When do you build Mekansm on core heroes?

I have seen pro heroes build it on heroes like Razor and Viper. Is it effective in pubs? How do I know which non-support heroes to build it on?

Mekansm is considered as much better alternative to Vanguard on ranged heroes.If you want more tankiness on range hero, you get Mekansm.

• When you have the mana pool to use it (costs 150 mana, the stats from Mekansm give you +65 mana)
• When you want to be a bit more tanky (drums or Vanguard are the standard alternatives if you lack the mana pool for Mekansm)
• If your hero does not need another 2000 item asap (Blink Dagger for example)

The very important thing to understand if you get a Mekansm is this:

• A Mekansm activation at the right time wins a teamfight, thus if you have a Mekansm, you have to be with your team in every fight. Mekansm isn't like Vanguard in the sense that it's only an item that makes you tankier, it is meant to save the clutch heroes in your team during team fight.
• An example : if you play a split pushing Dark Seer (which is sometimes needed) it's maybe better if someone else in your team get the Mekansm, since you might miss some fights. If you get one anyway, the rest of your team won't benefit from it most of the time, and it's most likely that nobody is going to build a second one.
• The usual Mekansm gameplan is : you get it in less that 15 min and you start pushing as a team as soon as you have it.
• Also, you don't need a Mekansm in every game, especially if you have heroes that can heal others in your team. Sometimes a urn is enough cause you have tanky heroes that can't be bursted.

As the Mekansm carrier, you have to manage your mana carrefully in order to be able to use it at any time. If you have a low manapool (like Crystal Maiden) it can be better not to go for Mekansm, in order to land a full combo of your spells.

 

Viper and Razor both benefit a lot from extra durability and they can both happily build utility items because they aren't heavily reliant on items the way a hard carry is, in the past the game suggested building Vanguard for these two heroes, because they benefit both from the HP regen and durability as I said, but Vanguard is very bad for ranged heroes, and Mekansm provides both of these attributes, except better.

Some other non-support heroes that can be great Mekansm carriers: Huskar , Doom Bringer, Necrophos, Death Prophet, Bristleback, Alchemist,Beastmaster.

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