Clearly, one of the most misunderstood items in the game. A lot of people criticize it as a pickup, others (like yours truly) love it, but since it has a most unique concept, not everybody understands when it’s good to get it and when not. Unlike most items, you can see it getting picked up by literally every position; position 5 Ancient Apparitions seem to love it, some Crystal Maidens get it too, but so do Invokers, and of course, some hard carries.
So what’s the deal here?
First, let’s see exactly what it does. For 2050 gold, you get 30% attack speed and the Transmute ability, which instantly turns a creep into 190 gold (instead of its normal bounty) and gives 2.5 times its EXP bounty.
Naturally, we’re talking about an item made to boost your farm. You’re making an investment by getting it, instead of an item that will help you fight right now. You get 114 gold per minute with Transmute, if you use it on cooldown. That gold is reliable, meaning you don’t lose it upon death.
I want to point out three important pieces of information here.
1.Transmute is instant, meaning you don’t actually have to stand somewhere and farm. You pass by a creep wave or a neutral camp, you get a creep, and that’s that.
2.That gold being reliable means Midas encourages you to be more active around the map.
3. (And most important) You don’t HAVE to get it extremely early. Of course, it’s better if you do, but don’t just start flaming if you see a 20 minute Midas. Well, if it’s the only item they have purchased 20 minutes in, then you’ve got a problem, but getting it after getting a core item isn’t unreasonable at all.
So, who should we get it for?
First of all, this isn’t by any means a “must get”. Getting Midas means you sacrifice some of your here and now potential for a future investment. It could’ve been a Mekansm, a Force Staff, a Blink, a Shadow Blade even. We’re going to discuss the types of Heroes that MAY benefit from it the best.
Perhaps surprisingly, it makes more sense on Heroes that don’t normally get much GPM (gold per minute). Adding 114 GPM on Ancient Apparition may actually double his farm, but an Antimage with Battle Fury doesn’t care too much for it.
I’ll go as far as saying that it makes sense getting it for most supports. They always need to be active around the map, and they die a lot. Instant reliable gold is like a dream come true for them; and again, they can still get their core items, like a mek, and still opt for the Midas later.
Active carries can also benefit from it a lot. Slark is a good example, since he needs both some items and participate in a lot of fights. Wraith King and Lifestealer can be good options too.
As far as solo Heroes are concerned, you don’t see it too often since most of them have built-in ways to clear waves with their spells. Zeus, Lina, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, etc. Invoker, on the other hand, is seen with Midas in almost every game, since his spells are mostly antihero instead of anticreep.
With core Heroes, it really comes down to how they deal their damage, and thus how well they farm. You don’t see Midas on Luna too much since simply adding damage on her means she can clear whole waves and towers easily. Helm of the Dominator into Ancient stacking makes more sense.
As a rule of thumb, I find that Heroes with AoE skills don’t have much use for Midas; it doesn’t matter how many creeps you throw on a Leshrac. He can kill 20 creeps as easily as he can kill 2, resulting in very high GPM. Single-target oriented Heroes on the other hand, lacking the potential to shove the lanes in quickly and having to rely on kills, can benefit a lot more.
As a personal note, here’s a list of Heroes I like getting Midas on, besides nearly every support:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
Keep in mind that while we can discuss the numbers forever, it all comes down to each match and whether you use each item’s potential.
Reliable gold from Midas is useful if you actually die. I’m not saying to go and die for the sake of efficiency, but this is just how it works; getting a Midas and free farming for 20 mins without dying doesn’t make much of a difference than getting a damage item and just kill more creeps faster. Stacking neutrals with HotD and losing those stacks to the enemy means you just worked for someone else’s boss. “Wish I had gone Midas” will pop in your mind.
My point is, Midas is quite different from other farm-purposed items. Same purpose, different way.
I hope this has shed some light in the situation!