Anouk... I know that you are pro and all but i dis-agree. I max out lance (duh), take level one doppel and then may juxtapose... Its good for farming, breaking towers and may on occasion make your opponent use a spell on your illusion. Also, i believe it has a psychological effect   Lancer has a good agility gain and as he attacks fast, your illusions are created fast. It lets you break the 1st tower on lanes rather quickly... And with a percy, you dont run out of mana very easily. Just my opinion

sorry nigel...i dont agree lol ....you see...doppelwalk's lvl1 mana cost is over 100 (i cant remember what it actually is  )...and lancers mana pool isnt brilliant....ok so you take juxtapose...now you're gonna have like 1 or 2 images popping out every 20 seconds or so as lancers attack speed isn't fast enough yet...and they're gonna do next to no damage (round 10 damage or less early game, not factoring in armour reduction)....so it really wont help you last hit a tower...as one hit from the tower to your images will kill them  .... (and in clan games players are more careful of using their spells on illusions...trust me....) plus...theres a higher chance early game that they'll use a spell on a doppelwalk illusion than a juxtapose illusion.....whilst lancer indeed has a good agility gain...it doesnt show itself until around mid-game.....all the best lancer players i've seen in the sl room...such as shiham and spykey_tks (i dont see lancer being played much unfortunately )....they all max doppel and lance early and get juxtapose later...and due to that they are almost always on beyond godlike halfway through a game.....even in league games with european players and iceiceice's (ks player) lancer..which is considered the best lancer in asia....he gets juxtapose after maxing out doppel and lance...
now to show you why doppel maxing is more effective....you have farmed 2 time blades (alacrity) (needed for diffusal and then manta) quite fast....but before you can buy them you get ganked and die and cant escape cos you have 60 mana...(which is what lvl 4 doppel requires)...therefore your late game carry potential gets reduced by just that much and you need to start farming even more now...you died there cos you only have a lvl 1 doppel....(as you have been spamming lance)...would your images from juxta save you or your doppel?.........now another case...you're going in for a kill and you have 180/190 mana....but you know you need both doppel and lance to get the kill...so you use doppel to close in unnoticed....but they still escape as you couldn't follow up with lance...if you lance them first...they see it coming and run before you can catch up....if you had lvl 4 doppel and lance...you could go upto them invis and lance them to death when their health is in range...and you have the exact mana requirement to pull it off.....

PS: i dont think im pro or anything...just saying what needs to be said in order to help guys improve in a game...the same that others did for me when i start playing a game ...i can play a decent support role but im not good playing carry as i prefer ganking to farming lol

duh who says lancers mana pool is not good its the 2nd best of an agiltiy hero next to madusha i thnk!! and i prefer to up lance 1 dopplle and 4 stats make intel pwr thrds 800 odd mana wi percy u can lance and nevr run out of mana until da hero dies!! try it!!ask angle!!

lol...thats your opinion man.....watch the best players in the world play lancer..(dota all-stars has it) and see if they get juxta early.....and lancers mana pool maybe the 2nd best from the agility heroes..but that doesn't mean its good enough to spam lance and walk as effectively as you could if you just maxed walk and lance first....you can argue all you want with me....but if you ever play a clan match against the malay guys or any other foreign teams for that matter and they pick lancer and show you what i was talking about....then you'll change your mind ...of course your theory of stats and intel treads wouldn't be a bad option...but the way i've seen lancer played by the pros is what im trying to tell you guys

Anouk, the best players can play any hero any way they want and still rape I didnt say that the illusions would help you last hit towers. They can buy you enough time to break the tower. 5 illusions would distract the towers for 10 - 15 seconds. Also, if you only had mana to doppel or lance, why not lance, then chase and lance again? :S Also, maybe good players are careful about using spells on illusions but it could still happen. This is just my opinion.

nice game guys =D

haha nigel..you and i need a personal discussion on this bro otherwise we'll never get this one sorted lol

Or we could simply stick to our very different beliefs. But a personal discussion would be welcomed

or els y dont u 2 settle this over a match? both play same hero with ur own skill / item builds? then i wont get anymore spam email !!!!!  but  IMO dark leader is correct.. takin illusions early game is a waste!!  they r too paper.. get dopple to escape, or dependin on the game, take stats.. thats it

PS nigel if u wanna talk more bout this i suggest opening a thread!

Lol. Then waste of a thread na I dunno men. If we have a 1v1 the guy with higher skill will win Anyway, im not posting about this anymore. If i meet anouk on GG il chat with him. Cheers.