Lina Inverse, the Slayer

Practice map included!
*Note: The practice map can only be downloaded if you view this guide in Dota Guide Forum!





*Note: I'm trying to keep this guide newbie friendly and straightforward, so there will be little spelling mistakes and abbreviations.

1. Introduction:

Lina is sort of like Lion in some way, except that she has more nukes. I have played her a lot recently and found out that whenever a face Pugna or Anti-Mage its actually pretty challenging. She has a good ganking potential but is very weak without mana or disabled. She is sometimes underused and underestimated but thats not true. In the right hands, she can be a great hero killer.

2. Pros and Cons:


Pros:

- Very easy too play
- Very good in mid game
- 2 of her spells are AOE
- Her ultimate can be improved
- Has powerful nukes

Cons

- Pretty weak, since she's going to be focusing on mana instead of hp.
- Her spells require a quite a bit on mana.
- Not that good in late game.
- Not that good on Pugna or Anti-Mage (Actually she sucks against them!)
- Her ultimate only hits 1 target.

3.Skills:



Dragon Slave

This is her farming and early game harassing/nuking skill. This does a lot of damage early on so max it ASAP. It's also AOE so it can sometimes give you multiple kills.


Light Strike Array

This her disable, which is also AOE. It stuns for 1.6 seconds but it stuns all enemies effected! Self-explanatory skill.


Fiery Soul

I actually don't think that this skill is very good, since Lina is not a DPS-er, but however the movement speed bonus of this skill is very good.


Laguna Blade

This is her nuke, it does less damage than Lion's nuke early on but is very good later on. Max it!

4.Skill Build

1.Light Strike Array
2.Dragon Slave
3.Dragon Slave
4.Light Strike Array
5.Dragon Slave
6.Laguna Blade
7.Light Strike Array
8.Dragon Slave
9.Light Strike Array
10.Fiery Soul
11.Laguna Blade
12.Fiery Soul
13.Fiery Soul
14.Fiery Soul
15.Stats
16.Laguna Blade
17-25.Stats

Explanation:

Dragon Slave and Light Strike Array is maxed out ASAP because both of them are her bread and butter skills. They both play a big role in early game hero killing. Laguna Blade is taken whenever possible since it's her best nuke. Fiery Soul is taken after maxing out Dragon Salve and Light Strike Array since it's only effective while repeatedly casting spells and you don't have enough mana early on to spam spells.


5.Item Build:


Starting Items:



x2



581

Explanation:

This is the starting items I go with with almost every hero. A Circlet and 2 Ironwood Branches gives you good stats bonus and a decent mana pool, and plus you can upgrade them into Bracers/Nulls later on. The Tango is a good heal for your hero. The reason I don't like Healing Salve is that you can easily disabled it and staying back while the healing takes effect means that you get less exp. Chicken is a must on Lina, it makes her stay in lane longer, and it means that you don't have to go back all the way to the fountain to buy items.


Core Items:

x2
or



Total cost: 3139-3189

Explanation:

I have changed some items in my core. So now it's more like a caster build. Lina requires more mana than hp, so getting items that adds mana regeneration and intelligence is vital. 2 Nulls provides a good source of mana. Treads provides less mana can provide some hp while Arcane Boots provides more mana and the ability to restore mana, so Arcane Boots is probably a better choice. Magic Wand can restore mana without the cost of hp unlike Soul Ring. Bottle restores 210 mana, although thats only enough for one of her spells the hp heal is very nice.


Mid Game Items:




Total cost: 4955-10155 (Depends on how much you upgrade Dagon.)

Explanation:

Since her ultimate's cooldown is actually pretty long for the first 2 levels, Dagon is required to finish off enemy heroes. it gives a lot of intelligence and nice damage, it also provides a nice nuke. But this item will cost a lot if you upgraded it to level 5. In fact it will actually delay some late game items. Usually 2-3 levels is good enough. As for Blink Dagger, it actually work out pretty well with Light Strike Array because if a enemy hero with a low hp gets away there is almost nothing you can do! (A tutorial on how to use Light Strike Array and Dagger will be available soon!)


Late Game Luxuries:



Gives good armor, tons of intelligence, great choice!


No more stupid disables! The strength bonus is nice too!


This is a MUST on Lina, it gives her insane mana regeneration, a disable, and a lot of mana. Get this ASAP!


Improves her ultimate by 300 damage, which is nice but level 1 Dagon is better and cheaper, still it's an okay choice.


This thing automatically blocks spells for you! Gives nice stats and mana regeneration too.


Optional Items:



This item is okay on her I guess, gives nice intelligence and strength. The Necronomicon minions are good too.


Although it gives good mana regeneration, Guinsoo is much better because it provides the same thing and a disable. But this is cheaper.


I actually think that this item should be a good mid game item. It gives everything that Lina needs, A disable, movement speed, intelligence, and mana regeneration. Still, I haven't tried this item yet. Is this really good on Lina? Leave a comment on this item please!


Although this is meant for Agility heroes, this is actually not that bad. The Etheral Blast is really awesome. Use Etheral Blast+Dagon+Ultimate and you'll almost guarantee a kill.


Rejected Items:



Lina needs mana not hp!


I am actually tired of seeing people getting this on every single hero on Dota.


Lina can play DPS, but she can't do that in late game because she's paper. If you play Lina like a Dps-er then all I can say is good luck!


You can't expect to sneak up to Heroes like Slardar and Balanar (at night time) then use Light Strike Array because they're faster than you! Dagger is a wiser choice.


6. Early Game Strategies


Laning:

Once you get your starting items choose a lane. The best lane for Lina is mid because it's easier to hit people in mid lane using Dragon Slave than other lanes since mid lane is very short. I suggest instead of automatically attacking get last hits, after all, Lina's damage isn't that good. Don't harass until level 4 or 5 because your spells does low damage early on. If you harass someone enough you can draw kill once you get your ultimate! Just farm well in general.

How to land a Light Strike Array:


They key to landing a successful Light Strike Array is to always target in front of the enemy hero, seen on this picture above. This will work 85% of the time!

Killing/Ganking?

Once you reach level 6 you hit the spotlight. Most heroes probably have paper hp or really bad spell resistance. When you get your ultimate, try to kill someone! It's better to team up with an ally and gank but you can perfectly handle this yourself. Just follow the steps below:

Step 1: Find a weak hero (usually an agility or intelligence hero)
Step 2: Make sure your ultimate is not on cooldown!
Step 3: Gank him!
Step 4: Cast Light Strike Array first to make sure he/she dosen't fight back (You can cast this last to make sure he/she dosen't get away)
Step 5: Cast Dragon Slave array on him.
Step 6: Use ultimate on him/her.
This will almost guarantee a kill! But sometimes accidents happen..


7.Mid Game Strategies:


Now that you're in mid game, you get even more spotlight! You should've probably farmed up your core right now, if not then use Light Strike Array and Dragon Slave to farm. Once you get your ultimate to level 2 start ganking. Again, heroes are paper right now so take advantage of your ability to kill! I would suggest getting your mid game items ASAP since that will make you a even better nuker. However, watch out for anti-spellcasters and disablers, it's probably better to team up with a teammate first or else you could get killed.

Using Blink Dagger With Light strike Array:

This is actually different from just casting it directly. You need to make sure that you don't blink right into an enemy trap when hunting down low hp enemy heroes.


Instead of just walking up to someone to blink hide behind debris so the enemy hero won't expect you! (This is just a demo)


Then blink and stun, but target the area around you if you happen to land right next to him/her.

8.Late Game Strategies:


You kind of loose the spotlight in late game. This is when most heroes gets stronger and you'll find that you sometimes can't kill a hero just by yourself. So I would suggest that you always stick to an ally. Your ally can get a hero down to low hp while you nuke him/her. Since your stun isn't really that good in late game, get Guinsoo as a disable. Lina isn't that good in late game overall. But she is still very deadly and can pwn you!


9.Good Allies:


Healers:


Makes you stay in lane longer, can save your ass too!

Disablers:



Make sure poor enemy heroes dosen't get away!

Nukers:


Together, you'll nuke the shit out of people!


Pugna's Decrepify can really amplify Lina's spell damage. Very nice ally

10.Bad Enemies:



These people will destroy your mana pool. Stay away at all cost!


His spells does mass damage and since your paper he will destroy you. 9Avoid Walrus Punch!)


11. Videos and Replays:

*Note: Since there are so many -em and leaver games on battle.net I can't really find a good replay. Does anyone have a good one?





12. Practice Map:

*Note: The practice map can only be downloaded if you view this guide in Dota Guide Forum!


The End