Magina The Anti-Mage Item Build Guide

Twin sons to the great Prophet, Terrorblade and Magina were blessed with divine powers: Terrorblade granted with an unnatural affinity with life forces; Magina gifted with energy manipulation. Magina's eventual overexposure to the magics gradually augmented his elemental resistances and bestowed him the unique ability to move faster than light itself. Now, broken by Terrorblade's fall to the dark side, Magina answers the Sentinel's call in a desperate bid to redeem his brother. Every bitter strike turns the Scourge's evil essences upon themselves, culminating in a finale that forces his enemy to awaken to the void within and spontaneously implode. 

Although Magina is called the Anti-Mage, there is a wide debate about how effective he actually is against Intelligence heroes. Even though Magina has Spell Shield to protect him from spell damage, his low HP, reliance of physical attacks and the fact that he is melee makes him very vulnerable against disables which happen to be the type of spells that Intelligence heroes have. What makes it worse is that Anti-Mage is a hero with very bad lane control, his Mana Break burns very little mana and Mana Void only becomes useful after the target has already finished casting his/her spells. Nevertheless, he has received a huge buff thanks to the Blink Dagger change, and he is one of the few carries with a blink type ability.

Mana Break

Mana Break is your primary offensive ability. This skill allows you to deal exceptionally large amounts of damage with little investment as well as severely debilitate any hero that your blade meets. It is what makes your enemies fear you and is what allows your ultimate ability to function. When attacking heroes the damage dealt per hit with Mana Break is reduced by 40%. Therefore, level 4 Mana Break only does 38 damage per hit. However, the amount of mana burnt remains constant.

Each attack burns mana based on spell level.

Level 1 – 16 mana per hit.
Level 2 – 32 mana per hit.
Level 3 – 48 mana per hit.
Level 4 – 64 mana per hit.

Orb effect.

Blink

Blink is infamous for being one of the most versatile and powerful skills in the game. This along with Mana Break makes up the focal point of your hero. Blink gives the Anti-Mage maneuverability that is unmatched by any other hero. Proper Blink usage is what can make or break an Anti-Mage.

Short distance teleportation that allows one to move in and out of combat.
Costs 60 mana.

Level 1 – 12 second cooldown.
Level 2 – 9 second cooldown.
Level 3 – 7 second cooldown.
Level 4 – 5 second cooldown.

Spell Shield

Nifty is the word that sums up this ability. Although extremely useful this is a skill that requires little mention, just watch as Finger of Death only scratches you and leave it at that.

Magina channels a powerful warding magic, damping the negative effects of spells.

Level 1 – Reduces magic damage by 10%.
Level 2 – Reduces magic damage by 20%.
Level 3 – Reduces magic damage by 30%.
Level 4 – Reduces magic damage by 40%.

Mana Void

Probably the skill that newbie players manage to botch up more than any other, Mana Void will be the source of many of your kills throughout the game. To explain it better let us look at a Pugna with 1200 mana. If this Pugna has 1200/1200 mana then Mana Void will do no damage to him. If Pugna has 600/1200 mana then level 3 Mana Void will do approximately 600 damage, as Pugna is missing 600 mana and Mana Void deals damage per each point of mana missing. If Pugna has 0/1200 mana then Mana Void will deal a whopping 1200 damage.
The power of this skill increases greatly as the game progresses. Early in the game it will often only have the potential to deal 200 damage to heroes like the Centaur but later will be an instant kill for unwary Intelligence heroes and still deal a good chunk of damage to any hero, Intelligence or not Intelligence.
This ability is really your finishing move. It is your fatality, so to speak. After you’ve burnt away all of your enemy’s mana with Break and after he’s foolishly wasted his spells on you to get you off of him you finish him off with Void.
Note that Mana Void also stuns the hero for a very short period. This can, surprisingly, turn the tide of a battle during the early part of the game as well as cancel channeling spells and things of that sort. Let me assure you that the mana cost of all three levels of this skill will become very, very familiar to you after playing this hero. I’ll probably remember them when I’m in the nursing home screaming for a diaper change.

Creates a powerful void in an enemy unit caused by a lack of mana. For each mana point missing, the unit takes damage.

Level 1 – .6 damage per mana point missing. 175 mana cost.
Level 2 – .85 damage per mana point missing. 225 mana cost
Level 3 – 1.1 damage per mana point missing. 275 mana cost.