Alhazred by lonelyfreak

Starting items:

Tango regenerates health so Mad Servant can survive the lane.
Healing Salve restores health also.
Clarity regenerates mana so Mad Servant can keep using spells at the beginning of the game
Iron Branch provides cheap attributes and builds into Magic Wand or Mekansm.
Observer Ward gives vision that may spot incoming enemy ganks.
Animal Courier ferries items to teammates.

Early game:

Magic Stick sustains Mad Servant with burst health and mana restoration so he can survive or use more abilities.
Boots of Speedgrants movement speed bonus so Mad Servant can get into position to use his skills to secure kills or save allies in time.
Town Portal Scroll gets Mad Servant to the right place to gank or counter-gank/.

Mid game:

Magic Wand also restores health and mana in burst, as well as giving some attributes.
Arcane Boots replenishes Mad Servant's and allies' mana so they can stay on the map.
Blink Dagger helps your positioning greatly and helps to pull off a good Cyclopean City.
Force Staff is useful on Mad Servant for a number of reasons. If you are having trouble farming a Blink Dagger, it can be a good alternative but getting both is also very good. The increased mana pool helps greatly with his ability to cast spells, and the item's active ability serves as a useful escape mechanism on a frail hero without escape abilities. The active can also be used on pesky enemy heroes who manage to avoid your AoE spells, giving them the literal push they need to step into the danger you have created.

Late game:

Black King Bar grants spell immunity so the enemies cannot easily interrupt Mad Servant during the rather long cast animation for Cyclopean City, though some abilities can pierce spell immunity so also has to consider Linken's Sphere as a supplement or an alternative.
Guardian Greaves gives passive armor and health regeneration for the team. The active is a nice heal and a useful debuff.
Refresher Orb allows Alhazred to use Cyclopean City twice, increasing the duration enemy targets are disabled and making it easier for allies to turn the tides of a teamfight.

Situational items:

Veil of Discord provides good stats and increased damage output if your team is struggling in that department.
Meteor Hammer gives Alhazred practically everything he could want. Health, mana, regen, and a really good follow-up to both Gaping Maw and Cyclopean City
Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives a lot of mana regeneration, some movement speed and intelligence, eliminating your mobility and any mana issues almost entirely. It makes landing Gaping Maw a breeze by disabling an opponent for almost exactly the delay duration of the skill.
Rod of Atos is a relatively cheap item that gives Mad Servant a lot of health, a lot of intelligence to increase the size of his mana pool, and a very long range root that can help him with initiating and ganking. The active allows him to set up Gaping Maw.
Linken's Sphere is an alternative to Black King Bar for when the enemy team has disables that ignore spell immunity, such as Primal Roar.

The Mad Servant is a strong support with abilities that can easily win a teamfight. To be the most effective he requires good positioning and benefits from having another initiator on his team for devastating combinations. He isn't the most powerful laning support but brings some harass through Tentacle Lash and kill potential in the form of Gaping Maw if can be landed. He is also a nightmare for vulnerable heroes that typically rely on skills or items for escaping like Anti-Mage, Mirana, Queen of Pain, and Tinker due to the silence and mute built into Benevolent Madness.

An effective skill build looks like the following:



Maxing Tentacle Lash first for the lowered cooldown is a high priority. Gaping Maw also has its cooldown and damage improved by levels so it makes sense to max this skill second. Taking a value point in Benevolent Madness early can help secure kills on slippery heroes and the damage amplification is substantial.

His talents are very flexible. At level 10 both talents have merit. The movement speed helps his positioning quite a bit and Mad Servant is a slower hero to begin with. However, the increased experience rate can help him play catch up or get ahead to those powerful upper level talents.

At level 15 the choice is just as difficult. Finding farm as a support is challenging to say the least and 120 additional gold per minute is nothing to scoff at. But extra cast range can do wonders for a fragile hero that doesn't want to be in the thick of it to cast his spells.

Level 20 presents a somewhat easier choice, Benevolent Madness is a REALLY strong ability and reducing it's cooldown by nearly half is something you probably don't want to pass up. The other option can be good if your team is lacking hard disables, although it is a little unreliable.

Lastly, at level 25 we have another rather simple choice. Making the delay between effects for Gaping Maw shorter is simply amazing. It makes the skill significantly easier to land and then combo into other abilities. As for the other choice, you will want to get if you took the root at level 20. Although, having 100% up-time on a 33% slow isn't half bad.

ENTERING BATTLE

Mad Servant

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Diruulth Jnun'lqamr wgah'nagl fhtagn

I serve!

He has sent me. Praise his dark name!

SELECTING

Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane.

I love dancing sober!

Is it just me, or am I crazy?

MEETING AN ENEMY

Bane
Your nightmares are sweet nothings compared to what I have in store for you.

MEETING AN ALLY

Warlock
Ah, a fellow author.

ACQUIRING AN ITEM

Necronomicon
I had forgotten where I put this.

That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.

Mask of Madness
Mask of Madness? What a familiar feeling!

MISC.

u ****ty wizard!