Bludgar
10-12-2009, 06:20 PM
There's another strategy guide out there for Puppet Master, but I'd like to submit one that increases your damage output quickly. Following this will help immensely in last-hitting, clearing creep waves, taking out towers, and being a great pusher. However, this build isn't for the timid. Any disabler becomes dangerous because you won't have a lot of health.
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/icon_128.jpg
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability1_128.jpg
ActionTarget EntityTypeEnemy Units
Type: Magic
Range: 600
Radius: 400
Cast Time: 1.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 115 / 140 / 165 / 205
Cooldown: 14.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Applies Puppeteer's Hold to target for 3 / 3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25 seconds. Target is constantly pushed toward the position he was at when Puppeteer's Hold was applied. If the target moves too far from this location, it will be forced back to the original position.
Status Effect
-10 / -15 / -20 / -25 Attack Speed
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability2_128.jpg
Type: Magic
Range: 700
Radius: 250 / 300 / 350 / 400
Cast Time: 1.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 125 / 140 / 155 / 170
Cooldown: 30.0 / 28.0 / 26.0 / 24.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Applies Craze Puppet to target for 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 seconds. If target comes within a 250 / 300 / 350 / 400 radius of any unit while Craze Puppet is active, it will be forced to attack that target until Crazy Puppet wears off.
Craze Puppet Effects
Forced to attack closest unit in a 250 / 300 / 350 / 400 radius. All attacks are non-lethal. Will target ally heroes first, then allied creeps, then closes unit within 400 range.
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability3_128.jpg
ActionPassive
6 / 12 / 18 / 24% Base Damage
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack
On every 5th attack, attacks do 125 / 150 / 175 / 200% normal damage and apply 25 / 50 / 70 / 100% splash damage in radius of 200. When not attacking, will reduce charges by 1 every 12/10/8/6 seconds (meaning at rank 4, if you're at 5 charges, your first hit will be a 200% damage hit in 24 seconds if you're not attacking)
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability4_128.jpg
ActionTarget EntityTypeEnemy Units
Type: SuperiorMagic
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 150 / 200 / 250
Cooldown: 150.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation
Spawns a Puppet near self that is linked to target.
Any damage taken by the Puppet is transferred in full to the target as Magic damage, regardless of the Puppet's remaining health. Damage is reduced by magic armor, but will go through magic immunity.
The Puppet has a maximum health of 450 / 700 / 950 and takes 160 / 180 / 210% damage.
Lasts until target gets more than 1500 units away from spawned Puppet, or until Puppet is killed.
Skill Build for Glass Cannon:
1. Puppet show (1)
2. Whiplash (1)
3. Whiplash (2)
4. Puppeteer's Hold (1)
5. Whiplash (3)
6. Voodoo Puppet (1)
7. Whiplash (4)
8. Puppet show (2)
9. Puppet show (3)
10. Puppet show (4)
11. Voodoo Puppet (2)
12. Puppeteer's Hold (2)
13. Puppeteer's Hold (3)
14. Puppeteer's Hold (4)
15. Stats
16. Voodoo Puppet (3)
17+. Stats
Why the build as it is: Puppet show is taken first in case you have an enemy who is getting cheeky and wants to try to gank you down. From there on, max out your whiplash. +24% base damage overall and +200% damage is going to help you farm so you can afford all the shiny toys you want. At level 4, when you need to pick something other than whiplash, you take puppeteer's hold in case you have the chance to get a quick kill. We'll cover strategies more later on.
Item build (Note: This will leave you extremely fragile, so make sure you know how to avoid a gank):
http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/45/Punch_Daggeritem.gif, http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/09/Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif
Starting items - punch dagger, runes of blight. I would not advocate this build for any other hero. I'm usually conservative and build stat items first always, but ever since I've started my puppet with this, I've gotten a lot more kills early game. However, you sacrifice a lot for the +9 damage, namely health. When you take this item to start, always keep your health above 60%.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/45/Punch_Daggeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a0/Gloves_of_the_Swiftitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/7d/Marchersitem.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/10/Enhanced_Marchersitem.gif
First items - (punch dagger above) + gloves of the swift + marchers = enhanced marchers. with your first 1k gold. If you're last-hitting well, this will only take you a couple of minutes and will provide a nice little damage boost, attack speed boost, and allow you to chase/flee before most people even have their marchers. By the time you get these, you'll be dishing out 100 damage in just under 1 second attacks.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/6c/Steamstaffitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a8/Bastard_Sworditem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/2/2a/Assassin%27s_Shrouditem.gif
Second Item - steamstaff + bastard sword + recipe = assassin's shroud. You're really fragile and you need an escape mechanism early on. When you get this, you'll be doing about 150 damage per attack at slightly over 1 attack per second. Also, even if they have a way to reveal you (i.e. pestilence), activating boots + shroud gives you 475 speed and unitwalking. Important: Activating shroud then boots will take you out of shroud. Always activate boots first. A lot of people think shroud is a waste on puppet, but I can tell you that it's saved me at least 3 deaths every game, if not more. This is a situational item depending on the competency of the enemy team, how well they chase, whether they carry dust or not, etc. In my experience (no, I NEVER play EM games), if there's no Scout or Night Hound on your team, the enemy will not usually bother bound eyes, and will rarely buy dust or invis detect wards. Remember to keep a cool head during fights. If you see your health start dropping, move to the outskirts where you can still deal damage, but run if necessary.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/6c/Steamstaffitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/9/9b/Neophyte%27s_Bookitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a7/Tablet_of_Commanditem.gif
Alternative Second Item: steamstaff + neophyte's book + recipe = tablet of command. A viable escape mechanism that will also help out fleeing teammates, tablet of command is a great little blink item. In addition to that, if there's a pesky hero staying just out of reach of your tower, the 800 range on this is perfect to surprise them and push them towards you, when you can then hold and puppet show them.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/1c/Hungry_Spirititem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/e/ed/Elder_Parasiteitem.gif
Another Alternative Second Item: hungry spirit + recipe = eldar's parasite. This is an incredibly interesting item. You get 17% lifesteal and, when activated, +100 attack speed and +20% move speed. This allows you to cycle through your whiplash faster. The added movespeed helps in chasing and escaping. The caveat is that you take an extra 30% damage, which makes you even more frail than you already are. If you're going to buy this item, you need to exercise extreme caution. It will help you take out creep waves and towers quicker, but if you use it against a hero, make sure that hero can't attack you back. Ideally, you'll activate this, run in, and cast a puppet show on an enemy, then do as much damage to them as possible.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/45/Punch_Daggeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/d/d0/Broadsworditem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/a/aa/Riftshardsitem.gif/128px-Riftshardsitem.gif
Third item - punch dagger, broadsword, recipe = riftshards. You'll have over 200 damage and the possibility to crit your opponent, even on a 400 damage whiplash. Leave this at level 1 until after you build your shieldbreaker.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/07/Warhammeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/07/Warhammeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a8/Shield_Breakeritem.gif
Fourth Item: warhammer + warhammer + recipe = shieldbreaker. This should make you a god on the battlefield. By the time you get this, you'll have nearly 300 damage per hit. Creep waves are gone in a single whiplash, which just fuels your gold pool. I usually have the highest creep kill count of anyone by the end of the game while spending the least amount of time in lane. By this point, your team is doing well and you're about to end the game or your team is doing poorly and you're carrying it with your damage alone. But that's okay, because your skills make you a powerhouse. Note: This is a situational item that is most useful mid-game. However, even late game, when used in conjunction with other armor-reducing skills (provided by your teammates), you'll get plenty of use out of it. If one of your teammates is announcing that they're building this, go for a Harkon's Blade instead.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/c/ce/Fleetfootitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/51/Quick_Bladeitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif =
http://honwiki.net/w/images/c/c3/Slashitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/16/Blessed_Orbitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/4e/Geometer%27s_Baneitem.gif
Fifth item: slash + blessed orb + recipe = geometer's bane. Whiplash is inherited by your illusions, so if you're doing 300 (600 on whiplash) damage per hit, your illusions are doing 100 (200 on whiplash). Few can stand up to that onslaught. In the words of one player "Finally, every dps build requires geometer's bane in there somewhere: after a certain point its impossible to match the dps increase two illusions give you."
http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/5e/Great_Arcanaitem.gif x3 = http://honwiki.net/w/images/3/38/Hellfloweritem.gif
Sixth item: great arcana x3 = hellflower. Puppeteer's hold + hellflower = dead hero. This item adds 60 damage, some good mana and mana regen, and a nice little attack speed boost. I've rarely gotten to the point where I've farmed for this because the game was usually over by this time. If you have a truly competent team, then you can steamroll a 5vs5 in a matter of seconds.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/5e/Great_Arcanaitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/3/32/Acolyte%27s_Staffitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/19/Harkon%27s_Bladeitem.gif
Alternative Sixth Item: great arcana + acolyte's staff + recipe = Harkon's Blade. If you're not against a magic-immune-intensive team, this is an excellent item to have. It drains 100 mana per attack, lowers their magic resistance, and turns your regular attacks into magic attacks. The downside is that if someone gets a shaman's headdress, this item is somewhat negated. This is a situational item. While it can sometimes be a bad pick, one thing to keep in mind is that adding to magic armor is finite, whereas a good AGI carry will naturally have higher regular armor, making Harkon's Blade more useful in the long run than shieldbreaker.
Strategies:
Early game in lane - There's a couple of different things to do here. If your enemy is getting a lot of denies but you're not and they're sticking too close to the creeps (in hopes of luring you in to nuke you), you can use your remaining creeps to kill your enemy. As they last-hit deny, run in for a puppet show where they have to face the creep wave. Then cast a puppeteer's hold on them and fire away. If you can, cast your ult too and try to finish them off. If they get away, DON'T CHASE. You're fragile and susceptible to ganking. Another strategy is to get last hits on the creeps, but hit the enemy hero with a whiplash. This is a great strategy if you're up against a melee hero because you can easily take 100 hp (after dam redux) every time you do it for no mana cost. Bide your time and save your mana for when you really need it.
Early-mid game - RUN! You're still building your set. Jump lanes to help gank IF you're sure your team can at least get a kill off. Keep your eyes open for a double damage rune on the river because a whiplash effectively gives you a 4x damage shot. Otherwise, stay in your lane and make sure your teammates are calling misses. If someone is missing, hug your tower. Remember that you can turn a bad chase situation into a kill if they get in range of your tower and you get a hold or a show on them while turning around to wail on them from behind.
Mid-game - By mid-game, you should be out-damaging everyone, period. Avoid chasing and keep out of range of disablers. You should have at least an assassin's shroud and enhanced marchers, so if the situation gets rough, get back. My experience is that if you don't have an invis-heavy team, your enemies won't bother with getting a bound eye. Worse they'll do is get dust and your should be out of range when they activate that anyway.
Late game - Late game carries will be catching up and surpassing you damage-wise. Since they'll need a tank, they usually won't be traveling alone. This is perfect for you because you can cast puppet show on their carry and puppeteer's hold on their tank and wail on the tank for an easy kill.
Pushing - Because of your high-damage output and splash radius, you should have no problem guiding a creep wave to the tower for a quick take-down. Your whiplash also triggers on towers, which means it'll fall that much faster. This makes you a great mid/late game pusher.
Problems you'll encounter:
-If you're having trouble surviving early game, a single fortified bracelet will usually do the trick for a bit of an hp boost.
-Against a well-organized team, you'll often be the first target. If you find yourself dying a little too often, farm a shrunken head. Your greatest strength lies in not getting disabled because of the damage you can do. You should never be in the center of the fight, but at the outskirts, close enough to unload your spells and wreak havoc with your attack.
-Invis units make it seem like your spells disappear, but the enemy is still there, whether held with Puppeteer's Hold or attached to a Voodoo Puppet. This is a pain when dealing with scout, nighthoud, madman, etc. Carrying some dust is a great idea so that you can quickly refocus on your enemy.
-You skills have slow cooldowns, so be cool and think before you cast something on someone. If you and/or your team won't be able to finish the kill, it's better not to waste the spells. All it takes is practice and patience to know the precise moment when you'll be able to seal the fate of your enemy.
-Disablers are your worst enemy. Avoid getting stunned at all costs, because the moment you're not dishing out damage, you're completely useless and it can mean the difference between your team winning or losing the fight.
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/icon_128.jpg
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability1_128.jpg
ActionTarget EntityTypeEnemy Units
Type: Magic
Range: 600
Radius: 400
Cast Time: 1.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 115 / 140 / 165 / 205
Cooldown: 14.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Applies Puppeteer's Hold to target for 3 / 3.75 / 4.5 / 5.25 seconds. Target is constantly pushed toward the position he was at when Puppeteer's Hold was applied. If the target moves too far from this location, it will be forced back to the original position.
Status Effect
-10 / -15 / -20 / -25 Attack Speed
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability2_128.jpg
Type: Magic
Range: 700
Radius: 250 / 300 / 350 / 400
Cast Time: 1.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 125 / 140 / 155 / 170
Cooldown: 30.0 / 28.0 / 26.0 / 24.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Applies Craze Puppet to target for 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 seconds. If target comes within a 250 / 300 / 350 / 400 radius of any unit while Craze Puppet is active, it will be forced to attack that target until Crazy Puppet wears off.
Craze Puppet Effects
Forced to attack closest unit in a 250 / 300 / 350 / 400 radius. All attacks are non-lethal. Will target ally heroes first, then allied creeps, then closes unit within 400 range.
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability3_128.jpg
ActionPassive
6 / 12 / 18 / 24% Base Damage
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack
On every 5th attack, attacks do 125 / 150 / 175 / 200% normal damage and apply 25 / 50 / 70 / 100% splash damage in radius of 200. When not attacking, will reduce charges by 1 every 12/10/8/6 seconds (meaning at rank 4, if you're at 5 charges, your first hit will be a 200% damage hit in 24 seconds if you're not attacking)
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/91/ability4_128.jpg
ActionTarget EntityTypeEnemy Units
Type: SuperiorMagic
Range: 600
Cast Time: 1.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 150 / 200 / 250
Cooldown: 150.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation
Spawns a Puppet near self that is linked to target.
Any damage taken by the Puppet is transferred in full to the target as Magic damage, regardless of the Puppet's remaining health. Damage is reduced by magic armor, but will go through magic immunity.
The Puppet has a maximum health of 450 / 700 / 950 and takes 160 / 180 / 210% damage.
Lasts until target gets more than 1500 units away from spawned Puppet, or until Puppet is killed.
Skill Build for Glass Cannon:
1. Puppet show (1)
2. Whiplash (1)
3. Whiplash (2)
4. Puppeteer's Hold (1)
5. Whiplash (3)
6. Voodoo Puppet (1)
7. Whiplash (4)
8. Puppet show (2)
9. Puppet show (3)
10. Puppet show (4)
11. Voodoo Puppet (2)
12. Puppeteer's Hold (2)
13. Puppeteer's Hold (3)
14. Puppeteer's Hold (4)
15. Stats
16. Voodoo Puppet (3)
17+. Stats
Why the build as it is: Puppet show is taken first in case you have an enemy who is getting cheeky and wants to try to gank you down. From there on, max out your whiplash. +24% base damage overall and +200% damage is going to help you farm so you can afford all the shiny toys you want. At level 4, when you need to pick something other than whiplash, you take puppeteer's hold in case you have the chance to get a quick kill. We'll cover strategies more later on.
Item build (Note: This will leave you extremely fragile, so make sure you know how to avoid a gank):
http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/45/Punch_Daggeritem.gif, http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/09/Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif
Starting items - punch dagger, runes of blight. I would not advocate this build for any other hero. I'm usually conservative and build stat items first always, but ever since I've started my puppet with this, I've gotten a lot more kills early game. However, you sacrifice a lot for the +9 damage, namely health. When you take this item to start, always keep your health above 60%.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/45/Punch_Daggeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a0/Gloves_of_the_Swiftitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/7d/Marchersitem.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/10/Enhanced_Marchersitem.gif
First items - (punch dagger above) + gloves of the swift + marchers = enhanced marchers. with your first 1k gold. If you're last-hitting well, this will only take you a couple of minutes and will provide a nice little damage boost, attack speed boost, and allow you to chase/flee before most people even have their marchers. By the time you get these, you'll be dishing out 100 damage in just under 1 second attacks.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/6c/Steamstaffitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a8/Bastard_Sworditem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/2/2a/Assassin%27s_Shrouditem.gif
Second Item - steamstaff + bastard sword + recipe = assassin's shroud. You're really fragile and you need an escape mechanism early on. When you get this, you'll be doing about 150 damage per attack at slightly over 1 attack per second. Also, even if they have a way to reveal you (i.e. pestilence), activating boots + shroud gives you 475 speed and unitwalking. Important: Activating shroud then boots will take you out of shroud. Always activate boots first. A lot of people think shroud is a waste on puppet, but I can tell you that it's saved me at least 3 deaths every game, if not more. This is a situational item depending on the competency of the enemy team, how well they chase, whether they carry dust or not, etc. In my experience (no, I NEVER play EM games), if there's no Scout or Night Hound on your team, the enemy will not usually bother bound eyes, and will rarely buy dust or invis detect wards. Remember to keep a cool head during fights. If you see your health start dropping, move to the outskirts where you can still deal damage, but run if necessary.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/6/6c/Steamstaffitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/9/9b/Neophyte%27s_Bookitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a7/Tablet_of_Commanditem.gif
Alternative Second Item: steamstaff + neophyte's book + recipe = tablet of command. A viable escape mechanism that will also help out fleeing teammates, tablet of command is a great little blink item. In addition to that, if there's a pesky hero staying just out of reach of your tower, the 800 range on this is perfect to surprise them and push them towards you, when you can then hold and puppet show them.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/1c/Hungry_Spirititem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/e/ed/Elder_Parasiteitem.gif
Another Alternative Second Item: hungry spirit + recipe = eldar's parasite. This is an incredibly interesting item. You get 17% lifesteal and, when activated, +100 attack speed and +20% move speed. This allows you to cycle through your whiplash faster. The added movespeed helps in chasing and escaping. The caveat is that you take an extra 30% damage, which makes you even more frail than you already are. If you're going to buy this item, you need to exercise extreme caution. It will help you take out creep waves and towers quicker, but if you use it against a hero, make sure that hero can't attack you back. Ideally, you'll activate this, run in, and cast a puppet show on an enemy, then do as much damage to them as possible.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/45/Punch_Daggeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/d/d0/Broadsworditem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/a/aa/Riftshardsitem.gif/128px-Riftshardsitem.gif
Third item - punch dagger, broadsword, recipe = riftshards. You'll have over 200 damage and the possibility to crit your opponent, even on a 400 damage whiplash. Leave this at level 1 until after you build your shieldbreaker.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/07/Warhammeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/0/07/Warhammeritem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/a/a8/Shield_Breakeritem.gif
Fourth Item: warhammer + warhammer + recipe = shieldbreaker. This should make you a god on the battlefield. By the time you get this, you'll have nearly 300 damage per hit. Creep waves are gone in a single whiplash, which just fuels your gold pool. I usually have the highest creep kill count of anyone by the end of the game while spending the least amount of time in lane. By this point, your team is doing well and you're about to end the game or your team is doing poorly and you're carrying it with your damage alone. But that's okay, because your skills make you a powerhouse. Note: This is a situational item that is most useful mid-game. However, even late game, when used in conjunction with other armor-reducing skills (provided by your teammates), you'll get plenty of use out of it. If one of your teammates is announcing that they're building this, go for a Harkon's Blade instead.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/c/ce/Fleetfootitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/51/Quick_Bladeitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif =
http://honwiki.net/w/images/c/c3/Slashitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/16/Blessed_Orbitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/4/4e/Geometer%27s_Baneitem.gif
Fifth item: slash + blessed orb + recipe = geometer's bane. Whiplash is inherited by your illusions, so if you're doing 300 (600 on whiplash) damage per hit, your illusions are doing 100 (200 on whiplash). Few can stand up to that onslaught. In the words of one player "Finally, every dps build requires geometer's bane in there somewhere: after a certain point its impossible to match the dps increase two illusions give you."
http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/5e/Great_Arcanaitem.gif x3 = http://honwiki.net/w/images/3/38/Hellfloweritem.gif
Sixth item: great arcana x3 = hellflower. Puppeteer's hold + hellflower = dead hero. This item adds 60 damage, some good mana and mana regen, and a nice little attack speed boost. I've rarely gotten to the point where I've farmed for this because the game was usually over by this time. If you have a truly competent team, then you can steamroll a 5vs5 in a matter of seconds.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/5/5e/Great_Arcanaitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/3/32/Acolyte%27s_Staffitem.gif + http://honwiki.net/w/images/7/72/Recipe.gif = http://honwiki.net/w/images/1/19/Harkon%27s_Bladeitem.gif
Alternative Sixth Item: great arcana + acolyte's staff + recipe = Harkon's Blade. If you're not against a magic-immune-intensive team, this is an excellent item to have. It drains 100 mana per attack, lowers their magic resistance, and turns your regular attacks into magic attacks. The downside is that if someone gets a shaman's headdress, this item is somewhat negated. This is a situational item. While it can sometimes be a bad pick, one thing to keep in mind is that adding to magic armor is finite, whereas a good AGI carry will naturally have higher regular armor, making Harkon's Blade more useful in the long run than shieldbreaker.
Strategies:
Early game in lane - There's a couple of different things to do here. If your enemy is getting a lot of denies but you're not and they're sticking too close to the creeps (in hopes of luring you in to nuke you), you can use your remaining creeps to kill your enemy. As they last-hit deny, run in for a puppet show where they have to face the creep wave. Then cast a puppeteer's hold on them and fire away. If you can, cast your ult too and try to finish them off. If they get away, DON'T CHASE. You're fragile and susceptible to ganking. Another strategy is to get last hits on the creeps, but hit the enemy hero with a whiplash. This is a great strategy if you're up against a melee hero because you can easily take 100 hp (after dam redux) every time you do it for no mana cost. Bide your time and save your mana for when you really need it.
Early-mid game - RUN! You're still building your set. Jump lanes to help gank IF you're sure your team can at least get a kill off. Keep your eyes open for a double damage rune on the river because a whiplash effectively gives you a 4x damage shot. Otherwise, stay in your lane and make sure your teammates are calling misses. If someone is missing, hug your tower. Remember that you can turn a bad chase situation into a kill if they get in range of your tower and you get a hold or a show on them while turning around to wail on them from behind.
Mid-game - By mid-game, you should be out-damaging everyone, period. Avoid chasing and keep out of range of disablers. You should have at least an assassin's shroud and enhanced marchers, so if the situation gets rough, get back. My experience is that if you don't have an invis-heavy team, your enemies won't bother with getting a bound eye. Worse they'll do is get dust and your should be out of range when they activate that anyway.
Late game - Late game carries will be catching up and surpassing you damage-wise. Since they'll need a tank, they usually won't be traveling alone. This is perfect for you because you can cast puppet show on their carry and puppeteer's hold on their tank and wail on the tank for an easy kill.
Pushing - Because of your high-damage output and splash radius, you should have no problem guiding a creep wave to the tower for a quick take-down. Your whiplash also triggers on towers, which means it'll fall that much faster. This makes you a great mid/late game pusher.
Problems you'll encounter:
-If you're having trouble surviving early game, a single fortified bracelet will usually do the trick for a bit of an hp boost.
-Against a well-organized team, you'll often be the first target. If you find yourself dying a little too often, farm a shrunken head. Your greatest strength lies in not getting disabled because of the damage you can do. You should never be in the center of the fight, but at the outskirts, close enough to unload your spells and wreak havoc with your attack.
-Invis units make it seem like your spells disappear, but the enemy is still there, whether held with Puppeteer's Hold or attached to a Voodoo Puppet. This is a pain when dealing with scout, nighthoud, madman, etc. Carrying some dust is a great idea so that you can quickly refocus on your enemy.
-You skills have slow cooldowns, so be cool and think before you cast something on someone. If you and/or your team won't be able to finish the kill, it's better not to waste the spells. All it takes is practice and patience to know the precise moment when you'll be able to seal the fate of your enemy.
-Disablers are your worst enemy. Avoid getting stunned at all costs, because the moment you're not dishing out damage, you're completely useless and it can mean the difference between your team winning or losing the fight.