people get this for rushing Ring of Basilius or Tranquil Boots
- Provides +2 Armor, but that's usually not as valuable as stats or regen
- Can be decent for jungling and then making into an early Ring of Basilius, but you also won't be taking most of the hits (your minions will)
- Stout Shield (250g)
- Generally useful as a melee hero in a lane where you expect harass
- Can help you get last hits without taking as much damage
- Can be built into Vanguard or Poor Man's Shield
- Less useful for ranged heroes (60% chance to block 10 Damage vs. 20 for Melee)
- Quelling Blade (225g)
- Helps ensure last hits
- Can cut trees down (good for juking or against Nature's Prophet)
- Not really useful on Ranged Heroes (+12% Damage vs. Creeps, instead of +32% for melee)
- Good in lanes where you're against a hero that has high base damage (e.g. 1v1 Tiny)
- Can be useful for farming into mid-game
- Magic Stick (200g)
- Can be useful in a lane where you'll get a lot of charges (e.g. a Batrider that spams Napalm)
- Doesn't give any stats
- Doesn't give regen if no one is casting spells
- The hero that will charge it might not be in your lane
No Items (e.g. Rushing an Item like Ring of Health)
- Generally not a good strategy
- No Stats
- No Regen (until you get RoH)
- Once you have Ring of Health, you can take harass, but you'll have trouble with last hits, mana management, and be squishy
Ring of Basilius
- Again, you get no stats
- The Mana Regen can be nice if you're in a Trilane or something of the sort (applies to more heroes)
- Odds are, you won't be using the aura for pushing THIS EARLY
- Can be decent for jungling (aura applies to minions), but a lot of the time, Clarity Potions work better.
Sage's Mask + Ring of Regen (i.e. Rushing Soul Ring
- Good Regen, but no stats
- Also, the regen is slower than what you'd get from well timed consumables
Recipe
- This is seriously just silly. You get nothing from a recipe alone
- A courier can bring this to you
Common Starting Combinations
General Laning
- Wards/Courier (if Support Hero, or you have Random Gold in AP)
- 1 x Tangos
- 1 x Salve
- 2 x Clarity Potion
- 2-3 x Iron Branch
Melee Jungling (e.g. Axe, Lifestealer, Dark Seer)
- Stout Shield
- 1-3 x Tangos
- 1-2 x Salve
- 0-2 x Clarity
- 0-2 x Iron Branch
Heavy Harass Lane
- Configuration 1:
- Stout Shield (250g)
- 1 x Tangos (sometimes more)
- 1 x Salve (sometimes more - e.g. they are a double stun lane)
- 2-3 x Iron Branch
- 0-2 x Clarity Potion
- Configuration 2:
- Stout Shield
- Quelling Blade
- Tangos / Salve
- Stout Shield allows you to take extra harass
- Quelling Blade allows you to last hit easier
Heavy Spam Lane (e.g. Zeus, Bristleback, Batrider, and sometimes Shadow Demon)
- Can be worth it to get a Magic Stick because it collects charges
- Lots of Regen otherwise (probably Tangos moreso than Salves)
- Might not know which lane the hero that can easily charge it will be in
Minion Jungling (e.g. Enigma, Prophet, Enchantress, Chen)
- Configuration 1
- Tangos
- Clarity Potions
- Ring of Protection (for early Ring of Basilius)
- Configuration 2
- Tangos / Salve
- Clarity Potions
- Configuration 3
- Ring of Basilius
- Tangos/Salve
- Pub Stomp Build
- Gloves of Haste
- Clarity Potions
- NOTE: This is for rushing Hand of Midas, usually just for Nature's Prophet. Not exactly a "serious" build.
AGI Carry
- 2 x Slippers of Agility (300g)
- 1 x Tangos (90g)
- 1 x Salve (100g)
- 2 x Iron Branch (or Clarity)
Mid Bottle Rush
- 3-4 x Iron Branch (159g - 212g)
- 1 x Tangos (or Salve) (90g - 100g)
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