Item Guide: Manta Style

Overview

Manta Style is a strong, versatile pick up on many heroes. It tends to be bought more on carry heroes, especially if they are AGI, but can be bought on others (e.g. Carry Tiny).

Components

• Ultimate Orb (2100g)
• +10 Strength
• +10 Intelligence
• +10 Agility
• Yasha (2050g)
• +16 Agility
• +15 Attack Speed
• +10% Move Speed
• Recipe (900g)

Item as a Whole

• Manta Style (5050g)
• +26 Agility
• +10 Intelligence
• +10 Strength
• +15 Attack Speed
• +10% Move Speed
• Active Ability: Mirror Image
• Creates 2 Illusions of your Hero
• Lasts 20 seconds
• Illusions Deal 
• 33% Base Damage for Melee
• 28% Base Damage for Ranged
• Illusions Take and Additional 
• 350% Damage for Melee
• 400% Damage for Ranged
• Costs
• 165 Mana
• Cooldown
• 35 Seconds for Melee
• 50 Seconds for Ranged
• Odd Mechanics
• Upon use, you are invulnerable for 0.1 seconds during the splitting animation
• Movement and Attack Speed bonuses do not stack with Yasha, Sange & Yasha, or other Manta Styles
• Purges some effects upon use (see section below)
• Morphling cannot replicate a Manta Style Illusion

Item Role

By and large, this is a pretty typical pick up on a carry (#1 farm priority) if they are Agility, Benefit from the Move/Attack Speed (e.g. Tiny), need additional survivability, or increased farming.

In pub games, most low-mid tier players that pick up Shadow Blade could pick up Manta Style instead. Generally, you'll see pub players only using Shadow Blade to retreat rather than initiate or sneak past wards. Manta Style can fill a similar role because Illusions give you a lot of defensive advantage, the purge effect is excellent, you gain similar attack damage and attack speed, plus stats and move speed.

You'll see heroes like Anti-Mage and Phantom Lancer pick it up for both its offensive and defensive uses. Anti-Mage becomes incredibly fragile if he cannot blink. Luckily, Manta Style purges that effect upon use (with the exception of Doom's ult). Similarly, Phantom Lancer can use it to purge dust so he can escape.

Usage

Manta Style is a very versatile item. There are Offensive, Defensive, and even some uses that are neither here, nor there.

I'll go over some examples of how it can be used.

Offensive

• Split Push
• You can leave your Illusions to push a lane while your hero goes off to do something else (farm, team fight, etc.)
• Aura Spread
• Illusions can spread auras, though they do not benefit from them. If a team fight spreads over a wide area, your Illusions can ensure auras like Vlad's, Drum of Endurance, etc. touch all your allies.
• Baiting 
• Baiting spell usage can be incredibly powerful before a fight. Getting a hero to use a big stun, or an ult on your Illusion makes starting a fight much safer for your team.
• Hero Specific
• Phantom Lancer
• Sometimes it's difficult to start your army of Illusions during a team fight. Manta Style Illusions have the same rules as your normal Illusions, so using Manta is like starting with 2 free clones.
• Shadow Demon
• Sometimes you want to Disrupt the carry to get increased DPS while pushing a tower or fighting. However, doing so will take your main damage source out of commission for a bit. If the carry uses Manta Style, you can Disrupt the Illusions instead.

Defensive

• Disjointing
• There is a 0.1 Second window where you are invulnerable during the animation. Timed correctly, you can dodge stuns, damage, etc. Great against big spells like Lina's Laguna Blade.
• Confusion
• Juking
• Run into a thicket of tree or fog of war, use Manta Style, and it's incredibly hard for your opponent to tell which one is real.
• With good micro, you can do the above anywhere. Quickly send your hero and illusions off in different directions.
• Multiple Targets
• Great way to stall for time or discourage any initiation. Pudge won't hook if he cannot tell which one is real. Likewise, many players won't waste spells on targets that may not be real.
• Blocking
• One of the more difficult feats to pull off. You can use Manta, then run away as you use your Illusions to block the movement path of your pursuer.
• Similarly, there are times where you can use the terrain to your advantage, like blocking the ramps out of the river.
• Purge Debuffs
• Upon using Manta Style, some effects are purged from your hero. See the "Purge Mechanics" section below.
• Scouting
• Sometimes it's dangerous to head into the fog. Sending an Illusion in first is a huge benefit in collecting information while risking very little.

Miscellaneous

• Tank Roshan
• Illusions die when they attack Roshan. However, they can "Hold Position" and Roshan will attack them while your real hero puts in some damage.
• Stats
• While items like Shadow Blade can fill a similar role to Manta Style (i.e. attack speed, offensive/defensive uses), Manta has a leg up on them because it gives great stats. For some heroes, like Drow Ranger, additional AGI helps your team because of the Global Aura she has.
• Upgrade Sange & Yasha
• Some games you'll get off to a bad start and build easy items like S&Y, or perhaps it's late game and you're looking for something better. In either case, breaking S&Y apart to make Manta Style and Heaven's Halberd can be a very powerful option.
• [Rumor] Hidden Aura
• Unconfirmed, but supposedly Manta Style's Attack & Movement Speed buffs apply to Illusions as something of a "Hidden Aura"

Purge Mechanics

Using Manta Style will not purge any debuff (or buff in some cases), but it does apply to a wide variety.

As of this post, the comprehensive list is...

Hero Spells

• Abbadon - Mark of the Abyss (Buff on Attackers)
• Axe - Berserker's Call
• Yes to Armor Bonus (Self), No to the Buff on Attackers
• Bane - Enfeeble
• Bane - Nightmare
• Bloodseeker - Bloodrage 
• Bounty Hunter - Track
• Brewmaster - Drunken Haze 
• Broodmother - Incapacitating Bite
• Broodmother - Insatiable Hunger
• Chen - Penitence
• Crystal Maiden - Frostbite
• Dark Seer - Surge
• Enchantress - Enchant 
• Enchantress - Impetus
• Huskar - Life Break
• Keeper of the Light - Mana Leak
• Lich - Frost Armor
• Lifestealer - Open Wounds 
• Only one instance - this is reapplied as the debuff weakens over time
• Lone Druid - Rabid
• Magnus - Empower
• Night Stalker - Crippling Fear
• Night Stalker - Void
• Ogre Magi - Bloodlust
• Omniknight - Guardian Angel
• Omniknight - Repel
• Phantom Lancer - Spirit Lance
• Pugna - Decrepify
• Shadow Fiend - Requiem of Souls
• Slardar - Amplify Damage 
• Spirit Breaker - Charge of Darkness
• Will continue if Spirit Breaker maintains vision of the unit, otherwise he attack-moves to the location they were last seen.
• Templar Assassin - Psionic Trap (debuff)
• Tinker - Laser 
• the lingering attack miss effect
• Treant Protector - Living Armor
• Treant Protector - Nature's Guise
• Treant Protector - Overgrowth
• Troll Warlord - Blind
• Vengeful Spirit - Terror
• Visage - Grave Chill
• Warlock - Upheaval

Item Effects

• Buckler - Armor Buff
• Eul's Scepter - Cyclone 
• Mekansm - Armor Buff
• Orchid - Silence/Damage Amp
• Rune - Double Damage 
• Rune - Haste
• Rune - Invisibility
• Sange - Maim
• Satanic - Unholy Rage
• Shiva's Guard - Arctic Blast
• Tango - Healing Buff

Miscellaneous

• Silence