Above: Kyle 'Grimorum' Fong, with his two children that he and some of his fans affectionately call the 'Forged Spirits'
I recently had the chance to talk to Grimorum, regarding his gameplay experiences and certain strategies that have been used to counter the now-popular Invoker. Sharing his insights, he has shed light upon some facets of the hero that might have taken a typical player hundreds or even thousands of hours to internalise.
Hello Grimorum! Perhaps you'd like to tell us more and introduce yourself to us.
Hello, my name is Kyle Fong, 31, father of two, and full time college student. I absolute love killer instinct and Marvel vs Capcom both of which came out quite some time back. I play Invoker because he reminds me very much of the killer combos.
You're famous for your impeccable timing and discipline playing Invoker. Can you tell us more about how you have managed to get this far?
Passion and practice is most important. Perhaps I was obsessed, but there was a time where There were 100-200 games where I could not pick invoker because someone else snatched it first. Disregarding those 100-200 games, I played 4000 games consecutively with Invoker in Dota 1 and another 1000 games consecutively with Invoker again in Dota 2.
How did you get to be part of DotaCinema's 'Invoker's Raging Fury' series? What is your partnership like with them?
Helical stopped working due to personal reasons, so I simply messaged DotaCinema on YouTube. It was really great working with DotaCinema. They respected me and followed through with my requests, doing spectacularly well with the editing of the videos.
Invoker's Raging Fury 7, starring Grimorum. It was this series that catapulted him into recognition in Dota 2.
What do you think is important for a player to improve at his skill? It is no secret that Invoker is a difficult hero to utilise efficiently. Do you have any tips and tricks for us?
I wrote quite a comprehensive guide on steam, hopefully everyone finds it helpful. For most players, practice spells and combos on bots, and watch invoker gameplays in player’s perspective.
For more the more skilled players: deciding on which spells to use, anticipating needed spells, recycling spells, changing 1 orb to invoke, invoking in between attacks, and running an internal clock on every spell’s cooldowns, all of these are very important.
Perhaps you could enlighten us about the gameplay of Invoker. Do you think people often rely too much on what a single hero can do?
No, Dota is all about team-work and hero specialties. Maximizing each hero’s specialty is what makes the game so great.
Practice makes perfect. How many games have you played with Invoker?
About 6,400 in total I think. About 1,600 in oloUS in DotA, 3,000 in DotACash, and about 1,800 in Dota 2.
What is your opinion of the 6.81 patch nerf to Invoker? Do you think this will change his popularity or how he is played?
Invoker will still be a popular pick. The nerf hurts, but the more skilled players will not be greatly affected. The increased delay in EMP is reasonable and will not hurt Invoker too much; Quas-Wex is still the most reliable skill build, and I anticipate no change on his overall popularity.
Which do you think is more used by competitive and pub players? Quas-Exort or Quas-Wex? Why does Wex-Exort fall behind the QE and QW builds?
If an Invoker does not have cold snap, he is not worth playing. EW needs something that fits in the current meta. I think buffing alacrity and making it give armor to nearby creeps will make EW playable. This way, EW Invoker can play the role of the pusher at level 6. Competitively, Wex/Quas will be used much more than Exort/Quas. Pubs are realizing this new trend and following it too.
Most Invokers go to the middle lane to farm up on experience and gold. What about offlane/safe lane Invokers? Do you think they are viable, due to their survivability with Quas-Wex?
Off-lane Quas/Wex Invokers only work if opponents are not aggressive and do not zone him out. I don’t like safe lane Invokers unless it is a 1 v 1 match-up with someone he can beat or tie against. Another option for the safe lane Invoker is to assist the team with sunstrikes while they roam around with reliable stuns.
As an Invoker player, how would you counter opponents using the Quas Wex or Quas Exort build?
Hero picks can destroy the Quas Wex Build easily. Lycan, Pugna, Death Prophet, etc. can take down lanes and cares less about EMP. After taking down several towers, players can afford arcane boots and thus render Invoker's EMP obsolete. Besides Arcane boots, Magic Wand, Soul Ring, and Bottle work greatly to your advantage. Against the Quas Wex Invoker, positioning is of crucial importance, with baiting the EMP being another effective solution to counter the Quas Wex build.
For the Quas Exort build, gank Invoker between level 1-4. Invoker has only 280 MS and absolutely no spells at level 1! Even with cold snap, that spell does not provide much defense unless he is tower hugging. Forged Spirits are devastating, but they are useless against heroes with big crowd control skills.
Tide and Void nullifies the spirits for a good duration. Outworld Devourer and Witch Doctor are also good picks against the Q/E Invoker. Tower pushing teams also destroy the Q/E Invoker too because double spirits requires a minimum of level 9.
What is key to playing an invoker game? Is it positioning, timing, or using the correct spells?
It is a combination of all three pretty evenly. Picks are also super important. If Invoker gets shut down in the early game, it is very difficult to catch up because he does not have any early game flash farm abilities like Shadow Fiend.
How and when did you start playing invoker? What attracted you the most to the hero?
I started playing Invoker around 2003. What really got me was that his combos are absolutely mesmerizing! Most importantly, changing orbs pumps up my adrenaline. It feels like Marvel vs Capcom all over again.
You recently started making video tutorials together with Dominik 'hexOr' Buhmann. What inspired you to do so?
He seemed very commited to Dota videos, so I thought our collaboration would be a successful. It turned out great, he is very accomodating and great at editing.
Above is the Nuclear Strike tutorial, made in collaboration with Dominik 'hexOr' Buhmann. Here, Grimorum gives a few pointers for putting together different combinations for Invoker.
Any videos or collaborations in the works with other video makers?
Yes, hexOr and I are working together on another highlight video at the moment.
Any thoughts on the professional scene at the moment? Who is your favourite player?
I do not watch the professional scene anymore. Invoker was only picked once in 2013, and my current situation does not allow much time for gaming/watching anymore. A few years ago, my favorite player was Ferrari. Currently, I do not have a favorite player.
If you could make up your own lore about Invoker, what would it be?
I like the current one. I like Invoker too much to change anything. I would only add stuff like getting more spells lol.
On a side note, here is an a link to Grimorum's comprehensive Invoker analysis. Do follow him on Facebook, and take a look at his most recent account's Dotabuff profile, if you're interested.
