Can Force Staff be an alternate to the Blink Dagger ?

First off, I know that a lot of people use the Blink Dagger over the  Force Staff cause its "Better" so no ragers in the comment section plz.

The thing I want to know is that, If someone is having trouble using the Blink Dagger because it doesn't want to activate at all. Is the  Force Staff a good Alternate for it. I've seem to have better luck escaping and initiating fights with the  Force Staff than the Blink Dagger.

I just want to know that if the Force Staff is a good alternate to the Blink Dagger or is there something better than the  Force Staff? (that is reliable)



There are a lot of things that are different between these two items that need to be considered:

Initiation range

Blink Dagger has a 0-1200 range, Force Staff is a set 600. This means if you need the mobility to get into a very specific area, force is going to be difficult. Think the smaller AOE initiators like Axe, Sand King, Brewmaster, these benefit from Blink Dagger because it allows them to get right on top of their target from within the 1200 range, facing any direction. You could use a  Force Staff for initiation with certain heroes that have shorter range initiations, Shadow Shaman isn't bad, Lion, Vengeful Spirit, basically heroes that would use the ability to chase/initiate rather than AOE initiate.

Escape

If you are using your item to escape, both items have pros and cons, Force can be used even while taking damage but 600 range isn't a lot, and with a cooldown of 20s you will probably only get to use it once to run away. Blink Dagger is a shorter 12s cooldown but wont work if you are taking damage. Against a radiance carrier Blink Dagger kind of sucks for escape, but if you manage to get out of range of the burn you can Blink into trees without destroying terrain.

Damage

If you are an Int hero who does damage with right clicks, a Force can offer more to your game with the stats. Think Nature's Prophet, Invoker, Outworld Devourer. These heroes actually do damage with their auto attacks so having the Int from a Force CAN sometimes be better than Blink Dagger.

Execution

Move your Blink Dagger to your best hotkey, for some people this is a mouse button, or space bar. This will help you be able to spam it even while using your abilities and moving.

Overall

Blink Dagger is the flavour of the month right now because there is no longer a mana cost, so it becomes much more viable on support heroes. The lower cooldown allows higher skilled players to make greater escapes.... One thing to mention is that Force can be used on allies, so if you need to get your allies OUT of a situation, Force is great, think countering Chronosphere, Axe call, Shadow Shaman wards, Disruptor ult...

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