Thursday, December 22, 2011

Guide To The Magnataur, Magnus


Maybe the most tremendous being on the Scourge, Magnus is a power to be reckoned with. Trained from birth to become a potent warrior, he is now at the peak of his strength. The Magnataur's giant axe can cleave paths through his enemies, and create a bone-breaking shockwave that ripples through the ground. Further strengthened by a demonic magic that enhances his attacks, he can crush enemies with shocking ease. His greatest power, though, is the ability to create an immensely strong magnetic field, sucking in helpless foes to meet their end.


Stats:
Strength: 21 +2.75/level
Agility: 15 +1.8/level
Intelligence: 17 +1.65/level
Base Damage: 49-61
Base Movement speed: 315

Although rarely picked, Magnug is a physical DPS monster which is the horror of each low-HP hero. With his perfect skill synergy he can make easily double-, tripple- and even ultra-kills. He gets stronger the longer the game proceeds because he needs some items to unlock his full potential. In version 6.67 he were remade: Empower(60% bonus dmg) and Mighty Swing(50% cleave) are now one skill named Empower(45% bonus dmg and cleave) and he received a new ability called Skewer.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
-Spammable Nuke with good damage for harrassing, pushing and lasthitting
-Excellent pusher
-Good stat gain
-Good base armour and MS
-Incredible high damage
-45%(!) cleave
-Very good damage-buff which is casteable on allies
-4s stun with 410 AoE!!!
-Excellent skill synergy
-Can solo very well


Cons:
-Huge target
-Can´t use BKB because it removes Empower
-Easy to counter with spells like Blind
-No disable except by his ultimate
-Slow AS
-No escape spell(Skewer got 45s cd so it isn´t an escape spell)


When to pick:
-When your team needs a physical damage dealer
-When your team needs a carrie
-When your team has got lots of AoE spells
-When your team needs an additional solo/duallaner
Skills:

Quote:
Shockwave
A wave of force ripples out from the Hero, causing damage to land units in a line.
All levels: 150 AoE, 850 distance, 500 casting range, 90 mana cost
Level 1: 11s cooldown, 75 damage
Level 2: 10s cooldown, 150 damage
Level 3: 9s cooldown, 225 damage
Level 4: 8s cooldown, 300 damage

A very usefull Nuke with low mana cost, good damage and a low CD. Usefull for pushing, harrassing and lasthitting. Hits invisible units.
Note: The range of the Shockwave is higher then its casting range, so you can hit targets which are outside of your casting range.


Empower
Ally or self castable buff. Temporarily provides Bonus Attack Damage(base damage only) and Cleave(for melee units).
All levels: 40 mana cost, 12s cooldown, 30s duration
Level 1: 15% cleave/attack damage bonus
Level 2: 25% cleave/attack damage bonus
Level 3: 35% cleave/attack damage bonus
Level 4: 45% cleave/attack damage bonus

The remake of Empower contains now both cleave and bonus damage. originally it gave 60% bonus dmg, now it grants 45% and cleave. Although nerved, still a very good buff. Raw bonus damage isn´t increased, only base damage and bonus damage from the main attribute of the target. Cleave hits invisible units.

Skewer
Magnataur rushes forward, goring enemies on his massive tusks.
Hits up to two units max. Charges up to 800 range max. Units hit will be stuck with you until you reach your targeted point, at which point they will be slowed by 40% for 2 seconds.
All levels: 80 mana cost, 45s cooldown, 800 range, 40% slow, 2 units hit
Level 1: 50 damage
Level 2: 100 damage
Level 3: 150 damage
Level 4: 200 damage

Magnus´ new skill, it replaces the old Mighty Swing. A great skill: You can use it to push enemies together for placing your ulti, chase fleeing heros or just walk over cliffs or threw trees. Cons are the high cooldown and the low damage. You can´t target magic immun units but you´ll hit them if you target a point behind the target. Magic immun units won´t take damage from Skewer, doesn´t hit invisible units. This is the range of Skewer:


Reverse Polarity
Through some unknown property of matter, the Magnataur sucks all nearby enemies to a location in front of him and stuns them with a powerful slam, dealing damage.
All levels: 410 AoE
Level 1: 200 mana cost, 120s cooldown, 2.5s stun, 150dmg
Level 2: 250 mana cost, 110s cooldown, 3.25s stun, 225dmg
Level 3: 300 mana cost, 100s cooldown, 4s stun, 300dmg

The skill which allows Magnus to rape 4 low-HP heros without losing a single life. This spell can definitely change the outcome of a team battle from a horrible defeat to a victory without any losses. With good placement you can disable the complete enemy team for 4(!) seconds and pull them all together, making them vulnerable for any kind of AoE spells. Try to look to your allies when you use Reverse Polarity because it pulls the enemies in front of you where your allies can reach them more easily. This is the AoE of Reverse Polarity:
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As you can see, our spells work perfectly together:

This video doesn´t show me, so don´t blame me for getting a HotD on Magnus :P
Skill Build:

Quote:
1. Shockwave[1]
2. Skewer[1]
3. Shockwave[2]
4. Empower[1]
5. Shockwave[3]
6. Reverse Polarity[1]
7. Shockwave[4]
8. Empower[2]
9. Empower[3]
10. Empower[4]
11. Reverse Polarity[2]
12. Skewer[2]
13. Skewer[3]
14. Skewer[4]
15. Stats[1]
16. Reverse Polaritiy[3]
17-25. Stats[10]
Of course Shockwave is maxed first, then Empower because it grants us now both, cleave and bonus damage. We take one level on Skewer because with further levels only the damage gets increased(50 per level what´s realy bad).
Item Build:

Quote:
Starting Equipment:
( )
Feel free to decide yourself what you buy. Normally you don´t need a Null but if you want to have some extra mana you can get one.

Earlygame items:
()
We farm PT-STR and complete the Null if you decided to buy one, then we continue with our core.

Core items:
/
Dagger is the first core item you buy! Don´t get anything else before you completed your Dagger! It´s absolute necessary for ulti placement. Then we continue with a Crystalys. It´s very cheap and gives us the damge we need for making kills. To improve our DPS we get a MoM or an Armlet afterwards.

Mask of Madness or Armlet of Mordiggian:
Both items are possible, you have to decide yourself which you get. I listed all the boni those items grant and rated how useful they are for Magnus. Of course regen is always useful but it doesn´t help Magnus as much as additional AS for example.
Green=Useful
Red=Not useful

MoM for 1900 gold:
+17% Lifesteal
+100 AS and +20% MS
Other pros and cons:
[-]You take 30% extra damage
[-]Can´t turn it off
[+]Very cheap and easy to farm

Armlet for 2800 gold:
+40 damage
+25 AS
+5 Armor
+25 Strenght
+3 HP regen
Other pros and cons:
[-]You loose 35 HP per second
[+]You can turn it off whenever you want
[+]The 475 bonus HP can save your life
[-]Costs nearly 1000 gold more then MoM

Both items got their pros and cons, MoM is cheaper but you can´t turn it off. The 100 AS from the MoM are just as well as the damage and the AS from the Armlet. If you farmed very much or made many kills you should get an Armlet due to the bonus HP which can save your life and the possibility to turn it off whenever you want.

Core extensions:

BF is an awesome item on Magnus. It gives you mana- and hp-reg, cheap damage and increases you cleave to 80% what is nearly splash damage. You already got a Crystalys so why don´t upgrade it to Buriza? It gives +75 damage and a 2.4x crit what´s in combination with Magnus´ cleave absolutely devastating. If there are many low-HP heros in the opponents team get the BF first, if you have many opponents like Centaur or Huskar get Buriza first.

Luxury items:

HoT and Assault increase Magnus DPS greatly but games which last long enough to farm these items are unusual and often the game will be over before you finish your second core extension.

Situational items:

If nobody gets Wards you can buy some. If you have invisible opponents wards on Magnus are very usefull when placed after initiating(dagger+ulti). If you want to ward I recommand reading those guides:
Warding basics
Heldarions total warding
Seeing is Beliving, or Rape
And of course Magnus is a good gem carrier.

Here is a picture how your complete inventoy looks like and how much dmg you deal with Empower:

417 average damage=146 cleave from BF+188 cleave from Empower=334 total cleave damage

Rejected items(for Magnus as a Carrie):


Seems to bee a good idea but removes Empower when activating!


2x Ulti during a team-fight=auto-win but don´t buy it! You simply don´t have the mana for using your ulti twice and the refresher. In addition to that there are items ways better then refresher for the same price!


2x Lifesteal + insane damage from Empower=auto-fail. You aren´t a tank! You attack the opponents while they are stunned or disabled and don´t run into them without any disable.


Raw bonus damage doesn´t count for Empower, so a divine gold waste.


Seems to be a good idea but Burzia is ways better for you. With the crit from Buriza and the AS from the MoM you deal much more damage then Radiance does during 4s.


Gives only raw bonus damage, just 15 AS and is ways too expensive.


You will only attack the opponent when he´s stunned or disabled so it´s a waste. With your great modell and your insane damage you are a favored target for your enemies and because you don´t have that much HP and can´t get a BKB you´ll die very fast if the enemies attack you.


The only orb which is useful for Magnus it the MoM because of the additional AS. If you bought an Armlet you don´t have an orb but I wouldn´t recommand any orb on Magnus except by MoM because there are other items which are ways better for Magnus.


Don´t buy 2 BFs, get a Buriza instead. We don´t need futher reg and Burzia grants more damage and crit. Passive cleave+crit+1x BF > passive cleave+2x BF+no crit
Magnus as a supporter:

Quote:
Some people say that Magnus is a good supporter as well but I got a different oppinion:
-His skillset doesn´t fit to an Supporter:
-Shockwave: AoE nuke
-Empower: His only support spell, but not very usefull for your carrie because BKB removes it
-Skewer: Only a bit more usefull for you team then any other slow
-Reverse Polarity: Sounds like a very good support spell but you have to use Dagger for a good placement and your team wastes valuable seconds while the enemies are stunned for following Magnus
-He doesn´t have the mana for items like Guinsoo´s, Refresher, etc...
-He´s a much better carrie then a supporter
Many people asked for an item-build for Magnus as a supporter, I still don´t recommand it but here are some item suggestions:

Optional items:
Gameplay:

Quote:
Earlygame:
You can´t make kills alone so do what everyone does: Make lasthits and denies. You can use Shockwave to make lasthits and harras the enemies simultaneously due to its good AoE. Shockwave gives you a good lane control and you can use Skewer for pushing an enemy to your tower. If you have a duo lane with a stunner or disabler you go next to a disabled enemie, use Skewer to push him away from his allies/his tower attack him a few times and then finish him off with a Shockwave.

Midgame:
Now you are getting strong. Try to gank as often as possible with Reverse Polarity and ensure your team valuable kills. With Empower you can keep up farming very easily and finish your BF and you MoM. Normally you initiate with your Dagger->Reverse Polarity->Attack combo meanwhile your team follows. Use Skewer or Shockwave for killing fleeing enemies. Skewer is a very usefull skill. You can use it for pushing the enemies together:
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Seperate them from their allies:

Or just for preventing them from escaping:


Lategame:
Very similar to the midgame: Gank with your allies using Skewer and Reverse Polarity if you allies don´t have a stun. With Empower level 4 you should be abled to farm every creep wave in a few seconds. If you use you Shockwave on the ranged creeps(Druids and Necromancer) they survive with ~20 HP sp always attack them once before you use Shockwave. With a good placed ulti your team should be abled to win almost every teamfight or make at least 3 kills. Always buff your carrie or if he got a BKB another physical damage dealer. Try to end the game ASAP before other carries get stronger. With his Shockwave and Empower Magnus is a awesome pusher so push and force the enemies to deff. Then Dagger into them and finish them with your team off.
How to escape:

Quote:
Escape with Skewer:
Of course you can use Skewer for escaping too but due to its high cooldown of 45s it isn´t that a good escape spell like Time Walk or Ball Lightning for example. Try to run over cliffs with Skewer so that the enemies can´t follow you. But don´t try to escape threw a line of threes because Skewer destroys those trees:
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Escape with Reverse Polarity:
A 4s stun is a 4s stun so don´t be afraid of using it for escaping, it can save yours or the life of a teammate. Here I use Reverse Polarity for saving my mate playing PotM:


The ramp-trick:
If the enemy is direct behind and you can neither use your Dagger nor Skewer, run to a ramp and do this:

This works only if the enemy is realy close to you:
1. We move on top of a ramp
2. We turn around an look when our enemy is nearly on the top
3. Then we run down the ramp, when he just reached the top
General gameplay tips:

Quote:
Tower cycling:
If you´re getting attacked by a tower you can use this trick for changing the towers target. Press [A] and left-click on an allied, non-deniable creep in the towers range:
Best friends and worst enemies:

Quote:
Friends:

Anyone with good AoE spells

Best friends:

The combination of Magnus ulti and the AoE/Multi-Target spells of these heros is absolute deadly! Magnus and one of these heros are abled to win every team-fight, even a 2v5 situation will be easy to handle(kill them all).

Enemies:


If Omni is abled to cast Guardian Angel after you Daggered in your ulti will still stun them but you won´t be abled to damage the enemies what makes your initiation pretty useless.


Magnus hates mana-burn, blink, and Static Link


Never attack this bitch directly! Magnus with -80% AS is as usefull as a silenced Storm.       

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