Magnus Overview

Lore & Bio

"No, I blame no one who covets my horn. But to desire more than sight of it is a guarantee of death."

Deep in the volcano area of Mt.Joerlak is the home of a four-legged and horned creature named magnoceros whose horns attract hunters because of the high value of them in smithing. These horns are more precious than any alloy as any weapons smithed from them are mesmerized. The biggest and sharpest horn belongs to a beast which is called Magnus.

For many years, Magnus has become the target of hunters but instead of running away, he really enjoys that and toys with them. Whenever he returned to his cave, there were stained gores shattered on his hooves and horns. Sensing the imminent threat, the chief of the Magnoceroi tribe requested the hero and other residents to flee to the North. But with his pride as a true warrior who never failed to defend his tribe refused this idea without any hesitation. He declared Mt. Joerlak was still a safe place to stay no matter how many attacks from the hunters.

Then one day, Mt. Joerlak wasn't as peaceful as It used to be. It erupted without any sign of warning which put the life of the Magnoceroi tribe on the line. Half of the residents were burned to death or smothered by the ash and smoke. Observing the death of his kin, Magnus eventually changed his mind and pushed all the survivors to the north. Unfortunately, hundred hunters armed with bow and steel sieged them on their fleeing way. Magnus had no choice but to fight back. He singled out the fiercest brothers and sisters to clash with these men and let the elders, mothers and calves vanished into the thin air. 

No one knows what happened after this fight. Some say Magnus claimed the victory and rejoined with his kin while others say he died in the battle field. But none of them are correct. Magnus is on his way hunting down who is responsible for the eruption of Mt. Joerlak as he didn’t believe that was an accident. Then he will rejoin with his kin when everything is done.

In-game, Magnus is described beautifully as such: 

“Enemies who are foolish enough to gather learn to fear the horn of Magnus. Able to pull nearby foes together, he can batter them with empowered attacks or skewer them with his horn to bring them before his merciless allies.”

Attribute & Stats

• Strength: 25 + 3.2 each level;

• Agility: 15 + 2.5 each level;

• Intelligence: 19 + 2.1 each level;

• Health: 700;

• Health regeneration: + 3 each second;

• Mana: 303;

• Mana regeneration: + 0.95 each second;

• Damage: 57-65;

• Amor: 3.5;

• Magic Resistance: 25%;

• Turn Rate: 0.8;

• Attack Range: 150;

• Projectile speed: Instant;

• Attack Animation: 0.5+0.84;

• Movement: 305;

• Sight Range: 1800/800;

• Base Attack time: 1.8 seconds per attack;

• Damage Block: 16.

Abilities & Talents

Skills building guide

This build tends to maximize your farm at lane in the early game. In the first three levels, you should add one point in Shockwave, Empower and Skewer. Then the first and the second abilities you should max out are Empower as it helps you to farm quickly to get golds for the core items.

After maxing out these abilities mentioned above, now it’s time for Skewer. Skewer is more useful in the mid or late game as it can be used to initiate the combat or to isolate the enemy carries to stop them from dealing damage on your allies. 

And do not forget to put a point in the ultimate whenever possible!

Abilities

Shockwave

Shockwave (Unit Target, Magical) 

Effect: Magnus swings his spear, hits the ground and sends out a wave which causes damage to the enemy units in a line, pulls them toward him and slows them for a few seconds.  

Mana cost:  80/90/100/110

Cooldown: 13/12/11/10

Cast Range: 1200

Damage: 75/150/225/300

Wave Distance: 1200

Wave Radius: 200

Number of Shockwaves: 1

Move Speed Slow: 75%

Pull Distance: 150

Pull Duration: 0.2

Slow Duration: 0.9

Upgraded by Aghanim’s Scepter:

• Effect: Three shockwaves will be sent out when Magnus’s spear hits the ground at 30- degree ankles. These waves will come back, deal 75% damage and cause a pulling effect.
• Returning Damage: 56.25/112.5/168.75/225

Notes:

The projectile travels at 900 speed.

The Shockwaves travel at a speed of 900, taking 1.333 seconds to reach the maximum distance.

With the travel distance and radius, it can hit units up to 1400 range away.

Hit enemies are pulled towards the center of the Shockwave and towards the cast location. The further enemies are from the center of the shockwave, the stronger the pull force is towards its center than towards the cast location. Pulls hit enemies 150 range over 0.2 seconds, resulting in a speed of 750.

The shockwaves first apply the debuffs, then the damage.

Plays an initial sound and particles upon start casting.

The slow of multiple casts does not stack, it only refreshes the duration.

Slows and damages Roshan but does not pull him.

With Aghanim's Scepter icon.png Aghanim's Scepter, the extra Shockwaves are launched with a 30° angle to the left and right of the centered Shockwave. Although the areas of all three waves overlap heavily, an enemy may be hit by only one of them. Upon reaching max distance of 1200, the Shockwaves return to the original cast location. 

The returning Shockwaves act like separate casts, cast by invisible dummies. Therefore, enemies at the very tip may only be hit once. This is because Shockwave does not hit units behind the caster, so units hit by it 200 range beyond its max travel distance do not get hit upon returning. 

On the other side, units 200 range beyond the original cast point do get hit by the returning waves. The returning Shockwaves can hit previously already hit enemies a second time, and also pull enemies towards the cast location as well.

Empower

Empower (Unit Target, Physical)

Effect: Magnus rears and grants an allied unit the bonus damage and cleave effect on their attack while Magnus receives a 75% larger bonus. 

Mana cost: 45/60/75/90

Cooldown: 40

Cast range: 800

Cleave Damage:  10%/20%/30%/40%

Attack Damage Bonus: 12%/20%/28%/36%

Starting Radius: 150

Cleave Distance: 650

End Radius: 360

Self Bonus Factor: 1.75

Duration: 40

Notes:

When cast on self, grants 17.5%/35%/52.5%/70% (Talent 35%/52.5%/70%/87.5%) cleave damage and 21%/35%/49%/63% (Talent 38.5%/52.5%/66.5%/80.5%) attack damage. ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically targets self.

Only increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute of affected units. Raw bonus damage is not increased.

The unit's current main damage is periodically checked, and the bonuses adapted instantly. The damage and cleave increasing Talent talent instantly upgrade the current instance as well.

Grants melee targets cleave and attack damage, and ranged targets only attack damage.

Cleave damage cannot be amplified with outgoing spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.

• Can be amplified by incoming spell damage amplification.
• Cleave damage is reduced by Damage Block.
• Cleave damage depends on the attack damage value of the cleaving unit, not on how much their primary attack target took.
• The complete cleave area is shaped like an isosceles trapezoid in front of the attacking unit.
• Fully stacks with other sources of cleave. Each source of cleave works completely independent.
• Does not cleave upon attacking wards, buildings or allied units. Wards and buildings are unaffected by cleave.
• Despite the visual effect, cleave damage is applied instantly in the whole area.

Skewer

Skewer (Point Target, Magical)

Effect: Magnus rushes towards with the glowing tusk. Any heroes hit on the way of Skewer will be dragged with him, dealt some damage and briefly slowed as well.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0.33

Cast Range: Global

Mana cost: 80

Cooldown: 22/20/18/16

Max Skewer Distance: 900/1000/1100/1200

Damage: 70/150/230/310

Radius:145

Move Speed Slow: 10%/20%/30%/40%

Attack Speed Slow: 25/30/35/40

Slow Duration: 3.25

Notes:

Magnus charges at a speed of 900.

Moves Magnus in 30 range instances. When targeting any distance which is not a multiplier of that number, it gets rounded down. This means the minimum possible distance is 30, and the actual maximum distance is 900/990/1080/1200 (Talent 1320/1410/1500/1620).

During the Skewer, Magnus is fully disabled.

Enemy heroes within 145 radius around Magnus get moved in front of him and dragged along.

Dragged heroes are stunned during the drag, and land 200 range away in front of Magnus at the end of the charge.

Can only drag heroes, including illusions, clones, and creep-heroes.

Can charge through and drag enemies over impassable terrain.

Skewer first applies the slow debuff, then the damage.

Destroys trees within 200 radius during the charge.

Horn Toss

Purchasing Aghanim’s Shard will unlock this ability: Horn Toss (No Target, Magical) 

Effect: Magnus tosses enemies in front of him over his head and to the rear causing damage and stun them when landing.

Cast Animation: 0.2+0.79

Mana Cost: 125

Cooldown: 30.0

Air Duration: 0.6

Stun Duration: 0.8

Notes:

Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.

Horn Toss's search area is a circular segment with a radius of 325, and cutting off and at a total angle of 230°. This means it affects units in front of Magnus, and to his left and right up to a certain degree.

The center of the search area is located 75 range in front of Magnus, which approximately aligns with the position of his horn. This means Horn Toss can hit units up to 400 range in front of Magnus.

Enemies are always tossed at a location between 180-210 range behind Magnus, varying based on where they were in front of him.

Enemies are moved over Magnus' head, in an arc with a height of 300, and varying lengths. The toss always takes 0.6 seconds. Enemies are fully disabled during the toss.

The damage and stun are applied upon landing. This means enemies are effectively stunned for 1.35 seconds.

Horn Toss first applies the damage and then the stun upon landing.

Stuns and damages Roshan but does not toss him.

Reverse Polarity

Reverse Polarity (No Target, Magical)

Effect: Magnus creates a circular shape around him which sucks all the enemies within this shape in front of him, stuns them for a few seconds and deals damage.

Cast Animation: 0.3+1.3

Mana cost: 150/225/300

Cooldown: 130.0

Damage: 75/150/225

Stun Duration: 2.75/3.25/3.75

Radius: 410

Notes:

Instantly pulls all affected units 150 range in front of Magnus.

Reverse Polarity first applies the debuff, then the damage.

There is no limit of how many units can be affected.

Stuns and damages Roshan but does not pull him.

The particle effects and a sound effect start playing at the beginning of the cast.

Effective items guides

Early game

Tango

Tango: provides health sustain during laning phase.

Bottle

Bottle: will save Magnus trips to the fountain since the mana rejuvenation works well with his low mana.

Magic Wand

Magic Wand: will provide him both bonus attributes as well as more sustain.

Boots of Speed

Boots of Speed: provides movement speed early on.

Mid game

Power Treads

Power Treads: besides, provide Magnus some attack speed, you can switch between strength for more damage or intelligence to cast more abilities.

Blink Dagger

Blink Dagger is very useful if you want to initiate the combat or catch the enemy carry. You can use it to gank any unguarded enemy to take the advantage before the teamfight.

Shadow Blade

Shadow Blade grants Magnus with attack speed and damage increases. With Shadow Blade’s ability, Shadow Walk, Magnus can get in or out the teamfight safely.

Force Staff

Force Staff can be used with Skewer to approach the enemy, to put yourself in a good position to cast Reverse Polarity or to run away.

Aghanim's Shard

Purchasing Aghanim’s Shard can unlock new ability Horn Toss which gives you more chances to create a wombo combo.

Late game

Black King Bar

Black King Bar: makes it easier for Magnus to use his ultimate as he can place himself in the middle without being interrupted

Refresher Orb

Refresher Orb: gives Magnus more regen and the ability to cast his ultimate in a shorter time period

Situation items

Enemies & Allies

Allies

Snapfire

Mortimer Kisses can deal huge damage to enemies caught with Reverse Polarity.

Anti-Mage

A good target for Empower, if he has Battle Fury. Reverse Polarity is also a good set up for Mana Void

Enigma

Reverse Polarity with and without Skewer can both be a good Black Hole for Enigma

Invoker

Reverse Polarity makes a good setup for his Tornado, Sun Strike or Chaos Meteor

Phantom Assassin

Another good target for Empower and one of the best sources of burst physical damage due to Stifling Dagger, Phantom Strike and Coup de Grace

Sven

Sven: is a perfect target for Empower, especially when with items that give attributes. Empower also stacks with Great Cleave. Reverse Polarity is also a good setup for Storm Hammer

Troll Warlord

Troll Warlord: the melee form skillset of Berserker’s Rage is the best target for Empower

Phoenix

All Phoenix's abilities are great in combination with Reverse Polarity.  Fire Spirits and  Sun Ray can do a lot of damage to enemies caught by Reverse Polarity, or with  Supernova, it can deal huge damage and create another stun after Reverse Polarity's stun. On the other hand, Reverse Polarity can save Phoenix's  Supernova from being destroyed, since it pierces through spell immunity.

Kunkka

Reverse Polarity can set up well for the Torrent and Ghostship combo. The hero is also a good target for Empower due to Tidebringer.

Tiny

Empower greatly increases Tiny's damage output combined with the cleave and bonus damage from Tree Grab and also massively increases the damage from  Tree Volley as Tiny commonly builds Aghanim's Scepter icon.png Aghanim's Scepter. Reverse Polarity keeps all units in one spot, creating an opportunity for Tiny to do huge amounts of damage from his AoE nuke abilities, especially  Tree Volley when he has Aghanim's Scepter.

Counters

Rubick

Rubick: he can steal Magnus’s abilities and use them on his allies.

Night Stalker

Dark Ascension reduces vision for the enemy team, which makes it more difficult for Magnus to initiate with Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity. It is also more likely that Night Stalker will scout out Magnus with Aghanim's Scepter and Gem of True Sight, after which he can silence Magnus with  Crippling Fear.

Sniper

Shrapnel can sometimes scout out Magnus and also place his Blink Dagger on cooldown. Aside from that, Sniper likes to stay far back behind enemy lines, so it's difficult to catch him with Reverse Polarity unless you already have vision on him and can Skewer him to the rest of his team.

Treant Protector

Treant Protector can usually scout out Magnus in the trees with  Eyes In The Forest and disrupt his initiation attempts. He can also counter Magnus' initiation with  Overgrowth.

Zeus

Zeus can easily find Magnus who is often hiding in the trees with  Thundergod's Wrath and  Lightning Bolt, which allows him to warn allies and disrupt his initiation attempts.

Venomancer

Similar to Night Stalker, Venomancer can simultaneously scout Magnus hiding in trees and put Blink Dagger on cooldown with  Plague Ward, which gives Magnus problems when trying to blink in and initiate.

Disruptor

Disables Magnus using Thunder Strike, Glimpse and Static Storm.

Jakiro

Deals damage over time which can disrupt Magnus’s Blink Dagger and Reverse Polarity. Macropyre also disables Blink Dagger considerably.

Spectre

Disables Blink Dagger with her ultimate.

Tinker

Tinker cand disrupt and disable Magnus’s Blink Dagger with March of the Machines and Heat-Seeking Missile, delaying initiation or force Magnus to use Skewer or Force Staff

Items Counter

Favorable Matchups

Game plan

Early game

You must focus on farming as much as you can. Use the Empower and Shockwave to farm quickly and clear the creeps. Remember to control the creep way in the middle of your lane or close to your neutral camps which can guard you against the gank from the jungle.Besides, Shockwave  is also good at harassing the melee enemies if they intend to get close to the creeps to farm. 

If there is any teammate around you, you can find a good position to cast Skewer to push the enemy towards the jungle position and get the potential kill. When you already clear the creep wave in the mid lane, consider farming some jungle creeps to increase your golds.

Mid game

Your priority is still farming but be ready to engage in any imminent fights.With the Blink Dagger, you can play a little bit more aggressive. After clearing the creep waves in your lane , you can start roaming to other lanes to get more kills and to destroy the enemy towers. You should use your ultimate carefully because the enemies are scared and not aggressive if your ultimate is up.

Late game

Your objectives in the late game are quite the same with the mid game but this time you drive your focus on engaging in the teamfight. With the BKB and Blink Dagger, you can activate these abilities, jump into the middle of the enemies and cast Reverse Polarity. 

The opponents will be blown up instantly. When gaining advantage from the teamfight, you and your team should focus on the key objectives on the map like Roshan and Tower and snowball the game.