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I'm not sure if anyone but be really cares about the behind-the-scenes mechanics of the game but for me it is very important to find out about stuff like "armor vs hp" thresholds, "damage vs AS" thresholds or simply how armor, hill miss chance and AS is calculated. That is why I made this. And if you are like me and want to know as much as possible to get the upper hand you are going to like this.
So, therefor, I today took my time and made a spreadsheet of more or less all the stat increasing items in dota2 and compared them by the unit "goodiness per 1 gold". Where one "goodiness" is around 0,0001 Str/agi/int. I also made approximations for how good health and the other stats are (I finally decided on 22 pure Hp being about as good as 1 Str (which by itself provides you with 19Hp). If someone wants to have the exact values I used for comparing AS to Mana or the like please ask. I'm not going to write even more here than there is already. If you are curious you can take an items GpG times its value in gold divided på 10 000 to get its combined stats all converted to a single value, kind of.
So, this is going to be both a item comparison, my thought on everything and an tutorial on what items to get when.
Of course I couldn't adapt this for different primary attributes or all the active/passive abilities, but on many items I have tried and if they are close in efficiency I use the abilities as a tiebreaker. And some of the items with very complex abilities (lifesteal or blink dagger for example) are ignored (I have not even tried to compared them to other items), how good they are can't be determined in a vacuum but you need to consider the circumstances and what hero you play etc etc etc. This is not a trustworthy or final comparison of the games items but can give you a general idea of what items to get if you play an all around hero (most caries) And if you play a super focused dps or tank hero, of course you can't follow this at all. But you should know what item to get than anyways. So, now my disclaimer should be at an end. Phu...
Ok, so now to the data.
I'm not going to give you the entire sheet yet, mostly because it is filled with a confusing mix of swedish and english comments.
Also, one thing which is important to keep in mind when reading this, is that your inventory slots are a highly valued resource.
But I'm going to share what I was able to get out of it:
("goodiness per 1 gold" is going to be written as GpG from now on. I know it's a bad unit but still)
Best GpG items:
Iron branch - 566 GpG - Get these early game! They have the highest GpG and if you would have had infinite inventory slots you wouldn't have ever needed anything except these for stats.
Circlet - 324 GpG
Divine Rapier - 302 GpG - Sure it got good stats but it's the most expensive item in the game and it is dropped, this is no good serius item but simply an over kill item to play around with when you are already wining.
Buckler - 275 GpG - assuming you use your ability on 1 ally every battle more is better of course, otherwise still good but not amazing.
Bracer etc (the 6,3,3,3 items) - 264 GpG - Don't underestimate these.
Ring of protection - 263 GpG - Armor scales, aka it is not this close to and Bracer in the early game and it is a little bit better than one in the late game, not that you should get this crap then. But, it's still a strong early game item, especially if you have 1k+hp.
Heart of Tarrasque - 256 GpG - Very hard to determine how good the effect is but here I tried to include it, it depends on the situation entirely but the important thing is that it is one of the best late game tank items but it shouldn't be the first one you get in midgame.
Chainmail - 209 GpG - A good item for sure but at the same time in all ways inferior to the buckler, don't get it if you don't need it for a recipe.
Daedalus - 194 GpG - With a base dmg of 150 before Daedalus bonus and then crit included with the formula 231*2.7*0.25+231*0.75-150=179 for the bonus damage of this item. With higher base values this item become more and more sick, if you want an example, with a base damage of just around 110 and a divine rapier (or if you can get a base dmg of around 410) the daedalus add more damage than another divine rapier. This is maybe not very realistic scenario but I think you get my point.
... The list continues but it becomes harder and harder to determine what is superior to what. If you wonder why there are so many defensive items up there it's because the weapons have so many other abilities which can't be calculated as easily.
So, interesting things in the middle ground:
If you think that you can land at least 6 hits on an enemy (probably going to be the same on 4-5 but you shouldn't buy this if you can't land more than that) the Diffusal Blade gets a lot better by leveling up. Something which surprised me because of the small stat boost (28 at lv1 36 at lv2). And, all around the diffusal blade turned out to be a good item even if it couldn't always stop someone from casting a spell (it might as well be on cooldown and then mana is pointless for your victim) but only give you extra damage. But on the other hand, it is an unique attack modifier so think twice before buying it, you might want lifesteel or some other modifier.
Desolator turned out worse than I expected (125 GpG, the armor decreased counted as a constant armor buff on you, should be the same for an all around hero but of course not true if you only go for dps as I have said before), because of it being an orb effect and everything I think I'm going to build stuff like daedalus instead and some other orb effect (unique attack modifier) for that money instead from now on.
Linken's sphere was good, maybe not too much of a surprise since it is an all around item (+15 to all stats). Sure, only 124 GpG but most mid game endgame items are around 100-170 GpG and I couldn't count the spheres abilities or it's mana reg. So I would say it can easily be as cost efficient as an 200GpG item in the right situation.
Soul booster is good. 148 GpG and no mana regeneration accounted for. It's a good mid game item for an all around hero and shouldn't be ignored.
So, what are the worst items now.
This can be difficult to say because of the fact that many of these give you a very small stat boost but a big ability, if used right. But here are some items to think about:
Force Staff - 71 GpG - You need to earn at least 600 gold with this item alone for it to be worth it if you ask me, its ability is not as good as a blink dagger so it's up to you if you think that you can manage to get 2 extra hero kills or 2 less deaths by this item alone. If you can't, you could as well have bought an orchid malevolence(more expensive for sure but 130 GpG and a better ability), ghost scepter (131 GpG and an not entirely useless ability) or a vanguard (common item, more or less same price, not made for int heroes though but at a solid 170 GpG)
eaglesong - 75 GpG - Should be the last item you buy whenever you build something which requires it, but here it is very important to remember that it have the same goodiness as an Mystic Staff/Reaver (the int and str versions) but not GpG because it is 600/100 gold more. This is not to say that the eaglesong is bad, no, it can be amazing for the right hero, you can only look at my GpG when you look at the items from a general non specialized hero perspective. However, if you don't play an agility hero, never get this. It is not an all around item but purely an dps item for agility heroes.
Broadsword and Claymore - 94 GpG -Only ever worth getting for a recipe and only worth getting early if you can't use up your gold in a better way and/or have problem last hitting.
Perseverance - 99 GpG - One of those items I thought would be really good. Keep in mind though that the mana regeneration is not accounted for but on the other hand there are mana regeneration items with a much higher GpG. Like the Oblivion Staff at 112 GpG (don't give any hp reg though) or the soulbooster at 148 GpG (more expensive initially though).
Quarterstaff - 106 GpG - I at least thought that this would be higher. It's not.
What else is there to add...
Jasha -113 GpG - It is a stable item even if you don't upgrade it until late late game. The raw stats by themself are good and so is the move speed. There is a reason everyone gets a pair of boots in this game, and another half pair will not hurt you. The Mantra Style for example lands at 101 GpG so you really need it's illusions to do some work to be worth it (to be more precise they need to give you 900 for the recipe). Neither the movespeed bonus (of neither item) or the illusions are included in the GpG. Both of these items are of course best for agi heroes.
The raw specialized stat bonus items:
+3 -200 GpG - Gauntlets of Strength for example.
+6 -133 GpG.
+10 - 100 GpG
+25 - Different since the price is not the same, the eaglesong was as I said earlier 75 GpG and the others a bit more, but don't get these for fun. They are a bad investment if you are not a specialized hero and you don't make it into a butterfly or the like quick.
Ring of health & Ring of regen - 126 GpG- If you want health regeneration, don't rush Ring of Health, picking up a ring of health as your first item after having picked a random hero (so that you start with extra gold) is stupid, if you do you are going to have a lot of empty slots in the early game and ring of regen is just as cost effective, can be picked up from a side lane shop and you are able to grab tango/healing salve and iron branches at the start so that you won't die as easy to a lv 1-3 gank in which case health regeneration is worthless. Not to say that Ring of Health is a bad early game item, but it is bad to skip the super early game items for it. As long as you have the inventory spots for it a ring of regen is in no way worse.
Additional conclusions:
As you can see it's very very stupid to with a empty or partially empty inventory starting to build one of the most expensive items and run around for 20-30 min with 3 empty slots. Even immediately after boots, get some good items cheep before starting that recipe that is going to need another 15 min to complete. So plan ahead, get good early game items in early game, mid game items in mid game, and late game items in late game, skipping one of these steps is possible but stupid, yes, more stupid than buying a Bracer even if you know that you are going to sell it later. Because many of the early game items for example have such ridiculous stats in combination with a price so low you only need two or three extra last hits or 0.25 hero kills for them to have earn their value (when you sell them you get 50% back so they only need to give you 50% of their cost during use). I'm not going to say that buying one bracer and a Circlet is going to net you more gold than an Hand of Midas, but it might net you more won games.
That is all for me, now criticize my work and make me feel stupid, or just share your thoughts in a happy manner.
Edit: Typos.