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21 Votes

Razor, Overseer of Carries

December 12, 2012 by AwesomeClock
Comments: 14    |    Views: 111449    |   


Hero Build

DotA2 Hero: Razor




Hero Skills

Plasma Field

1 3 5 7

Static Link

2 4 13 14

Storm Surge

8 9 10 12

Eye of the Storm

6 11 16

Talents

15 17 18


Razor, Overseer of Carries

AwesomeClock
December 12, 2012


Introduction


Introduction
Primary Roles: Anti-Carry/Semi-Carry, Ganker (Burst Damage)
Secondary Roles: Teamfight Support, Pusher

Lore:
"Among the emblematic powers that populate the Underscape, Razor the Lightning Revenant is one of the most feared. With his whip of lightning, he patrols the Narrow Maze, that treacherous webwork of passages by which the souls of the dead are sorted according to their own innate intelligence, cunning and persistence. Drifting above the Maze, Razor looks down on the baffled souls below, and delivers jolts of scalding electricity that both punish and quicken the souls as they decide their own fates, hurrying on toward luminous exits or endlessly dark pits. Razor is the eternal embodiment of a dominating power, abstract and almost clinical in his application of power. Yet he has a lordly air that suggests he takes a sardonic satisfaction in his work."

Summary:
A Hero that I feel is criminally underrated in public matches, Razor is a very aggressive Hero with powerful burst damage capabilities and thrives in the mid game. He fulfills an interesting role as a versatile anti-carry of sorts with high nuke potential. His Plasma Field is a nuke that gives Razor an edge while laning and ganking with its massive AoE and high damage. Static Link gives great early game damage and can potentially drain 224 damage from an enemy carry later in the game while Eye of the Storm reduces heavily armored Agility Heroes and beefy Strength Heroes to dust with its armor reduction. With his skillset, Razor can fulfill his role even while disabled and chase down targets without mercy with the mobility from Unstable Current

Razor
He is recommended for new players with some experience in the game that want to learn the basics of positioning.

Pros
-Strong mid laner
- Static Link and Eye of the Storm work even while stunned
-High movement speed and counter-purge from Unstable Current allows for some very aggressive play
-Can reduce a carry's damage to laughable amounts
- Plasma Field has a ridiculous AoE and high damage
-Arguably one of the flashiest Heroes in the game (Not even Zeus has a passive lightning-flies-everywhere look)


Cons
-Fragile early game
-Attack animation can be deceiving
-His skillset is completely negated by high-mobility Heroes and long range stuns
-Has no real stun or disable whatsoever
-Useless when spells are cast out of position
-Mediocre attack range

Skill Build

Justification:
Plasma Field is maxed first for its harassing and last-hitting capabilities for laning dominance. One level of Static Link is taken as its mana cost is almost negligible for what it provides and Unstable Current is maxed second as it is vital for Razor's aggressive nature.

Desc:
Plasma Field: A powerful nuke with great range, the downside is the fact that it needs to hit at almost maximum range to be effective. Though it is great for last-hitting and harassing at the same time in lane, use it sparingly as it will push the lane with its said ridiculous range. The best situations to use this ability is to initiate a gank, counterpush, push, and harass enemies at a safe distance.

Static Link: The ability that makes Razor a carry's worst nightmare, keep in mind this ability is not a channeled ability and can work even when Razor is disabled. It can also pseudo-reveal invisible units (no true sight), work through magic immunity, and even drain below 0 (as in, still gives Razor damage, it doesn't make attacks heal as hilarious as that would be).

Unstable Current: Gives Razor some movement speed and more importantly, purges any Hero that uses targeted abilities on Razor. Keep in mind that some abilities can negate the effect by simply targeting the ground instead of Razor (e.i. Lion's Earth Spike will not activate the purge effect if the ground is targeted instead of Razor.

Eye of the Storm: An ultimate that makes Razor a threat throughout the game, the DPS is quite good and the armor reduction greatly enhances the team's physical damage on low-health targets.

Item Build

Starting Build
Two Ironwood Branches and Slippers of Agility are taken with regen for general stats and to increase Razor's mediocre base damage.

Early Game
Ring of Aquila is taken to help with Razor's mana pool as well as a Magic Wand. Magic Wand is vital for Razor as he thrives at the edge of teamfights and ganks where spells are plentiful.

Mid Game
A plain Vitality Booster is taken to increase Razor's survivability and a Blade Mail is taken to help with Razor's vulnerability to nukes.
Because his abilities work even while disabled, a Blade Mail synergizes quite nicely with Razor as it will keep him somewhat safe while disabled or kill any casters that are ignorant enough to drop whatever they have on him (though keep in mind you are not a tank, more on this later).

Power Treads vs Phase Boots
A difficult choice as Phase Boots will provide bursts of mobility while Power Treads will increase Razor's health and mana pool. Personally I prefer Power Treads as it will make it easier to manage Razor's mana pool and survive while giving solid weapon speed, though it really comes down to personal preference.

Late Game Luxury Options
Heart of Tarrasque will greatly enhance Razor's survivability and sustainability between battles and can be built up from a Vitality Booster.
Butterfly provides some raw damage and is a good choice against carries that are difficult to disable with just Static Link such as Chaos Knight.
A Linken's Sphere will help against single-target spells if Blade Mail is not enough and a Satanic will essentially give Razor another life.

Situational Items
Radiance is a decent pickup if you are doing so well that you can rush it with Power Treads by the 25 minute mark.
Though Razor doesn't really need magic immunity, a Black King Bar can be considered as a replacement for Blade Mail if there are just too many powerful disables on the enemy team.
Spell resist items can be considered if there are too many nukes on the enemy team to survive.
Sange and Yasha can be gotten if you plan on getting both Manta Style and Heaven's Halberd, otherwise just build one or the other.
Manta Style is good on almost all AGI carries...
A Heaven's Halberd is a good pickup if you feel that you need some extra health and extra time for the drain from Static Link with the disarm active.
Boots of Travel can be gotten by selling your original boots to free up an item slot.

REJECTED
Desolator is not an ideal item on Razor as he already gains large amounts of armor reduction from Eye of the Storm and cannot afford a single-target pure DPS item early in the game. If you want a late game DPS booster, get a Daedalus instead.
Vanguard's damage block is halved on ranged Heroes and provides little benefit to Razor outside of the 6 health regeneration.
Though Razor's skills work under the effects of Shadow Blade, a single dust or sentry will turn make this item a complete waste.

Gameplay

Early Game
Razor is optimal as a mid lane solo, though he can lane with or partner or solo the safe lane just fine. Be careful until level 6 as Razor is quite fragile and can easily be taken out early in the game. If you feel safe enough, Static Link can be used to drain your opponent's damage to make last hitting easier, or punish anyone dumb enough to try and out-harass you with just auto-attacks.

Mid Game
Once Razor hits level 6, he becomes quite a scary with his ultimate. Get at least a Boots of. Speed if you plan on ganking and keep an eye on the other lanes for an opportunity.
When ganking, initiate with a maximum range Plasma Field behind your target and activate Eye of the Storm and Static Link. Move between each of your attacks and chase your target down. If needed, a second Plasma Field should be available for a second use to ensure a kill.

Team Fights
When it comes to team fights, Razor is typically seen at the edges, harassing with max range Plasma Fields. Once the actual fight starts, Razor's role is to disable the enemy carry as much as possible while providing constant damage and armor reduction on the rest of the team. Avoid being focused down too hard and remember to use Blade Mail to counter incoming stuns and high damage nukes.

The Blade Mail and You
One thing to keep in mind about Blade Mail is: RAZOR IS NOT A TANK! Blade Mail is not gotten as an excuse to run into the thick of battles with your AGI Hero health pool. Rather, it is gotten as a cheap item that will help Razor deal with disables and burst damage. The best times to use this item is right before getting stunned as it will keep people from attacking you (or have them instinctively attack you and kill themselves) or right when you see a heavy damage nuke (such as Laguna Blade) about to be cast on you.

Tread Switching
Power Treads has two advantages over Phase Boots: The weapon speed and more importantly, the ability to switch between STR and INT.

The STR is important to help with Razor's mediocre health pool, and INT helps with his mediocre mana pool. Remember to switch to INT before casting spells and otherwise switch to STR for survivability. You will have very little use for the AGI other than to make more use of regeneration items ( Healing Salve and Clarity).

General Tips
-Remember that Static Link will show the location of invisible units, even if they aren't revealed. Use it on Heroes such as Bounty Hunter to make them vulnerable to non-targeted abilities.
-Don't be afraid to use Eye of the Storm preemptively, it has a fairly low cooldown and a long duration.
- Razor's attack is actually a projectile that is separate from his whip animation. If you want to get used to the projectile's speed, buy a Desolator in a test game. The Desolator will reveal the projectile.

Friends and Foes

Best Friends
Disablers and Initiators such as Silencer and Tidehunter can help get Razor's skills ramped up to their maximum potential with little risk to him.

Carries with static damage steroids such as Phantom Assassin and Anti-Mage will love Razor's armor reduction, ganking capabilities, and damage steal from rival carries (just don't steal their farm).

Special mention goes to Anti-Mage for being, well, an anti-mage and other massive armor reduction heroes such as Dazzle and Slardar.

Worst Enemies
Heroes with spells that have either extremely high damage or a powerful slow/stun in the early stages of the game (especially non-targeted) such as Lina and Jakiro will cripple Razor with his mediocre health pool and necessity to get into position.

Special mention goes to Bloodseeker as Rupture HURTS on a Hero that constantly needs to be on the move. Same can apply to Keeper of the Light and Slark.

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