Magnus is a melee strength initiator. He is a somewhat popular mid pick-up in competitive play, where his ability to quickly nuke down creep waves gives him good lane control.
He is primarily picked for his ultimate – Reverse Polarity – which allows him to disable any enemies within a 410 unit AoE for up to 3.75 seconds.
Skills
Shockwave is usually skilled and maxed first
Empower is skilled and maxed last.
Skewer is skilled and maxed first. Skill it first if you fear a level 1 gank.
Reverse Polarity is always skilled (levels 6, 11 and 16).
Items
Starting Items: Tangos, Healing Salve, 3x Iron Branches, Gauntlets of Strength.
Early Game: Bottle, Boots of Speed, Magic Wand.
Core Items: Arcane Boots, Blink Dagger.
Luxury Items: Drums of Endurance, Force Staff, Refresher Orb, Ghost Scepter, Black King Bar, Shiva's Guard, Heaven's Halberd.
Situational Items: Boots of Travel, Vladmir's Offering, Necronomicon, Pipe of Insight.
