Kitty Purry's Crystal Maiden Item Build

General Notes

I want to start by saying that I made this item build to get my friends' opinions on building Crystal Maiden.

As far as gameplay goes, You could level your Arcane Aura first to help your team's mana regeneration or you can go Crystal Nova to Nuke. This isn't meant to be a gameplay guide.

Item Breakdown

Starting Items

1x Animal Courier
4x Tangos
1x Observer Ward
1x Smoke of Deceit
2x Iron Branch
2x Clarity

You would start the game by purchasing the Animal Courier, remember to activate this immediately so that you have space to continue buying the rest of your starting items.

The next item to buy is tangos (accidents happen, this will avoid using your ward inside the fountain).

Under normal circumstances you would only need to buy one ward but, you'll have leftover gold to buy the second one if need be. I keep one in the shop at all times for teammates who want to place them at a specific location.

Smoke of Deceit has a ten minute re spawn time making it important to buy one at the very start to maximize the amount of smokes you have during the game.

Tangos can be more useful than giving half of them to the mid lane player, use them on Iron Branches for an extended duration. This can easily bring you back to full health while waiting on clarity to expire.

Speaking of which, you'll be using your Freeze spell to lock down enemies that get too aggressive and for last hitting making these necessary until level eight.

Early Game

1x Flying Courier
1x Observer Ward
1x Boots of Speed
1x Sentry Ward (2)
1x Magic Stick
1x Bracer
1x Town Portal Scroll
1x Ring of Basilius

I place the Flying Courier in my quick buy as I'm running towards the hard lane's rune. 3:00 is a long time and at that time you might find yourself in the middle of a fight or stacking a camp.

One observer ward, and I mean it. You need gold for your items and as long as the the ward spot near your lane covered your mid player will have a safe place to go every couple of a minutes.

Sentry Ward or Magic Stick? If the enemy team has a lot of gang potential (Mirana Ult, CLinkz...) then buy sentry wards before buying magic stick. If getting ganked isn't a threat, then buy a Magic Stick first. This is great item to have because of how well it works against aggressive heroes like Bristleback.

Having a Bracer will give you the damage you need to last hit, alongside health. Buy a Null Talisman instead if you plan on buying Veil of Discord.

Keep a scroll on you; better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Ring of Basilius is optional. If you decided to max Crystal Nova over Arcane Aura then you may need this if you have mana problems.

Core Items

1x Tranquil Boots
1x Magic Wand

Before going into details, Keep your core items short and to the point to give you time to think about what items are needed exactly.

Rylai will have a low health pool and slow movement speed until you farm enough gold for better items, use these in the meantime. I want to add that I'm against Power treads because

A) Attack Speed isn't important unless you're building to be a carry. The attack speed won't help much either if you're building for disabling.

B) Changing aura's to match your situation can be tedious and inaccurate without practicing. Not to mention if you switch to let's say agility to push down a tower (for example), your team may insult you.

C) Price, you really should be careful spending money, Crystal Maiden isn't cheap.

Last but not least, Magic Wand. This can save your life during and after a team fight.

Late Game Items

1x Gem of True Sight
1x Black King Bar
1x Aghanim's Scepter
1x Bloodstone
1x Ocatarine Core
1x Shiva's Guard

Let's start by splitting this up into four categories.

Luxury
Late Game
Surplus Gold
Extension

Gem of True Sight is the definition of having a luxury item, you won't need this against some lineups. this isn't core unless you're against heroes like techies or a fed Riki. Don't buy this if you're team is under farmed despite how much some people will cry for it.

Black King Bar and Aghanim's Scepter are your late game items. Black King Bar prevents enemy spells from interrupting Freezing Field While Aghanim's improves the damage and slow effects. Pay attention to what the enemy team is building, if you notice there are items for Black King Bar then having one of your own may be preferable than buying Aghanim's Scepter first.

Late game items shouldn't be confused with Surplus Gold Items (save for buyback before buying carry items). This is where point boosters come into play. You could save for either Octarine Core or Bloodstone. Buy Bloodstone first when both teams are pushing eachother in and trading kills. Buy Octarine Core when your team is winning those small team fights in the late game.

Here are the Author Notes from the in game item build.

Octarine Core: Surplus gold (Carry Item) Gives your spell damage life steal and provides stats.

Bloodstone: Surplus gold (Carry Item) Provides stats and a self deny, when activated; otherwise, heals nearby teammates upon death. The self deny also reduces re spawn time saving your buyback for later.

I include Shiva's Guard because it is a personal favorite item of mine. Overall, this is a good extension item because it gives Rylai more damage and more slows.

Situational Items' Notes

I won't go into details like I did with the other items. Instead, I'll show the author notes I wrote.

Blink Dagger: Often a core item because you can blink and freeze your enemies. Vice versa with Force Staff.

Dust of Appearance: Combos with mobility items, slows and has a wider range than sentry wards.

Drums of Endurance: Consider buying this before selling your Bracer. The attack and movement speed is great when your team is mostly melee.

Aether Lens: Focuses on Rylais' disables by increasing her spells' cast range.

Shadow Blade: Use before casting Freezing Field to position yourself and let the cool down expire; Use during Freezing Field to escape (cancels channeling).

Pipe of Insight: Provides you and your teammates with a barrier absorbing 400 spell damage. Buy Mekanism instead if farm is a problem.

Eul's Scepter: Additional disable; can be used defensively.

Glimmering Cape: Counter to magic damage. Glimmering Cape can be used either before or after casting Freezing Field.

Ghost Scepter: Counter to physical damage. Use before casting Freezing Field so you're not stuck unable to attack or worse, cancelling your own ultimate.