Lanaya - The Templar Assassin -Updated as of 6.59

By IDeadshotIHere's a guide on how to do all sorts of cool stuff and own at the same time. Read on to find

out.

http://planetdota.blogspot.com

Changelog:5th January (1.1) - Uploaded Guide

6th January (1.2) - Fixed Typos8th January (1.3) - Added one screenshot and some content

10th January (1.4) - Improved overall presentation, added changelog, table of contents15th January (1.5) - Uploaded replay, improved presentation

16th January (1.6) - Uploaded more replays, improved presentation and info. Screenshots to come!

19th January (1.7) - Added some screenshots21th January (1.8) - Added a new section, and fixed some areas

28th January (1.9) - Added some content31st January (2.0) - Added more sections to the guide, and also a WHOLE CHUNK of

screenshots8th February (2.1) - Added more content

12th February (2.2) - Revamped guide to adhere to new version18th February (2.3) - Added MORE content

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8th March (2.6) - Made major changes to layout of guide, placed key information in front

Author's ForewordThe main reason I'm writing this guide is because I ABSOLUTELY HATE it when I see people

who pick Lanaya, and end up with some sub-par skill build like Meld-Stats, and worse item builds with first items Perseverance, Heart, or even Dagon. Something worse than seeing people

play and feed with Templar Assassin, is seeing people repick Lanaya when they random her. Basically, the point of writing this guide is to save myself from the trouble of having to flame

people when they mis-use my favourite hero, or underestimate her.

Pre-requiste to playing LanayaTo play Lanaya effectively, and to her full potential, you need to:

- Have decent last hitting skills at melee range (e.g. 2 to 3 creeps per wave when free farming at LEAST)

- Have decent map awareness (e.g. notice enemy hero is missing even if teammate dosen't report)- Have at least one month's worth of experience in DoTA if you play 2 games a day

- Have played each and every hero at least once, and know roughly what skills they have- Know the map well

- Don't thrashtalk, don't leave game, and don't feed too often (prefably not at all)

NOTE - LANAYA IS NOT A NOOB-FRIENDLY HERO

If she's so hard, then why play her?- Superb laning skills against a multitude of heroes

- Good animation for last-hitting- Unsurpassed killing power independent of items early game

- Unsurpassed 50% slow at any range, permanantly slowed if pre-warded well- Legal Maphack with proper wards placement

- Unsurpassed mindgames- Counter for your average tank like Bristleback

- Almost un-surpassed late game, only a handful of heroes can win you (countable on two hands)- Incredibly fast pushing late game when you can take out creepwaves in one hit at no mana cost

- Incredibly easy to rack up sprees and win 1 v 2 skirmishes

Convinced yet? Read on.

Table of Contents[001A]1a) Bio

[001B]1b) Base Statistics[001C]1c) Skills[001D]1d) Roles

[001E]1e) Changes made to her

[002A]2a) Skill Build A[002B]2b) Skill Build B

[003A]3a) Item Build A + B[003B]3b) Other item builds

[003C]3c) When to achieve your items[004A]4a) Engaging the enemy

[004B]4b) Mind Games[004C]4c) Killing Blinkers

[004D]4d) Responding to Ganks[004E]4e) Runes

[005A]5a) In depth information about skills[005B]5b) Counters for Refraction

[006A]6a) Types of games and how to adapt[006B]6b) Roshan

[007A]7a) Good Allies[007B]7b) Easy enemies

[007C]7c) Dangerous enemies[008A]8a) List of true sight granting items / structures / skills

[009A]9a) Replays

[001A]Bio:The apprentice of a legendary creature from Aiur, Lanaya is a psychic adept who specializes in strategic assassination for the Sentinels. Her psionic abilities manifest in and out of combat, and

can be used to amplify damage while attacking, to protect her from enemy assault, or cloak herself invisibly before lashing out at an unfortunate passerby. And so more often than not, the

foes that encounter the Templar on the battlefield find themselves dead and buried, their lives cut short as she fades back into the shadows, waiting for a new prey.

[001B]Base statistics:Statistics at level 1:

Base Range: 140 (Ranged Hero)Move Speed: 305

Str: 18 + 1.7Agi: 23 + 2.7 (Primary)

Int: 18 + 2.0Damage: 45 - 55

HP: 492Mana: 234

Armor: 4.2 (20% reduction)

Statistics at level 25:

Base Range: 340Move Speed: 305 / 370 / 390

Str: 58 + 20Agi: 87 + 20 (Primary)

Int: 68 + 20Damage: 109 - 119 + 20

HP: 1632Mana: 1144

Armour: 13.4 + 2.8 (49% reduction)

Evaluation: As you can see, Lanaya has slightly above average base movespeed of 305. Her range is

seemingly pitiful, with only the range of a melee hero early game, however once Psi Blades is maxed her effective range is 460. Her Armour is not a problem late game, and her decent agi gain (almost on par with PoTM) means her attack speed is quite okay for an agility hero late

game. Her mana is fine, given her 75/50/0/15 mana cost for all four skills, and her hp is probably the only lacking department late game.

[001C]Skills

[R]efraction

Manipulating psionic energy around herself granting a mystical refraction of light that protects her from external harm and giving her bonus damage for a limited number of instances. Lasts 20

seconds.

Level 1 - 20 bonus damage, 2 Instances Level 2 - 40 bonus damage, 3 Instances Level 3 - 60 bonus damage, 4 Instances Level 4 - 80 bonus damage, 5 Instances

Cooldown: 23 Manacost: 75

Level 1: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.Level 2: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.Level 3: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.Level 4: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.

Comments:This skill is the one skill which makes Lanaya fairly imbalanced, and one of the most fun heroes

to play. This is the skill which grants you superior mind games against almost any other hero, and allows her to win battles even at extremely low hp, while giving her potential laning power

and tanking capabilities.

Mel[D]

The art of Shakuras allows Lanaya to conceal herself at any time of the day and strike from the shadows with her armor-shredding blades. Deals bonus damage and reduces enemy armor for 10

seconds.

Level 1 - 50 damage, -2 armor Level 2 - 100 damage, -4 armor Level 3 - 150 damage, -6 armor Level 4 - 200 damage, -8 armor

Cooldown: 7 Manacost: 50

Level 1: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.Level 2: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.Level 3: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.Level 4: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.

Comments:Meld grants Lanaya invisibility, which is broken by movement, actions, spells, or a change in

position by a skill (e.g. Vacuum). When broken with a normal attack, the enemy receives physical damage as stated, while reducing the target's armour by the stated amount.

Psi Blades

Using her psionic powers, the Templar causes enemy units behind her target to feel the same pain as the target itself. This psionic power extends her attack range.

Level 1 - 50 Bonus Range, 60 Spill Range. Level 2 - 100 Bonus Range, 120 Spill Range. Level 3 - 150 Bonus Range, 180 Spill Range. Level 4 - 200 Bonus Range, 240 Spill Range.

Passive

Comments:This skill extends your range, and causes unblockable, unreducable damage to enemies in a

straight line behind your target, which is only negated by spell immunity. Interestingly, denying also spills damage, and one point in it allows you to attack from the other side of the creep line.

Psioni[C] Trap

Creates psionic traps on ground. When triggered, it will slow units within 400 range by 50%.

Level 1 - Max 5 Traps Level 2 - Max 8 Traps Level 3 - Max 11 Traps

Cooldown: 14 Mana Cost: 15

Level 1: 15 mana, 14 sec cooldown.Level 2: 15 mana, 14 sec cooldown.Level 3: 15 mana, 14 sec cooldown.

Comments:A trap which gives vision, has insane casting range, decent Area of Effect (AOE), long slow duration, [increased] cooldown and permanent duration and invisibility. Need I say more?

[001D]Roles- Lanaya's base stat gain speaks for herself, the decent agi gain allowing her to become a carry hero with fairly good DPS. If build correctly, she can outcarry most league carries like Bristleback, Shadow Fiend and Razor. Lanaya's skills also do NOT grow obsolete as the game goes on.- Lanaya is an excellent ganker. Her wards allow her to gank extremely well, and her burst damage and ability to soak up damage are top of the notch too.- Lanaya can play support well. In a serious game where you trust your teammates, it would be viable to share control with them so that they can activate your traps when participating in ganks (global map awareness is sometimes forgotten due to carelessness)- Lanaya can sponsor free wards which last forever. This provides maphac vision which is key to avoiding ganks and ganking enemies at their neutrals / at the river.- Lanaya can push extremely fast. Once you farm your first damage item, pushing is not a problem, since she does not require mana to push at all.- Lanaya can solo certain difficult lanes, and also makes an excellent team mate since she can easily kill opponents in aggressive lanes.

[001E]Changes made to Lanaya over the versions

6.44 - Lanaya was introduced to DoTA6.44b - A bug regarding Lanaya and Meepo in -allagi removed6.45 - Refraction was changed from 6 hits and 60 damage per hit to 5 hits and 80 damage per hit. This means that animation cancelling is more viable for lesser hits, and that skirmishes would end faster. Since anything that took out 6 charges in a short time would take out 5 charges roughly the same time, this was more or less a buff for Lanaya. Also, traps were no longer tele-portable with BoT.6.49 - Lanaya's base range increased slightly.6.49c - Meld's triggers changed slightly.6.50 - Psi Blades was buffed to add 50 range per level instead of 40, and the width of the spill was increased. Psionic Traps cooldown changed to 14 seconds. WORST NERF OF TEMPLAR ASSASSIN IN HER HISTORY OF GAMEPLAY.

[002A]Skill Build

There are two, and I repeat ONLY two viable skill builds for Lanaya. Skill build A is a typical build I use for most games, including inhouse, whereas Skill build B, although more unorthodox, is used when laning certain heroes which negate Refraction and lane extremely well (e.g. Viper), and is also the favoured build for league play. For obvious reasons, one would never go stats early game since her skills are all so great. So why not Meld + Psi Blades?

Here's the catch - Refraction HELPS you to lane, while Meld DOES NOT. Refraction lets you grab that Necromancer last-hit under the tower, whereas Meld can only land you the last hit on that glaive thrower. Refraction is a better way to spend your mana in a lane than Meld, unless you are attempting to kill the opponent. However, with Meld, either you don't do enough burst damage without the bonus damage from Refraction helping you, or you wasted your time Melding and waiting in hopes of landing a double-meld (which is to Meld in a lane, wait for cooldown, attempt to strike opponent, Meld again, and strike again). While fairly effective, it takes aways your lasthitting potential, and wasted gold and gives the opponent free farm. Worse, if he saw you Meld there and possesses AoE skills, you're a goner without Refraction. You also lack the potential mindgames by going Meld - Psi blades, and it's worse than Refraction - Psi blades because unlike the latter, Meld's bonus damage is triggered and hence not cleaved, rendering an otherwise effective harassing skill ineffective. Furthermore, any sentry warder will screw you over, as opposed to the two builds I describe, which does not rely on Meld as an escape mechanism.

This is one example of how Refraction helps where Psi Blades doesn't against sentry wards.

Skill Build A1) Refraction2) Meld3) Refraction4) Meld5) Refraction / Meld 6) Psionic Trap7) Refraction / Meld8) Refraction / Meld9) Refraction / Meld10) Psi Blades11) Psionic Trap / Psi Blades12) Psi Blades13) Psi Blades14) Psi Blades / Stats15) Psionic Trap / Stats16) Psionic Trap17-25) Stats

At Level 5, if you're laning a difficult lane combo (e.g. Sk + Lina), you will want to go Refraction for added survivability. However, if the enemy has low / no escape mechanism, you might want to add Meld instead, since it usually guarantees you a kill at level 6 especially if you're denying well, during which the creep wave should be near your tower.

At Level 6, you might want to move abit out of your lane to ward the runes, which could equate a free kill (if haste / double damage).

At Level 7, continue adding what you added at level 5. During Level 8 and 9, max out what you did not. At this point, your killing power has reached one of the highest potential in the game. Using the above example of two Melds and 3 normal hits, you can approximately 1150 physical damage over roughly 7 seconds. With this build, so long as you played properly and landed Meld effectively, you can kill almost any hero without insanely good escape mechanisms or high hp (Nightstalker, Anti-Mage and Lycan come to mind as hard to kill heroes). Mind games are also extremely effective in helping you to net kills. The saying "You are at your strongest when your enemies think you are weak" explains it all. If played properly with good teammates, Lanaya has no problem getting Double Kills and Triple Kills in skirmishes.

At Level 11, whether you get Psionic Traps or not doesn’t make a major difference. If nobody on your team is buying observer wards (unlikely), then go ahead and add it. Otherwise go for Psi Blades.

The rest is fairly mandatory.

[002B]Skill Build B1) Refraction2) Psi Blades3) Refraction4) Psi Blades5) Refraction6) Psionic Trap7) Refraction8) Psi Blades9) Psi Blades10) Meld11) Psionic Trap / Meld12) Meld13) Meld14) Meld / Stats15) Psionic Trap / Stats16) Psionic Trap17-25) Stats

Why Psi Blades first? If laning against a hero like Viper, it would be unlikely that you would survive until level 9 where your Refraction - Meld combo can take him out. However, Refraction is always a MUST, not just because its prime effectiveness is at early game, but also because in a tough lane you need it to last hit. This build focuses on farming and last-hitting early game, and early pushing. Lanaya's late game capabilities is more brought out in this build, although she loses her burst dps in ganks, and mainly assists with her traps (although this does not stop her from getting kills). Psi Blades, if used well, allows you to harass while denying creeps, which should, at the very least, send back your opponents to their fountain fairly often, or gain you some kills if they're dumb. One of the reasons this build is favoured in leagues might be traced to a Chinese martial-art saying, which translates to "one inch of length, one inch of safety". While it

applied to the Chinese for their weapons, the same thing applies to DoTA heroes for their range.

*Interestingly, for Build A you might want to add one level of Psi Blades to last hit from behind your own creep line. It doesn’t make that big of a difference, but it counts.

Why, why not and howThere are three POSSIBLE builds for Lanaya. First is Refraction + Psi Blades, second is Refraction + Meld, and third is Meld + Psi Blades.Let's look at the pros and cons of each.

Refraction + Psi BladesPros: Strong early game laningGood last hittingSurvivability due to RefractionLast hitting even when denying allied creepsPossible harassingCons:Lack of killing potential, especially with Psionic Traps nerfPushing too fast due to inevitable cleavageUnable to avoid projectile stuns

Refraction + MeldPros:Good last hittingSurvivability due to RefractionAvoiding of projectile stunsSecondary skill to buy time for Refraction cooldown1150 physical damage combo at level 9Easy kills in lane, hence harassment by opponent heroes negatedCons:Melee Range

Meld + Psi BladesPros: Double Meld which does 600+ damage as opposed to 1150Last hitting even when denying allied creepsPossible harassingCons:Lesser killing powerMeld cannot be "cleaved"No lane control Countered by true sightCountered by any spellCauses Lanaya to become another low hp hero.

Looking at the cons, it's pretty evident Meld + Psi Blades is a no-no.

[003A]Item BuildsThere are two main item builds for Lanaya, which have two variations each. Both include Desolator as a key item. Let's have a look at the item builds first, before we evaluate the items.

Item Build A

Tango x 4 (180 gold)

Clarity x 2 (100 gold)

GG Branch x 3 (171 gold)

Slippers of Agility x 1 (150 gold)

If you picked Lanaya, you can afford this immediately with the changes to 6.50. All these items are expendable (read - sell any time you need slots). Don't bother changing the slippers into Wraith Bands. I'll explain why later.

Mithril Hammer x 2 (3220 gold)

Boots of Speed (500 gold)

Desolator Recipe (1200 gold)

On your first trip to the fountain, you should at the very least, be able to afford one hammer and possibly a boots of speed. Along the way, if you die or something, stock up abit on clarities and flasks, which are also effective items in mind games Why Desolator? It adds1) 60 physical damage that is easy to build and amplified by armour reduction2) -6 armour reduction, which basically amplifies your damage to kill anything below 14 armour

with relative ease 3) Gives one of the best gold / dmg ratio given the armour reduction4) Gives you the only orb which synergizes with Psi Blades, because more damage done to the first target means more damage cleaved, as opposed to slowing the first target but not affecting the others.

Travels Recipe (2200 gold)

Travels is taken over treads because the attack speed boost is not relevant early game with animation canceling, and teleportation allows you to push, defend and kill well.

Ogre Axe (1000 gold)

Broadsword (1200 gold)

Black King Bar Recipe (1600 gold)

This item is optional. Generally in league games it is mandatory, but in pubs that's another issue. It adds nice final hp to your hero, and abit of damage to boost.

Eaglehorn (3300 gold)

Quarter Staff (900 gold)

Butterfly Recipe (1800 gold)

Generally games would end by this point, although a well-farmed Lanaya can go further than this. Butterfly is key to all Agility based DPS heroes, giving you the damage / atk spd equivalent of 60 agility. Best of all is the 30% evasion, which means by now you are a veritable tank against normal attacks. Killing creeps and pushing is also more of a breeze now.

Blades of Attack (650 gold)

Broadsword (1200 gold)

Crystalys Recipe (500 gold)

Demon Edge (2800 gold)

Buriza Recipe (1250 gold)At this point you can out-carry any non-permabasher hero, including monster tanks. Pushing is also an easier breeze when you can take out entire creep waves with one critical. Criticals ARE amplified by Refraction AND armour reduction, since the numbers shown when a critical proacts are before armour reduction and other factors (e.g. Bristleback), meaning the damage shown is NOT the damage done.

Hyperstone (2150 gold)

Platemail (1400 gold)

Chainmail (650 gold)

Assault Cuirass Recipe (2000 gold)

Spend the rest on respawns... if there's a rest. Almost no hero can kill you via whacking you, what with your 30-ish armour and 30% evasion. Attack speed and more armour reduction is also a nice bonus.

Item Build B is generally the same as item Build A, with one small difference - Blink Dagger is gotten as the first item, preferably on the first trip to the fountain. However, this

was pre-blink dagger nerf. As of 6.50, blink becomes more of an "optional" item on Lanaya even in higher level games due to two reasons - One is that enemies can't blink to escape from you any more, and the other is that Refraction doesn't prevent Blink's "cooldown" since in a triggered heal, you still take the damage. Hence for a hero used to fighting in melee combat with physical attacks, being able to blink to chase or escape would be rare. Blink would then be only used either to intiate, or hopefully to escape by buying some time with Meld.

[003B]Other BuildsDagon is for fun, since you can cleave it. However, don't get it in a serious game.Monkey King Bar is optional late game for the mini-stun and nice damage. Get it if you have an extra slot.Rapier? You're not a good carrier of Rapier, since the build lacks hp by the time you farmed it up, unless no other carries are on your team. However, if the opponent team lack disables, then go knock 'em out.Sange and Yasha + Skadi is actually a viable build, given the nerf of Psionic Traps and buff to SnY. However, I have yet to try this build, and believe that most likely it will prove inferior to Desolator.Manta Style? Ranged images don’t burn.Necronomicon? Generally an okay item for any hero, although another hero would be a better carrier.Lothar's? With the advent of the extra 10 agi for a few hundred more gold, it seems good on paper. However, you don't need to intiate (you already have traps for that), and for 400 more gold you can get Desolator, which guarentess you a win in almost every gank.Heart? Situationally, it might be good, assuming you need pure hp later on in the game. However, Skadi + Satanic is usually more effective, albeit removing your Desolate orb.Skadi / Satanic? Viable, but not as effective, HOWEVER, it is an option late-late game when there are monster tanks like Lycan and Rk. Sell your Desolator to throw it in.Skadi / Mjollnir? See above.Refresher? NO, since Refraction does NOT stack and the rest have low cooldown.Radiance? NO, since Psi Blades may "accidentally" cleave Radiance's Immolation (just like Dagon)Vanguard? Okay item for tanking, especially since it prevents the lost of Refraction charges. However, it delays Desolator too much, and if you're a good player you won't need it. Get a stout shield if you really want the blocking.Bottle? This item for gankers is like drugs for an addict. However, while Bottle is wholly good for Lanaya, it costs a good deal and delays your late game slightly, while some basic regeneration is enough for her, both mana and hp wise. If you ever decide to get it, remember that getting hit with Refraction on still cancels it.

Oh, and here's some useful information - If you decided to get SnY for your filler slot (Deso + Travels + Butter + Buriza + Cuirass + Filler), then you can use the maim orb by putting it on a higher slow than desolator. Thus, with your high attack speed, you can allow maim to activate first before switching item places between SnY and Desolator, or vice versa (Use desolate orb, then change to SnY)

In a nut shell, here's your build - with the last slot as filler, in which you get Blink Dagger / Bkb, or if you don't have a need for either, SnY.

[003C]Expected Times to Acheive items, and goalsGenerally, Lanaya should get her Desolator any time between 14 minutes to 28 minutes. Beyond that, and your late game is definitely screwed. Remember that a naked Lanaya can own up to around 30 minutes into the game by using her skills alone, so use this time to farm and kill as much as you can.

Remember this - Early game up to (early) Mid game, Lanaya does NOT require any items to own, since with her skills alone she can easily take down any hero with 3 digits worth of hp. Therefore, the Desolator is to extend her effectiveness all the way to right before late game, and also to allow her to farm up the items required for her effective late game. If you feel that Desolator is coming up too slow, then skip it and go straight for some survival items, like Vanguard.

Against Pubs, with a lousy pub team, you should aim for a high 1 digit kill and 1 digit death.Against Pubs, with an average team (can lasthit / deny / gank), you should aim for 2 digit kills and 1 digit death.Against Pubs, with fellow pubstompers (e.g. friends), you should aim for Beyond Godlike within the first half of the game.Against pubstompers, with a lousy pub team, you should aim for a positive score.Against pubstompers, with an average team, you should aim for a high 1 digit kill and 1 digit death.Against drafters, with a drafted team, you should aim for a high 1 digit / low 2 digit kill and 1 digit death/

[004A]Engaging the EnemyThe best lanes for you to gank are easily the top and bottom lanes, since the further you have to chase the enemy, the more advantageous it usually is to you. Before engagement, you should set a trap (or two) in the escape path of the enemy, preferably without the opponent's notice. Lanaya can solo-engage up to two heroes at a time, assuming they have less than 3 seconds of disables between them (bad examples are Rhasta + PoTM, gg to you). The next step is to turn on Refraction. When it has 13 seconds left, engage with a trap you set and immediately activate. Walk out behind the enemy heroes, during which they will most likely

target you with nukes. Do NOT right-click on them, this will trigger creep aggravation and make your shields go down fast.

Use right-click function to walk up beside your target, and engage with a Meld and immediate breaking of it. By now, they should be a slight distance behind their creeps and slowed by 50%, so landing it should be no problem. Unlike other gankers, spells like Eclipse and Suicide are of no effect to you with Refraction on. Animation-cancel attack your main target, and follow up with a slow once he walks over your initial trap. Walk up beside him, Meld, and end the battle.

Do NOT tower dive unless you are absolutely sure of the kill, enemy creeps are not in the immediate vicinity, AND the opponent heroes does NOT have a lengthy disable (e.g. Dismember)

Remember, Lanaya has problem killing strength heroes with massed strength items and damage, and high movement speed (balanar and lycan comes to mind), so don't engage them, especially if they have a teammate.

Also, take note of a very important point - with 14 seconds cooldown on Psionic Traps, it becomes much more viable to gank with a teammate, since while you CAN kill your prey, you might not be able to chase them down.

Letting enemies engage you

Sometimes enemies engage you alone in the lane. Techinically, this isn't a gank, so feel free to respond as you wish. Usually you can kill that hero, even if the odds are highly against you. Here's an example...

It's actually quite sad for the opponents who engage you... Just take precautions and set up traps in case you need to make a quick getaway. Now that Psionic Traps have been nerfed hard, make sure your traps are all set up well and focus more on farming in your lane. So long as you are

fore-warned, you can avoid about any gank and kill them with perma-slows at your lane with pre-set traps.

[004B]Mind Games

Mind Games are the only counters to map hackers. They allow you to counter ganks, score kills, and escape certain death with a sliver of hp left. Basically, the idea is to make yourself seem alone, or use your low hp to lull the enemy into a false sense of security in enaging you. Once they get tempted, you can either lure them to your teammate, or finish them off yourself.

Refraction allows you to take on most heroes 1 on 1, so long as you lure them out of the creep's range, since you can kill them before they can take out all your charges, even if they have a damage over time skill. The idea is to take down enemy heroes without losing your hp and your life. Other good heroes are Bristleback, Centuar, and Abbadon. Fortunately for you, you counter all of these heroes, since your armour reduction and burst damage doesn't give them the chance to retaliate or run away.

Generally, counters for Mind Games include Necrolyte, Axe, Zeus and perhaps Spectre. Fortunately, only Axe can counter you, since his ultimate goes through your Refraction. The rest can be negated with Refraction and sometimes Meld, allowing you to escape any non-disabling gank.

Here are a few examples of mind games...

And this one's about as cool as mind games get.

And more.... you can play mind games at ANY hp unlike some other heroes...

[004C]Killing blinkersLanaya has difficulty killing heroes with blink-like skills, like Timewalk, Waveform and Leap. How then, do you kill them, before you farm your blink dagger? (if you decided to farm one) The answer is to play effective mind games. Lanaya can play mind games better than any hero, since the 5 hits are definite. If you hang around your tower at around 100 hp for long enough, with right timing and baiting you can get that enemy Morphling to Waveform you at your tower, during which you can Meld-Strike him, and slow him long enough to kill him. By the time they use their escape mechanism on an attempt to kill you and realise their mistake, it would already be too late.

[004D]How to respond to ganks

Basically, there exist 3 kinds of ganks - Organised ganks with disablers, dis-organised gank with / without disabler, and lone ganker. Lone gankers are usually the least of your troubles,

since the only heroes that can kill you alone are Anti-mage (if he burns you flat), Lycanthrope (if there's no tower), Balanar (If he adds Crippling Fear and it's night time), Viper (If you don't turn around and kill him fast enough), Pudge (If hook hits you without Refraction on) and possibly a good Jakiro who knows what he's doing. Other than that, solo gankers should be the least of your problems, at worst you can slow them and run off. If, for example, a Tormented Soul tries to backstab you, while he can kill you quickly, you can kill him much faster.

Disorganised ganks generally result in you turning the tables on them and getting the kill, unless it consists of three heroes and/or one of the above stated solo heroes. Also, so long as they have less than 3 seconds of disables between them, you should be absolutely fine, given that you can escape from then if the situation turns ugly, although more than likely you will be able to kill at least one of the gankers, even if the other one escape unscathed.

Organised ganks are your nightmare (as they are to most heroes). Basically, the only way out of them is to have prior knowledge, that is to say having vision of them approaching before they engage you. Normally, they have at least 3 seconds of disables between them, or form a lethal combo like Lina + Rk. A Rhasta and almost any other hero can kill you extremly fast, so beware of these gankers. If, worst comes to worst, try the juke + Meld combo, or try to escape to your allies. ALWAYS remember that once Refraction is taken out, Lanaya is like a Dwarven Sniper without boots (food).

[004E]Runes usage

Haste RuneThis rune generally ensures you a kill if the target opponent is a good distant from his tower. If you're low on hp and mana, you can just use it to run back to base. When used in conjunction with your slow, it normall guarentess you a kill. Also, you are very much un-killable with proper usage of this rune.

Invisiblity RuneThis rune allows you excellent placement of Meld, which you can use to initiate the battle. It's drawbacks are the lack of ability to cast Refraction or Psionic Traps. To counter this problem, only Meld when the enemy is about to last hit a creep and break Meld without hesitation immediately. Try to have an allied teammate to slow or stun your target first in order to make your job easier.

Double Damage RuneThis rune allows you to take down a hero in 2/3 the time it would originally take you. Earlier, I showed how you can perform about 1150 physical damage on a hero in 5 hits. With Double Damage Rune, your damage is extended to 1500 physical damage over 5 hits. It's effectiveness does not wane late game, and it allows you to win fights even against early game tanks like Lycanthrope. When pushing a tower, it lets you deal over 300 damage to a tower before Refraction charges run out.

Regeneration Rune

This rune is your friend when you're low on hp, and on the verge of going back to your foutain. It gives you full hp and mana if you are not attacked, allowing you to gank and farm more. It has the potential to be a savior, if you ever run across it while getting chased by enemy heroes, by using Meld right after picking it up, assuming that your enemies do not possess AoE spells or attacks.

Lanaya - The Templar Assassin -Updated as of 6.51

Here's a guide on how to do all sorts of cool stuff and own at the same time. Read on to find out.

Changelog:5th January (1.1) - Uploaded Guide6th January (1.2) - Fixed Typos8th January (1.3) - Added one screenshot and some content10th January (1.4) - Improved overall presentation, added changelog, table of contents15th January (1.5) - Uploaded replay, improved presentation16th January (1.6) - Uploaded more replays, improved presentation and info. Screenshots to come!19th January (1.7) - Added some screenshots21th January (1.8) - Added a new section, and fixed some areas28th January (1.9) - Added some content

31st January (2.0) - Added more sections to the guide, and also a WHOLE CHUNK of screenshots8th February (2.1) - Added more content12th February (2.2) - Revamped guide to adhere to new version18th February (2.3) - Added MORE content19th February (2.4) - Added [XXXX] at topic header for easier finding of topics using Ctrl + F25th February (2.5) - Added more replays8th March (2.6) - Made major changes to layout of guide, placed key information in front

Author's ForewordThe main reason I'm writing this guide is because I ABSOLUTELY HATE it when I see people who pick Lanaya, and end up with some sub-par skill build like Meld-Stats, and worse item builds with first items Perseverance, Heart, or even Dagon. Something worse than seeing people play and feed with Templar Assassin, is seeing people repick Lanaya when they random her. Basically, the point of writing this guide is to save myself from the trouble of having to flame people when they mis-use my favourite hero, or underestimate her.

Pre-requiste to playing LanayaTo play Lanaya effectively, and to her full potential, you need to:- Have decent last hitting skills at melee range (e.g. 2 to 3 creeps per wave when free farming at LEAST)- Have decent map awareness (e.g. notice enemy hero is missing even if teammate dosen't report)- Have at least one month's worth of experience in DoTA if you play 2 games a day- Have played each and every hero at least once, and know roughly what skills they have- Know the map well- Don't thrashtalk, don't leave game, and don't feed too often (prefably not at all)

NOTE - LANAYA IS NOT A NOOB-FRIENDLY HERO

If she's so hard, then why play her?- Superb laning skills against a multitude of heroes- Good animation for last-hitting- Unsurpassed killing power independent of items early game- Unsurpassed 50% slow at any range, permanantly slowed if pre-warded well- Legal Maphack with proper wards placement- Unsurpassed mindgames- Counter for your average tank like Bristleback- Almost un-surpassed late game, only a handful of heroes can win you (countable on two hands)- Incredibly fast pushing late game when you can take out creepwaves in one hit at no mana cost- Incredibly easy to rack up sprees and win 1 v 2 skirmishes

Convinced yet? Read on.

Table of Contents

[001A]1a) Bio [001B]1b) Base Statistics[001C]1c) Skills[001D]1d) Roles[001E]1e) Changes made to her[002A]2a) Skill Build A[002B]2b) Skill Build B[003A]3a) Item Build A + B[003B]3b) Other item builds[003C]3c) When to achieve your items[004A]4a) Engaging the enemy[004B]4b) Mind Games[004C]4c) Killing Blinkers[004D]4d) Responding to Ganks[004E]4e) Runes[005A]5a) In depth information about skills[005B]5b) Counters for Refraction[006A]6a) Types of games and how to adapt[006B]6b) Roshan[007A]7a) Good Allies[007B]7b) Easy enemies[007C]7c) Dangerous enemies[008A]8a) List of true sight granting items / structures / skills[009A]9a) Replays

[001A]Bio:The apprentice of a legendary creature from Aiur, Lanaya is a psychic adept who specializes in strategic assassination for the Sentinels. Her psionic abilities manifest in and out of combat, and can be used to amplify damage while attacking, to protect her from enemy assault, or cloak herself invisibly before lashing out at an unfortunate passerby. And so more often than not, the foes that encounter the Templar on the battlefield find themselves dead and buried, their lives cut short as she fades back into the shadows, waiting for a new prey.

[001B]Base statistics:Statistics at level 1:

Base Range: 140 (Ranged Hero)Move Speed: 305Str: 18 + 1.7Agi: 23 + 2.7 (Primary)Int: 18 + 2.0Damage: 45 - 55HP: 492Mana: 234Armor: 4.2 (20% reduction)

Statistics at level 25:

Base Range: 340Move Speed: 305 / 370 / 390Str: 58 + 20Agi: 87 + 20 (Primary)Int: 68 + 20Damage: 109 - 119 + 20HP: 1632Mana: 1144Armour: 13.4 + 2.8 (49% reduction)

Evaluation: As you can see, Lanaya has slightly above average base movespeed of 305. Her range is seemingly pitiful, with only the range of a melee hero early game, however once Psi Blades is maxed her effective range is 460. Her Armour is not a problem late game, and her decent agi gain (almost on par with PoTM) means her attack speed is quite okay for an agility hero late game. Her mana is fine, given her 75/50/0/15 mana cost for all four skills, and her hp is probably the only lacking department late game.

[001C]Skills

[R]efraction

Manipulating psionic energy around herself granting a mystical refraction of light that protects her from external harm and giving her bonus damage for a limited number of instances. Lasts 20 seconds.

Level 1 - 20 bonus damage, 2 Instances Level 2 - 40 bonus damage, 3 Instances Level 3 - 60 bonus damage, 4 Instances Level 4 - 80 bonus damage, 5 Instances

Cooldown: 23 Manacost: 75

Level 1: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.Level 2: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.Level 3: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.Level 4: 75 mana, 23 sec cooldown.

Comments:This skill is the one skill which makes Lanaya fairly imbalanced, and one of the most fun heroes to play. This is the skill which grants you superior mind games against almost any other hero, and allows her to win battles even at extremely low hp, while giving her potential laning power and tanking capabilities.

Mel[D]

The art of Shakuras allows Lanaya to conceal herself at any time of the day and strike from the shadows with her armor-shredding blades. Deals bonus damage and reduces enemy armor for 10 seconds.

Level 1 - 50 damage, -2 armor Level 2 - 100 damage, -4 armor Level 3 - 150 damage, -6 armor Level 4 - 200 damage, -8 armor

Cooldown: 7 Manacost: 50

Level 1: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.Level 2: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.Level 3: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.Level 4: 50 mana, 7 sec cooldown.

Comments:Meld grants Lanaya invisibility, which is broken by movement, actions, spells, or a change in position by a skill (e.g. Vacuum). When broken with a normal attack, the enemy receives physical damage as stated, while reducing the target's armour by the stated amount.

Psi Blades

Using her psionic powers, the Templar causes enemy units behind her target to feel the same pain as the target itself. This psionic power extends her attack range.

Level 1 - 50 Bonus Range, 60 Spill Range. Level 2 - 100 Bonus Range, 120 Spill Range. Level 3 - 150 Bonus Range, 180 Spill Range. Level 4 - 200 Bonus Range, 240 Spill Range.

Passive

Comments:This skill extends your range, and causes unblockable, unreducable damage to enemies in a straight line behind your target, which is only negated by spell immunity. Interestingly, denying also spills damage, and one point in it allows you to attack from the other side of the creep line.

Psioni[C] Trap

Creates psionic traps on ground. When triggered, it will slow units within 400 range by 50%.

Level 1 - Max 5 Traps Level 2 - Max 8 Traps Level 3 - Max 11 Traps

Cooldown: 14 Mana Cost: 15

Level 1: 15 mana, 14 sec cooldown.Level 2: 15 mana, 14 sec cooldown.Level 3: 15 mana, 14 sec cooldown.

Comments:A trap which gives vision, has insane casting range, decent Area of Effect (AOE), long slow duration, [increased] cooldown and permanent duration and invisibility. Need I say more?

[001D]Roles- Lanaya's base stat gain speaks for herself, the decent agi gain allowing her to become a carry hero with fairly good DPS. If build correctly, she can outcarry most league carries like Bristleback, Shadow Fiend and Razor. Lanaya's skills also do NOT grow obsolete as the game goes on.- Lanaya is an excellent ganker. Her wards allow her to gank extremely well, and her burst damage and ability to soak up damage are top of the notch too.- Lanaya can play support well. In a serious game where you trust your teammates, it would be viable to share control with them so that they can activate your traps when participating in ganks (global map awareness is sometimes forgotten due to carelessness)- Lanaya can sponsor free wards which last forever. This provides maphac vision which is key to avoiding ganks and ganking enemies at their neutrals / at the river.- Lanaya can push extremely fast. Once you farm your first damage item, pushing is not a problem, since she does not require mana to push at all.

- Lanaya can solo certain difficult lanes, and also makes an excellent team mate since she can easily kill opponents in aggressive lanes.

[001E]Changes made to Lanaya over the versions

6.44 - Lanaya was introduced to DoTA6.44b - A bug regarding Lanaya and Meepo in -allagi removed6.45 - Refraction was changed from 6 hits and 60 damage per hit to 5 hits and 80 damage per hit. This means that animation cancelling is more viable for lesser hits, and that skirmishes would end faster. Since anything that took out 6 charges in a short time would take out 5 charges roughly the same time, this was more or less a buff for Lanaya. Also, traps were no longer tele-portable with BoT.6.49 - Lanaya's base range increased slightly.6.49c - Meld's triggers changed slightly.6.50 - Psi Blades was buffed to add 50 range per level instead of 40, and the width of the spill was increased. Psionic Traps cooldown changed to 14 seconds. WORST NERF OF TEMPLAR ASSASSIN IN HER HISTORY OF GAMEPLAY.

[002A]Skill Build

There are two, and I repeat ONLY two viable skill builds for Lanaya. Skill build A is a typical build I use for most games, including inhouse, whereas Skill build B, although more unorthodox, is used when laning certain heroes which negate Refraction and lane extremely well (e.g. Viper), and is also the favoured build for league play. For obvious reasons, one would never go stats early game since her skills are all so great. So why not Meld + Psi Blades?

Here's the catch - Refraction HELPS you to lane, while Meld DOES NOT. Refraction lets you grab that Necromancer last-hit under the tower, whereas Meld can only land you the last hit on that glaive thrower. Refraction is a better way to spend your mana in a lane than Meld, unless you are attempting to kill the opponent. However, with Meld, either you don't do enough burst damage without the bonus damage from Refraction helping you, or you wasted your time Melding and waiting in hopes of landing a double-meld (which is to Meld in a lane, wait for cooldown, attempt to strike opponent, Meld again, and strike again). While fairly effective, it takes aways your lasthitting potential, and wasted gold and gives the opponent free farm. Worse, if he saw you Meld there and possesses AoE skills, you're a goner without Refraction. You also lack the potential mindgames by going Meld - Psi blades, and it's worse than Refraction - Psi blades because unlike the latter, Meld's bonus damage is triggered and hence not cleaved, rendering an otherwise effective harassing skill ineffective. Furthermore, any sentry warder will screw you over, as opposed to the two builds I describe, which does not rely on Meld as an escape mechanism.

This is one example of how Refraction helps where Psi Blades doesn't against sentry wards.

Skill Build A1) Refraction2) Meld3) Refraction4) Meld5) Refraction / Meld 6) Psionic Trap7) Refraction / Meld8) Refraction / Meld9) Refraction / Meld10) Psi Blades11) Psionic Trap / Psi Blades12) Psi Blades13) Psi Blades14) Psi Blades / Stats15) Psionic Trap / Stats16) Psionic Trap17-25) Stats

At Level 5, if you're laning a difficult lane combo (e.g. Sk + Lina), you will want to go Refraction for added survivability. However, if the enemy has low / no escape mechanism, you might want to add Meld instead, since it usually guarantees you a kill at level 6 especially if you're denying well, during which the creep wave should be near your tower.

At Level 6, you might want to move abit out of your lane to ward the runes, which could equate a free kill (if haste / double damage).

At Level 7, continue adding what you added at level 5. During Level 8 and 9, max out what you did not. At this point, your killing power has reached one of the highest potential in the game. Using the above example of two Melds and 3 normal hits, you can approximately 1150 physical damage over roughly 7 seconds. With this build, so long as you played properly and landed Meld effectively, you can kill almost any hero without insanely good escape mechanisms or high hp (Nightstalker, Anti-Mage and Lycan come to mind as hard to kill heroes). Mind games are also extremely effective in helping you to net kills. The saying "You are at your strongest when your enemies think you are weak" explains it all. If played properly with good teammates, Lanaya has no problem getting Double Kills and Triple Kills in skirmishes.

At Level 11, whether you get Psionic Traps or not doesn’t make a major difference. If nobody on your team is buying observer wards (unlikely), then go ahead and add it. Otherwise go for Psi Blades.

The rest is fairly mandatory.

[002B]Skill Build B1) Refraction2) Psi Blades3) Refraction4) Psi Blades5) Refraction6) Psionic Trap7) Refraction8) Psi Blades9) Psi Blades10) Meld11) Psionic Trap / Meld12) Meld13) Meld14) Meld / Stats15) Psionic Trap / Stats16) Psionic Trap17-25) Stats

Why Psi Blades first? If laning against a hero like Viper, it would be unlikely that you would survive until level 9 where your Refraction - Meld combo can take him out. However, Refraction is always a MUST, not just because its prime effectiveness is at early game, but also because in a tough lane you need it to last hit. This build focuses on farming and last-hitting early game, and early pushing. Lanaya's late game capabilities is more brought out in this build, although she loses her burst dps in ganks, and mainly assists with her traps (although this does not stop her from getting kills). Psi Blades, if used well, allows you to harass while denying creeps, which should, at the very least, send back your opponents to their fountain fairly often, or gain you some kills if they're dumb. One of the reasons this build is favoured in leagues might be traced to a Chinese martial-art saying, which translates to "one inch of length, one inch of safety". While it

applied to the Chinese for their weapons, the same thing applies to DoTA heroes for their range.

*Interestingly, for Build A you might want to add one level of Psi Blades to last hit from behind your own creep line. It doesn’t make that big of a difference, but it counts.

Why, why not and howThere are three POSSIBLE builds for Lanaya. First is Refraction + Psi Blades, second is Refraction + Meld, and third is Meld + Psi Blades.Let's look at the pros and cons of each.

Refraction + Psi BladesPros: Strong early game laningGood last hittingSurvivability due to RefractionLast hitting even when denying allied creepsPossible harassingCons:Lack of killing potential, especially with Psionic Traps nerfPushing too fast due to inevitable cleavageUnable to avoid projectile stuns

Refraction + MeldPros:Good last hittingSurvivability due to RefractionAvoiding of projectile stunsSecondary skill to buy time for Refraction cooldown1150 physical damage combo at level 9Easy kills in lane, hence harassment by opponent heroes negatedCons:Melee Range

Meld + Psi BladesPros: Double Meld which does 600+ damage as opposed to 1150Last hitting even when denying allied creepsPossible harassingCons:Lesser killing powerMeld cannot be "cleaved"No lane control Countered by true sightCountered by any spellCauses Lanaya to become another low hp hero.

Looking at the cons, it's pretty evident Meld + Psi Blades is a no-no.

[003A]Item BuildsThere are two main item builds for Lanaya, which have two variations each. Both include Desolator as a key item. Let's have a look at the item builds first, before we evaluate the items.

Item Build A

Tango x 4 (180 gold)

Clarity x 2 (100 gold)

GG Branch x 3 (171 gold)

Slippers of Agility x 1 (150 gold)

If you picked Lanaya, you can afford this immediately with the changes to 6.50. All these items are expendable (read - sell any time you need slots). Don't bother changing the slippers into Wraith Bands. I'll explain why later.

Mithril Hammer x 2 (3220 gold)

Boots of Speed (500 gold)

Desolator Recipe (1200 gold)

On your first trip to the fountain, you should at the very least, be able to afford one hammer and possibly a boots of speed. Along the way, if you die or something, stock up abit on clarities and flasks, which are also effective items in mind games Why Desolator? It adds1) 60 physical damage that is easy to build and amplified by armour reduction2) -6 armour reduction, which basically amplifies your damage to kill anything below 14 armour

with relative ease 3) Gives one of the best gold / dmg ratio given the armour reduction4) Gives you the only orb which synergizes with Psi Blades, because more damage done to the first target means more damage cleaved, as opposed to slowing the first target but not affecting the others.

Travels Recipe (2200 gold)

Travels is taken over treads because the attack speed boost is not relevant early game with animation canceling, and teleportation allows you to push, defend and kill well.

Ogre Axe (1000 gold)

Broadsword (1200 gold)

Black King Bar Recipe (1600 gold)

This item is optional. Generally in league games it is mandatory, but in pubs that's another issue. It adds nice final hp to your hero, and abit of damage to boost.

Eaglehorn (3300 gold)

Quarter Staff (900 gold)

Butterfly Recipe (1800 gold)

Generally games would end by this point, although a well-farmed Lanaya can go further than this. Butterfly is key to all Agility based DPS heroes, giving you the damage / atk spd equivalent of 60 agility. Best of all is the 30% evasion, which means by now you are a veritable tank against normal attacks. Killing creeps and pushing is also more of a breeze now.

Blades of Attack (650 gold)

Broadsword (1200 gold)

Crystalys Recipe (500 gold)

Demon Edge (2800 gold)

Buriza Recipe (1250 gold)At this point you can out-carry any non-permabasher hero, including monster tanks. Pushing is also an easier breeze when you can take out entire creep waves with one critical. Criticals ARE amplified by Refraction AND armour reduction, since the numbers shown when a critical proacts are before armour reduction and other factors (e.g. Bristleback), meaning the damage shown is NOT the damage done.

Hyperstone (2150 gold)

Platemail (1400 gold)

Chainmail (650 gold)

Assault Cuirass Recipe (2000 gold)

Spend the rest on respawns... if there's a rest. Almost no hero can kill you via whacking you, what with your 30-ish armour and 30% evasion. Attack speed and more armour reduction is also a nice bonus.

Item Build B is generally the same as item Build A, with one small difference - Blink Dagger is gotten as the first item, preferably on the first trip to the fountain. However, this

was pre-blink dagger nerf. As of 6.50, blink becomes more of an "optional" item on Lanaya even in higher level games due to two reasons - One is that enemies can't blink to escape from you any more, and the other is that Refraction doesn't prevent Blink's "cooldown" since in a triggered heal, you still take the damage. Hence for a hero used to fighting in melee combat with physical attacks, being able to blink to chase or escape would be rare. Blink would then be only used either to intiate, or hopefully to escape by buying some time with Meld.

[003B]Other BuildsDagon is for fun, since you can cleave it. However, don't get it in a serious game.Monkey King Bar is optional late game for the mini-stun and nice damage. Get it if you have an extra slot.Rapier? You're not a good carrier of Rapier, since the build lacks hp by the time you farmed it up, unless no other carries are on your team. However, if the opponent team lack disables, then go knock 'em out.Sange and Yasha + Skadi is actually a viable build, given the nerf of Psionic Traps and buff to SnY. However, I have yet to try this build, and believe that most likely it will prove inferior to Desolator.Manta Style? Ranged images don’t burn.Necronomicon? Generally an okay item for any hero, although another hero would be a better carrier.Lothar's? With the advent of the extra 10 agi for a few hundred more gold, it seems good on paper. However, you don't need to intiate (you already have traps for that), and for 400 more gold you can get Desolator, which guarentess you a win in almost every gank.Heart? Situationally, it might be good, assuming you need pure hp later on in the game. However, Skadi + Satanic is usually more effective, albeit removing your Desolate orb.Skadi / Satanic? Viable, but not as effective, HOWEVER, it is an option late-late game when there are monster tanks like Lycan and Rk. Sell your Desolator to throw it in.Skadi / Mjollnir? See above.Refresher? NO, since Refraction does NOT stack and the rest have low cooldown.Radiance? NO, since Psi Blades may "accidentally" cleave Radiance's Immolation (just like Dagon)Vanguard? Okay item for tanking, especially since it prevents the lost of Refraction charges. However, it delays Desolator too much, and if you're a good player you won't need it. Get a stout shield if you really want the blocking.Bottle? This item for gankers is like drugs for an addict. However, while Bottle is wholly good for Lanaya, it costs a good deal and delays your late game slightly, while some basic regeneration is enough for her, both mana and hp wise. If you ever decide to get it, remember that getting hit with Refraction on still cancels it.

Oh, and here's some useful information - If you decided to get SnY for your filler slot (Deso + Travels + Butter + Buriza + Cuirass + Filler), then you can use the maim orb by putting it on a higher slow than desolator. Thus, with your high attack speed, you can allow maim to activate first before switching item places between SnY and Desolator, or vice versa (Use desolate orb, then change to SnY)

In a nut shell, here's your build - with the last slot as filler, in which you get Blink Dagger / Bkb, or if you don't have a need for either, SnY.

[003C]Expected Times to Acheive items, and goalsGenerally, Lanaya should get her Desolator any time between 14 minutes to 28 minutes. Beyond that, and your late game is definitely screwed. Remember that a naked Lanaya can own up to around 30 minutes into the game by using her skills alone, so use this time to farm and kill as much as you can.

Remember this - Early game up to (early) Mid game, Lanaya does NOT require any items to own, since with her skills alone she can easily take down any hero with 3 digits worth of hp. Therefore, the Desolator is to extend her effectiveness all the way to right before late game, and also to allow her to farm up the items required for her effective late game. If you feel that Desolator is coming up too slow, then skip it and go straight for some survival items, like Vanguard.

Against Pubs, with a lousy pub team, you should aim for a high 1 digit kill and 1 digit death.Against Pubs, with an average team (can lasthit / deny / gank), you should aim for 2 digit kills and 1 digit death.Against Pubs, with fellow pubstompers (e.g. friends), you should aim for Beyond Godlike within the first half of the game.Against pubstompers, with a lousy pub team, you should aim for a positive score.Against pubstompers, with an average team, you should aim for a high 1 digit kill and 1 digit death.Against drafters, with a drafted team, you should aim for a high 1 digit / low 2 digit kill and 1 digit death/

[004A]Engaging the EnemyThe best lanes for you to gank are easily the top and bottom lanes, since the further you have to chase the enemy, the more advantageous it usually is to you. Before engagement, you should set a trap (or two) in the escape path of the enemy, preferably without the opponent's notice. Lanaya can solo-engage up to two heroes at a time, assuming they have less than 3 seconds of disables between them (bad examples are Rhasta + PoTM, gg to you). The next step is to turn on Refraction. When it has 13 seconds left, engage with a trap you set and immediately activate. Walk out behind the enemy heroes, during which they will most likely

target you with nukes. Do NOT right-click on them, this will trigger creep aggravation and make your shields go down fast.

Use right-click function to walk up beside your target, and engage with a Meld and immediate breaking of it. By now, they should be a slight distance behind their creeps and slowed by 50%, so landing it should be no problem. Unlike other gankers, spells like Eclipse and Suicide are of no effect to you with Refraction on. Animation-cancel attack your main target, and follow up with a slow once he walks over your initial trap. Walk up beside him, Meld, and end the battle.

Do NOT tower dive unless you are absolutely sure of the kill, enemy creeps are not in the immediate vicinity, AND the opponent heroes does NOT have a lengthy disable (e.g. Dismember)

Remember, Lanaya has problem killing strength heroes with massed strength items and damage, and high movement speed (balanar and lycan comes to mind), so don't engage them, especially if they have a teammate.

Also, take note of a very important point - with 14 seconds cooldown on Psionic Traps, it becomes much more viable to gank with a teammate, since while you CAN kill your prey, you might not be able to chase them down.

Letting enemies engage you

Sometimes enemies engage you alone in the lane. Techinically, this isn't a gank, so feel free to respond as you wish. Usually you can kill that hero, even if the odds are highly against you. Here's an example...

It's actually quite sad for the opponents who engage you... Just take precautions and set up traps in case you need to make a quick getaway. Now that Psionic Traps have been nerfed hard, make sure your traps are all set up well and focus more on farming in your lane. So long as you are

fore-warned, you can avoid about any gank and kill them with perma-slows at your lane with pre-set traps.

[004B]Mind Games

Mind Games are the only counters to map hackers. They allow you to counter ganks, score kills, and escape certain death with a sliver of hp left. Basically, the idea is to make yourself seem alone, or use your low hp to lull the enemy into a false sense of security in enaging you. Once they get tempted, you can either lure them to your teammate, or finish them off yourself.

Refraction allows you to take on most heroes 1 on 1, so long as you lure them out of the creep's range, since you can kill them before they can take out all your charges, even if they have a damage over time skill. The idea is to take down enemy heroes without losing your hp and your life. Other good heroes are Bristleback, Centuar, and Abbadon. Fortunately for you, you counter all of these heroes, since your armour reduction and burst damage doesn't give them the chance to retaliate or run away.

Generally, counters for Mind Games include Necrolyte, Axe, Zeus and perhaps Spectre. Fortunately, only Axe can counter you, since his ultimate goes through your Refraction. The rest can be negated with Refraction and sometimes Meld, allowing you to escape any non-disabling gank.

Here are a few examples of mind games...

And this one's about as cool as mind games get.

And more.... you can play mind games at ANY hp unlike some other heroes...

[004C]Killing blinkersLanaya has difficulty killing heroes with blink-like skills, like Timewalk, Waveform and Leap. How then, do you kill them, before you farm your blink dagger? (if you decided to farm one) The answer is to play effective mind games. Lanaya can play mind games better than any hero, since the 5 hits are definite. If you hang around your tower at around 100 hp for long enough, with right timing and baiting you can get that enemy Morphling to Waveform you at your tower, during which you can Meld-Strike him, and slow him long enough to kill him. By the time they use their escape mechanism on an attempt to kill you and realise their mistake, it would already be too late.

[004D]How to respond to ganks

Basically, there exist 3 kinds of ganks - Organised ganks with disablers, dis-organised gank with / without disabler, and lone ganker. Lone gankers are usually the least of your troubles,

since the only heroes that can kill you alone are Anti-mage (if he burns you flat), Lycanthrope (if there's no tower), Balanar (If he adds Crippling Fear and it's night time), Viper (If you don't turn around and kill him fast enough), Pudge (If hook hits you without Refraction on) and possibly a good Jakiro who knows what he's doing. Other than that, solo gankers should be the least of your problems, at worst you can slow them and run off. If, for example, a Tormented Soul tries to backstab you, while he can kill you quickly, you can kill him much faster.

Disorganised ganks generally result in you turning the tables on them and getting the kill, unless it consists of three heroes and/or one of the above stated solo heroes. Also, so long as they have less than 3 seconds of disables between them, you should be absolutely fine, given that you can escape from then if the situation turns ugly, although more than likely you will be able to kill at least one of the gankers, even if the other one escape unscathed.

Organised ganks are your nightmare (as they are to most heroes). Basically, the only way out of them is to have prior knowledge, that is to say having vision of them approaching before they engage you. Normally, they have at least 3 seconds of disables between them, or form a lethal combo like Lina + Rk. A Rhasta and almost any other hero can kill you extremly fast, so beware of these gankers. If, worst comes to worst, try the juke + Meld combo, or try to escape to your allies. ALWAYS remember that once Refraction is taken out, Lanaya is like a Dwarven Sniper without boots (food).

[004E]Runes usage

Haste RuneThis rune generally ensures you a kill if the target opponent is a good distant from his tower. If you're low on hp and mana, you can just use it to run back to base. When used in conjunction with your slow, it normall guarentess you a kill. Also, you are very much un-killable with proper usage of this rune.

Invisiblity RuneThis rune allows you excellent placement of Meld, which you can use to initiate the battle. It's drawbacks are the lack of ability to cast Refraction or Psionic Traps. To counter this problem, only Meld when the enemy is about to last hit a creep and break Meld without hesitation immediately. Try to have an allied teammate to slow or stun your target first in order to make your job easier.

Double Damage RuneThis rune allows you to take down a hero in 2/3 the time it would originally take you. Earlier, I showed how you can perform about 1150 physical damage on a hero in 5 hits. With Double Damage Rune, your damage is extended to 1500 physical damage over 5 hits. It's effectiveness does not wane late game, and it allows you to win fights even against early game tanks like Lycanthrope. When pushing a tower, it lets you deal over 300 damage to a tower before Refraction charges run out.

Regeneration Rune

This rune is your friend when you're low on hp, and on the verge of going back to your foutain. It gives you full hp and mana if you are not attacked, allowing you to gank and farm more. It has the potential to be a savior, if you ever run across it while getting chased by enemy heroes, by using Meld right after picking it up, assuming that your enemies do not possess AoE spells or attacks.

[005A]In-depth info on skills and synergy (*author's note - skip this section if you hate details)

All you need to know about Refraction:When you turn on Refraction, two separate triggers are turned on, both lasting 20 seconds and independent of each other. The first trigger blocks 5 instances of damage, from a Necromancer's projectile to a Goblin Techie's suicide. As long as the damage taken is larger than 5, the trigger will initiate and heals you for the damage taken. This is due to a triggered heal, not unlike Backtrack, Dispersion, Aphotic Shield and Borrowed Time, which work by healing a portion of the hp before and after. Unlike Storm Spirit's Barrier, which blocks only magical damage, Refraction blocks any form of damage, inclusive of precise damage skills like Laser, Impetus and Glaives of Wisdom. The bonus damage, on the other hand, gives Lanaya a bonus 80 physical damage which is added to her base damage (like a weapon). This means lifesteal and criticals will be amplified by the bonus damage, and so will negative armour on the opponent. The trigger is independent of the damage block, so the bonus damage can still last while the damage blocking has been used up. Both buffs in the status icon are the aura of a dummy unit, which explains why the aura lasts for 3 seconds even after all the charges are used up.

For those mathcraft people out there, here's what you need to know - Refraction, IF maxed at level 7, allows Lanaya to land 750 physical damage on a single target, if all 5 hits are landed. This, alone, is one of the skills that make Lanaya such a great hero early to late game. This skill is most effective early-mid game, where nukes usually dominate most heroes, and its effectiveness does not decrease late game unlike other skills.

Refraction is best maxed early game, where you can play mind games in the lane, tank painful nukes, and in extremities, use it to last hit. Since Lanaya does not usually harass enemy heroes (she just goes in for the kill unless Psi blades is taken over meld early game), a Lanaya at full mana should periodically use Refraction to both last hit and take nukes, since the mana cost of 75 is fairly low, allowing her to spam it frequently.

Taking down towers with Refraction - Generally you can do about 200 damage to a tower without taking any damage yourself with Refraction maxed out. Also, you can tank the tower for your creeps (albeit for a limited number of hits) while trying to push down the tower.

23 seconds cooldown means you don't usually get to use it twice in a skirmish, UNLESS you have the foresight to cast it slightly early (but not so early that it wears off when you engage the enemy). If used properly, the enemy will get demoralised pretty fast, since from his point of view it seems that you can never take damage at all.

What happens if you cast refraction when refraction is already on (Refresher / Wtf)? Basically, the triggers just renew themselves to the full 5 hits.

Sadly, this means that this skill can NOT stack.

Here's a few example of using Refraction properly to defeat opponent heroes:

Note that in the second example... Refraction only used to block tower damage. However, if Techies had pulled off a Suicide, it would have blocked that too.

Also... Refraction has other uses like:

All you need to know about Meld:This skill automatically puts Lanaya in the hold position, and gives her a windwalk lasting 3600 seconds on all levels. A trigger is then fixed on her to give her bonus 200 damage the next time she deals a physical attack, while using a dummy unit to reduce the armour of the target. Meld's bonus damage is triggered, unlike windwalk damage (Gondar) which never misses, so in some cases you might see a big miss when attacking certain enemies (e.g. PA). However, do not fret, since the 200 bonus damage and armour reduction is not gone, since the trigger only disappears when you move. As such, the lack of movement will ensure the bonus damage still remains.

What irks me is that alot of people are using Meld the wrong way. First off, Meld's armour reduction does not stack, so at one point the target can only have a maximum of -8 armour. Secondly, Meld is NOT an escape mechanism. Thirdly, Meld SHOULD NOT be used by standing in a spot and waiting (unless stacking, which is no longer possible). It should only be used, at most to buy some time for Refraction's cooldown, or like a Phase Shift (to avoid projectile stuns like Storm Bolt, and Elune's Arrow (damage is still taken, but the stun no longer applies). Aoe nukes still hit you while you're in Meld - which can be used to your advantage. For example, if you were at full mana and wanted to knock some mana off your opponent, you could turn on Refraction, THEN Meld in full sight of them. More than likely, a Lina / Potm / (insert Aoe / hit invis heroes here) will cast their nukes on you, from which you take no damage, thus wasting their mana. Having said so, however, Meld CAN be useful especially when juking, since a meld in the opponent's fog causes them to be confused and unable to find you.

Meld-walk, as I term it, is the usage of Meld like an orb. Since you have a 5 second 50% slow, you should use this slowed duration to catch up with your enemy in order to land a perfect meld hit, especially while your range is low. Auto-attacking enemies during their slowed duration does LESSER damage as opposed to using Meld effectively, triggers creep aggravation which takes

off your refraction hits, and reduces your ability to catch up with him / her. Basically it's the same idea as a Zeus chasing an opponent, but not hitting him, to allow the opponent to be in sight until lightning bolt's cooldown has ended.

When Meld is used in conjunction with Refraction and 2 Melds are landed on the enemy, with 3 hits in between (easily possible with a near permanent slow), the damage done is 200 x 2 + 80 x 5 + 70 x 5 = 1150 physical damage. Throw in the armour reduction, and early - mid game when enemies do not have armour, you will be doing 1150 UNREDUCED damage (or possibly even amplified). This is excluding any damage from items, and including her base damage.

Some people complain of issues with Meld breaking prematurely when escaping from enemies. When Lanaya's projectile is already in motion and she turns on Meld, the projectile, when landed, causes her to break Meld. In any case, do NOT Meld when attacking enemies unless it is intended to land on them. Notably, any skill which shifts your position reveals you. This includes Vacuum, Reverse Polarity, Meat Hook, Blackhole, Berserker's Call (Although if you spam stop, your position will not be revealed since you do not perform an attack, however you will increase the chance of triggering Helix), Lightning Grapple and Primal Roar.

Meld IS NOT cleaved by Psi Blades. However, the armour reduction results in more damage on the initial target, and hence more damage cleaved.

Despite the fact that Meld is NOT an escape mechanism, inevitably you will end up hiding with Meld. In this case, Blink comes in extremely useful, allowing you to blink a distance and Meld again instantly, losing your enemy's sight on you. Juking and Meld also have fairly good synergy. (e.g. walk abit into secret shop at corner, and enemy hero walks all the way in trying to finding you)

Some Mathcraft -Base Armour | Meld's % lowering of armour reduction1 | 40.902 | 41.703 | 41.904 | 41.305 | 40.006 | 38.107 | 35.608 | 32.409 | 29.4010 | 26.80

As you can see, Meld's amplification of damage is more significant when the target's armour is from 1 to 5, during which the opponent's ability to reduce damage is lowered by at least 40%, amplifying your damage by a great factor. These are your best targets.

All you need to know about Psi Blades:

This skill is based on the engineering upgrade for the Night Elves called Vorpal Blades. The damage done by the spill is, of 6.49b, generally in a straight line, although occasionally the spill direction might differ. The damage taken from Psi Blades is unreducable by any skill, unavoidable, unblockable by Vanguard or Stouts, and only spell immunity and triggered heals can avoid it (Backtrack, Dispersion, Aphotic Shield, Borrowed Time). Psi Blades damage invisible units in the range of the spill range, which makes it fairly useful against invisible heroes. When you attack an enemy, Psi Blades creates a trigger on the enemy unit, which causes your next count of damage to that enemy unit to spill among the other units. Given this, you can even cleave a Dagon's damage by Dagon-ing an enemy unit before your projectile hit, or by spamming stop after attacking it. The Dagon's spilled damage is also unreducable, however apart from the fact that only rare circumstances would allow you to spill Dagon, Dagon is an altogether useless item on Lanaya.

Psi Blades allows you to harass enemies when attacking creeps, and when DENYING allied creeps, which means you can last hit a creep BY a deny. It also allows easier landing of Meld, due to the extended range, however experienced players should have no problem landing Meld even with their low range. Psi Blades also has the effect of causing one to push too far, although mid-late game it is the one skill that allows you to farm and push insanely fast, and even allowing you to take out an entire creep wave in one hit by hitting the first creep in the line before it reaches you. For these reasons, Psi Blades is a skill to be leveled mid-game, despite its laning benefits, unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

When using it to farm / push, it is the most effective to use to kill all the ranged creeps when they have amassed in large numbers, since the ranged creeps have a tendency to stand in a row, and do not break their ranks to attack you, unlike the melee creeps who will surround you, causing you to be unable to kill them effectively unless your own creeps are tanking them.

All you need to know about Psionic Traps:

Pre 6.50This skill gives you two active skills, one is to set the trap on the ground anywhere within 2000 range. This allows you to essentially ward the runes without going very far from your lane, and allows you to assist kills from a great distance away. The other active skill, De[T]onate, causes the nearest trap to you to detonate (duh) and slow all enemies near it. However, Detonate is not a skill I recommend using, since Lanaya DOES have some casting animation (a short jerk of the hero when moving). Traps can be manually activated, like Goblin Techie's Remote Mines, by highlighting them and pressing "T". Generally, when chasing, I click the trap slightly in front of the hero, right-click the ground so that my hero will continue moving, before highlighting the trap by dragging my cursor over it and pressing "T". Sometimes, the slight delay from activating the trap using Lanaya's hotkey might make the difference between life and death.

Psionic Traps have an approximately 3 second fade time before they turn invisible, during which enemy units can target them. They have 100 hp, permanent magic immunity and do not stop the spawn of neutral creeps. It has an infinite duration, and does not disappear unless activated,

killed, or when the trap limit has exceeded, during which the first trap cast disappears. Each trap also has a small sight range around it roughly equivalent to the slow range, which means it has a secondary usage - as wards for certain key places, like runes and various ramps. Use them wisely, like a Techie's Mines, but NOT sparingly, since the low mana cost and cooldown means you can spam it as much as you want. Place them in certain places which fleeing enemies which most likely be running over, so that you can assist a gank even if you're half the map away.

When using Traps offensively, wait for the creep wave to pass before setting one in the retreat path of the enemy. As long as you have one trap set prior to engagement, you can keep the enemy permanently slowed by 50%. Wait for the trap to cooldown, then initiate with your second trap by casting it and activating it immediately (using the method highlighted earlier). The range is also fairly generous, so try to get more than one hero in its range, if possible.

The sight can also be used to guard against long-ranged heroes like Pudge, PoTM, KoTL and Puck, allowing you to escape their projectiles before they start coming. Warding the opponent's neutral creeps is also very effective in ganks, since they last for an infinite time and give sufficient sight if placed correctly. It also can be used to slow down pushes by half, buying your team time to reach the tower to prepare for a defence. Psionic Traps can also be used to test if there are any Sentry Wards in the region, since they will trigger creep aggravation when your creeps are gone. Also, they can be casted in tower range if they are to be used immediately, since they require two hits from the tower to be destroyed. This is a map on where to place your wards:

Red refers to the three wards you should place as gank-preventors while farming either top or bottom lane. White refers to locations where you should place them for sight placement. Yellow is placements where wards allows you to assist in ganks from halfway across the map, since they are common walking paths for heroes. Lastly, the big white line is an approximate of the casting range of Psionic Traps. As for lane-traps, ideally they should be placed as close to the enemy tower as possible without being revealed.Many thanks to Ironfisto's Dota Blown-up Map for 6.45, which sadly doesn't include the secret shops at the lanes, although I still included white dots there.

When maxed out, sufficient well placement of traps gives you almost all the vision you need.

Psionic Traps are NOT teleportable to with Boots of Travel (unlike the first version Lanaya came out in).

Sometimes you can use them as escape mechanisms, provided the 1 second of casting time dosen't kill you outright. However though, the vision does save you plenty of times. Here's an example:

By the way, they ARE activatable even when Lanaya is stunned or dead.

Post 6.50Now, psionic traps have two times the cooldown. What implications does this have?Firstly, Lanaya loses some of her "rush the enemy and damn the consequences" ability, since she no long has a handy slow to use any time. When enemy heroes rush you or while participating in ganks, consider when and where to use your traps effectively, since you'll only get one shot at it in a skirmish.Secondly, Lanaya's unsurpassed killing power is limited mostly to the lane. Since in a lane, you can set up 2 to 3 traps pre-emptively in order to kill the enemies, she retains her killing powers in

a lane. Also, she becomes slightly less of a ganker, and more of a counter-ganker (e.g. killing those people who come to gank you, those people who lane against you, and those people whom you don't like)Thirdly, this skill becomes extremely important to max out quickly unlike before, where you could just cast and use on the spot, since in order for it to reach maximum effectiveness, it needs to be casted on key spots in advance. Other than that, Psionic Traps is about the same as before.

[005B]Counters for Refraction*Dangerous ones are highlighted in red*

Zeus (Lord of Olympia) - Arc Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Static Field, Thundergod's Wrath (Static = 2 gone)Aiushtha (Enchantress) - Impetus (2 per orb)Rylai Crestfall (Crystal Maiden) - Frost Nova, Frostbite, Freezing Field (2 for frost nova/bite, varies for field)Slithice (Naga Siren) - Mirror Image, Ensnare (1 per hit from image, Ensnare prevents Meld)Raigor Stonehoof (Earthshaker) - Fissure, Enchant Totem, Aftershock, Echo Slam (2 for aftershock, varies for Echo Slam)Rikimaru (Stealth Assassin) - Blink Strike, Backstab (2 for both, 3 if used together)Syllabear (Lone Druid) - Spirit Bear (Entangle - 1 per hit)Yurnero (Juggernaut) - Blade Fury, Omnislash (4 per second of Blade Fury, 1 per hit of Omnislash)Nortrom (Silencer) - Curse of the Silent, Glaives of Wisdom (2 for glaives, 1 per second for CoTS)Rooftrellan (Treant Protector) - Overgrowth (1 per second)Darchrow (Enigma) - Malefice, Conversion, Midnight Pulse, Black Hole (All make you lose charges fast)Ezalor (Keeper of the Light) - Ignis Fatuus (1 per hit from summon)Ulfsaar (Ursa Warrior) - Overpower, Enrage (5 per hit from overpower, 2 from enrage)Aggron Stonebreaker (Ogre Magi) - Fireblast, Ignite (Multi-cast and Ignite takes out Refraction fast)Boush (Tinker) - March of the Machines (All gone per cast)Furion (Prophet) - Force of Nature (1 gone per hit)Azwraith (Phantom Lancer) - Juxtapose, Phantom Edge (1 gone per hit)Tiny (Stone Giant) - Avalanche, Toss (4 gone per Ava, 2 gone if tossed)Rexxar (Beastmaster) - Wild Axes, Call of the Wild: Quilbeast (2 for Axes, 1 per hit for quillbeast)Jakiro (Twin Head Dragon) - Dual Breath, Auto Fire, Macropyre (All gone for Dual, 1 per second for Auto Fite and Macropyre)Razzil Darkbrew (Alchemist) - Acid Spray (1 gone per second)Raijin Thunderkeg (Storm Spirit) - Overload (1 gone per hit)Huskar (Sacred Warrior) - Burning Spear (All gone per hit when maxed)Puck (Faerie Dragon) - Dream Coil (2 if exit range)Luna Moonfang (Moon Rider) - Eclipse (4 without Aghanim's, 5 with)Kardal Sharpeye (Dwarven Sniper) - Scatter Shot, Headshot (All gone per scatter, 2 gone per

head)Jah'rakal (Troll Warlord) - Bash (2 gone per hit)Rhasta (Shadow Shaman) - Shackles, Mass Serpent Ward (All gone)Magnix (Pandaren Brewmaster) - Primal Split: Storm(WW dmg), Earth, And Fire (2 gone per ww, Immolation)Magina (Anti-Mage) - Mana Break (2 gone per attack)Terrorblade (Soul Keeper) - Soul Steal, Conjure Image (1 gone per second for soul steal, 1 per hit for image)Kel'Thuzad (Lich) - Frost Nova, Chain Frost (2 per nova, 1 per chain frost hit)Krobelus (Death Prophet) - Exorcism (All gone pretty fast)Lesale Deathbringer (Venomancer) - Shadow Strike, Poison Sting, Plague Ward, Poison Nova (All gone...)Visage (Necro'lic) - Raise Revenants (1 gone per revenant)Nessaj (Chaos Knight) - Blink Strike, Phantasm (2 gone per blink strike, 1 gone per hit of image)Banehallow (Lycanthrope) - Summon Wolves (2 gone per bash, 1 gone per hit)Black Arachnia (Broodmother) - Spawn Spiderlings, Incapacitating Bite (1 gone per hit)Mortred (Phantom Assassin) - Shadow Strike, Blink Strike (All gone per SS, 2 gone per Blink Strike)Lucifer (Doom Bringer) - LVL? Death, Doom (2 gone per Lvl Death, All gone per Doom)Anub'arak (Nerubian Assassin) - Vendetta (2 gone per breaking of ww)Slardar (Slithereen Guard) - Bash (2 gone per bash)Akasha (Queen of Pain) - Shadow Strike (All gone per SS)Bone Clinkz (Bone Fletcher) - Searing Arrows (2 gone per arrow)Darkterror (Faceless Void) - Time Lock (2 gone per bash)Viper (Netherdrake) - Poison Attack, Corrosive Skin, Viper Strike (All gone pretty fast)N'aix (Lifestealer) - Feast (2 gone per hit)Leshrac the Malicious (Tormented Soul) - Diabolic Edict, Pulse Nova (All gone per second for Edict, 1 per second for Nova) <He's not a threat because you kill him more easily then he kills you>------------->

<----------Pugna (Oblivion) - Life Drain (Approx. 1 gone per second)Atropos (Bane Elemental) - Fiend's Grip (All gone per cast)Pudge (Butcher) - Rot, Dismember (4 per second of Rot, 1 per second of Dismember)Barathrum (Spiritbreaker) - Empowering Haste, Greater Bash, Nether Strike (2 per normal hit, 3 per bash)Anub'seran (Nerubian Weaver) - Geminate Attack (2 per germinate attack)Nevermore (Shadow Fiend) - Requiem of Souls (1 per soul hit)Crixalis (Sand King) - Sand Storm, Epicenter (All gone per exposure to cast)Mogul Kahn (Axe) - Battle Hunger, Culling Blade (1 per second for hunger, DEATH for blade)Strygwyr (Bloodseeker) - Rupture (Approx 2 gone per second of movement)Mercurial (Spectre) - Dispersion (1 per dispersion)Vol'Jin (Witch Doctor) - Maledict, Death Ward (All gone per cast of Maledict, Approx. 3 per second for ward)Harbinger (Obsidian Destroyer) - Arcane Orb (2 per cast)Demnok Lannik (Warlock) - Fatal Bonds, Shadow Word, Rain of Chaos: Infernal (1 per hit from fatal bonds, 1 per second from Shadow Word, 1 per second from Infernal's Immolation)Meepo (Geomancer) - Poof, Geostrike, Divided We Stand (2 per poof in melee range, All gone per hit)Dazzle (Shadow Priest) - Poison Touch, Shadow Wave (All gone per posion touch, 1 per unit in

range for wave)Azgalor (Pit Lord) - Firestorm, Expulsion (All gone per Firestorm, Expulsion depends on corpses)Dirge (Undying) - Raise Dead, Heartstopper Aura (1 per hit from zombie, 1 per second from aura)Ish'kafel (Dark Seer) - Ion Shell, Wall of Replica (5 per second from Ion shell, 1 per hit from illusion)

[006A]Types of games and how to adapt to themEarly GameThis portion of the game generally encompasses the laning portion of the game, where last-hitting and denying are important. During this point, last hitters, good deniers and harassers dominate the game. While stunners lead to a potential first blood, they usually lack the laning potential that their orb-wielding counterparts possess. At this point of the game, Lanaya should fare fairly ok, since Refraction is a last resort for last hitting while tower hugging, and also Meld avoids targeted projectile stuns, making her hard to kill along with Refraction.

Mid GameThis portion of the game generally encompasses the ganking portion of the game. Ganks and forest skirmishes are dominant throughout, mostly to buy time for one's own carry hero to farm up via jungling / laning. Also, teams sometimes form an all-lane push during this point of the game, which while fairly rare, is also quite effective. During this point of the game, casters usually dominate the most, since they can contribute effectively to ganks. Lanaya can fufill both roles a hero should have during this point of the game, which is to farm and to gank. Generally though, Lanaya would be more adept at farming in a lane and killing her would-be gankers ever since Psionic Traps were nerfed. At this point of the game, Lanaya is not item dependent yet, which means a vanguard or bracers do not enchance her killing power, and thus she should be farming her late-game items, of which Desolator she should have completed.

Late GameThis portion of the game generally encompasses the pushing and killing portion of the game. Solo and mass pushes are dominant throughout, with ocassional skirmishes now and then. The carry heroes show their truepotential during this point of the game, either by pushing at insane speed or taking down the opponent's heroes in record time. Lanaya is adept at both roles, whether teleporting to a lane and taking out an entire wave of creeps in two hits, or taking down caster / non-bashing heroes easily. However, disables are still as dangerous as they were thoughout the game.

One must observe that different standard of games have different periods, and hence must adapt.

Pub Games: Early Game (0.00 - 20.00), Mid Game (20.00 - 40.00), Late Game (40.00 - 60.00)This is the general form of lower-level pub games, since people rarely gank and focus on their own farming, resulting in an early late game.

Pub Games(2): Early Game (0.00 - 10.00), Mid Game (10.00 - 40.00), Late Game (40.00 -

60.00)This form of pub games have a slightly higher standard, with more ganks occuring early on. However, some people just cannot stop farming for some reason, and hence late game still happens quite early.

Higher Level Games: Early Game (0.00 - 8.00), Mid Game (8.00 - 55.00), Late Game (55.00 - 60.00)In higher level games, ganking starts early with Observer Wards at the start of the game, and an extended mid game due to both teams ganking each other continually. For this purpose, usually heroes used have a decent early game, useful mid game and sometimes good late game. An example would be Bristleback. Note that in games like this, Blink would be more useful on Lanaya, since an extended mid game puts more focus on survivability and not carrying capabalities.

[006B]Roshan

Roshan is this fat creep which exists on the scourge side of the river, although it takes roughly equal time to walk to Roshan from both bases. On his first spawn, he has 8000 hp, and every spawn he drops an Aegis, and an additional Cheese after the third spawn onwards. He has an AoE stomp-like skill, which slows and does damage, when more than 3 enemies are engaged in melee range, and a Toss Boulder skill which stuns for two seconds. Once you possess a Desolator and reach level 14 and onwards, you can take down Roshan alone. Cast Refraction in advance, and use Meld to avoid his first stun, followed by auto-attacking him and casting Meld and Refraction whenever their cooldowns end. A double damage / regeneration rune guarentees you a sure kill, although you need to beware of opponent ganks. Remember that sometimes you may need a Flash of Sapphire water to kill him.

[007A]Good Allies:Lanaya actually pairs up quite well with any hero. Nobody says no to an aoe 50% slow with immense casting range, since it can both save lives and assist kills. However, disablers are always welcome. Any long-lasting disabling hero like Rexxar, Bane, Treant, Rhasta and Enigma basically give you a free kill / kills in a well-organised gank. As for laning, generally it would be more ideal for Lanaya to solo, although sometimes when the situation calls for it, a dual lane is possible, although a teammate who can bait well would be more prefable.

Although, there are two teammates Lanaya has to take note of - one is Abbadon. Because Aphotic Shield is also a triggered heal, when cast on Lanaya who has Refraction on, any damage done to her will heal her instead. This is the same as Borrowed Time + Aphotic Shield, since both are triggered heals and will heal Abbadon. This is NOT a bug, nor an abuse. The same effect can be achieved with Backtrack, although there is a percentage chance for it and is hence no so obvious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sKsyiPlPMc

The other teammate is Priestess of the Moon. In the rare ocassion that you are forced to use Meld, with no chance of ecsape, her ultimate may come in handy, especially if your enemies do

not have true sight. There are youtube videos on it (but not made by me, unlike above), so you can go search for it yourself. Basically, the invisiblity provided will allow you to walk straight out while maintaning invisiblity, making enemies waste wards / aoe skills on the place you were.

[007B]Easy to kill heroes without much risk of life (ranked from top to bottom more or less in ascending order of difficulty):

Anti-Mage (Purely Dps Reliant - Lanaya owns this kind of heroes, assuming she has full mana to begin with)Faceless Void (Timewalk, Backtrack and Chronosphere all kinda suck, making him exceedingly hard to kill)Morphling (Without Waveform and Adaptive Strike, Morph is kinda sad)Priestess of the Moon Puck (Refraction > Puck)Sand King (Refraction > Epicentre early game)Nerubian Weaver (Purely Dps Reliant - Don't let her end up chasing you, since she's one of the best)Storm Spirit (Purely Dps Reliant - Lanaya owns this kind of heroes)Huskar (Burning Spears > Refraction > Life Break)Bounty Hunter (Click evasion makes you miss meld often)Naga Siren (You lose shields fast, but you kill her as fast. Song is a pain in the ass.)Visage (OOH how I hate that slow)Bristleback (Bristlebacks ALMOST never get armour, meaning your Meld negates his protection in the rear)Vengeful Spirit (Avoid Missle with Meld, and care not to get swapped into tower range)Furion (You can't stop teleport, and Sprout owns your poor range)Dark Seer (Surge negates Psionic Traps, so take care of that)Earthshaker (Fissure-trap is irritating, + all the stuns!)Lich (Double Slow)Lion (Double Disables)Lina (Nuking Power!)Leshrac (Slightly more painful nukes, but softer)Enigma (I hate the length dragged out stun)Nerubian Assassin (He's not a problem.. if he doesn't drain you flat first)Dazzle (Heal + Slow = Siannn)Rikimaru (Silence + Slow)Venomancer (Slows + Slows + Slows = PAIN)Medusa (Purge + Mana Shield)Viper (Orbwalk + Skin)Spectre (Dagger + Haunt = Escape mechanism)Spirit Breaker (High ms lol!)Alchemist (Stun's useless in skirmishes if he's the target)Axe (No escape mehcanism)

Undying (Slow)Juggernaut (No chasing / escape mechanism, Blade Fury negates slow)Bloodseeker (Rupture disables chasing)Necrolyte (Heal heal heal)Rhasta (Shackles + Voodoo + Shackles + Voodoo + ...)Chen (Slow + Stomp + Stomp + Stomp + Stomp = Pub Stomp!)Warlock (Stun)Pit Lord (Pit of Malice - You still can attack)Tiny (Stun and run)Crystal Maiden (Bite + Slow.. irritating)Meepo (Net + Net + Net + Net + Net + ...)Clinkz (Windwalk *poof*)Phatom Assasin (Three spells which contributes to her escape...)Pugna (Slows you and lifedrains - which you avoid with meld)Syallbear (No escape mechanism - although whacks from his pet are irritating and sometimes fatal)Death Prophet (Ghosts can be a pain when chasing her, but she has no escape mechanism)Shadow Fiend (Usually he gets blink, which is irritating, but otherwise...)Tinker (Bewares of perma-euls, guinsoos, and BoT)Witch Doctor (Irritating stun and dangerous ultimate when used with Maledict. Food otherwise)Silencer (FREE FRAG! Can't run from you, can't kill you)Drow (Proper orbwalking can kill u easily, otherwise slow and kill 'er)Obsidian Destroyer (Maxed imprisonment means you just lost your kill)Zeus (Refraction > Nukes)Luna Moonfang (Refraction > Eclipse)Dwarven Sniper (Refraction > Assassinate)Razor (Free frag, apart from slightly higher movement speed)Terrorblade (Even if Sunder-ed, still can own him with Refraction)Keeper of the Light (Refraction > Illuminate)TECHIES (Refraction > Suicide)

[007C]Heroes which kills you easily (despite Refraction): LeshracPudgeJuggernautEarthshaker (only with ulti)Tiny (given a good toss)JakiroRhastaPriestess of the Moon (situationally)Beastmaster (situationally)Nerubain AssasinDoombringer (with ulti)Balanar Lycanthrope

ViperVenomancerEnigmaHuskar

AND organised ganks with heroes who can disable AND heroes who can take down the charges quickly (e.g. Bane + Leshrac) Remember, WITHOUT Refraction, you are just another melee-range agility hero with low hp. (a.k.a. food)

[008A]Skills / Items / Structures which reveal invisiblity:Trek (Bounty Hunter)Amplify Damage (Slardar)Eyes in the Forest (Treant Protector)Lightning Bolt / Thundergod's Wrath (Zeus)Strygwyr's Thirst (Strygwyr)Spectral Dagger (Reveals position only, Spectre)Assasinate (For duration of channeling, Sniper)Charge of Darkness (For duration of chasing, Spirit Breaker)Gem of True SightSentry WardsNecronomicon Level 3Sentinel / Scourge towersFountain of Life

[009A]ReplaysReplay #1 - This is a 3v5 game from the start, and I'm on the team with 3 people. It came quite close, with our team losing in the end. Shows plenty of aspects about Lanaya. Lasted 92 minutes approx, with me netting over 600 creep kills.

 27_19_lanaya_92_min_3v5_we_lost.w3g ( 962.51k ) Number of downloads: 557

Replay #2 - This is a classic example of how NOT to play a Lanaya. From the start I asked the player whether he knew how to play her, since plenty of players I meet repick her or play her very bad. I was the Gondar if you need to know.

 19_11_gondar__LANAYA_SUCKS_ON_MY_TEAM.w3g ( 847.31k ) Number of downloads: 176

Replay #3 - A pub game, with a couple of friends on my team. I get an easy lane against Lion, and it's all downhill from there. 19-4, with the game decided from the start. Ended at around 45 minutes. The Potm's good too, with accurate arrows and nice ganking.

 19_4_lanaya_45_min_end_game.w3g ( 664.9k ) Number of downloads: 441

Replay #4 - This game was played some months ago, so I can't remember the exact details -.-". 17_2_holyshit_lanaya_imba_farming_and_o.w3g ( 824.08k ) Number of downloads: 236

Replay #5 - In this purely pub game, I owned them to the extent where my opponents left at the 20 minute mark ._.

 lanaya_ownage_20_min_leaver.w3g ( 279.15k ) Number of downloads: 313

Replay #6 - 14-11 Lanaya, shows how Refraction owns techies despite several of my mistakes. 14_11_carry_lanaya_owned_techies.w3g ( 1020.29k ) Number of downloads: 157

Replay #8 - 24-7 Lanaya, another tpyical ownage game. If you play Lanaya alot, like me, you will eventually discover how to adapt towards any and every hero, and how to rely less on your skills and more on your intution.

 252_cs__24___7_good_replay_of_templar_a.w3g ( 1.03mb ) Number of downloads: 616

Replay #9 - 26-6 Lanaya, made with the intention for this guide in a game played yesterday. I get a stout shield to replace a GG branch, something you should do if you have extra gold for randoming her. I lane against Leshrac and Zeus, surviving their continuous chain of nukes. Racked up a good number of double kills early game, even though some over-confidence accidentally led to my death at points in the game. Sadly, against pubs.

 26_6_Lanaya_Sent_owned.w3g ( 664.78k ) Number of downloads: 670

Replay #10 - 22-6 Lanaya, this replay combines farming early game and no ganks, while killing those who enagage you. While I make some rash decisions which leads to my death, I play quite a few efficient mind games, like one against a Weaver + TB chasing me at red hp, of which I killed Weaver and barely escaped. Note, also, how one of my traps at Roshan leads to an all out team battle at Roshan, in which I get 4 kills on the opposing team. Out-carried Weaver, Faceless Void, Terrorblade, Furion and Necrolyte despite several early-game mistakes. While they were most definitely not excellent players, they did manage to play fairly well (with exception of FV).

 22_6_Lanaya_446_cs_penta_kills_took_dow.w3g ( 1019.7k ) Number of downloads: 303

Replay #11 - 12-4 Lanaya, this replay demonstrates Lanaya in her new role quite well. The idea is to farm in your own lane non-stop for the first 20 minutes or so, killing would be gankers with a combination of mind games and pre-set Psionic Traps, and farming an uber fast Desolator (like at around 15 minutes). After that, rush Boots of Travel and start pushing. Despite playing against an extremly pumped team, I managed to out-push them with Boots of Travel and constantly bought back my hero whenever I died. Ended up with a victory despite opponent Clinkz backdooring. Screw the leavers on both teams.

 445_cs_ta_6.50_early_game_ownage_withou.w3g ( 677.13k ) Number of downloads: 863

Replay #12 - This is an example of why I hate GGC. First, one guy on my team leaves before game starts, causing a 4 v 5. Sf leaves, leaving a 3 v 5. Two Sentinel players leave, leaving 3 v 3. By then I riced Desolator by around 13 minutes and raped them hard. Early Roshan, and I ended up camping outside their foutain, getting triple kills despite getting swapped into the fountain. If their heroes had ganked more, I would have been able to get more kills early game. Sadly, no chance to avoid magic missle with Meld since VS didn't even use it in the lane. 24-1 score, Tree down @ 30 min.

 24_1_Lanaya_6.50b_30_min_end_game.w3g ( 300.85k ) Number of downloads: 211

Replay #13 - This replay is in 6.51. Shows how Lanaya is countered by meat tanks cum nukers like Pudge and Earthshaker, but on the other hand, own them back. 29 kills, 9 deaths and 11 assists. Game barely lasts over 60 minutes. Beyond godlike for a good portion mid-late game.

 27_9_11_carry_lanaya.w3g ( 883.1k ) Number of downloads: 489

Replay #14 - This is another GGC pub stomp, despite starting out at a disadvantaged 4 v 5. 38 kills, 4 deaths and 9 assists. Pretty much speaks for itself. Plenty of mind games used (although I don't know if they were just lousy or really got tempted by the mind games).

 38_4_9_lanaya_47_min_game_mind_games.w3g ( 555.54k ) Number of downloads: 566

Replay #15 - The only 1.22 replay I had the time to make. Will be removing the other replays and adding more 1.22 ones when I have the time.

 templar_public_game.w3g ( 542.91k ) Number of downloads: 386

Mini-reference GuideLanaya players will start off like this :

0 - 20 games : Generally, still the feeding stage. Ocasionally you can perform acts like Meld to avoid Storm Bolt, but that generally is for experienced players who can do the same with other heroes.

20 - 50 games : You begin to see a turn in the outcome of the game. Sometimes, you can get kills alone, although mostly it's with the help of your teammates. You start to get used to laning with melee range.

50 - 80 games : Your playstyle changes drastically. Instead of farming in a lane, you run about and engage enemies because you are confident of winning. At this level, you rack up sprees incredibly fast.

80 - 100 games : Sometimes your over-confidence will lead to your enagaging of battles where

you can't win. However, you play extremely well and generally get 2 digits of kills in any game regardless of the level of play. Your team usually wins because you pick Lanaya.

100+ games : A combination of the above, and the ability to adapt well to any kind of situation since you're already so experience with her. Furthermore, by now you know how to play her in late-late game situations when the game extends beyond 90 minutes, since you've definitely played those kind of games at least a couple of times.

Author's Note:Apologies if you don't like my guide, since this is my first guide, my first time messing with BB code, and I don't have very good English.

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