Im starting this thread because Im starting to appreciate the value of consumables a lot and want to know how other good players use them. Im just gona give my experience with Health pots and TB.
I've been playing TB extensively lately and found out that using health pots gives him a lot of staying power and helps the team a lot too. I always pick the BotS for mana and thus I don't need any mana helm through out the game (I'm very carefull not wasting my spells). For starting items i take banded armor and 2 health pots. I can stay in my lane until lvl 7 with this setup (and lvl very fast).
When I go to base for first time I always have money to buy Currency 1 and Priests for my team and pick unbreakable boots + 2 health pots. If Im lucky and got some assists or a lucky kill or two I buy any necessary upgrades (tower health + damage or creep armor).
Now I rarely (sometimes never) need to go back to the base again until war score 8 to get creep upgrades (which I can afford by myself) and try to end the game asap (around me lvl 13). If Im forced to go back to base after i used my pots I will just go heal, and grab 2 others pots and TP back to my lane.
So this is my item setup for the match: banded and unbreakable + health pots. If Im getting harrassed by 2 DGs most of the time I will get the nimoth chest and its all. This allows me to save gold and spend it on any necessary citadel upgrade, and allowing my teammate to spend their money on strong items (mageslayer, godpalte, bulkwar ...).
I also know some other good sedena players who use mana pots for the first 10 lvls and can stay in a lane for that long.
I think mana and health pots and very cost effective in the sense that they are cheap and pay themselves back if u're carefull on when to use them. and also they allow for cheap builds (like mine) and thus encourage you to spend a lot more gold on citadel.
Please share any comments or strategies on other ways to optimize money usage through the use of consumables.