Ready to set the world on fire? Guide to Lina

Introduction: This Girl is on Fire!

A bit of background (a.k.a lore):

The sibling rivalries between Lina the Slayer, and her younger sister Rylai, the Crystal Maiden, were the stuff of legend in the temperate region where they spent their quarrelsome childhoods together. Lina always had the advantage, however, for while Crystal Maiden was guileless and naive, Lina's fiery ardor was tempered by cleverness and conniving. The exasperated parents of these incompatible offspring went through half a dozen homesteads, losing one to fire, the next to ice, before they realized life would be simpler if the children were separated. As the oldest, Lina was sent far south to live with a patient aunt in the blazing Desert of Misrule, a climate that proved more than comfortable for the fiery Slayer. Her arrival made quite an impression on the somnolent locals, and more than one would-be suitor scorched his fingers or went away with singed eyebrows, his advances spurned. Lina is proud and confident, and nothing can dampen her flame.

Intro (ba-dum-tiss):

Welcome! This is LinaOnFire and today I'm going to publish my first guide, after a bit of delay. So, I decided, why not do this on my core hero? And guess what, it's Lina. Let's get started.

Lina is an intelligence hero, known for ferocious early to mid game ganking. Lina is normally played in two styles, semi-carry or support hero. In this guide, I would be covering the semi-carry Lina, as so you can have some fun with your kills. Lina has great abilities, especially her q, which would cause massive damage to multiple enemies. Finally, Lina covers up with a great ult that allows great ganking potential, and with the 7th highest intelligence growth and a stunning 5th highest base intelligence, Lina is a force to behold.

Some interesting Stats:

Base strength: 18
Strength growth: 1.5
Base agility: 16
Agility growth: 1.5
Base intelligence: 27
Intelligence growth: 3.2
Health 492
Health growth 28.5
Mana 351
Mana growth 41.6
Damage 37 - 55
Attack Range 670
Armor 1.24
Movement speed 295

Skills: Fire in the hole!

"Fire makes a fine servant, but a harsh mistress."

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Dragon Slave (Q)

Lina's first ability, Dragon Slave, is an amazing ganking ability with amazing potential in early and mid game.

Lore of the skill:
Lina channels the breath of a dragon, sending out a wave of fire that scorches every enemy in its path.

Stats
Cast Animation: 0.45+0.53
Cast Range: 800
Starting Radius: 275
Travel Distance: 1075
End Radius: 200
Damage: 110/180/250/320
Cooldown 8
Mana 100/115/130/145

This ability is amazing when combined with Lina's Eul's Scepter of Divinity and Light Strike Array combo. Also deadly aginst any low health pool target, as it could easily tear through them. Any hero with low health, such as Enigma, Rubick and Crystal Maiden. The disadvantage of this attack is that magic damage does not scale into midgame, and this does not pierce spell immunity. This would have trouble taking down high health pool carries and buyers of the Black King Bar, such as Troll Warlord, Sven, Axe and Timbersaw. More about the Light Strike Array combo, go to Light Strike Array.

Some notes

• Travel speed of Dragon Slave is 1200.
• Actual range is 1275 (1075 + 200)
• Attack is cone shaped

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Light Strike Array (W)

Lina's second ability, Light Strike Array, is a massive AOE damage that causes a long distance stung. When coupled with eul's scepter of divinaty, it is a force to behold.

Lore of the skill:
Summons a column of flames that damages and stuns enemies.

Stats

Cast Animation: 0.45+0.67/0.43
Cast Range: 625
Effect Radius: 225
Effect Delay: 0.5
Damage: 80/120/160/200
Stun Duration: 1.6/1.9/2.2/2.5
Cooldown 7
Mana 100/110/120/130

We use this ability to annoy enemies while farming in the mid lane at the early game stages. This AOE allows stunning, which can really annoy level ones, while still keeping relatively low mana cost. This attack can be used to steal bounty runes at the beginning of the game. The combo with this attack is that you first cyclone someone with Eul's Scepter of Divinity, and when they fall follow with Light Strike Array, then continue with Laguna Blade and Dragon Slave. This would take out many heroes mid-stage, such as Leshrac, Ancient Apparition or Lich. It can also be used to stop cast animations that are long like Freezing Field.

Some notes

• Destroys trees
• Only allies could see effects
• 2 different cast animations

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Fiery Soul (E)

Lina's third ability, Fiery Soul, is an interesting one. This ability is not an active ability, but rather a passive one. This ability could fish off enemies or escape in a stick situation.

Lore of the skill:
Grants bonus attack and movement speed each time Lina casts a spell. Stacks with itself. Lasts 10 seconds.

Stats

Max stacks: 3
Move Speed Bonus: 5%/6%/7%/8%
Attack Speed Bonus: 40/55/70/85
Stack Duration: 10

This ability is again used to gank opponents efficiently. After you hit them with the Light Strike Array combo, they would be weak and you would have 3 stacks of Fiery Soul. This grants massive movement speed for chasing enemies down, and also grants attack speed for killing large health pool enemies, such as Wraith King or Huskar. This ability stack well with the job Lina is up to, so it is very important. It is also a great counter for Enchantress's Untouchable.

Some notes

• Using items that have abilities does not activate Fiery Soul
• Each new spell refreshes the duration
• 2 stacks: 10%/12%/14%/16% movement speed 80/110/140/170 attack speed
• 3 stacks: 15%/18%/21%/24% movement speed 120/165/210/255 attack speed

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Laguna Blade (R)

Lina's ult, Laguna Blade, is a devastating single target attack that is great is used for ganking.

Lore of the skill:
Fires off a bolt of lightning at a single enemy unit, dealing massive damage.

Stats

Cast Animation: 0.45+0.7
Cast Range: 600
Effect Delay: 0.25
Damage: 450/650/850
Cooldown 70/60/50
Mana 280/420/680

This ability scales well into late game, as when aghanim scepter is purchased, the damage type changes to pure. This can help you take down frequent Black King Bar buyers, such as Sven and Axe. This attack also has an low cooldown for a ult, and is just as good as Lion's Finger of Death, because of lower cooldown and mana usage. This ability is used in 1 on 1 situations, and can help stack Fiery Soul. Extremely powerful, it is recommended to use it on a carry like Enigma rather than a support like Lich.

Some notes

• Laguna Blade damage is delayed by 0.25 seconds, therefore can be avoided.
• Cannot be stopped.

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Pros / Cons: Fire insurance!

Pros Incredibly powerful nuker Pushes very well with Fiery Soul Global presence with Boots of Travel laguana blade is an effective ult with short cooldown Scales well with items High base Intelligence High intelligence gain Has arcana item

Cons Low health Low mobility early game Low mana Could be easily ganked Magic damage does not go well into late game Useless until Eul's Scepter of Divinity is bought Almost useless without ult

The pros of Lina

Lina is a strong midgame ganker with powerful solo abilities. Her power lies in the long stung of Light Strike Array and the powerful burst of damage done with Dragon Slave combined with Laguna Blade. Her powerful ganking ability is in that she can also follow up with her Fiery Soul, even after the ganking fails to increase mobility, and if necessary, attack speed.

Heros Lina are good aginst

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Enchantress
Enchantress is a low health hero, perfect for the Light Strike Array combo that Lina could pull off. The massive range of Dragon Slave could easily ruin Enchantress's back line position. Finally, her Untouchable is countered by Lina's Fiery Soul, makeing her completely useless.


Crystal Maiden
Crystal Maiden is a low health hero, making her great for the Light Strike Array combo. Her powerful ult, Freezing Field, can be directly cancelled by Light Strike Array. She can also not move during her ult, granting larger chance to land Light Strike Array.

skywarth mage
skywarth mage
skywarth mage can easily be locked down with a light trike array combo, and would have trouble getting close to Lina in order to trade because of the long range of Dragon Slave.

The cons of Lina

Lina has low health, and that could cause trouble late game. When people like Sven buy Black King Bars and Heart of Tarrasque, then Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array would do next to 0 damage. If she gets ganked, she has a small chance of escaping because she doesn't have great escape tactics, unlike Queen of Pain's Blink or Weaver's Shukuchi. She also lacks in late-game.

Heros Lina are bad aginst

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Sven
Ah, Sven. What can I say about him? It was like he was created just to counter Lina. With his burst damage with Storm Hammer and god's cry, he can quickly burst down with long stungs and high damage. He always buys Black King Bar, making Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array completely useless. Lina must get the aghamim's scepter in order to counter Black King Bar. But, by that time, sven would have gotten a [[heart of tarrasque, therefore making the aghamim's scepter a waste of money.


Anti-Mage
Anti-Mage is made to counter any spell dependent hero. With a perfectly landed Mana Void, he can quickly wipe Lina out if she uses her Light Strike Array combo. Blink can quickly get him out of Dragon Slave's range, and spell sheild makes him extremely tolerant of magic damage. If the Light Strike Array doesn't exactly make the target, Lina is at mercy of Mana Break and his high mobility with Blink.

Items: Throw another hero on the fire!

For starters...:

(Notice I did not bring healing slave because 1. It costs alot (110) and 2. It more single use, and Tango would outlast it.)
Tango: Increases lanning time and help you stay on lane for a longer time, thus letting you farm more.
Boots of Speed: Increases mobility, and allows for an early Arcane Boots, which gives essential mana.
Clarity: Is good for sticky low mana situation that could happen because of high mana dependence early game.
Town Portal Scroll: You never know... escape or helping someone else's lane?

Early game items:

Magic Stick: Helps you in low mana and low health situations, and can gain charges easily if an opponent is an ability dependent hero, like Invoker.
Arcane Boots: Cheap and gives great mana, and as a bonus also gives movement speed.
Wind Lace: Offers movement speed, as well as it builds into a Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Staff of Wizardry:Offers hard to miss intelligence, granting more spell damage and mana regen. As a bonus, it also builds into a Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Void Stone: Grant bonus mana regen, as well as builds into a Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
Bracer: Helps damage and keeping you alive, as well as builds into an Drum of Endurance.

Hard-"Core" business

Magic Wand: is a natural and cheap upgrade from Magic Stick.
Blink Dagger: Allows quick blick in gank then blink out combo. Quite expensive, though.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity: Addition movement speed, more intelligence, more mana regen, and allows to land Light Strike Array combo. Life doesn't get much better that this.
Bottle: This is essential to keep runes for later, more importently double damage runes. It can also be used to carry fountain water by couriors, and is relitivly cheep.

I am rich!

Aghanim's Scepter: Gives bonus intelligence and changes Laguna Blade's damage to pure. Great for cutting through Black King Bar.
Drum of Endurance: Gives attack speed bonus, cheap, and builds up from Bracer.
Scythe of Vyse: Allow for ganking potential and support later on.
Shiva's Guard: Extra defence. why not?

ton of stuff you could also bring

Octarine Core, Refresher Orb, Bloodstone,or Guardian Greaves: During late game, arcana boots are kind of useless. you have a couple of chosies.

• buy Guardian Greaves only when you give up on semi-carry and go on to support.
• if you want high spell damage, a Refresher Orb would allow you to spam your ult.
• if you want to stay alive longer, Octarine Core would allow for extra spell damage and hp regen.
• Bloodstone gives some much-needed hp and mana, as well as providing lower respawn time.
• When forming either Octarine Core, Refresher Orb or Bloodstone, disassemble your Arcane Boots so you can get the Energy Booster back, which you can then craft into Soul Booster. Keep the Boots of Speed. It can then be upgraded to Boots of Travel, which saves inventory space by freeing you from Town Portal Scroll.

Boots of Travel and upgraded boots of travel: It allows you to be at every fight, as well as saving inventory space from Town Portal Scroll
dagon: A sudden burst of damage would always help.
Force Staff: This helps you escape if opponent has Faceless Void's Chronosphere or attacks like that.
Ghost Scepter: This helps escaping from heavy auto attackers like Sniper.
Ethereal Blade: This allows you to push more magic damage on a single enemy.
Mekansm: Allows for additional health regen for teammates, and builds into Guardian Greaves.
Pipe of Insight: Helps your team from other strong magic damagers like Crystal Maiden.
Black King Bar: Gives magic immunity. Great for escaping from Zeus.
Aegis of the Immortal: Works with every hero.
Orchid Malevolence: More damage to the target. Why not?
Divine Rapier: +330 damage. This is the stuff of legends!
Aether Lens: This help with early game mana regen and can get you out of tough situations.
Moon Shard: Free attack and doesn't take up inventory space. Used for ultra-late game.
Shadow Blade: Good for early game ganking and late game surprise teamfights.
Urn of Shadows: Normally for support [[lina], but good for keeping you alive.
Desolator: Always good to keep around for some extra right-click damage.

Why these?
Observer Ward and Sentry Ward: Doesn't hurt to know where enemies are. Great for when the enemies have people that could go invisible (such as Riki's Cloak and Dagger or Bounty Hunter's Shadow Walk) or people that could put invisible things (such as Techies's land mines or Pugna's Nether Ward). Also good at avoiding ganks. A good guide for Lina's warding is here
Smoke of Deceit: Great for ganking others early game before Blink Dagger or Force Staff could be afforded. Also good at escaping.
Dust of Appearance: Some enemy used a Smoke of Deceit to run away. Use this to track them down.
Gem of True Sight: Great at avoiding invisible ganks and seeing invisible enemies.
Runes: always good to have.
Animal Courier and Flying Courier: Help you get items in the middle of a fight.
Enchanted Mango: Helps with mana lackage early game.
Healing Salve: Helps with health lackage early game.

Last words: The young Fire-blender returns!

Lina is an extremely easy to use, spell dependent support of semi-carry that is highly dependent on eul's scepter or divinaty and Light Strike Array. With the right combinations, she is a force to behold. Thx for viewing this guide on Lina, and this is my first guide, so any thumbs up or +1 would be very well appreciated.

Acknowledgements

I would like to Acknowledge Dota2 and DotaFire team for all their support to make such an awesome game and DotaFire for their simple guide making this software. I would also like to appreciate this Guide Formatting and You thing.
You can see it here --> Guide Formatting and You

Also thx to Jaden and Antony for their support.

Update changes:

Sep 21. Added support Lina section build + Desolator to items section. Also added Last words and "Throw another hero on the fire" after the items section. Also added link to warding guide.