Counter Heroes : Life Stealer, Anti-Mage

Additional tips for playing as the Support Lion: 1. Remember that if you have Guinsoo, you have 2 Voodoos at your disposal. In 5v5 battles, you can take out 2 heroes at a time with the hexes you’ve got. That is Lion’s biggest contribution to a team battle: Disable. Listen to your allies on who they want you to disable, and follow them. After all, DotA is all about teamwork. 2. Try to use all your cyclone charges before you complete your Guinsoo. Remember, you are paying for the cyclones. Its best to use them when you are being ganked, hex a hero and cyclone the other one. Its also a gem when you and your team are chasing a fleeing hero. 3. If an ally is in trouble, don’t hesitate to help him. Hex whoever is chasing your ally and tell your ally to help you pound on that foe while he’s hexed or impaled. 4. Make good use of runes. If you see a DD rune, utilize it and try to kill an enemy hero with it.

Most people think of Lion as a noob and often killstealing hero, because they don’t know what Lion is really capable of doing. True, he’s got Finger, which is great for killstealing, but his other skills makes him what he is: a Team player, which is also able to kill heroes at the same time. He is a gem in team games late game, while he is a very strong hero killer early to mid game. Your teammates will often tell you to hex or stun, and that’s what makes Lion so deadly in 5v5 large-scale battles. More on this in the guide. Lion is my first favorite hero, and up to now I use him every now and then. I wish that this guide will help many DotA players out there, and they can see the power that is Lion. So therefore, I bring you, a guide to Lion, the Demon Witch. Lion has great stat growth. His int gain is super, and that’s just we need to pull off those high mana cost combos late game. His Str and Agi gain are below average, but with the proper items, we can compensate for that.

Early Game:

First and foremost, this is a pubbie build. This is meant to be used in pubs, where there are no means of teamwork. This build is for you to kill people early game with Dagon, and to support your allies late game. But you can still take out Agi and Int heroes late game with this build, even hurt Str heroes, hence the Refresher Orb.

Aghanims is there not for the added bonus in Finger of Death, but because it gives Lion much needed HP early to mid game. Ring of Basilius for early game mana regen, and Dagon for surefire early game kills. I agree that this is not the best build for Lion, but if you want to KILL, then this is the build for you.

Remember in this build, hero killing is your TOP priority. I will provide the combos you need to do with in this build in the strategy section.

Buy the necessary starting items and head out to your lane. Solo or with a partner is fine, because Lion really shines with a teammate. I prefer not going mid, as the mid leaves you vulnerable to be ganked at two sides. Besides, if you are going mid you will probably face a nuker like Lich or Zeus, and Lion isn’t just strong enough early game to face this bitches. Once you get to your lane do the usual last hit creeping. Since you are a ranged hero, you can use this to your advantage by harassing melee heroes that are in your lane. Just make sure you also kill a lot of creeps during your harassing. If you face a nuker, play it safe and only attack the creeps if it’s the last hit.

Do not yet cast Impale level 1; you can start using it at level 3. If you are with an ally, then tell him to attack the impaled hero. This works even better if you are paired with ranged heroes, preferably heroes like Clinkz. This is great for early game harassing, and will probably piss your opponents. Now just farm and harass your way until level 6, where you should attempt for first blood if it hasn’t been done yet. If you think that your impale+finger combo will kill your opponent instantly, then go for the kill. If you are not confident, then try softening first your opponent with an Impale and a few hits.

This is what you should do early game: Kill. When you get your Dagon (if you are playing the Power Nuker Lion, killing will be much easier. Note the damage you can dish out when you already have Dagon. So your early game combo would be:… Voodoo + hit, hit (about 140 or so damage) + Impale (195 damage) + hit, hit (about 140 or so damage) + Dagon (400 damage) + Finger (375 damage) = 1250 damage! This combo costs 570 mana. I would normally get my Dagon at about level 10 or so… the attack damage I took from the damage that Lion has at Level 10 with a Dagon and Ring of Basilius in his inventory. 1250 damage at level 10 or so? That is very formidable, and most heroes you can take down with it.

Remember not to cast Voodoo at levels 1 and 2, its not worth the mana. Every time you have enough mana, you should be scouting the map for easy kills. Remember that Lion is a very strong hero killer early game,.

Mid Game:

You should have your Ring, Dagon and Boots by level 11. You should be starting to work for Soul Booster now. Remember to get Point Booster first. Mid game is where the gangbangs will start to take place. Always look at your minimap. Be careful whenever you are attacking a tower, that is the usual time that someone might backstab you. If they do, impale or hex that hero and run away. If you think you can kill him with your combo, then by all means do it on that hero. He’ll be sorry messing with you. This is also the time that you should take full advantage of the power of your nukes. They’ll start to get weaker and weaker as the game progresses.

Scour the map for easy preys and go for the kill. You also should be a lot tougher now since you got Soul Booster. You should be saving up for Mystic Staff by level 16 or so. When you get your Aghanims then you should definitely be stronger. It gives you a massive mana pool, allowing you to pull off your mana expensive combos.

Late Game:

Late game is all about the art of pushing. Always be there in team battles, do not be left out. In team battles you shouldn’t pull off your combo anymore, just simply hex an enemy hero and let your allies do the rest. You can kill someone by yourself if you have the chance, and if you have the Refresher Orb, you will be dealing a lot of pain. You can now also spam impale on creeps, because Refresher gives you more mana regen. With Refresher, your combo will be like this: Voodoo + hit, hit (this should do a lot of damage, I can’t calculate the exact damage) + impale (195 damage) + hit, hit + Dagon (400 damage) + Finger (768.75 damage) + refresh + Finger (768.75 damage) = 2032.5 damage, without the damage of your normal attacks. This combo costs a whopping 2290 mana! Note that Lion has only 2207 mana at level 25 with Aghanims, Dagon and Refresher, so it’s impossible to pull off this combo without Guinsoo or even a sheepstick.

It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to pull off this combo, but if you feel that you will be short of mana, feel free to alter the combo. It is actually up to you on how you pull of those monster mana heavy combos late game. Its advisable that you only attempt this on low hp heroes, or better yet just wait for that hero to be on ¾ health before you do the combo. Back to the strategy, like I said focus on pushing in this part of the game. Remember to utilize impale, you can stun multiple targets with it. So, just support your allies, hex a hero for your allies to feast on, and nuke low hp heroes to hell. That’s your role as Lion late game.