General Discussion

General DiscussionAnti-mage

Anti-mage in General Discussion
Guts

    Such a weak hero even after various buffs. My question is right after you hit the manta style, what should the next item be.

    One of the following 3: Basher, butterfly, heart.

    I usually go heart but feel like it's a bit of waste rushing as it doesn't give any damage.

    mwsqz

      you should try diffu then

      himself

        Meh, somehow you're managing to be unable to farm.

        This comment was edited
        Zenoth

          basher, bkb or heart depending on the game

          you only get heart when the enemy team don't have significant dps/lockdown and you can win fights by simply outlasting them

          Z__

            He's not weak.
            After Manta:
            Heart most of the times. You have enough damage with manta + mana break and it takes you like 5 minutes to get your next item anyways.
            BKB if they're too heavy on disables.
            Butterfly if they lack magical damages and/or nukes.
            Basher if you're stomping.

            Low Expectations

              Heart vs shitload of magic dmg, BKB vs stunlock, Basher if you want to kill stuff

              Linda | DotaExchange

                Vlads if you split pushin.

                Olek said most of it.

                Guts

                  Hmm, I rarely get bkb on anti-mage, I rely on my team to back me up.

                  BKB seems like an item that doesn't much do apart from the 10 seconds immunity, feel like a heart is much better than bkb. I mean anti-mage supposed to absorb magic damage. I just can't get both heart and bkb.

                  BenaoLifedancer

                    am is actually strong this patch, just ask kuroky. semi-hidden pick for ti5

                    Zenoth

                      Heart and bkb are for different purposes.

                      Let's say opponent team have sick lockdown, maybe something like invoker and lion. A heart won't be enough to keep you alive if you're chain disabled out of position.

                      Against damage cores like TA, Veno, Slark etc a heart lets you outlast the fight which is often enough to win games.

                      Humanoids

                        I like to go basher into Butterfly if they don't have disables. I personally think AM is one of the strongest heroes currently. I would rather nerf him than buff. This patch is really good for him. Whenever I see competent AM with 10min free farm, his team most of the time wins.

                        twitch.tv/afeect

                          If you want to farm more and faster and you're going to split push a lot go for vlads and bfly, if you want to fight go for bkb/heart, Zenoth explained how to choose which one. The only reason you get basher is if you need lockdown to kill someone.

                          Numberwang

                            I've just been wondering, how does one skill build antimage? I've seen all kinds of builds from professional players, and none of them seem to be clear to me as and when you'd build which way. I've seen some games people take no early points in stats, and some where they take maybe 2 in stats and 2 in spell shield before heave finished maxing mana break?

                            Any sort of clarification on is would be appreciated

                            THICC BABY SHUM

                              he can be rlly good and can be shut down rlly hard, unlike void who ults and still can do some dmg and help team not being complete shit

                              Z__

                                TBH it doesn't matter how is your skillbuild, the only important thing is that you max blink before or at the same time you get your battlefury - everything else is situational.
                                The first point of spellshield gives you +26% magic resistance, which is HUGE because it doubles your overall magic resistance (25% -> 51%). The second point of spellshield, however, only represents an 8% increase on your magic resistance. Antimage is so squishy early game that the benefit you get from the second point of spellshield is negligible.
                                On the other hand, mana burn scales pretty decently, you definitely want to put at least one point during laning stage. The second point can be considered to zone out the offlaner or in a 1v1 situation. It should be maxed after blink.

                                Zenoth

                                  NEVER ADD MORE THAN ONE IN SPELL SHIELD

                                  you need to take nearly 1000 fucking magic damage for additional points in spell shield to give you more EHP than one point of stats, and that's totally ignoring the other benefits of stats, i've done the math in some other threads

                                  generally for the farming-oriented AM, you want to max BLINK by around the same time you get your battlefury. until then leave your mana break and spell shield at 1 (spell shield is optional depending on your lane actually). following that max MANA BREAK around the same time your Manta is finished. Get Void every time its available.

                                  if your lane is heavily contested or something and you NEED to fight early consider adding more levels of mana break.

                                  This comment was edited
                                  rambosalad

                                    ^ the only correct advice

                                    the reason antimage is considered shit is because no one knows the correct skill build

                                    This comment was edited
                                    Numberwang

                                      ^thanks zenoth, wanted some clarification because i remembered seeing your math in another thread, but couldnt remember exactly how it was done, thankyou for advice!

                                      Totentanz to The King: M ...

                                        He really relies on his team to be able to play 4v5 for a long time till you can finally fight but most of the time they will be busy flaming you for not joining the fight with just a BF. So he really needs a good team to back him up or he won't do shit.