Building one carry

Items win fights when they stack. One unit holding a full damage build does far more than the same items spread one per unit, because damage items multiply each other: faster attacks mean more hits, and every hit is bigger. Spread them thin and you get a board where nobody kills anything.

So pick one carry early and send your damage items to it. Early on, that carry can be a placeholder: a cheaper unit that deals the same kind of damage holds the items until the real carry shows up, then passes them on. Turn components into finished items when they fit that carry. Sitting on components while you wait for the perfect item loses health for nothing.

Make sure the carry is the unit your comp is built around. Items parked on a side unit are items your real carry never gets. The game review calls a unit with 2 or more damage items a carry, and 99.8% of top four boards have one.

A second carry helps later, once you have the items for it. It gives the board a second threat, so one bad matchup does not lose the fight: 96% of top four boards with 8 or more finished items have one. But it comes after the first carry is built, never instead of it.