Lina the Slayer Guide

Introduction

Hello, this is my first guide. Please leave suggestions below :)

I'm definitely not the best Dota 2 player out there, but I play Lina well, and wanted to share my guide with you all

Lore

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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 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.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Has very powerful spells, especially early/mid game
• Has a very long range
• Not much item dependent

Cons:

• Very squishy
• Very mana dependent
• Can easily get countered with silences
• Slow movement speed
• No escape mechanism
• Spells become basically useless towards late game

When to pick and not pick Lina

Pick Lina if:

• Enemy team has squishy heroes
• Your team needs a support
• Your team needs a disable
• Your team needs MORE disables
• You expect the game to end early

Don't pick Lina if:

• Enemy team has a lot of silences and disables
• Enemy team has a lot of burst damage
• Your team has a lot of supports
• You expect the game to end very late

Skills

Dragon Slave

Type: Targets:

Active Point

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

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Notes:

• Powerful nuke especially early game
• Launches wave of fire in a cone shaped area
• Great for last hitting creeps
• Great for harassing heroes out of lanes
• Great for clearing out creep waves

I usually max out this skill first because it is very powerful in the early stages of the game.

Light Strike Array

Type: Targets:

Active Target AOE

Summons a column of flames that damages and stuns enemies.

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Notes:

• An unreliable stun
• Your main damage nuke
• Used to harass and gank
• Hard to land
• Breaks trees

I usually put only one point into this at the beginning of the game since in my opinion, it doesn't make a big difference. I level this skill last.

Fiery Soul

Type: Targets:

Passive Self

Grants bonus attack and movement speed each time Lina casts a spell. Stacks with itself.

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Notes:

• Triggers whenever you cast a spell
• Items do not trigger Fiery Soul
• Refreshes whenever you cast a spell
• Increases movement and attack speed
• Great for attacking and chasing enemy heroes
• Great for pushing towers

This skill isn't as important as the other ones, but it is still good to have since it makes you more mobile.

Laguna Blade

Type: Targets:

Active Enemy

Fires off a bolt of lightning at a single enemy unit, dealing massive damage.

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Notes:

• Most powerful nuke in the game
• Great for finishing off enemy heroes
• Magical Damage
• Upgraded by Aghaim's Scepter, which increases the range and changes the damage type to pure, making it able to pierce through magical immunity, such as Black King Bar and Repel

Unless your looking to securing the kill, don't kill steal with this. It's annoying.

Friends and Foes

Friends

There are many different heroes that work well with Lina. People who keep you full with mana, stunners so that you can land Light Strike Array properly, etc. I chose the people that I think work the best with Lina.

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Crystal Maiden, Lina's sister is a great ally to have on your team. Not only does she have Crystal Nova and Frostbite to help you land your Light Strike Array, her Arcane Aura keeps you fed up with mana, and Lina is very mana dependent.

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The new-ish ****py Skeleton King provides Wraithfire Blast, helping you land Light Strike Array (make sure you time it correctly, however). Wraith King also has Vampiric Aura, which gives nearby allies lifesteal, which works great with Fiery Soul and increases survivability in general.

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If you need a gank, Nature's Prophet can just teleport and help you kill an enemy hero. His Sprout makes it really easy for you to land Light Strike Array, and that is why he is your best friend.

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Astral Imprisonment, if you time it right, is the best way to land Light Strike Array. Essence Aura is very good for you, providing mana, and I keep repeating in this guide, Lina is very mana dependent. Also, once the enemy hero is stunned with Light Strike Array, Outworld Devourer can right click the hero with Arcane Orb. Easy gank.

Foes

Lina can easily get countered by disables, mana burn and magical immunity.

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Nether Blast hurts and gives you a big booboo.

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As the name suggests, Silencer, silences and disables you. A disabled Lina is a bad Lina, since she can't do anything. Also Global Silence is ******ed.

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Nyx Assassin is your worst nightmare. Impale stuns you, and while your stunned, you can't cast spells. His Mana Burn makes sure you don't have enough mana to cast your spells. Last but not least, Spiked Carapace makes so that damage dealt to it is not only reduced but is reflected back. Also, the source of damage gets stunned. So if you Laguna Blade with that on, you're basically screwed.

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Anti-Mage can counter Lina several ways. He can Mana Break you, which makes you lose your mana, which makes sure you don't cast spells. He can use Spell Shield so that your spells do less damage to him. Last but not least, Mana Void removes health based on how much mana your missing, and you will be losing mana constantly, because you're spamming your spells all the time and Mana Break. It also stuns you. Essentially, he's the bane of all heavy spellcasters, hence the very creative name.

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Doom is the most overpowered ultimate in the game. It makes you so that you can't use any spells or items for 15 seconds, rendering Lina worthless.

Items that Counter Lina

There are a few items that counter Lina, but some can be completely devastating if used at the right time

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A Black King Bar, when activated, grants the user magical immunity. This makes so that Lina barely does any damage to that person, unless you use Laguna Blade and you have an Aghanim's Scepter.

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A Pipe of Insight, when activated,grants the users allies to have magical reduction. If an enemy uses this, your spells won't have as big of an effect on them as it should have.

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This grants the user spell block, which if they are very low on health, and you decide to Laguna Blade them, and Linken's Sphere is up, it won't do anything.

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This item silences a target unit. If you are silenced with this, you can't cast spells, and you can't do anything.

Items

Animal Courier: This item is a necessity for your team. Unless someone else buys it, always buy this at the beginning of the game.

Observer Ward: In my opinion, this is one of the most overpowered items in the game. Buy this throughout the whole game if you're a support. If you don't know how to ward, look up a warding guide.

Healing Salve: This item quickly restores your health. This especially is good for Lina because she is squishy.

Tango: This item restores your health slowly, and can be used 4 times.

Clarity: Lina uses up her mana very quickly, so its always good to have a clarity on you during the beginning of the game.

Bracer: This item provides survivability for Lina since she's squishy. It eventually builds into a Drum of Endurance.

Null Talisman: This item provides great stats for Lina, allowing her to outlane her opponent.

Boots of Speed: This is necessary for all heroes.

Bottle: Lina is squishy and uses up a lot of mana, which is why bottle is good on her. Bottle is also good for most mid heroes too.

Arcane Boots: Lina uses up a lot of mana, and as a support player, this item is very useful.

Town Portal Scroll: This item is amazing on most heroes. You can quickly teleport to a different lane to gank or you can use it to escape. Always carry this with you.

Urn of Shadows: This item provides healing and mana regeneration, and I said earlier, Lina uses up her mana quickly. Get this only if your ganking a lot.

Mekansm: If you don't have an Urn of Shadows and you're getting decent gold (for a support) then grab this for your team.

Drum of Endurance: Not only does this item grant you more survivability, it grants you more movement and attack speed, having great synergy with Fiery Soul.

Blink Dagger: This item provides great initiation and can even sometimes be used as an escape. However, the only downside is that it can't be used while being attacked.

Aghanim's Scepter: This item provides great stats for Lina, and not only that, it upgrades Laguna Blade, increasing the range and making it deal pure damage. This makes Laguna Blade deal more damage and can pierce through magical immunity.

Orchid Malevolence: This item is good for enemies that are squishy and are spellcasters. This item silences enemies and make them take more damage. It also provides mana regeneration, attack speed, and damage.

Force Staff: This item can be used for initiation. It can be used on enemies, and allies to help them get out of danger. This also provides little mana regeneration. This can be also used while your damaged. Can replace the Blink Dagger.

Eul's Scepter of Divinity: This item provides mana regeneration, movement speed, and can also put you into a tornado, which can be used on yourself and enemies. You can use it as a disable to slow enemies down and get a gank, or you can use it to stop yourself from being killed.

Ghost Scepter: Not only does it give good stats, but it also makes you go into ethereal form, where you cannot be attacked and you cannot attack, however you take more magical damage. Great for escaping right-click carries. This can be built into a Ethereal Blade.

Black King Bar: This grants you magical immunity, which helps with teams that use heavy spells.

Scythe of Vyse: This item can be used to disable hard carries, providing either a great escape, or a great gank. Also provides mana regeneration and great stats.

Ethereal Blade: A target enters ethereal form, where they can't attack or be attacked, but they are slowed and take more magical damage. If you target yourself, you don't get slowed. Great for absolutely destroying other heroes and provides a great escape mechanism. Note: Does not amplify Laguna Blade if you have Aghanim's Scepter.

Dagon: Not really necessary as you already have 3 nukes, this item provides burst damage that is good for damaging and finishing off heroes. Also provides a bit of mana regeneration.

Rod of Atos: Slows the target's movement speed. Great for ganking and escaping a chasing hero like Bloodseeker.

Dust of Appearance: Buy this against a hero that uses an invisibility skill or a Shadow Blade to escape.

Sentry Ward: Use this to deward enemy wards and enemies that use invisibility to sneak up on you.

Gem of True Sight: Buy this item for a durable person on the team for dewarding and detecting invisible heroes.

Smoke of Deceit: Use this to gank other heroes with your whole team. You can also sneak into Roshan's pit just in case the enemy is warding.

Flying Courier: Upgrade courier if noone else has.

Veil of Discord: Provides good stats and also amplifies magic damage to a target. Great item for Lina overall.

Pipe of Insight: This item makes your allies take less magical damage. Good against teams with lots of magical damage.

Bloodstone: Provides health and amazing mana regen. Also allows you to commit suicide so that the enemy won't benefit from killing you. If you do this, it decreases the respawn cooldown.

Mjollnir: A great item that provides attack speed. Works good with Fiery Soul.

Daedalus: A damage item that turns you into a right-clicking threat.

Linken's Sphere: Provides mana regeneration and spell block. Good against teams with powerful spells.

Satanic: Grants you lifesteal. Works great with Fiery Soul and increases your survivability in fights.

Desolator: Removes armor from enemies when you attack. Great against squishy heroes.

Orb of Venom: Slows down the enemy and deals small damage over time when you attack them. Great during early game ganking. Evetually builds into a Eye of Skadi.

Eye of Skadi: Provides great stats and mana regeneration. Slows down the enemy when you attack them.

Mid Starting Builds

Bottle Rush

Cost: 275

Pros:

• Gets you an early bottle

Cons:

• Lacks stats and can get outlaned easily

This build is for you to get a really fast bottle so you can start spamming your spells and have better rune control.

Max Stats

Cost: 570

Pros:

• Gives you very high stats

Cons:

• Lacks regeneration and very squishy

This build is very good if you are not concerned about getting harassed and outlaned, and you know for sure you have the advantage. If noone on your team gives you 2 Tango (Shared), then instead of buying 2 Iron Branches, buy a set of Tangos.

Usual

Cost: 535

Pros:

• Great regeneration and normal stats

Cons:

• May have less stats and regeneration than the enemy. Other than that, no cons

This build is a great all around build, and should be used most of the time.

Laning/Ganking

Support

During the early stages of the game, you want to be constantly pulling and stacking, as well as harassing the enemy. Lina lanes well with a carry with a stun or slow like Chaos Knight, Sven, Tiny, Ursa, Centaur Warrunner etc. This is because if your carry stun/slows, and if you time it correctly and use Light Strike Array on the enemy, your lane will have a lot of kill potential. You also wanna be constantly warding and ganking. If your not trying to gank, then you should be harassing, warding or stacking. Get as much denies as possible, and make sure your carry gets as much farm as possible. When you're pushing, spam Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array at the enemy creep wave so that it can get cleared out faster. Since you spammed your spells, Fiery Soul will trigger and will allow you to push the tower easily.

Mid

You should be the only one going mid. Start at the barracks, and block the creeps as much as you can. Don't be afraid to use Dragon Slave to last hit. It's even better if you last hit AND harass the enemy mid hero at the same time. Make sure you're denying your creeps, but remember last-hitting is more important. Whenever the clock is almost at the 2 minute mark (when the rune spawns), use Dragon Slave to clear out the lane faster to push up a bit more, so you don't lose as much gold or experience. Once the rune has spawned, go to take it. You should know where the rune is at, since your support should have been warding. If not, and if you get unlucky, at least you get a bounty rune. At level 6, start going for ganks. You should be always going for ganks. When you're pushing, spam Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array at the enemy creep wave so that it can get cleared out faster. Since you spammed your spells, Fiery Soul will trigger and will allow you to push the tower easily.

Ganking

You should always carry a Teleport Scroll with you. If you see an easy gank, teleport to another lane and gank! If you're ganking and it goes wrong, you can go into the trees/stunning the enemy, and teleport out of there just in time. It's a great item to always have on you. You or your support should always be warding so see what the enemy heroes are doing, helping you from danger and can possibly get you easy kills.

When ganking, you should always use your items first, such as Ethereal Blade, Veil of Discord, Rod of Atos, Orchid Malevolence, etc. and then the combo that most people use is:

Light Strike Array + Dragon Slave + Laguna Blade

Follow up that combo with a Dagon if you have one.