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6 Votes

Legion Commander (7.02) In-Depth Guide + Bonus Basics for Newbies

March 13, 2017 by senthil raja
Comments: 1    |    Views: 101271    |   


Build 1
Build 2

Jungling

DotA2 Hero: Legion Commander




Hero Skills

Outfight Them! (Innate)

Overwhelming Odds

5 11 14 16 17

Press the Attack

2 4 8 9

Moment of Courage

1 3 7 13

Duel

6 12 18

Talents

10 15

Hero Talents

Debuff Immunity with 50% Magic Resistance
25
+75% Moment of Courage Lifesteal
+8% Moment of Courage Proc Chance
20
+300 AoE Press the Attack
+35 Overwhelming Odds Damage Per Hero
15
+40 Press the Attack HP Regen
-2s Overwhelming Odds Cooldown
10
+10% Press The Attack Movement Speed


Legion Commander (7.02) In-Depth Guide + Bonus Basics for Newbies

senthil raja
March 13, 2017


Introduction

Hi there. I am DVD boyTM(senthil raja) and this is my first guide. I have seen a lot of new players wanting to try Legion Commander and failing miserably. In worst case, duel feeding (giving the enemy bonus duel damage). So I thought I could help them get a basic idea on how to play Legion Commander and also how things work in Dota 2. BTW I'm not a great player but still I want to help others with what I know. Also, the entire content of this guide is not mine as I referred other guides and gameplays such as information from Dota2 Gamepedia , Reddit forums, other guides and implemented my own play style and knowledge through them.

I must say this guide is pretty long as I need to explain even the small details for the new people so, I will try to trim it in the near future for experienced people, for now SKIP THEM. Feel free to give your feedback on the contents and formatting. Also notify me if you find any sections boring, too long , too much irrelevant information, etc...

Legion Commander


Legion Commander is my most favorite hero and she can be played in all lanes and in Jungle. I usually play her in Jungle. If your team doesn't have a good mid laner, feel free to mid. If your team doesn't have a hard carry, please take the safe lane. You can offlane if you think you can handle it.

Legion Commander is a 1-star carry but NOT A HARD CARRY. A carry is generally a hero that will become more useful later in the game if they gain a significant gold advantage. While LC( Legion Commander) can dominate early to mid, as the game proceeds to late or super late she will be behind the hard carries unless she has an insane amount of duel damage and proper itemization. Also, she can tank when required.

Pros / Cons


Abilities









Legion Commander - Tresdin


Carry, Disabler, Ganker, Durable

Synergy: Works best with heroes who can help her set up duels and those who can help her win duels through burst damage.

Killing Potential: High

Preferred Lane: Jungle







Pros
+ High base movement speed
+ High Starting Strength
+ Can kill supports easily
+ Can Snowball really well
+ Can Gank really well
+ Awesome Ultimate Duel
+ Duel can be used as a strong disable
+ Good at locking down Hard Carries

Cons:
- Mana Dependent Early (If you spam Q)
- Item Dependent
- Duel can backfire
- Difficult when enemy team sticks
- Low armor




Skills

Overwhelming Odds


Casting:
Targets:


Active
Enemy units
Turns the enemies numbers against them, dealing damage and granting you bonus movement speed per unit. Deals bonus damage to illusions and summoned units as a percent of their current health

Level

1


2


3


4

Mana

100


100


100


100

Cooldown

15


15


15


15

Range

1000


1000


1000


1000

AoE

330


330


330


330

Duration

7


7


7


7

Effect

Deals 40 damage + 14 per unit + 30 per hero.


Deals 60 damage + 16 per unit + 60 per hero.


Deals 80 damage + 18 per unit + 90 per hero.


Deals 100 damage + 20 per unit + 120 per hero.


Notes:

* Black King Bar Damage is blocked, unit still counts toward bonus damage and movement speed.

* While laning it can be used as a ranged nuke. At level 4, it can easily do a 300+ damage in an area.

* Use it to harass enemy when they come for last hits.

* Use it to push enemy back and force them to use consumables to heal.

* If you want to spam this skill get a Clarity or an Enchanted Mango or a Soul Ring.

* If possible when the creeps are low in health, use Q to get some of them. You can basically farm from a distance.

* When a gank is approaching, use it and run away because you will have bonus movement speed of 9% per Hero + 3% per unit (lasts 7 seconds).

* When you go need to chase enemies, use it on them and chase them with increased movement speed. [CAUTION] KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR MANA POOL

* If you see a fleeing enemy with really low health, use it. This will deal 240 damage even if he's alone.

* Always be ready to cancel it. Keep your hands on S because if you think the enemy is going to leave the AoE of your spell, cancel it immediately.

* This spell is perfect for cancelling blink-daggers from a very long range.

* This is really useful against illusion/manta users like Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight, etc. to identify the real one and it is also useful against summoning users like Chen, Beastmaster.



Press the Attack


Casting:
Targets:


Active
Self, Ally
Removes debuffs and disables from the target friendly unit, and grants bonus attack speed and health regen for a short time.

Level

1


2


3


4

Mana

110


110


110


110

Cooldown

16


15


14


13

Range

800


800


800


800

Duration

5


5


5


5

Bonus Attack Speed

65


90


115


140

Bonus HP regen

30 HP/sec


40 HP/sec


50 HP/sec


60 HP/sec


Notes:

* Regenerates a total of 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 Health.

* This is a really useful spell, important for Jungling to regenerate health.

* Use it before duel, to have increased attack speed throughout the Duel

* If you see your ally on low health, use it on him and save him.

* This spell removes debuffs/disables from you and your ally. If your ally is stunned or silenced use it on him to release him. For eg: You can save your ally from Pudge's Dismember.

* If your invisible ally is revealed through Dust of Appearance , Bounty Hunter's Track , Slardar's Amplify Damage or Disruptor's Thunder Strike use it on him and remove it.

* Check this list of things that can be debuffed using W.
( http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Dispel/Removable_debuffs )

* You can use it to increase the attack speed of your highest damage dealer like Phantom Assassin.



Moment Of Courage


Casting:
Targets:


Passive
Enemy units
When attacked, Legion Commander has a chance to immediately attack again with bonus lifesteal.


Level

1


2


3


4

Mana

-


-


-


-

Cooldown

2.3


1.8


1.3


0.8

Chance

25%


25%


25%


25%

Lifesteal

55


65


75


85



Notes:

* Cannot proc more than once every 0.9 seconds.

* The lifesteal is not a Unique Attack Modifier. This means it stacks with other UAM (Unique Attack Modifiers) like Desolator.

* Bonus attack only procs during Legion Commander's normal attack animation.

* Max this first in Jungling and Max it last in Laning.

* If there are more units attacking you, then there is a better chances of proccing.

* Sometimes it will proc and mess up your last hits in lane.

* If you are low in health, you can get just jungle to get your health back during Mid to Late game.

* Helps you win duel with an extra attack proccing and at the same time heals you increasing survivability.



Duel


Casting:
Targets:


Active
Enemy Hero
Legion Commander and the target enemy hero are forced to attack each other for a short duration. Neither hero can use items or abilities. If either hero dies during the duration, the hero winning the Duel gains permanent bonus damage.

Level

1


2


3

Mana

75


75


75

Cooldown

50


50


50

Range

150


150


150

Duration

4


4.75


5

Effect

Duel winner bonus damage: 10


Duel winner bonus damage: 12


Duel winner bonus damage: 14



Notes:

* The loser of the duel is the hero that dies while under the buff. There is no victor if both heroes are alive at the end of the duration, and no damage bonus is granted.

* Both Legion Commander and her opponent are muted while under the effect of Duel: They cannot cast spells and use items. It cannot be disarmed with Heaven's Halberd or Force Staffed away.

* Legion Commander will not gain bonus damage from defeating Illusions but will grant an illusion bonus damage if defeated by one.

* If the opponent being killed is holding an Aegis of the Immortal or is Wraith King with an active Reincarnation the Duel is won regardless of them coming back to life, However the same is true for Legion Commander (if she dies holding an Aegis of the Immortal she will give bonus damage to the opponent as well).

* Duel goes through magic immunity but is blocked by Linken's Sphere.

* Use your Duel along with a Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade which helps in great mobility and positioning.

* Don't get too tempted to duel and chase him deep. This is because the enemy team will realize it and come for help. Be aware of your enemy heroes position.

* Don't just blink in blindly. Don't go in unless you have vision because the enemy will be baiting you and once you duel a squishy supp, they come out of nowhere and stomp you.

* Unless you have good items like Blade Mail or Desolator, don't duel alone.
Have your team mates to help you duel with a disable or attack so that you win the duel before it ends.

* Know those you can kill and those you can't. Remember : don't give the enemy carry bonus duel damage by duel feeding.

* Sometimes its best not to start duel right away in early stages. Chip off the enemy heroes health to a point where you are confident that you can kill him within 4 seconds.

Basics - Jungling

As far as Jungling is concerned, LC will not be needing a Tango since Moment of Courage will be more than enough for healing purposes.

Things to know while Jungling:

* How to cut down trees and which one to cut.
* How to stack camps.
* Please be aware of ganks (Wards and Map awareness)
* The Difficulty of camps.



Choke Point Jungling


Camp Stacking


Camps

Legion can always do Easy and Medium camps with ease at lvl 1. She can do Hard camps at lvl 2 with a combo of both Iron Talon and Press the Attack.

This is the pattern I usually follow:
1. Do the Medium camp starting at 0:30 (spawn time of first wave and after that spawns every odd min - 1,3,5,..)
2. Stack it at the 0:55 mark and finish that camp.
3. Do the Second Medium Camp.
4. Then move on to Hard Camp. ( Beware of Hellbear camp - One big red guy and his yellow side kick will definitely kick ur *** early game)
5. Get yourself a bounty rune :)
5. Stack whenever possible and only go for Small camps if u finished the rest.
6. When You are around lvl 8 to 10 (depends on your items), You can clear Ancient camps. You can clear the Dinosaur guys at lvl 7 with a Blight Stone and Phase Boots. Golem guys are little though so watch out. While clearing prowlers, wait until it stomps and roots you, after that use W then GG for them.
7. Use your Press the Attack, more frequently in the early levels while clearing the big guy in the camp. After that save your mana for your first gank after level 6.

Difficulties you will be facing while jungling:

  • The New patch update makes it harder to detect incoming enemies. This is because you will be in lower ground while jungling but the enemy will be in higher ground which means he will see you but you can't see him :(
  • Invisible roamers like Riki, Bounty Hunter and Clinkz can make your life miserable early in jungle. So get a Sentry Ward and don't let your health drop too low. I would say get a shared tango from your team-mates and keep your HP high in situations like these.
  • If the enemy heroes are missing from the lane, its highly probable that they are coming for you.
  • If you are playing in a really lower bracket, please tell your support not to place Observer Ward inside the camp which will block it. Also when the timer nears :00 sec ping them to move away from the camp so it won't be blocked.
  • When the enemy has a jungler on their own and they decide to jungle on your side.
    Like Enchantress, Chen, Lifestealer, etc.. happens rarely.
  • Any decent team will smoke gank you/disrupt your jungle.
  • You will need to discuss with your team mates before going to jungle or you may be flamed hard. I am by no means saying that the one who flames is right, you are going to be jungling until lvl 6 then >> Gank >> Jungle >> Blink/SB >> Gank. A good jungler at least do 2-4 ganks before 10 mins.

Watch this video to get an overall idea,

Lanes

A Lane is one of three paths connecting the two Ancients. Lane creeps will push along these lanes after spawning.

There are three lanes:

  • Top lane, which runs along the left and top edges of the map
  • Middle or mid line, where the lane creeps clash in the river
  • Bottom or bot, which runs along the bottom and right edges of the map

The lanes are also known by other names according to their function during the early game:
  • The safe lane (also referred to as easy lane or short lane) is the lane where the Tier 1 Tower is farthest from the Ancient, and closest to the creep line. For Radiant, this is the bottom lane. For Dire, this is the top lane. The lane is named as such since it is easiest for a laning hero to retreat to the protection of their tower, and because it is difficult for enemies to sneak through the jungle and gank the laning hero. Also, because this lane is close to the jungle, it is the easiest lane to use creep pulling to control the location of the creep line.
  • The off lane (also referred to as suicide lane, long lane or hard lane) is the lane where the Tier 1 Tower is closest to the Ancient, and farthest from the creep line. For Radiant, this is the top lane. For Dire, this is the bottom lane.
Source : Wiki

Basics - Safe Laning

Do not go Safe lane if your team has a hard carry ( Click here to see the list ). Ok then, you go to the safe lane and start your laning. Analyze the enemy picks, see how many of them scale into late game and how many are strong early.

If there are two Hard carries there and you have none. You have do the following :


  • Ask your team-mates who are in offlane (enemy's safe lane) to disrupt the hard carry's farm.
  • Whenever possible go gank him, with the help of your team mates and get those Duel Damage (If Possible).
  • By all means , try to end the game soon. If not ,they will farm up and rape you back and forth in late game.

While in safe lane, you have to :

  • Max your Q Overwhelming Odds, this ability shines best in the early game.Use it as a harassing tool and spam it only when your mana pool gets bigger and you have a lvl 3 or 4 in Q. (Some people spam it at lvl 2 but its your choice u need to decide whether u'll be needing mana in the near future).
  • When the enemy hero comes for last hits, cast your Q while he is surrounded by 4 creeps. It will do a whooping (112 on all the units at lvl 1 and it gets even better).This will make him back off a little and use his consumables like Tango and Healing Salve.
  • Try to take only last hits, don't auto attack because it will lead to pushing waves near enemy tower where you are at a disadvantage.
  • Make sure you have enough mana for Press the Attack and Duel combo which is 185. This is because Overwhelming Odds takes up a lot of mana early.
  • If you think you pushed the lane too far, then you can ask your support to pull the camps. If he doesn't pull, try to pull it yourself. In the worst case if the timing isn't right and u missed the pull, just go to the jungle and farm while the creep wave comes near your tower. NOTE:You can use Overwhelming Odds to pull camps
  • Always have a Town Portal Scroll after you hit level 6 and if u see the enemy team tower diving or fighting your team with low health(sometimes even when not low) just TP to that lane and surprise him with a Duel. This way your ally can help you and sometimes your tower can contribute too :D .
  • Finally keep an eye out for ganks since The enemy team might plan to gank you from the woods so have a ward or atleast be aware of the missing heroes that can kill you or set up for others to kill you.

Basics - Offlaning

You can solo offlane with Legion Commander since she is decently tanky. You can use your Overwhelming Odds to harass the enemy carry. Also you need to keep several things in mind while playing her Offlane:

  • Max Q >> Max W >> Max E
  • Always place a ward in the woods so you can escape from ganks .
  • Assess your enemy heroes and their abilities. If you think they can kill you the second you try to be aggressive like Juggernaut's Blade Fury and Shadow Shaman's Shackles combo, please don't. Try to PLAY SAFE since getting experience is your priority here.
  • Just stick around 1300 radius of the enemy creeps so that you can gain experience.
  • PLEASE DON'T DIE. If u die , then it means you are feeding the enemy carry.
  • If you can't get last hits, get a Soul Ring and spam Overwhelming Odds to take last hits. You will regen with Moment of Courage.
  • Protect your tower.
  • If you sense them ganking at you, use Overwhelming Odds and run at an increased speed.
  • If you sense the enemy team has no chance of killing you without their mid's help. Feel free to farm , deny and harass. Your Moment of Courage gives a decent lane sustain so chill.
  • REMEMBER Map Awareness is the key to survival here.

Ganking

Legion Commander is a very good ganker. It is advised to Duel an enemy when he is at low HP during the early stages. But you can Duel some heroes at full HP when you have help with you, like Lion's Finger of Death, Skywrath Mage's Mystic Flare or Invoker's Sun Strike. During early game, try to chip off some of the enemy's health before dueling as it will assure you 2 or 3 victories before you get a Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade. You can try doing a Body block while you do deal some damage before dueling and juke your way out after dueling.Watch the video below to get an idea of Blocking.



Extra Items that you might need for ganking :

Get a Dust of Appearance, if the enemy has a Shadow Blade. Because whenever he sees you or your ally coming in for a gank, he'll immediately go invisible. So carry a dust for situations like this.

Get a Smoke of Deceit, if the enemy team has warded their/your jungle. Upon activation, the user and all nearby allied player-controlled units gain invisibility and bonus movement speed for a brief time. Minimap icons will also be hidden. Its really cheap : 50 Gold .You can activate Press the Attack and Blade Mail under the effect of smoke without breaking invisibility. You won't be detected even by sentries which is really sweet. CAUTION: Upon moving within 1025 range(so you can blink from away that radius) of an enemy hero or tower, the invisibility and movement speed bonus is lost.

Get a Gem of True Sight, if the enemy team has a Shadow Blade / invisible hero(es) like Riki, Clinkz, Bounty Hunter. Because he will be waiting for you to duel the lone hero who is actually a bait. Once you start your duel, he'll come out of the shadows and make your life miserable. Get this if you are ganked a lot during farming lane creeps. A well farmed Alchemist can cast a Concussive Shot from nowhere and kill you in no time because he activated his Shadow Blade and approached you. In this scenario you have to be really quick because if you have a Blink Dagger,it will be put on Cool down if the Alchemist with a Radiance comes under 700 radius. Good thing is Gem of True Sight has a 900 radius, so BE QUICK.

Patterns for ganking:

Pattern 1 :

Pattern 2 :

Pattern 3 :

These patterns gets even wider along mid-late where you will be using Black King Bar or an Abyssal Blade.

Who to Duel ?


When to Duel ?


Watch this gameplay of Legion Commander:

Notice things like the co-ordination of their team while ganking and the abilities that made Duel useless like Winter Wyvern's Cold Embrace. How Winter Wyvern's ultimate Winter's Curse made your duel damage backfire on your ally. How he juked Sven and Jakiro in the beginning. Why did he go an Armlet of Mordiggian instead of a Blade Mail because all the enemy heroes except Sven require their abilities to be useful (Discussed Here). How he makes his decisions. Carefully analyze things like these in your games if you wish to become better.

Runes











Haste: Take it and go hunt down the enemy team.

Illusion: Not recommended to take. But if you are confident that you are a illusion master who can trick enemies to use their skills on you or threaten an enemy that is chasing down your ally. Feel free to take it.

Invisibility: Take it. Since before building Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade, you need this to gank efficiently.

Double Damage: YES!, TAKE IT. The bonus damage will let to win duels easier.

Regeneration: Take it if you are really low on mana/health because someone might need it more than you. If you are missing some of your HP, then go jungle you'll be good as new in no time.

Items

Starting items


Quelling Blade can be used to cut down trees and deward (destroy wards). The main reason we are getting it for LC is that it gives +24 bonus damage against non-hero units which will be really useful in jungling and the best part is that it builds into Iron Talon.
Stout Shield Gives a chance to block damage based on whether the equipped hero is melee or ranged. Gives you 50% chance to block 16 damage which will definitely help you jungle without worrying about HP
Ring of Protection gives you +2 Armor. We get this ring for two reasons :
  • You reduce the incoming physical damage approximately to 89% because you have 4 points in armor (base 2.6 + 2). Along with stout shield damage block, Jungling will be a walk in the park.
  • This will build into Iron Talon.

With these starting items you will be having:
Base Damage : 63 + 24( Quelling Blade) = 63 + 24 = 87
Armor : 4.6 (Physical damage resistance 21%)
Damage Block: 16 (50 % chance)
Health : 720
Attack Speed: 118 (1.44s per attack)

With this you can jungle with ease. You can take on Hard camps at lvl 1 but your HP will be brought down to 55 to 65% based on your luck with Moment of Courage. Never take on Hellbear Smasher at lvl 1, YOU WILL DIE.

Early Game


Iron Talon can also be used to cut down trees and deward (destroy wards). This item is very useful while Jungling. It lets you target non-player enemy units to remove 40% of their *current* HP. This means if you use it on Centaur Conqueror[1100 HP], you will do 440 Damage. Use it on the largest creep at full HP to do maximum damage.
Boots of Speed It gives you a flat +45 Movement Speed. Like all boots, the movement speed bonus does not stack with other items which derive from Boots of Speed

Phase Boots



  • +24 Damage
  • +45 Movement Speed
  • +0 Attack Speed

Power Treads



  • +9 Damage (When switched to Strength)
  • +45 Movement Speed
  • +25 Attack Speed

So, which boots to go for?
Phase Boots works well with your Overwhelming Odds to chase down enemies and it gives you +24 Damage. Lets do some math, if you want great mobility before getting a Blink Dagger or a Shadow Blade, get a Wind Lace. Now your movement speed will be 320+45+20= 385 . Use a lvl 1 Overwhelming Odds on a bunch of creeps with a hero and use phase boots. This will give you atleast 40% bonus movement speed, Now you have 520+ movement speed so there you go, a Haste rune and also you can run through units so no probs in chasing.

While Phase Boots does give you increased mobility and +24 Damage. This becomes little pale in Mid-Game when you will be having a Blink Dagger or a Shadow Blade for mobility. So, If you plan to get Power Treads, you should learn to do thread switching else just go for Phase boots. Power treads gives you the following:
  • When set to Strength: 180 health (current health percentage stays unchanged), 0.27 health regeneration and 25 attack speed and 9 attack damage. Set it to strength if you are taking damage.
  • When set to Agility: 1.26 armor and 35 attack speed. Set it to agility when you are doing nothing to regenerate HP & MANA faster. When you use Tango, Clarity, Healing Salve, Soul Ring and other consumables, switch to agility.
  • When set to Intelligence: 108 mana (current mana percentage stays unchanged), 0.36 mana regeneration and 25 attack speed. When you need to use Overwhelming Odds switch it to Intelligence and cast Q.
So, I recommend you to get Power Treads while laning and if you are going to jungle, its up to you to pick whatever you are comfortable with.


Blight Stone will reduce the armor of the enemy unit by 2 for 8 seconds. This is really sweet early since your attacks will deal more damage and helps in early Duels. Also this builds into Desolator.


Wind Lace will give you a flat +20 movement speed. Getting this is really optional. If you feel like you can't chase down enemies and you need a little more speed, get Wind Lace.

Mid Game



Shadow Blade



  • Cost: 2700
  • Mana cost: 75
  • Makes you invisible for 14 seconds with a fade delay of 0.3 sec
  • Cooldown : 28 sec
  • Move 20% faster while invisible.
  • Gives you +22 Damage and +30 Attack Speed.
  • Deal extra 175 damage, if you break invi with an attack.

Blink Dagger



  • Cost: 2250
  • No Mana cost
  • Teleports you to a target point up to 1200 units away.
  • Cooldown : 12 sec
  • Can be used to disjoint projectiles.
  • If damage is taken by any player, it is put on 3 sec CD.
  • When targeting beyond 1200 units, it blinks for 960 range only.

So, Which one to choose?

If you get a Shadow Blade, then it gives you +22 Damage, +30 Attack speed, Invisibility, 20% more movement speed and a bonus 175 damage on breaking which will help you win Duels easier early (when you won't be having much items). This also builds into Silver Edge which gives you a truck load of advantage.

It costs more than a Blink Dagger and it will be easily countered with Sentry Wards or a Gem of True Sight later. If your team already has invisible heroes like Riki, Bounty Hunter, Clinkz or heroes who are natural Shadow Blade carriers like Shadow Fiend, Tusk , Sniper, Drow Ranger, Slark : then the enemy will most probably have detection which will counter you. Also, using Shadow Blade to do a Press the Attack + Blade Mail + Duel combo is really difficult. Right after you attack, the enemy might activate their Shadow Blade to escape or activate their Blade Mail to ruin your Duel or just stun you and escape because using shadow blade as an initiation will give them time to react. But you can get a Shadow Blade:
  • If you think, you are really dominating.
  • If your team has a decent stun that will keep them in place, till you use your combo. Like Crystal Maiden's Frost Bite or Shadow Shaman's Shackles.
  • If you won't be able to use your Blink Dagger, because of AoE Damage from Radiance (usually Spectre , Phantom Lancer , Naga Siren have it) or Alchemist's Acid Spray.
  • If you are playing a pub match and the enemy team is not warding at all.
  • If you want to solo kill enemies at full HP early. CAUTION: Keep an eye on your mana you will needing 110+75+75=260 mana for SB + PTA + Duel combo .
  • If you want to easily escape from a gank. (assuming they don't have Dust of Appearance).
  • If you need a Silver Edge for +30 damage, +30 attack speed, +15 all attributes, +225 break damage, 50% damage Reduction and disables passives on break. For example, to dominate a Phantom Assassin.

Passives you can break with Silver Edge

Passives you can't break with Silver Edge


You can get a Blink Dagger, which I recommended most of the time. The thing is that it can get you into better positions in a team fight really quick at a cheaper rate and no mana cost. Also it can't be countered with detection. Plus you can set up your Press the Attack + Blade Mail from a distance , Blink Dagger to the enemy and Duel easier. Due to its low cooldown and mana cost, you can move through the map quicker and enable faster farming rate by blinking beyond cliffs and camps. A good intiation tool under proper circumstances (Don't dive in middle of 5 enemy heroes and Duel ). Get used to the 1200 range, you will have to feel it. Also you can disjoint some incoming projectiles with it.

Things you can escape with blink

Things you can't escape from


Finally, I would recommend you to get a Blink Dagger but in some circumstances mentioned above, Shadow Blade is preferred. In rare situations, you can get both or neither.

Blade Mail returns the same damage type as received for 4.5 sec and also it gives bonus attack damage and armor. It is a great item on LC since it helps her deal more damage during Duels when the Duel target can easily out-damage Legion Commander, such as Phantom Assassin , Huskar, Sven , Alchemist or Ursa. It's also great against ranged enemy carries in particular, since they may be able to attack and kite Legion Commander before she even approaches melee range to start counterattacking, but they tend to be very fragile, such as Drow Ranger, Windranger or Sniper. Is not really useful against squishy nukers who rely on spells like Zeus, Necrophos , Queen of Pain. So, get it if there are right clickers.

Desolator is a good item to consider as the armor reduction will help kill enemies in Duel faster, and is all-around helpful for your other allied carries. It will give you bonus +50 attack damage and reduce the enemy's armor by 7 for 15 seconds. I recommended you to get it if there are high armor heroes/ enemy builds armor items.

Armlet of Mordiggian is an excellent item on LC because it gives +31 damage, +4 armor and +25 strength while active ; quite literally every stat LC could want. But drains 45 HP per second while active. You cannot die from the health loss when the bonus strength is gone, or the health drain per second. The health loss is also greatly mitigated by the lifesteal from Moment of Courage. If you already have Blink Dagger as well, this is a good choice for a damage item. It is good against Squishy Nukers . It doesn't scale into late game, so you will end up selling it.

When you should turn on your Armlet of Modiggian:
  • When you need the extra damage and attack speed.
  • When you are in need of some "temporary HP" to survive an autoattack from the tower or hero.
  • Turn it on when you see a nuke coming your way.

When you should not turn on/off your Armlet of Modiggian:
  • Do not turn off your Armlet of Mordiggian if you are being attacked by creeps and you have less than 400 hp.
  • Do not turn it on if you do not need the extra damage, attack speed or health at that point in time because the Armlet of Mordiggian would drain tons of hp from your pool.
  • Do not turn it off when you see a spell from a hero heading towards you. This would kill you in a few seconds.

Sange and Yasha is also a viable item on LC. Sange gives some tank when nukes are at their greatest relative power. Gives a little bit of everything LC needs: +16% movespeed, +16 Attack Speed , +16 Damage , +16 Strength , +16 Agility and Attack speed slow (-26 AS melee / -13 AS ranged) and Movespeed slow [Slow occurs on 50% MAIM chance]. It falls off late game. Get this if you need to be tanky early on since its cost effective.

Echo Sabre is kinda interesting item on LC. It gives you +10 intelligence, +10 Strength, +10 Attack speed, +15 damage and +75% mana regen. Build Echo Sabre on LC after blink/armlet if any of the below are true:
  • The enemy team are split pushing rather than trying to teamfight. This means you won't be team fighting hence no need for a Black King Bar at this stage.
  • You've got a bunch of duel damage stacked up but you need a power boost(i.e the team is behind and you can't afford a bigger item).
  • Your lane was so difficult that you could only farm by spamming Overwhelming Odds and hence needed mana regen. Then Oblivion Staff into Echo Sabre is a natural progression.

Late Game


Black King Bar is almost a must item on LC if the enemy team has 2 or more disablers. BKB gives you spell immunity to all magic damage, stuns, disables, nukes, and several ultimates. I usually don't get this early because there won't be as many teamfights as in mid-late where you will be needing extended duration of BKB because cooldown decrease with each use.

NOTE : Use your Press the Attack before Black King Bar.

Visit the following link to know which spells pierce through BKB,
http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Spell_Immunity/Enemy_Interactions

Assault Cuirass is a CORE item on LC. It gives you attack speed, armor and your aura gives armor to your team while taking away from enemies. Everything this gives helps you in Duel and in team fights it helps you stay alive. Getting this will make you tanky and if you wanna be more tanky get a Eye of Skadi.

Monkey King Bar gives you massive attack damage and some attack speed. But the main reason for you to get this is to kill those EVASION guys like Phantom Assassin, Brew Master and some spells like Riki's Smoke Screen and mainly for those agility heroes that build a Butterfly like a Juggernaut, Slark, Terrorblade.

Mjollnir gives you great attack speed and damage but it doesn't come cheap.Get a Maelstorm during a mid game if you want farm / want to push lanes, because it gives you great farming potential due to the attack speed and lightning procs. Late game, build Maelstorm into a Mjollnir. Its active is nice too. Seriously most of the time you should be farming heroes and not creeps. This is in case the enemy team always move in 5 or 4 men group and you want to farm. But don't rush this before a Black King Bar in these kinda situations. Get a Mjollnir if you need more team fight presence.

Abyssal Blade might sound bad because you will be having a Blade Mail most of the time and since Abyssal blade bashes your enemy a lot it makes them take less damage from Blade Mail and your Moment of Courage will proc lesser. We get this item mainly because of its active which can serve as a severe lock down to counter Linken's Sphere and prevent them from activating their Manta Style or skills that will make dueling harder because Duel does not cast instantly so people with quick hands can make it harder for you to duel.

Boots of Travel is really a must in late game. Since, neither your Phase Boots nor Power Treads will be of relevance in late game. Boots of Travel will give you more movement speed and most importantly saves you a slot from [[Town Portal Scroll] (TP scroll can't teleport you to Tier 1 towers because they won't be there in late game).

Moon Shard just gives you flat +120 Attack speed and bonus night vision. The problem of getting this is simple. You will get it in Late game where you will need survivability in team fights not just AS. You can get this if you are six slotted and consume it for bonus +60 permanent attack speed.

Eye of Skadi is preferred in case you need to be more tanky. Don't get a Heart of Tarrasque. This one is better for LC. It gives you Strength, Agility, Intelligence, HP and a passive cold which will help you in team fights and due to your high lifesteal from MoC, the heart regen should not be that necessary. The Best part is it ain't a UAM(Unique Attack Modifier) anymore this means it can stack with desolator.

Daedalus gives you a massive +81 Damage and most importantly 220% critical strike with a 30% chance. Get this item if you need to deal more damage during duels.

Friends

Nukes that can help you win duels


Basically stuns help you set up your duel combo early.



Abilities that are useful to get you in and out of fights which you will be needing a lot.


Foes

Basically stuns, disables and nukes will ruin your duels every time and may end up killing you.


Don't try to man-fight guys like these "alone" if they are fat.


Heroes that can cause you trouble

Berserker's Call and Blade Mail combo will kill you if you are not tank enough.
Generally you cant do so much against a well farmed LS. But the fun part is his Aghanim's Scepter that can stop your duels by eating the opponent hero :) .

Summary

Thanks You guys for reading this guide and I hope you found it useful. I have to say a big thanks to Dr.D's Blog on guide formatting. I plan on updating a lot more info on strategies and stuff later.

To Be added

  1. How to play LC in Mid-Lane.
  2. How to play LC in Team fights.
  3. When to pick and when not to.
  4. Sample builds for certain situations.
  5. A separate detailed section for Friends and Foes. [DONE]
  6. Revisions based on feedback.
  7. Improvements to overall formatting.
  8. How players play against LC.

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