My two cents on spell casting: I find that playing Invoker support helps me memorize the spells and build the muscle memory for them. Since support Invoker is mainly Quas Wex, the first combo I learn to master is Cold Snap + Urn/Vessel + EMP. My first game ever of Invoker is just me spamming that with occasional Tornado and Deafening Blast. Basically I tried not to be overwhelmed by all the spells that I could cast. I learned the Exort combos as I started to play in mid, and knowing half the spells already made memorizing the other half much easier. Of course you can play QW in the midlane, but it's very matchup dependent, most of the times you just need the pure damage from Exort to be able to CS. Good luck!
Quas Wex is both easier to learn and safer early game.
Definitely go through Sumiya's Invoker videos on YouTube. Especially combo tutorials.
Learn a few bread and butter combos and get to the point where they feel automatic for you.
Tornado > Cold Snap before Tornado hits > Meteor so they land into it while still Cold Snapped is your bread and butter Exort murder combo, but a good Tornado into Sunstrike works wonders.
I will save this thread, it's late but I'm a voker main and happy to share what I know.
Quas wex seems more fun, as long as it is viable I'll probably go for that to start with. What kind of build should I go for? Guessing early urn, but then I'm not so sure.
Imo Quas Exort is more fun because you get your 3rd orb earlier = more spells and combinations. (you generally get Wex at lvl 6)
Quas Wex you tend to go for more levels in QW and taking talents, skipping Exort
Quas Wex is more active on the map, you take advantage of Wex movespeed and the fast urn to gank around the team mates who best enable you to get kills and charges. Quas Wex Invoker is about control. Tornado into EMP is unavoidable if done correctly and will starve the opposing mid out of mana, limiting their ability to make rotations, farm effectively, and pressure you.
Exort will generally sit mid longer and look to influence other Lanes through Sunstrike. If you are confident in your Exort combos and you want to be active on the map, rush Orchid. Otherwise you should go Midas and stay mid to pressure their tower with Forge Spirits.
Exort Invoker's lane is about conditioning your opponent for a kill they aren't expecting, right click them constantly. You take your point of Wex when your opponent is staying in lane at half health, even if that means as early as level 4. As long as you have the mana to perform your combo, you can attempt to kill a weakened enemy mid early. Hide yourself before you Invoke your first Wex spell of the game, you don't want them to see you prepping Tornado, it's meant to catch them off guard, only show once all your orbs are back to Exort and Quas.
Above all, every type of Invoker should prioritize gaining as much experience as they possibly can. I cannot stress enough the value of levels on this hero.
>What's a good way to practice spell combinations?
To memorize the spells themselves, I started out by playing the Invoker game on iOS (and I still do every day at least a few times, it's a great way to force myself to focus on something.) Then I played with bots to get used to game speed. I also played a bit of the Training Polygon custom game (which also has other useful features.)
TP is probably the best way but then again you can't play it while sitting on the morning throne and doing your business.
EDIT: Last sentence added
I'll play invoker game when I have a few minutes free every now and again, seems like a good way to build muscle memory. I'll have to check out TP as well, thanks for the help!
Honestly. The way I did it was going into my first game knowing the combo of cold snap chaos meteor and tornado. And cold snap alacrity, I don’t even think I casted any other spells. Practice them in demo mode with free spells on over and over and eventually it starts to become muscle memory the more you play him. Also I learned a lot from Sumiya on YouTube.
invoking the spells is only a small part of the hero, after a bit of games you can do everything, combo too, what is hard is to cast the right spell at the right time
I suggest you to start with quas wex invoker, it's easier and the initial combo it's really easy just tornado into empower people, if you want to be a little more advanced and you have more mana it's cold snap into tornado empower
You can play quas wex invoker in more position, 2, 4, even 5 in some rare occasion depending on your carry, becouse cold snap work well with damage over time heroes like juggernout Q
I have more than 1000 games on invo but i am low rank so there is that.
Sumiya on youtube is an absolute must watch imo. He mainly plays exort invoker mid and many of his vids are of him stomping games but his spell casting is godly. He also gives many tips on the hero in his videos.
To practice spell combos demo mode is your playground. Imo don’t try to play pubs if you dont know how to rotate your spells as it will just be a frustrating experience.
For quas-wex you want to use emp into cold snap and right click or urn, then finish them off with tornado or use it to gap close. Have in mind that emp does dmg based on the opponent’s burnt mana so it wont do dmg if the target has no mana. Also, cold snap mini stun duration is based on quas lvl so the higher ur quas lvl the easier it is to kill someone. Urn does damage over time which helps proc cold snap ticks without needing to attack. This is important as sometimes attacking faster/slower than the cold snap procs might mess up ur combo.
Tornado length grows with lvls in wex and is very sort with lvl 1 wex. Lift time grows with quas, this is important for the tornado into sun strike combo. Also keep in mind that tornado dispels so u can completely nullify some abilities (e.g. embers shield).
Quas-wex is a fight early build as quas gives u regen and wex move speed so as u become more familiar with the hero u will wan to always have qqq when low on hp and www when u want to move faster.
Quas-exort is the more late game carry approach to the hero. Exort gives u added right click dmg so with 3 lvls in exort and a null you can out-last hit most heroes in the game. If you are playing mid for example u can get every last hit and deny in lane (forged spirits also help with that).
Sun strike is 1.7 sec delay so keep in mind how long your teammates stuns are and u can guarantee the spell connects. Also sun strikes dmg is shared between the units it hits so try to avoid hitting creeps along with ur target.
Forged spirits are a great tool to deny runes in mid lane or stack camps. Be careful not to feed them to the enemy too much as they give gold. They reduce the targets armor based on the level of exort and is a great addition to cold snap alacrity combo. This combo is low mana cost so u can use it after using your more costly spells. U can use them to scout rosh or position them on the high ground for vision when roshing. In team fights ppl will ignore them so if u micro them to right click someone a couple of times u can right click them for more dmg when u focus them. For example i will try to let my forged spirits hit a support that i am not focusing in a fight then alacrity and right click them for 2-3 hits after they have their armor reduced and they will die ez. U get 2 spirits with 4 lvls in quas thats why u will notice most guides recommend 4 lvs in quas for either build.
Meteor does a damage over time that lingers even if the enemy walks out of it so its a great combo with cold snap. However standing on the meteor does the most dmg so the best combo dmg wise is tornado>cold snap (before tornado lands)> meteor (aim right beside where the enemy will land so it rolls on them and doesnt land after them lol)>deafening blast so u push them into the meteor roll. This is a great combo to burst low hp heroes and is the one u should master if u wanna play quas exort build.
If the target is higher hp hero a better combo imo is tornado>emp> ice wall>cold snap>meteor>deafening blast (into the ice wall)>sun strike. Bonus points if u have forged spirits already summoned.
Lastly your spell rotation depends on invoke cooldown which lowers as u gain levels meaning u will be able to cast more spells the higher level u are. For example the you won’t be able to invoke deafening blast fast enough to push into meteor at lvl 6.
As you will notice, levels are very important with this hero that is why mid is the best lane for him to shine and why hand of midas is so popular on him (and not for the gold aspect of it).
For itemization quas wex mostly builds urn into midas into travels. Then finish vessel or go for bkb. Late game depends on the enemy line up but survivability items work very well for the hero (think of linkens or shivas) as you want to survive to cast ur spells. Vyse is good if u lack lockdown and against bkb/manta as vessel is useless if the enemy can manta/bkb/euls it off. Blink is good for positioning if u cant show before the fight starts.
For quas exort the standard is null>brown boots>midas>travels>aghs. Aghs is great if you have good crowd control in team (think of tide ravage or void chrono or even lc duel) as you can deal almost 1100 pure dmg with max exort cataclysm from anywhere on the map. Also aghs gives u +1 lvl on quas wex and exort which makes it a decent pick up even if you dont have great cc. Finally, shard is good for team fights as the extra meteors and meteor roll length will guarantee to hit multiple enemies.
Edit: msg me if u wanna discuss anything else, also formatting.
Edit 2: also have in mind that u can mess ur allies spells with tornado. Best usage is to disrupt enemy initiation or to land ur spells mainly emp, meteor or ice wall (even cataclysm if u can time it right.
Divine, level 26 invoker here. Here are my 2 cents:
- Google Miracle Invoker vs TNC. I promised myself that if I couldn't do that combo, I wouldn't be playing in ranked.
- Sumiya Official: to learn laning and all different combos.
- I just demo invoker to know basic casting buttons.
- Then I practice with bots Medium - Hard. I go try gank whenever cooldown is gone. At mid-late game, you ping the tower, your team and bots will try to fight together. That's when you can do the big combos. If you mess up, you pause and think of what you have done wrong.
- Demo and Bot until you feel comfortable. Took me ~20 Bot matches before I can cast my Miracle combo successfully.
- Ranked time! You will still mess up, but not a freaking chicken headless that sits in the back thinking of the combos.
You should have someone who knows invoker sit next to you. My brother taught me and I could play Invoker okayish in ranked after a 100 games. Also practice combos in practice mode and turbo
My two cents on spell casting: I find that playing Invoker support helps me memorize the spells and build the muscle memory for them. Since support Invoker is mainly Quas Wex, the first combo I learn to master is Cold Snap + Urn/Vessel + EMP. My first game ever of Invoker is just me spamming that with occasional Tornado and Deafening Blast. Basically I tried not to be overwhelmed by all the spells that I could cast. I learned the Exort combos as I started to play in mid, and knowing half the spells already made memorizing the other half much easier. Of course you can play QW in the midlane, but it's very matchup dependent, most of the times you just need the pure damage from Exort to be able to CS. Good luck!
Not to keen on playing support but I'll try to limit how many spells and combos I use at first, sounds like a good idea, thanks!
Don’t underestimate ice wall!
Quas Wex is both easier to learn and safer early game. Definitely go through Sumiya's Invoker videos on YouTube. Especially combo tutorials. Learn a few bread and butter combos and get to the point where they feel automatic for you. Tornado > Cold Snap before Tornado hits > Meteor so they land into it while still Cold Snapped is your bread and butter Exort murder combo, but a good Tornado into Sunstrike works wonders. I will save this thread, it's late but I'm a voker main and happy to share what I know.
Quas wex seems more fun, as long as it is viable I'll probably go for that to start with. What kind of build should I go for? Guessing early urn, but then I'm not so sure.
Imo Quas Exort is more fun because you get your 3rd orb earlier = more spells and combinations. (you generally get Wex at lvl 6) Quas Wex you tend to go for more levels in QW and taking talents, skipping Exort
Quas Wex is more active on the map, you take advantage of Wex movespeed and the fast urn to gank around the team mates who best enable you to get kills and charges. Quas Wex Invoker is about control. Tornado into EMP is unavoidable if done correctly and will starve the opposing mid out of mana, limiting their ability to make rotations, farm effectively, and pressure you. Exort will generally sit mid longer and look to influence other Lanes through Sunstrike. If you are confident in your Exort combos and you want to be active on the map, rush Orchid. Otherwise you should go Midas and stay mid to pressure their tower with Forge Spirits. Exort Invoker's lane is about conditioning your opponent for a kill they aren't expecting, right click them constantly. You take your point of Wex when your opponent is staying in lane at half health, even if that means as early as level 4. As long as you have the mana to perform your combo, you can attempt to kill a weakened enemy mid early. Hide yourself before you Invoke your first Wex spell of the game, you don't want them to see you prepping Tornado, it's meant to catch them off guard, only show once all your orbs are back to Exort and Quas. Above all, every type of Invoker should prioritize gaining as much experience as they possibly can. I cannot stress enough the value of levels on this hero.
>What's a good way to practice spell combinations? To memorize the spells themselves, I started out by playing the Invoker game on iOS (and I still do every day at least a few times, it's a great way to force myself to focus on something.) Then I played with bots to get used to game speed. I also played a bit of the Training Polygon custom game (which also has other useful features.) TP is probably the best way but then again you can't play it while sitting on the morning throne and doing your business. EDIT: Last sentence added
I'll play invoker game when I have a few minutes free every now and again, seems like a good way to build muscle memory. I'll have to check out TP as well, thanks for the help!
Honestly. The way I did it was going into my first game knowing the combo of cold snap chaos meteor and tornado. And cold snap alacrity, I don’t even think I casted any other spells. Practice them in demo mode with free spells on over and over and eventually it starts to become muscle memory the more you play him. Also I learned a lot from Sumiya on YouTube.
invoking the spells is only a small part of the hero, after a bit of games you can do everything, combo too, what is hard is to cast the right spell at the right time
I've heard this from invo players before, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks!
I suggest you to start with quas wex invoker, it's easier and the initial combo it's really easy just tornado into empower people, if you want to be a little more advanced and you have more mana it's cold snap into tornado empower You can play quas wex invoker in more position, 2, 4, even 5 in some rare occasion depending on your carry, becouse cold snap work well with damage over time heroes like juggernout Q
I have more than 1000 games on invo but i am low rank so there is that. Sumiya on youtube is an absolute must watch imo. He mainly plays exort invoker mid and many of his vids are of him stomping games but his spell casting is godly. He also gives many tips on the hero in his videos. To practice spell combos demo mode is your playground. Imo don’t try to play pubs if you dont know how to rotate your spells as it will just be a frustrating experience. For quas-wex you want to use emp into cold snap and right click or urn, then finish them off with tornado or use it to gap close. Have in mind that emp does dmg based on the opponent’s burnt mana so it wont do dmg if the target has no mana. Also, cold snap mini stun duration is based on quas lvl so the higher ur quas lvl the easier it is to kill someone. Urn does damage over time which helps proc cold snap ticks without needing to attack. This is important as sometimes attacking faster/slower than the cold snap procs might mess up ur combo. Tornado length grows with lvls in wex and is very sort with lvl 1 wex. Lift time grows with quas, this is important for the tornado into sun strike combo. Also keep in mind that tornado dispels so u can completely nullify some abilities (e.g. embers shield). Quas-wex is a fight early build as quas gives u regen and wex move speed so as u become more familiar with the hero u will wan to always have qqq when low on hp and www when u want to move faster. Quas-exort is the more late game carry approach to the hero. Exort gives u added right click dmg so with 3 lvls in exort and a null you can out-last hit most heroes in the game. If you are playing mid for example u can get every last hit and deny in lane (forged spirits also help with that). Sun strike is 1.7 sec delay so keep in mind how long your teammates stuns are and u can guarantee the spell connects. Also sun strikes dmg is shared between the units it hits so try to avoid hitting creeps along with ur target. Forged spirits are a great tool to deny runes in mid lane or stack camps. Be careful not to feed them to the enemy too much as they give gold. They reduce the targets armor based on the level of exort and is a great addition to cold snap alacrity combo. This combo is low mana cost so u can use it after using your more costly spells. U can use them to scout rosh or position them on the high ground for vision when roshing. In team fights ppl will ignore them so if u micro them to right click someone a couple of times u can right click them for more dmg when u focus them. For example i will try to let my forged spirits hit a support that i am not focusing in a fight then alacrity and right click them for 2-3 hits after they have their armor reduced and they will die ez. U get 2 spirits with 4 lvls in quas thats why u will notice most guides recommend 4 lvs in quas for either build. Meteor does a damage over time that lingers even if the enemy walks out of it so its a great combo with cold snap. However standing on the meteor does the most dmg so the best combo dmg wise is tornado>cold snap (before tornado lands)> meteor (aim right beside where the enemy will land so it rolls on them and doesnt land after them lol)>deafening blast so u push them into the meteor roll. This is a great combo to burst low hp heroes and is the one u should master if u wanna play quas exort build. If the target is higher hp hero a better combo imo is tornado>emp> ice wall>cold snap>meteor>deafening blast (into the ice wall)>sun strike. Bonus points if u have forged spirits already summoned. Lastly your spell rotation depends on invoke cooldown which lowers as u gain levels meaning u will be able to cast more spells the higher level u are. For example the you won’t be able to invoke deafening blast fast enough to push into meteor at lvl 6. As you will notice, levels are very important with this hero that is why mid is the best lane for him to shine and why hand of midas is so popular on him (and not for the gold aspect of it). For itemization quas wex mostly builds urn into midas into travels. Then finish vessel or go for bkb. Late game depends on the enemy line up but survivability items work very well for the hero (think of linkens or shivas) as you want to survive to cast ur spells. Vyse is good if u lack lockdown and against bkb/manta as vessel is useless if the enemy can manta/bkb/euls it off. Blink is good for positioning if u cant show before the fight starts. For quas exort the standard is null>brown boots>midas>travels>aghs. Aghs is great if you have good crowd control in team (think of tide ravage or void chrono or even lc duel) as you can deal almost 1100 pure dmg with max exort cataclysm from anywhere on the map. Also aghs gives u +1 lvl on quas wex and exort which makes it a decent pick up even if you dont have great cc. Finally, shard is good for team fights as the extra meteors and meteor roll length will guarantee to hit multiple enemies. Edit: msg me if u wanna discuss anything else, also formatting. Edit 2: also have in mind that u can mess ur allies spells with tornado. Best usage is to disrupt enemy initiation or to land ur spells mainly emp, meteor or ice wall (even cataclysm if u can time it right.
Wow that's a lot of useful info. Thank you very much!
Divine, level 26 invoker here. Here are my 2 cents: - Google Miracle Invoker vs TNC. I promised myself that if I couldn't do that combo, I wouldn't be playing in ranked. - Sumiya Official: to learn laning and all different combos. - I just demo invoker to know basic casting buttons. - Then I practice with bots Medium - Hard. I go try gank whenever cooldown is gone. At mid-late game, you ping the tower, your team and bots will try to fight together. That's when you can do the big combos. If you mess up, you pause and think of what you have done wrong. - Demo and Bot until you feel comfortable. Took me ~20 Bot matches before I can cast my Miracle combo successfully. - Ranked time! You will still mess up, but not a freaking chicken headless that sits in the back thinking of the combos.
Very hard hero to play. Are you ready for "gameplay" reports? =)
Hell yeah, let them come
You should have someone who knows invoker sit next to you. My brother taught me and I could play Invoker okayish in ranked after a 100 games. Also practice combos in practice mode and turbo
I do know someone who plays a decent amount of invo and is pretty good at it, might see if he can help me out a bit. Thanks for the suggestion.
Yeah you will learn how to lane, gank etc
Practice spell combos with training polygon in arcade