6.84 Item Guide

This is a brief overview of the new items introduced to 6.84 and the situations in which you'd build them.

Overview

With the advent of 6.84, eight new items have been introduced to the game. Most of them have been designed with the mid- to late-game in mind, and are directed at both cores and supports. Following is a brief overview of the items themselves, what they do, the heroes they suit and the situations in which you could or should build them.

The information contained within this guide is purely opinionated, but should serve to provide a basic understanding of what's in store.

Enchanted Mango

Costs 150 gold, and provides +1 HP regeneration passively. The item can be consumed, restoring 150 mana instantly.

One mango takes up one inventory slot.

When should I buy this?
Thinking of the mango as a one-use soul ring, a number of heroes can get some good use out of it. It's very strong on heroes where a quick burst of mana can confirm a kill that would otherwise escape: Bristleback, Storm Spirit, Queen of Pain, and Tusk should consider bringing one to lane. Consider taking one into every major teamfight if you're playing a hero plagued with mid-fight mana problems, such as Sven, Chaos Knight or Ember Spirit.

When shouldn't I buy this?
The Mango is an extremely inefficient item for mana restoration, costing roughly 3x that of a clarity for the same regeneration. As such, it's unsuitable for support heroes who primarily roam and can regenerate mana through clarities while doing so.

Glimmer Cape

Builds out of Shadow Amulet (1400g) and Cloak (550g), for a total cost of 1950g.
Gives +30 attack speed and +20% magic resistance.

Active: Glimmer - Targets an allied unit, providing them with invisibility on a 0.4 second fade time. This invisibility lasts 5 seconds. While invisible, the unit also gains 66% magic resistance. Movement will not break the invisibility, but attacking or using abilities will. If broken, the affected unit will "re-invis" after a 0.4 second fade time, provided that 5 seconds have not elapsed since the active was used.

16 second cooldown. 900 cast range (!), and can be cast while channelling (!!!)

When should I build this?
This item is absolutely amazing and will win you practically any equally-matched fight unless detection is involved. It's core on heroes with long channels such as Witch Doctor and Enigma, and between the invisibility and magic resistance it becomes obnoxiously difficult to stop your ultimate without both detection and disables. Basically any support can pick this up to cast on your carry in fights, think of it as a super-charged, single-target moonlight shadow. If you have no invis hereoes and, as a result, the enemy team lacks sentries, dust or a gem, a stealthy pickup of a glimmer cape almost guarantees saving a life in the next teamfight.

When shouldn't I build this?
As with any invisibility, more of it means more sentries means it's less effective. If you already have heroes such as Bounty Hunter and Clinkz on your team that mandate the use of sentry wards and dust, it's going to be a relatively useless pickup.

Lotus Orb

Builds out of Perseverance (1750g), Platemail (1400g) and a Recipe (900g), for a total cost of 4050g.
Gives +5 HP Regen, +125% Mana Regen, +10 Damage and +10 Armour

Active - Echo Shell - Targets an allied unit and, after dispelling negative debuffs (but not stuns), applies Echo Shell for 6 seconds. While this buff is active, any targeted spells will be cast back at their user.

17 second cooldown, 100 mana cost, 900 cast range.

When should I build this item?
This is a very solid teamfight item, but as it does not actually block the spells, it's generally outclassed by either Linkens or BKB. Most heroes who would want the Echo Shell buff wouldn't want the item itself, so it's mainly a lategame support pickup. It's best built against teams, not single heroes, with gamechanging single target abilities: Doom, Beastmaster, and Sven, and is one of the few hard counters to Tinker's permahex antics.

When shouldn't I build this item?
As a core, I can't think of a single situation where this item would be ideal. It's mostly a wasted slot, as the stats aren't so great and you can't use the active on yourself if you're already disabled. It's also less than desirable against team BKB, but can be picked up as they lower in duration or if any of their targeted abilities ignore spell immunity.

Moon Shard

Builds out of Hyperstone (2000g), Hyperstone (2000g) and a Recipe (300g), for a total of 4300g.
Gives +120 attack speed and 250 night vision.

Can be consumed to permanently gain 60 attack speed.

When should I build this?
Moon Shard is an odd item, and exists mainly to provide +60 attack speed as "7th slot" item. Obviously, every carry should buy one of these once they are six slotted, as it might just give them the edge over the enemy carry. Still, it's a good fourth or fifth item on heroes who thrive on attack speed above all other attributes such as Sniper and Faceless Void, as it's relatively cheap and can be consumed later when you need the space.

When shouldn't I build this?
Most carries benefit more from Mjolnir or Assault Curiass, and attack speed by itself doesn't match their utility. In my eyes, Moon Shard is a buyable +60 attack speed buff for the ultra-late-game, as it's simply outmatched by the other core items, especially with the diminishing returns on attack speed in comparison to lightning procs and minus (or plus) armour.

Guardian Greaves

Built from Arcane Boots (1350g), Mekansm (2300g) and a Recipe (1650g), for a total cost of 5300g.
Gives +55 movement speed, +250 mana, +5 all stats and +5 armour

Passively provides Guardian Aura, giving 2 armour and 4 health regeneration to allies above 20% health, or 15 armour and 15 health regen to allies below 20% health.

Active: Mend - Restores 250 health and 160 mana, while removing negative debuffs from the caster. 45 second cooldown.

When should I build this?
Generally, don't. It's definitely the weakest item of the patch, and really doesn't offer much provided how expensive it is for a support item. Still, it's very well suited towards Dazzle, Oracle and Chen, as they naturally build arcanes and mek and the extra slots are welcomed as a support. It also makes the Dazzle + Huskar combination stronger than ever, as the armour and regen are actually quite significant in a vacuum.

When shouldn't I build this?
The recipe cost is absolutely staggering, and you should always consider: Do I need this, or do I need a ghost scepter, or force staff, or a eul's, or boots of travel... As a support, gold is in short supply, and Guardian Greaves are just horribly inefficient.

Solar Crest

Builds from Medalion of Courage (1200g) and Talisman of Evasion (1800g) for a total cost of 300g.
Provides 10 armour, 75% mana regen and 30% evasion.

Can be used on a target in the same way as Medalion of Courage, granting 10 armour and 30% evasion to allies or removing 10 armour and applying a 30% miss to enemies, lasting 7 seconds.

When should I build this?
Almost every game, as a support, it ruins enemy carries and empowers your own. I fully expect to see a Solar Crest on each team, every single game, once people realise how powerful it is. It mandates the purchase of a BKB and MKB, especially for strength carries. Still, it's rather expensive, so get it after your Medalion of Courage and a utility item or two, such as a force staff.

When shouldn't I build this?
It's an expensive item for a support, and it's useless against BKBs. If the enemy carry goes for MKB before BKB, though, you're much better off just getting a halberd. Other than that, it's a very strong item as long as you have the gold for it.

Silver Edge

Builds from Shadow Blade (2800g), Sange (2050g) and a Recipe (350g), for a total cost of 5200g.
Gives +32 damage, +30 attack speed, +16 strength and has the lesser main passive.

Active: Shadow Walk - Makes the user invisible for 14 seconds, same as Shadow Blade, but deals 225 bonus damage upon breaking invisibility and disables the passives of the target. Also reduces their total damage by 40%.

75 mana cost, 24 second cooldown.

When should I build this?
This turns Slark into an absolute monster and brings Dragon Knight, Legion Commander and even Huskar back into relevance. If you're playing a ganking carry and the enemy team is going light on the detection, this is a must, even if you pick it up after a blink dagger. The active is absolutely brtual and destroys anyone without a BKB, and the stats aren't too bad even for the high cost.

When shouldn't I build this?
On agility carries it might not be worth "upgrading" your Shadow Blade until late game, especially on heroes such as Juggernaut or Troll Warlord where your pray has no chance of turning on you to begin with. Generally, though, if you build a Shadow Blade you'll want a Silver Edge at some point in the game.

Octarine Core

Builds from Mystic Staff (2700g) and Soul Booster (3200g), for a total of 5900g.

Gives +25 Intelligence, +450 HP, +400 Mana, +4 HP regeneration and +100% Mana regeneration

Passively lowers all cooldowns by 25% (!) and lets you lifesteal off of spells: 5% for creeps, 25% (!!!) for heroes.

When should I build this?
This is the lategame item that lets Leshrac, Timbersaw, Zeus and even Skywrath Mage turn into absolute, unkillable monsters. After you have your usual core together, Octarine Core offers an amazing, if expensive, sixth slot item. It's also good as a super-luxury item on any heroes with long cooldown ultimates, such as Enigma and Tidehunter, and can have some niche use on Necrophos and Bristleback.

When shouldn't I build this?
Don't rush this item. Please. Bloodstone, mobility and generally BKB should be your priority on any hero Octarine Core is good for: This is an item focused towards the absolute endgame, and is actually worse than bloodstone, but works very well once you've completed your core.