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Monday 27 February 2012

[Balphagore]



Skill Build
1 - Regurgitate
2 - Corpse Conversion
3 - Corpse Conversion
4 - Demonic Pathogen
5 - Corpse Conversion
6 - Hell on Newerth
7 - Corpse Conversion
8 - Demonic Pathogen
9 - Demonic Pathogen
10 - Demonic Pathogen
11 - Hell on Newerth
12 - Regurgitate
13 - Regurgitate
14 - Regurgitate
15 - Stats
16 - Hell on Newerth
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
One level of Regurgitate early to generate Corpses. Slow and number of corpses stay the same across all levels, thus levels 2-4 can be delayed.
Max out Corpse Conversion as your main skill.

Lane Starting Items:
Logger's Hatchet, Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Minor Totem, Mana Potion

Core:
Plated Greaves >> Power Supply >> Abyssal Skull

Plated Greaves increase the damage of your minions by 20%, giving you very fast Movement speed and Survivability. A must have.
Abyssal Skull further increases the damage of your minions to a total of 35%! And provides some good Auras including Lifesteal, Mana reg and Armor.

After Core:

Tablet of Command >> Barrier Idol / Behemoth's Heart

Tablet is much better than PK on Balphagore as he will already be in combat when he needs to reposition himself to cast the ultimate and there is no 3 sec cooldown on ToC when you get hit.
Then get Heart and Barrier Idol in order of what you need first considering the enemy lineup.

Alternative Items:

Ring of Sorcery: Allows you to harass more and gives some nice team support but greaty delays your pushing potential with greaves and skull.

Bottle: Cheap alternative to Ring of Sorcery.

Information:
Roles: Ganker
Properties: Pusher, Tank

Prefered Lane: Long/Short
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy:3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (Sick pusher)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Strong (Good ulti and very tanky)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- One of your biggest strengths is to gank a hero with your minions then instantly go on and push that lane with the remaning minions. This puts extreme pressure on the other team and is very effective with Plated Greaves and Abyssal Skull.
- Pick up corpses even when you reached the cap. They will still give you 25 HP each!
- Regurgitate can be used as a cheap heal. With Corpse Conversion on level 4 it will regenerate 150 HP from those 6 Corpses for just 100 Mana.
- You can move while casting regurgitate. So you can activate it and run after an enemy to catch up / let your minions catch up and slow him further.
- Always try to get at least 40 Charges before using your ultimate.

Counters:
- The Minions are very voulnerable to any form of AoE damage.
- If you get silenced, run away from your team mates so the curse will not spread.

Friday 24 February 2012

[Kraken]



Skill Build
1 - Splash
2 - Tsunami Charge
3 - Splash
4 - Tsunami Charge
5 - Tsunami Charge
6 - Whirlpool
7 - Tsunami Charge
8 - Tidal Pull
9 - Tidal Pull
10 - Tidal Pull
11 - Whirlpool
12 - Tidal Pull
13 - Splash
14 - Splash
15 - Stats
16 - Whirlpool
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Level 2 Splash is all you need to get those last-hits. After getting that switch priority to Tsunami Charge and max it out asap for increased Range and Damage. Whirlpool is taken at 6 for a chance on early kills (Pull them behind your tower). But you can delay it depending on the situation.

Starting Items:
Runes of the Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Steamboots >> Portal Key >> Fortified Bracelet

Simple as that. Pick up Steamboots ON INT first to have the mana to support Whirlpool, Charge and Portal Key. If you still have your Pretender's Crown upgrade it to a bracer.
Power Supply is situational on Kraken. Get it in appropriate lanes, skip it otherwise. I don't recommend to get it before Portal Key.

After Core:
- Helm of the Black Legion: DO NOT GET THIS ITEM! I see every other pub kraken run around with a helm. You are NOT a tank. You are support. There are 278 better items for you.
- Wards of Sight: Once you got your Core buy wards. Always remember, you are support.
- Nome's Wisdom: Less viable after the nerfs. I much prefer Barrier Idol now. But it is still good, especially if someone else builds an Idol.
- Barrier Idol: Great support Item in most matchups. Usually the most effective item to get.
- Astrolabe: If barrier Idol is not needed. Don't get both (it's too late to be useful after Barrier).
- Puzzlebox: After barrier Idol or Astrolabe.

Information:
Roles: Initiator
Properties: Anti-Pusher, (Anti-Carry)
Prefered Lane: Short
Difficulty: 4 - Hard
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent (Splash)
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium (Needs core)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 2 - Weak
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Game changing ult)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Kraken is a very strong last hitter with annoying splash and he starts with decent strenghts as well as solid 3.1 Armor. It's not easy to harass him off the creeps.
- You are defined by your ultimate. Missing it makes you virtually useless for the next two Minutes!
- The first thing you need to look at before you use your ulti is your mana pool. At lvl 6-10 you need to have at least 275 mana to pull off a ult+portal key combo. At lvl 11-15 you need 325 mana, and at lvl 16+ you need 375 mana. Remember to always have sufficient mana before placing an ult.
- Always remember: You are Support. Do not play carry. Get supportive items, plant wards, let the least pushed lanes for your carries to farm.
- The next thing to note is that it isn't always optimal to get all their heroes with your ulti. The goal is simply to assassinate their most important heroes before the teamfight even begins. That's how Kraken wins games. Get 2-3 heroes, then continue to push to get an easy tower kill. Back off when they respawn and wait until the ulti is off cooldown!
- Sometimes, mostly early-mid game (around lvl 6-10) it is often worth to ult just to grab a single hero for an easy kill. Ganking their Sand Wraith right when he has saved up 2500g farming for Mock can be gamebreaking!
- Whirlpool has a quite decent cast range, so remember that you don't always have to cast it on your feet. Use this to your advantage, and try to position the whirlpool exit on a dangerous spot that's hard to get out of. Pling the map on where you place your ult right before you use it. This way your teammates knows what'll be happening.

Counters:
- Stuns and disables are good if you either have very good reactions or if the Kraken is not very good. If you disable him while his ult is running it will go off after the stun ends. So you have enough time to walk away. Good Krakens however will blink in and instantly hit R, giving you no outs.
- Mock of Brilliance can be good against him as it prevents him from blinking on your team once he gets too close.
- Be prepared for his ulti. Either spread out or stand close and get all sucked in. Most of the time you can anticipate when he will be using it and if you move back fast enough you can escape him.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

[Engineer]



Skill Build
1 - Steam Turret
2 - The Keg
3 - Steam Turret
4 - The Keg
5 - Steam Turret
6 - Energy Field
7 - Steam Turret
8 - The Keg
9 - The Keg
10 - Tinker
11 - Energy Field
12 - Tinker
13 - Tinker
14 - Tinker
15 - Stats
16 - Energy Field
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
I didn't play the new engi but this seems to be the most popular build for him atm. Turret for insane dmg and farming, Keg for obvious reason. You can grab 1 level of Tinker early to farm catas.


Lane Starting Items:
Healing Potion, Runes of the Blight, 2x Duck Boots, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Marchers >> Power Supply >> Soulscream Ring >> Ghost Marchers >> Frostwulf Skull

Power Supply is pretty strong as your combo will need a lot of burst mana. Also just a few Charges will allow you to cast a Keg with 0 mana. Ghost Marchers are good for a gank-oriented playstyle.

After Core:
Portal Key >> Shrunken Head >> Charged Hammer

Portal Key for good ulti placements and eventually a Shrunken Head as you should be initiating.

Alternative Items:
- Tablet of Command: Pretty neat to push enemies through your energy field and a good item overall. I suggest replacing PK with it and getting it before Skull if you wanna go for it.

Information
Roles: Semi-Carry, (Initiator)
Properties: Disabler
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 3 - Medium (Not as trivial as it might seem)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 3 - Medium
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Good attack animations but low damage. Keg is very annoying.)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Scales incredibly well with Turret. Ulti remains gamebreaking.)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Your basic combo at leevl 14+ if an enemy is in range: Throw down a turret, use Energy Field and then cast Keg to push the enemy inside the energy field while keeping him in range of the turret. If he already is inside wait for him to run out, then Keg him back in. If he fights, Keg him out at ~30% hp.
- Energy Field has a low cooldown, use it every fight!
- Throw down a turret before casting Keg if the Mana allows it.
- Optinonal: Having Tinker maxed (4) over Keg (1) makes Keg very spammable.

Counters:
- With Shrunken Head on you can ignore Energy Field. If you play a carry get Shrunken Head versus Engi. (Not that it is only good against him...)
- Don't let yourself get kegged into an enemy tower. This is very dangerous early game!
- Level 1 Turret only has 500 attack range (increasing by 50 every level). Quite a few heroes have 550 or 600 attack range and thus can take out level 1-2 turrets without getting hit. Easy Money.

Thursday 16 February 2012

[Magmus]



Skill Build
1 - Lava Surge
2 - Steam Bath
3 - Lava Surge
4 - Stats
5 - Lava Surge
6 - Eruption
7 - Lava Surge
8 -Volcanic Touch
9 - Volcanic Touch
10 - Volcanic Touch
11 - Eruption
12 - Volcanic Touch
13 - Stats
14 - Stats
15 - Stats
16 - Eruption
17 - Stats+
23 - Steam Bath
24 - Steam Bath
25 - Steam Bath

Justification / Modifications:
Lava Surge is your bread an butter. It's maxed first and mainly used for starting stunning in on ganks, for escaping or helping out teammates.

One point in Steam Bath ensures you live when you get ganked or dropping low in your lane. I prefer to max out stats first before Steam Bath to give you that extra HP/MP for longer teamfights.

Volcanic Touch is your mid-game farming ability which will clear out creep waves with some good timed clicks on low HP-creeps. In harder games get Stats instead of Volcanic Touch and delay it until levels 12-15.

Lane Starting Items:
1x Runes of the Blight, 1x Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, 1x Pretender's Crown, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Power Supply >> Bottle >> Portal Key >> Marchers >> Fortified Bracelet

Portal Key is your most needed-item! Try to farm it during the laning-phase as fast as possible. If you're not able to, get Marchers first and get the Portal Key in the early mid-game with help of Volcainc Touch.

After Core:

Ghost
Marchers (Post Haste) >> Staff of the Master >> Behemoth's Heart

Post Haste should be prioritised over Ghost Marchers, due to being able to push/farm lanes quickly and easily with Volcanic Touch. Staff of the Master will improve your ultimate further. Behemoth's Heart to top Magmus off and make him much more durable.

Alternative Items:
(Due to Magmus' relative effectivness with little core-items, you should think about buying supportive items and wards.)

Barrier Idol: Build an Idol if you're opposing strong magic opponents/ultimates.
Wards of Sight/Revelation: If you're team is lacking supporters and you got your core-items together.

Information:
Roles: Initiator, Ganker
Properties: Pusher
Prefered Lane: Long
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good (Volcanic Touch)
Item dependancy: 2 - Low (Portal Key!)
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 3 - Medium (Higher if paired with another stunner!)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Can't gank alone, Lava Surge ensures a kill most of the time)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 4 - Good (Very potent Ulti if timed properly, relatively squishy compared to other Str heroes)

Noteable +/- and synergies:
+ Strong early game when paired with another stunner on the lane
- Can't pull off ganks alone, must be roaming with one or more allies

30-Seconds-Guide:
- You have to hit with your Ultimate in every teamfight!
- With Portal Key: Position yourself outside of the bulk of your team - preferably hiding behind trees or on higher ground - but in range to blink in. Then: Activate Ulti > Wait 2 seconds > Blink in the center of the enemy team > Walk a bit to position yourself perfectly while Eruption continues > Lava Surge to stun/kill/escape (> Steam Bath).
- Without Portal Key: Lava Surge in > Ulti (Opponents will try to stop your channeling though!) OR Ulti > Wait 2 seconds > Lava Surge in (Safer but no guarantee to hit in time in the right place!)
- Once you have Volcanic Hammer level 2+ you can Lava Surge a Creep Wave, hit the ranged creep and then hit one melee creep for a full wave of gold.

Counters:
- A Barrier Idol greatly reduces the damage from his ultimate. Be fast to activate it though.
- Shrunken Head will also negate most of his damage as well as make you immune to the stun.
- Carrying dust or Wards of Revelation on at least one teammate is recommended to kill him when he tries to escape with Steam Bath (He can directly Port Key out of it).

Saturday 11 February 2012

[Madman]


Skill Build
1 - Stalk
2 - Barel Roll
3 - Stalk
4 - Barell Roll
5 - Barell Roll
6 - Stalk
7 - Barell Roll
8 - Stalk
9 - Berserk
10 - Gash
11 - Berserk
12 - Gash
13 - Gash
14 - Gash
15 - Stats
16 - Berserk
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Stalk is nice for early Harassing and you won't be able to support the Mana for Barrel Roll early on. Thus we get Stalk 2 first. Later with Bottle and Power Supply you can Barrel Roll more often and the Mana Cost for Barrel Roll at level 1 and 4 are the same. This is why we max it first.
As of 0.3.0 you can take Berserk as soon as you maxxed out Stalk and Barell Roll.

Starting Items:
Runes of Blight, Healing Potion, Mana Potion, Logger's Hatchet, 2x Minor Totem

You can get a naked Bottle if you start solo mid. Lasthit into Harass a lot with Stalk if you do that.

Core:
Bottle >> Power Supply >> Steam Boots

You need Bottle and Power Supply. Spamming his Spells make Madman such a dominant early and midgame hero. He has low mana and manaregen as you would expect from an agi hero so consider setting steamboots on int for now. Ghost Marchers are trash as you move much faster with stalk and they do break stalk slowing you down.

After Core:
1. Runed Axe is the most popular choice, especially in pubs. It solves a lot of your mana problems and allows you to easily farm up the rest of your carry gear.
2. Shrunken Head is mandatory on Madman. In higher levels of play you will even get this before Runed Axe, but usually you will be fine to get it after.
3. Whispering Helm and later Symbol of Rage is the next Item (consider some ancient stacking in between).
4. Savage Mace is the late game dps item of choice due to synergy with your ult.

Alternative Items :
- Blood Chalice: With a healer in your team or even on babysit you should strongly consider this item on madman!
- Hellflower solves all your mana problems you will ever have while providing a very useful debuff for Madman. You will see this item a lot in higher level play as it can take out a hero like Plague Rider or Soulstealer before they get off their ultimate. Or to counter a Shrunken Head.

Information
Roles: Hard-Carry, Ganker
Properties: None
Prefered Lane: Any. Solid mid.
Difficulty: 3 - Medium
Farming capabilities: 4 - Good
Item dependancy: 4 - Heavy
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (His spells are excellent for harrassing...)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 4 - Strong (... and for farming purposes)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 5 - Very Strong (Capable Hard-Carry if well farmed)

30-Seconds-Guide
- Stalk behind the target and auto attack for 2-3 hits until they're on the side, barrel roll, animation cancel till you're in front. Stalk should be up by then. Rinse and repeat.
- Once one of the teams initiates, you should focus on rolling their whole team with a BR to start, and then Berserk and beat on whatever INT disabler/nuker is closest to you.
- Use your ult early (before the fight/gank), it lasts very long.

Counters:
- Mana Battery/Power Supply has to be gotten early if laning against Madman.
- Early to Mid Game his damage will be mostly magical. Later Physical. Barbed Armor is good if he goes for pure damage (Runed Axe into Savage Mace)

Thursday 9 February 2012

[Slither]



Skill Build
1 - Poison Spray
2 - Toxicity
3 - Toxin Ward
4 - Toxin Ward
5 - Toxin Ward
6 - Poison Burst
7 - Toxin Ward
8 - Poison Spray
9 - Poison Spray
10 - Poison Spray
11 - Poison Burst
12 - Toxicity
13 - Toxicity
14 -Toxicity
15 - Stats
16 - Poison Burst
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Get one level of Poison Spray and Toxicity for the slow and regen debuff but max wards first as they greatly help you pushing/creeping/scouting and even ganking. The build is kinda flexible, you can change it as you like but always have all 3 spells at level 4! Some guidelines: With a gankheavy lane (usually paired with a stunner) you can max Poison Spray for early kills. With a very push heavy team (defiler, ophelia, etc.) always max wards first and assist in tower pushing. And finally Toxicity can be maxed first if you play solo or heavy babysit as you most likely wont get early kills with Spray and Toxicity helps you a lot for lane control by harassing.
If you are playing Slither as a pure support hero consider putting only one point into Poison Spray and level Stats from levels 12-14. (Only damage and Range increase).

Starting Items:
Monkey Courier, Runes of Blight, Healing Potion, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Power Supply >> Wards of Sight >> Ghost Marchers >> 1-2x Soulscream Rings OR Fortified Bracelets

If someone else gets a courier, buy Wards instead. Your job is to keep the Wards up so keep buying them! This is always more important than your core items! Ghost Marchers are decent to chase poisoned enemies down. They are slowed by at least 10% so you can keep up to most heroes with Ghost Marchers. It's also good for positioning your ultimate in team fights before you get Shroud or Portal Key. Soulscream Rings can be replaced by Fortified Bracelets as you see fit.

After Core:
Optional: Nome's Wisdom. Depending on your playstyle Slither can be quite Mana Hungry. Nome's is the best solution for that as it provides a very valuable aura for the rest of your team. Only consider it if noone else builds it.
1. Staff of the Master because Poison Burst is what you bring to Teamfights.
2. Assassins Shroud or Portal Key for better Ultimate positioning and survivability. Rule of Thumb: The higher skill level your opponents have the more you want Portal Key. Get one; don't get both.
3. If you are here you most likely did something wrong. You should never reach this point in a normal game unless you "forgot" to buy wards or went farming instead of ganking.

Information
Roles: Support, Ganker
Properties: Roamer, Babysitter, Pusher
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 1 - Very Easy
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 4 - Strong (Good Harassing, even with auto attacks)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 3 - Medium (Very Powerful ult in ganks and teamfights)
- Late Game / Team Fights: 2 - Weak (Usually not played as a carry)

30-Second-Guide
- Gank, gank, and gank. Buy items that will help you gank, these include homecoming stones, Ghost Marchers, Power Supply and wards.
- Always have enough mana for the Poison spray+burst combo if Poison burst is not on cooldown. The combo takes 320 mana at level 6, 335 mana at level 7, 435 mana at level 11, and 535 mana at level 16.
- Set up Toxic Wards behind you and to your sides when pushing for scouting purposes. They have a 1400 Vision Range. Even at night!
- You can block paths with Toxic Wards.

Counters:
- Power Supply is an excellent Soft Counter aganist ward-spamming Slithers. Especially early game. Grab a Mana Battery ASAP if you are laning against him.
- While Geometer's Bane can no longer remove his ultimate, it still can remove Poision Spray including its slow.
- Shrunken Head will also not remove Poison Burst and you still get hit by it with activated Shrunken BUT you will take 0 damage from it while Shrunken Head lasts. Shrunken Head also removes all his other dots/slows and is thus a decent counter.
- If a Slither decides to go carry do not worry, he is EASILY outcarried. Otherwise get magic armor and/or Shrunken Head.

Saturday 4 February 2012

[Vindicatior]

[Vindicatior] .vindicator .silencer (1.0.9)


Skill Build
1 - Master's Incantation
2 - Sage's Lore
3 - Sage's Lore
4 - Master's Incantation
5 - Sage's Lore
6 - Final Chapter
7 - Sage's Lore
8 - Master's Incantation
9 - Master's Incantation
10 - Glyph of Silence
11 - Final Chapter
12 - Glyph of Silence
13 - Glyph of Silence
14 - Glyph of Silence
15 - Stats
16 - Final Chapter
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Sage's Lore and Master's Incantation is maxxed for the optimum of harassment. You can get one level of Glyph at 4 for the int steal but in my opinion its not game breaking while Incantation offers solid harassment and Last Hitting.

Lane Starting Items:
Monkey Courier or Wards of Sight, 2xRunes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, 2x Minor Totem

Core:
Power Supply >> Steam Boots >> Bracelet of Fortification >> Astrolabe

Steam Boots on Int while laning or farming, on str while in team fights or ganks. Astrolabe for survivability and support. You are partly responsible for setting up wards. Help buying them!

After Core:
Tablet of Command >> Kuldra's Sheepstick >> Frostfield Plate

More int and disable/utility items. Remember about the Wards...

Information:
Roles: Supporter
Properties: Babysitter
Prefered Lane: Any
Difficulty: 5 - Very Hard (Ult requires perfect timing and great awareness, you are very squishy)
Farming capabilities: 3 - Decent
Item dependancy: 2 - Low
Power:
- Early Game / Lane Control: 5 - Very Strong (Most annoying harasser)
- Mid Game / Ganks: 2 - Weak
- Late Game / Team Fights: 3 - Medium (Ult can be game changing in big clashes)

30-Seconds-Guide:
- Using Final Chapter at the right moment is easily one of the hardest moves in the game at the moment and depends on the type if Initiation you have. For example: Tempest requires an early silence to cast his Ult or with Shrunken Head directly after his Elemental Void ends. Behemoth is better off if the silence is ~1 second after his Shockwave, etc.
- Cast Sage's Lore right after your opponent uses a cheap spell so he can't easily get rid of it.
- Keep harassing with Sage's Lore. If you go out of Mana let the courier bring you Mana Potions.
- Use Master's Incantation mainly for harassing and let your carry get the lasthits.

Counters:
- Sage's Lore is the most annoying harass in the game. For some heroes it is unbearable while other shrugg it off (Armadon, Slither, Demented, etc). Swap Lanes to put those heroes up against him that can handle it best.
- If you get wrecked by Vindi early game you can do a bit of jungling/lanepulling.
- Or just keep flying in those Healing Potions to deal with it.
- Late Game vindi is no big deal. If he goes mass Int for damage he is very squishy.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

[Corrupted Disciple] .corrupted disciple .cd .razor (1.0.9)



Skill Build
1 - Electric Tide
2 - Static Discharge
3 - Electric Tide
4 - Static Discharge
5 - Electric Tide
6 - Overload
7 - Electric Tide
8 -Corrupted Conduit
9 - Static Discharge
10 - Static Discharge
11 - Overload
12 - Corrupted Conduit
13 - Corrupted Conduit
14 - Corrupted Conduit
15 - Stats
16 - Overload
17 - Stats+

Justification / Modifications:
Swap Static Discharge with Corrupted conduit if you go mid and fight a melee hero or an auto-attack reliant ranged hero such as Arachna, Engineer, Blood Hunter, ...
I suggest to always get one level of Conduit, latest at level 8 for the vision bufff.

Lane Starting Items:
2x Runes of the Blight, 2x Mana Potion, Duck Boots, 3x Minor Totem

"Tank" build:

Core:
Bottle >> Ghost Marchers >> Power Supply

Bottle is especially important if playing mid, you can skip it on the sidelanes. Get Power Supply in any case however.
Boots can be replaced by Steam or even Plated. Striders look bad on him.

After Core:
(Shaman's Headdress >>) Geometer's Bane >> Shrunken Head >> Wingbow >> Symbol of Rage

Some consider Headdress core, I say its situational. If you get it, upgrade it to Barrier Idol later. Geometer's is a soild all-round choice.
Consider Nullfire Blade after the Core if you need to Counter Hellbringer, Hammerstorm or Dark Lady.

Alternative Items:
- Mock of Brilliance: He is a decent Mock Hero, but needs Hotbl first. I consider this build inferior tho and only recommend it in pubs where you get a lot of freefarm.