5 branch
bottle

and you can own all

after own you can buy boot of travel - lothars (windwalk > blink imo) - heart/bkb - deso/bfly - game over

start: 1 circlet, 2 branch, set of tangos, chicken
then get w/e u need on chicken, bottle/magic wand/bracer, if needed
boots / blink
bkb
travels

never buy bottle first, very noob.

for nubs
bracer
null
phase
bottle
tango
qBlade

for pros
no items
skill > items

Quelling blade on ranged hero = Phail

This post was edited by kyny91 on Sep 1 2009 11:28am

Well Bottle as a "core" item isnt incorrect. Its the first item you buy AFTER laning items. I know that wasnt what those guys meant, but its still correct. Obviously you start with Salve / Tango / Stats when going in a lane, but bottle will most probably be the first extension to that you will buy in a game. Thats a completly different thing than bottle when entering a lane...

Also i dont think anyone denies that SF isnt the best 1on1 hero. It tries surviving the early laning phase somehow and racking up damage bonus untill it can lasthit properly. It still wont have awesome lane control, but farming your core items reasonably fast, possibly with a few ganks of your teammates helping you out in the lane, and you can be devastating midgame with the right lineup and lategame with the right farm.




Yeah, its not really necessary



Not true anymore since the popularity of Magic Stick / Staff is on the rise...

EDIT: Nevermind, i was thinking 4 per team. 4 per game is a reasonable number and still applies in 6.61...


EDIT:
Stat + Reg Starting Items
Bottle Optional
Some Additional Stats if you need them + Boots
Dagger
BKB and BoT. Which one first depends largely on the situation of your team and the opposing lineup. The more freedom you have to farm, the more effective BoT is over BKB, but if youre constantly in teamfights or being ganked, BKB is stronger to have first.
HoT or Bfly as said
Desolator or HotD Satanic
Buriza

If youre a little low on gold after your BKB you can get a diffusal instead of Hot / Bfly / Deso, but i dont like it that much. Manta is viable as a lategame extension after Hot or Bfly, but as ranged illusions dont benefit from pure dmg but only from stat based damage, it doesnt synergize well with your charge bonus


This post was edited by Pascal3000 on Sep 1 2009 11:41am

The core issue where SF becomes a great 1v1 hero is solely because - the outcome of 1v1s is determined by

a) creep stats
b ) general positioning
c) harassment

Viper (netherdrake) is truthfully The 1v1 hero for usual 1v1 matchups (the exchanges of poison strikes makes it extremely competitive), but SF can be used - as I believe I've mentioned, low early damage, eventual buildup, and good harassments - Another reason why SF is used is because it actually takes some skills to hit Razes correctly.

This post was edited by ApostleOfGod on Sep 2 2009 11:07pm