Biscuit's Guide to Crystal Maiden

Biscuit's Guide to Crystal Maiden

Hey everyone, and welcome to my first guide for DOTAFire. I really like the support role (I know, I'm weird) and I wanted to do my first guide on the hero I feel I play best with. Crystal Maiden (or Rylai) is a pretty easy support to learn, but requires advanced knowledge of positioning and stun stacking to be truly awesome. Recently, she's seen a lot of play in the competitive scene thanks to her ability to constantly give mana to her team and jungle somewhat effectively thanks to her Frostbite. In short, a good Crystal Maiden can be invaluable to any team and if you already like the support role, or just want to try it out, she's a great pick.

Introduction

Rylai, The Crystal Maiden

Also known as one of the slowest and squishiest heroes in all of Dota. Despite this she has a great immobilize in Frostbite (W) and a good slow in Crystal Nova (Q). She also has one of the most powerful (but often unpredictable) ultimates in the game in her Freezing Field (R). But the real reason that people love Crystal Maiden is because of her ability to globally regenerate her team's mana and rarely run out of mana herself with her Arcane Aura (E).

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Global mana regen for her entire team
+ Item independent
+ Level independent
+ Excellent crowd control and lockdown

Cons

- SQUISHY!!!
- Very low movement speed throughout the game
- Lacks a "real" stun
- Ultimate is unpredictable and mana intensive

Skill Summary

Crystal Nova

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

A burst of damaging frost slows enemy movement and attack rate in the targeted area.

• Provides a strong slow, use it to slow down chasers or right click heroes in fights
• Not a good pushing ability, due to its long cooldown
• Maxed last so that your combos don't drain all of your mana and can be cast continually

Frostbite

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

Encases an enemy unit in ice, prohibiting movement and attack, while dealing damage per second.

• Frostbite lasts 10 seconds on creeps level 5 or lower, dealing 700 magic damage over time
• Prevents Blink and channelled skills, and is a good counter to heroes with such abilities
• Max first to optimize lockdown time and damage

Arcane Aura

Type: Targets:

Passive Allied Units with Mana Pool

Additional mana regeneration to all friendly units on the map.

• The bonus is doubled on Crystal Maiden, meaning she will have 5 extra mana regen at max level
• Synergizes well with casting heroes and heroes with low mana pools
• Maxed second to quickly give max mana regen

Freezing Field

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy Units

CHANNELLED - Surrounds Crystal Maiden with random icy explosions that slow enemies and deal massive damage.

• Use this in the middle of fights when enemy stuns have been used and you can't be interrupted
• Useful for helping your team escape a bad engagement by sacrificing yourself
• Not taken at level 6 due to the astronomical mana cost

Role Discussion

There are really only a couple ways to play Crystal Maiden. The first and preferred way is simply as a babysitter, keeping an eye on the carry and making sure they get farmed. The other, and riskier way, is as a roamer, using your spells to immobilize heroes to set up kills. It is possible, and encouraged, to start out as a babysitter and, when the carry is farmed enough, transition into that roamer/ganker role for your team.

As a hard support, it is your job to ward and counter-ward, as well as purchase any consumables your team may need. This includes Animal Courier, Observer Ward, Sentry Ward, Dust of Appearance, and Smoke of Deceit. Depending on the skill level you play at, you may not need all of these items. In lower skilled games, the other team probably won't be placing wards around the map, so Sentry Wards are not as imperative for counter-warding. Also, most pub players will rarely have the communication and teamwork required to pull off a smoke gank with Smoke of Deceit.

As far as lanes go, Crystal Maiden is most effective in the safe lane. This is because she a.) has access to her jungle, b.) is relatively safe from ganks, and c.) will be able to help the mid with ganks on the lane. It is important to remember that your job is not to amass gold, but rather assist your carry. You can do this by harassing the enemy hero(es) and denying creeps. If possible, let the carry get the last hit on kills. However, don't be afraid to finish off an opponent that your carry cannot get to.

In teamfights, it is your job to lockdown and slow down high priority targets, usually the enemy carry. To do this, use Frostbite on the carry first, then follow up with a Crystal Nova when Frostbite wears off. If the fight hasn't been decided by then, use your ultimate if possible. This should tip the fight in your favor.

Item Summary

Starting Items

Pretty standard starting items for supports. Animal Courier and Observer Ward are necessary for any team and there is plenty of regen for early aggression. If someone else is nice enough to buy the courier or wards, a Gauntlets of Strength is a good early item choice to make you a bit less squishy.

More standard support items. Thanks to Arcane Aura Crystal Maiden doesn't need Arcane Boots. This allows her to get Tranquil Boots, giving her a heal and, more importantly, 75 movement speed and 3 armor. Magic Wand is a great item on supports since it gives 3 stats in all attributes and provides a burst heal. A very useful item to be sure. Lastly, a Bracer improves all of your stats including 6 strength which assists Crystal Maiden's low health pool. Also builds into Drum of Endurance to help with movement speed.

These final items are imperative for Crystal Maiden since they greatly increase her manuverability. Drum of Endurace provides good all-around stats and also has a useful aura for anyone near you. Force Staff is one of my favorite items on supports since they give you lots of Intelligence, a little health regen, and an escape mechanism for you and your team mates. Lastly, Eul's Scepter of Divinity gives you another control spell and increases your movement speed by 35! That's almost like having another set of boots! It also gives great mana regen (which you don't really need) and Intelligence.

Honestly, if you get to the point of the game where you find yourself six slotted, it's probably best just to save your money for buyback in case you die. You usually want to have at least one slot open for a utility item at all times, even in the late game. Well placed Observer Wards are as useful at 5:00 minutes as 55:00 minutes and Town Portal Scrolls are pretty much necessary for defending split pushes in the late game as well. You can also replace your Tranquil Boots with Boots of Travel, but I'd only really suggest this if you're having to constantly defend split pushes and are sick of buying TP scrolls.

In the late game, you may be tempted to go for either Black King Bar or Aghanim's Scepter to get off huge ultimates. However, the far superior item choice is Heaven's Halberd. First off, this item gives you twice the HP of a BKB and about the same HP as an Agh's Scepter. in addition, you get an awesome 25% evasion chance, a good thing to have when most of the damage being done to you is physical anyway. The active on this thing is even more detrimental to right click carries, as it forces them to stop attacking for 3 seconds as a melee carry and 4 seconds on a ranged carry. This obviously combos very well with Frostbite. There's even a small chance for your auto attacks to slow the targets movement and attack speed. You get all of this, and it's still 50 gold cheaper than Black King Bar and 350 gold cheaper than Aghanim's Scepter! Replace your Magic Wand with this if you get the chance.

Summary

There you have it.

As I've said, Crystal Maiden is one of the best supports out there, and a hero that everyone will love having around. This guide is intended for newer players to Crystal Maiden and any feedback would be great. If you have questions about anything in the guide or suggestions to make it better, leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading my first guide and a big shoutout to all you other people who love to play support!