Table of Contents

I. Intro

II. Alt Tab Guide

III. Vital Statistics

IV. Skills Analysis

V. Skill Build

VI. Item Build

VII. Gameplay

VIII. Interaction with Others



I. Intro

Foreword

Hi all and welcome to my Lina Inverse the Slayer guide! For those who don't know, Lina Inverse's name and movelist were plagiarised directly from the anime and manga series "Slayers". Although the DotA hero is much calmer more soft spoken compared to the boisterous anime character, they still share the same fiery battle prowess!

Looking through the playdota site, I was surprised to see a complete lack of Lina guide. Thus I've decided to create this guide to help out new and budding Lina players out there! The guide is aimed mostly at upper-beginner to intermediate level players who are familiar with the game but have not had much experience with Lina. Let's face it, competitive players have no need for a guide! However, feel free to read through this and add your comments or criticism. The title of this guide is a reference to Lina's incantation when casting Dragon Slave in the anime series.

Hero Introduction

Lina is primarily a powerful nuker, but she also has greater attacking DPS power than almost any other spellcaster around. Her role in the team is mostly as ganker and disabler while later on she develops some quasi-carry capabilities. This much is obvious given her movelist of three nukes and a steroid skill.

Pros
+ One of the deadliest single target burst damage combo in the game
+ Despite the single target focus, she still has some AOE damage capabilities
+ Great Int and Int growth
+ Later on she has decent attack DPS, for a nuker anyway

Cons
- Very fragile, with low Str growth and low base Armor
- Not the best attack animation for the early game
- Slightly low movespeed
- Her stun has a 0.5 second delay, making it tricky to hit moving targets

For the official introduction and more detailed info on attributes and skills, click on Lina's portrait on the top right hand side of the guide above the comments.


II. Alt Tab Guide

III. Vital Statistics

# Strength Lina Inverse Strength
18 + 1.5
# Agility Lina Inverse Agility
16 + 1.5
# Intelligence Lina Inverse Intelligence
24 + 3.2

* Affiliation: Sentinel
* Attack Animation: 0.75 / 0.78
* Damage: 37 - 55
* Casting Animation: 0.45 / 1.08
* Armor: 1.3
* Base Attack Time: 1.7
* Movespeed: 295
* Missile Speed: 900
* Attack Range: 600
* Sight Range: 1800 / 800


The one thing that stands out positively is her Int growth, which is 5th highest in the game.
Although her starting Str is ok for an Int/Agi hero, the Str growth is quite low.
Her base Armor is also very low. Overall she can be considered to be a very fragile hero.
Her base damage and attack animation are a bit poor, making last-hitting challenging in the early game. In fact her frontswing is one of the worst in the game.
Later on however, once she gets her DPS boost from Fiery Soul this becomes less and less of an issue.
Other than the above mentioned, Lina is fairly average stats-wise with nothing really standing out overly much.


IV. Skills Analysis

Here is a list of Lina's skills. For more details go to her homepage on the main site. Note that all her nukes deal Magical damage. Nothing special there.

Dragon Slave

AOE nuke with point targeting
Mana cost: 90/105/125/140
Damage: 100/170/230/280
At all levels:
# 8.5 seconds cooldown
# 600 casting range
# 275 AOE diameter
# Travels 825 range

Dragon Slave is a pretty straightforward AOE nuke. A burst of fire in the shape of a fiery bird flies forth from Lina's hands, covering 825 range with 275 AOE throughout. The mana cost and cooldown are both reasonably low making this quite a spammable spell. The damage is slightly lower average though, with most other nukes in the game dealing 300 or more. Since this spell is reliable and far easier to land than Light Strike Array, Dragon Slave can be considered Lina's primary nuke.

Note that although it has a casting range of 600, the fireball travels 825 range. With the 137 AOE radius included, it can hit enemies up to 962 range away. This is
considerably longer than Lina's attack or other nukes, so you can use Dragon Slave on fleeing enemies that are otherwise out of reach.


Light Strike Array

Circular AOE nuke with area targeting
Mana cost: 90/100/110/125
Damage: 90/150/210/280
At all levels:
# 8 seconds cooldown
# 600 casting range
# 225 AOE
# 1.6 seconds stun
# 0.5 second delay in casting (bad!!)

This is Lina's nuke. With the small AOE you can hit two or more enemy heroes if you're lucky, but even hitting just one is worth it. This skill is pretty cheap to cast, has a quick cooldown and the level 4 damage is the same as Dragon Slave. The really bad thing about this spell, however, is the half second casting delay. This makes it challenging to hit moving targets as you have to predict where they're going a little bit. This is a skill that can only be improved with practice, like Pudge's Hook or Mirana's Arrow albeit easier because of its AOE.

Tip: If you aim in front of the target so that the edge of the aiming circle just touches them, this spell will hit unless they change direction during the half second delay.

Landing Light Strike Array can be made easier using items, specifically Blink Dagger, Eul's and Guinsoo.


Fiery Soul

Passive which activates whenever you cast a spell (item usage doesn't count)
IAS: +30/40/50/60
MS: +2/3/4/5%
At all levels:
# Lasts 7 seconds
# Can stack up to 3 times
# Duration refreshes each time a spell is cast

Well, this ability is definitely out of place for a caster, but it does make Lina a more interesting and unique hero. This ability increases attack and movement speed by a large amount and can stack up to 3 times. Stacking this 3 times will give you more IAS than Troll Warlord's Battle Trance ultimate (180% vs 140% IAS)! It definitely is quite a marked improvement in DPS for our heroine!


Laguna Blade

Lina's ultimate, a single target nuke
Mana cost: 280/420/680
Cooldown: 150/90/55 seconds
Damage: 450/675/950 or 600/875/1150 with Aghanim's
Casting range: 600 at all levels

The ultimate in pewpew arts, this is the most damaging single target nuke in the game.

V. Skill Build

Light Strike Array
Dragon Slave
Dragon Slave
Light Strike Array
Dragon Slave
Laguna Blade

Dragon Slave
Light Strike Array
Light Strike Array
Fiery Soul
Laguna Blade

Fiery Soul
Fiery Soul
Fiery Soul
Stats
Laguna Blade
--> Stats


Justification:
# Her Ulti is highly damaging and each level improves cooldown, take it whenever possible
# Light Strike Array level 1 because it's a stun, meaning you can use it to set up or prevent first blood attempts
# Dragon Slave is maxed first because it's a more reliable damage dealer than LSA
# LSA maxed next for the extra damage
# Fiery Soul taken mid/late game to give Lina some attack DPS power

VI. Item Build

There are four main reasons to get a particular item:
1. Mitigating weaknesses
2. Capitalizing on strengths
3. Countering a specific enemy strategy
4. General all-round usefulness
In choosing items for anyone we need to keep in mind the above four points.

Starting Items

Circlet/Tango/Clarity/Branches

Core

Wand is an all-round useful cheap item that is good for just about everyone. If you find that the enemies don't have many spammable spells, however, an extra Bracer might be better for survivability. As a rule, if you can get 4 charges on your Wand, then it will give you more HP than a Bracer.
A single early Bracer will greatly improve your survivability. At the time you first get Bracer, your HP will increase about 20%.
Bottle is a staple for mana intensive gankers, giving you reliable HP/mana supplement and improved rune usage.
Void Stone is an important

Optional/Situational

Depending on your teammates and enemies, get a Courier, Flying Courier, Wards and Dust as necessary.

Since your stun has a casting delay and average casting range, it can be hard to land. Dagger is the easiest way to fix this situation. It also allows you to initiate team fights if your team is lacking in that department. However, if you have teammates with reliable stuns and initiation, you won't really need Dagger.


Boot Upgrade Choice

Power Treads is a great choice for Lina. The added Str improves her survivability significantly and in a pinch can be converted to Int if she needs just a little more mana for her combo. The increased attack speed also adds to Fiery Soul's to further increase her DPS later.

Travels is a good late game choice. Once she has Fiery Soul and a large mana pool Lina can clear creep waves very quickly with DS, LSA and normal attacks. She can teleport to wherever needed and farm or gank.

Phase doesn't synergize too well with her skills. It is not horrible to get Phase on Lina, but it is not as good as the other two choices.

Guinsoo is one of the very best items in DotA and is perfect for Lina. The disable it gives you is precious and will ensure you land your stun. The mana pool and mana regen increase means you can practically spam your spells at will. It even gives you a little more survivability and DPS.


VII. Gameplay

Combo Damages

These are the magic numbers you need to remember, corresponding to the combo damage of Lina. The calculations include just the basic hero magic resistance of 25%. If the enemy has Hood of Defiance or other extra magic resistance then the total damage will obviously be lower.

The combo starts with Light Strike Array followed by Dragon Slave and finally the ulti Laguna Blade. You can generally add at least 2 or 3 normal attacks to the combo as well, more once you have Fiery Soul leveled.

Dragon Slave or Light Strike Array = 210 damage each
Level 1 Ulti = 337
Level 2 Ulti = 506
Level 3 Ulti = 712

LSA + DS + Ulti 1 = 757
LSA + DS + Ulti 2 = 926
LSA + DS + Ulti 3 = 1132

In some situations, like when you're ganking with another stunner, you can add another DS after your combo. In this case, let your ally stun while you open with DS first so that it cools down earlier. Add your LSA and ulti as usual, then if they survive chase them and cast another DS.


VIII. Interaction with Others