Picking items is always situationnal :
Laning stage
- Tangoes (4-8 depending on how much you think you'll get harassed)
- Ring of protection (into basilius later)
- Quelling blade if you need it
- A salve of healing
- Spend remaining gold on Iron wood branch (into magic wand later)
Early Game
I recommand against midas on PL unless you can get it by 5 min. PL is very weak early game and midas is very greedy on this hero : it doesn't bring survivability and the extra attack speed won't help much.
- If you are dominant in your lane you can aim for an agressive built with Ring of Aquila and Power Treads
- If you need more defensive stats, don't upgrade the Basilius and aim for Drums of Endurance aswell as Power Treads. The new PL is quite mana intensive so drums should solve most of your early game mana issues and give your some welcome stats for survivability.
Mid Game
If you feel safe enough and your team is creating you enough space go for a farming built. In other word rush a Radiance : the sooner the better.
If you can't farm safely then don't aim for the Radiance. This is too much of a risk and every death will set you back so hard that you will become soon irrelevant. Instead go for a more standard combat built.
What offensive items to get for Mid Game fights ?
- Yasha is good and can be later upgraded into Manta style. Manta is still a good item on PL. Beside the stats it provides (Attack Speed, Move Speed and Agility/Strength), it allows you to dispell silences aswell as push faster.
- Diffusal Blades. Since last patch feedback is at a constant 25 Mana Burn/Damage so you can leave them at level 1. This item was core on the old PL and still is. It has great utility : purge can be used offensively (to chase) aswell as defensively (to remove debuff on yourself/an ally) and the illusion benefits from feedback.
What defensive items to get for Mid Game fights ?
- Drums (if you don't already have them)
- Vitality Booster (even a Vanguard) to get more raw HP. You can upgrade the Vitality Booster into a Heart later. If you built a Vanguard you can sell it to get the money back for another Vitality Booster into a Heart.
- Ultimate Orb : if you have the gold and want a Manta Style. However this item is really not cost efficient so take it only if you don't want to waste gold but need the extra 10 strength only. An advantage however is that your illusions will benefit from the extra stats aswell.
Misc
- A Blink Dagger. If you are really confident this items is truly good on the new PL since you can blink in and out of fights quite easily. The extra mobility is also welcome since PL can no longer Dopplewalk away from bad fights.
Avoid getting
- A Crimson Guard : you don't need the damage block much, this is a waste of gold when you only need some raw HP to survive through the fights.
- A Vladimir's Offering : at this stage in the game the lifesteal won't do much. the %damage only applies to base damage (which are boosted only by gaining more agility). In the midgame your stats aren't high enough to fully benefit from a Vladimir's Offering. Unless your team have several melee and you plan to group up and push, Vladimir's won't do much for now.
Late Game
- Heart of Tarrasque for survivability (Usefull mostly when the enemy team has a lot of magic burst)
- Butterfly for a mix between survivability and offensive power (this item is always a good choice)
- Eye of Skadi : very good on PL since you get a slow that goes through Spell Immunity and +25 to all stats (which also helps your illusions)
- Boots of Travel : PL is still a strong split pusher, plus if you have a Manta Style you can force the enemy team to defend at the other side of the map and gain time.
- When ennemies start becoming tankier and more resistant to magic damage, you can sell your Radiance and get a Daedalus for more damage. This will weaken your split push potential but greatly increase your teamfight presence.
- If you are getting controled too much in teamfight you can concider getting a Black King Bar. However this waste a precious item slot so think about it twice.
- A Vladimir's Offering if no one else got it.
- If nobody else got it an Assault Cuirass can be good but not as a priority.
Conclusion
Picking items is always situational though you can follow those simple guideline when you don't know what to do. Just take the time to analyse what situation you are in and make the item decision based on that. Don't block yourself in a mindset of "I need this item (radiance/diffusal/whatever) so I must farm for it no matter the cost".