It gets interesting around 54:30 spectator time, for those who don't care to watch the entire replay

Invoker is a hero unlike any other. Instead of having three standard spells and one ultimate, Invoker 'builds' his own spells out of three reagents, using a spell called Invoke, which is taken at level 2.

Due to the sheer length and complexity of all of his spells, I'm going to link the dota 2 Wikipedia page instead of typing all 11 of them out. http://www.dota2wiki.com/wiki/Invoker

There is no standard skill build for Invoker, as there is also no standard item build. Invoker can be built to fulfill almost any role, making him one of the most versatile heros in the game. Before you decide to pick Invoker, make sure that your team understands that Invoker needs mid, or at least a solo safe lane. Although I will have 'Core Items' in each section for Invoker, Invoker doesn't really have any Core Items. I'm going to define Core Items as items that I most commonly build because they fit most game situations.



Disabler/Anti-push/Ganker - Quas/Wex build

Recommended Starting Items: Blade of Attack, Healing Salve, Iron Branch
Alternate Starting Items: Healing Salve, Iron Branch x 3, Circlet, Guantlets of Strength
- Go Alternate Starting Items if you know that your team will not have any mana boots (so that you can build them). Also, build this into drums.

Early Game: Phase boots (or Arcane Boots if your team doesn't have anyone else planning on building them)

Core Items: Force Staff, Drums of Endurance, Aghanim's Scepter/Scythe of Vyse
- I don't recommend building Scepter while you are learning Invoker. Wait until you have 10 games or so with him. Go sheep stick or Eul's instead.

Luxury Items: Eul's Scepter of Divinity, Eye of Skadi

Situational Items: Blink Dagger, Boots of Travel, Black King Bar, Shiva's Guard, Linkin's Sphere, Orchid Malevolence


Skill build (may vary depending on your lane):
Q= Quas; W= Wex; E= Exort; I= Invoke

1) Q 6) W 12) I 18) E
2) I 7) I 13) W 19) E
3) Q 8) W 14) E 20) E
4) W 9) Q 15) E 21) E
5) W 10) W 16) E 22-25) Q
6) W 11) W 17) I

If you need more regen, put those points in quas a bit earlier. I don't recommend having more than 4 points in quas before level 10 though.

This is probably the most friendly Invoker build to start playing. It's also regarded as the role that Invoker fills best. I don't think that there is a better turtler in the game than a good Q/W Invoker. When pros pick up Invoker for competitive games, this is the most popular build as of lately.
Your early-mid game consists of casting primarily 3 spells. Cold snap, Tornado and EMP. Before attempting to gank a side lane, I see what friendly and enemy heros are in the lane and Invoke which spells I feel will be best. For example, if I am level 7 and have a Leshrac on my team I can open with Tornado followed by EMP which will give him time to cast a stun that will land when they come out of tornado. After Leshrac stuns, if the target is not dead yet I can cold snap him to ensure the kill, or cold snap his lane partner and cross my fingers for the double kill .

In turtling, Tornado/EMP is a powerful combo. Your opponent can't push very well if they don't have any mana. Deafening blast provides knockback, and also disarms them and further stalls their push. Additionally, force staffing yourself to set up an Ice Wall or pushing an opponent into an Ice Wall is a great way to pick off someone that's out of position. Make sure to cast most of these spells at a decent range. You don't want to be defending Rax, turtling waiting for your carry to rez and get picked off yourself.


Semi-Carry/Utility/Push - Quas/Exort (Forge Spirits) Build

Recommended Starting Items: Healing Salve, Iron Branch x2, Tangos, Guantlets of Strength

Early Game: Power Treads

Core Items: Blink Dagger, Aghanim's Scepter/Scythe of Vyse
- I don't recommend building Scepter while you are learning Invoker. Wait until you have 10 games or so with him. Go sheep stick or Eul's instead.

Luxury Items: Eye of Skadi

Situational Items: Hand of Midas, Boots of Travel, Black King Bar, Shiva's Guard, Linkin's Sphere, Orchid Malevolence

1) E 6) Q 12) I 18) W
2) I 7) I 13) E 19) W
3) Q 8) E 14) W 20) W
4) E 9) Q 15) W 21) W
5) E 10) E 16) W 22-25) Q
6) Q 11) E 17) I

Will update and add additional skill builds soon!

Merlini is an ex-pro in the North American dota scene. He recently took a break from his job to take up streaming dota 2 full time.

Merlini is probably best known for this Zeus play back in Dota All Stars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNZ6_tp9_1A

He streams mostly pubs with friends and many current pro players. He's really good about explaining why he builds certain things given the scenario and the circumstances. I enjoy watching his stream, so I thought I'd share!

http://www.twitch.tv/merlinidota


Also, he did an AMA on reddit about two weeks ago. Thought that might be nice to see as well.

http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/13zszp/ama_merlini/

So... There's a new subreddit (r/LFGdota2) that's been made and I didn't see any posts in it yet. I thought making a post about us would be a good idea to expand our community, ect ect.

I made a post and for whatever reason I can't view it from the subreddit, I've e-mailed the admin about it and hopefully that'll help things... But that's another story and somewhat irrelevant.

Here's a link to my post, feel free to add whatever I've missed and I'll edit it and put it into the post. Also, I'd appreciate if we could upvote this!
http://www.reddit.com/r/LFGDota2/comments/16096q/all_skill_levels_come_play_with_us_dotanoobscom/

Additionally, I could post this in the dota 2 subreddit. Thoughts?

Thanks guys,

Levaquin

I think there's a lot of valid points here. I like the idea!

http://rulesofdota.tumblr.com/
This should probably be linked in Purge's "Welcome to Dota, You Suck" guide.

Heya! Glad to have ya Traag, looking forward to playing with you.

Welcome aboard!

We're all pretty friendly (except for Shane, that Irish bastard...) Glad to have ya in the community!

I'd be in!

Welcome to the club! Glad to have you.

I'd log on and play with you, but I'm at my parents house as the holidays come to an end and the hamster runs the internet here... He's been at it on his wheel all day, so he's pretty tired and I think trying to play dota would be a cruel joke for the poor guy.

I'll be back home tomorrow morning though, and playing all day every day for the next 9 months or so though, so I'll see you on!

EDIT: Hop down into MM #3 and introduce yourself and ask if they have room. Hell, just pop through the channels and talk to anyone. Everyone is pretty friendly, feel free to approach them!

Welcome to the family!

Feel free to hop on TS and hangout, I'd be down for CM games. Just catch me around TS and we should be able to get a 5 stack no problem.

Welcome to the club! Was fun playing with ya yesterday!

Welcome! Looking forward to playing with ya!

Welcome! Lifestealer is a lot of fun, I totally agree. Looking forward to playing with you!

Good to have ya!

Just wanted to say thanks to FallenElf and everybody else who contributed to the tournament for organizing this. Was a good time, and I know I really enjoyed the games.

Also, thanks to all of the captains that stepped up and made this thing possible: Fallen, Binary, Polak, Alverez, Shane and Baynn. And to round it all out the casting from Blaze, PFlax, Bearhug and RBnHY was pretty awesome and made this tourney feel pretty 'official' - so thanks guys!

Thanks again guys, I really enjoyed myself and I know I'm not the only one. Excited for league play to start up soon!

Cheers!
Levaquin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DxUA-n40PWo

Hey hey, good to have you! See you on TS!

Welcome to the club!

Welcome welcome, glad to have ya!

Played a game with you earlier, def. interested in playing with you more/being coached. I ninja invited you to friends, if you're still up for coaching we can talk on TS or over steam chat.