Rylai Crestfall, the Support Maiden

Great Guide.
Voted up.

Done.

I would like to thank everyone for the feedback, and hope this address at least a bit of the points you guys mentioned.

Hmmm... That would make both builds the same, which they actually aren't. Here's what I'll do: Switch the builds, and have #1 be the alternative, since #2 is the most popular anyways.

Build #2 is focused on a different purpose: first of all, you get to buy extra branches instead of clarity to sustain yourself in the lane, since aura comes much earlier (arguably for a support, lvl 2 is much earlier than lvl 1); With bite->aura build, I can harass my enemies out of the lane waaay easier; Finally, the global gain with aura on level 2 tends to favor teams with mana issues, reason for which I go for this build, when I do.

Yep which is fine, but I'd suggest you do that for both builds - even if you then want to get Arcane Aura at 3, 4 + 5 or whatever, you HAVE to get your stun/slows available ASAP. The Arcane Aura really doesn't matter until you do, as you're not really going to be casting Frostbite unless you're going for a kill or a save.

That the CMs in TI3 go ulti at 6 is an interesting point, but you've got to remember the level of co-ordination that these guys operate with - it's much harder to make that stick in your average pub or lower level game. Like I said, I wouldn't rule it out, but I'd have to be able to justify why it was a good idea to skill it there - a maxxed Crystal Nova is much more reliable - generally that your team has AOE disables which will allow you to get off several seconds of channelling.

I believe that's what I do on build #2.

After aura and ulti buffs, getting ulti on level 6 is the go-to build, imho. During the whole TI3, every CM I've seen has got ulti on level 6 after skilling the single aura point on level 3, if this serves as any proof to that.

The ulti has a huge impact if you can land it correctly, even if you need to skip a nova or a bite in order to have mana for it.

Yeah you really need to start off with a point in each of Frostbite and Crystal Nova - there are two main reasons for picking CM in a lineup:

1) You have an aggressive carry and/or are running a tri-lane that should be getting early kills.

2) Your team is quite mana dependent early on.

Ogre Magi is the only other hero with both a stun/nuke and slow/nuke at level 2, and obviously he's melee so will struggle to harass. Really though you need to pick her for the right situation and be able to force those early kills - if not there are far more effective supports you can pick.

Agree with Wisdom, as tempting as it is to pickup your ulti at 6, you're better off delaying a while longer unless you've got some kind of team synergy that could set you up well. (e.g. Repel, Reverse Polarity, Black Hole etc). Personally I pick up more levels in Arcane Aura too, mainly to help the team out more than for spammability.

Addressing Items: or you could, in lieu if getting a gauntlet (under the presumption another allied support got both already) get Sentry Wards and/or Smoke of Deceit for later use. Wards for counterwarding, invis rune ganks/ possible natural or Lothar's Edge heroes later on into the game that you can use the vision for, and smoke to gank mid with yourself or another support.

Hell, starting with Salve, Tango and 4 Ironwood Branch wouldn't be a terrible idea either, quickly making into a magic wand and having ironwoods for later to build into a magic wand and the extra being able to be made into the mek unless for some reason the person buying the wards ALSO wants to build a mek... or just sold for space to get Boots of Speed.

Addressing Skill build: The skill build for Crystal Maiden is actually extremely flexible. When you get the aura is determined simply by when you want to play aggressive and the skills you need to do so. Being able to spam one of Crystal Nova or Frostbite is nice, but if they arent together, you aren't accomplishing a whole lot. each of them is a 100 damage nuke with a root/ slow attached to them.

Getting a point of aura at level 2 allows you to "spam" the 1 spell you have, but you can't really capitalize on how extremely broken Crystal Maiden is at level 2, her ability to chain off of herself a stun and slow with very high level 1 nuking possibilities (most level 1 nukes don't get that high and they are usually the heroes only nuking spell)

I would rather have 205 damage with stacked disables before I start spamming those spells, taking my first point in the skill that is most likely to get me first blood (frostbite against solo heroes vs nova vs heroes far past their towers or in lanes of multiple heroes)

Now, the point of Freezing Field. I have seen pros get it early, yes. Only at 7, though, their skill build is usually something like Q,W,E,W,Q,E,R. 2-2-2-1. Multiple points in aura, yes... but also multiple points in the nukes first. And the nukes actually have significant impact vs in the skill builds I see here, where we keep Frostbite at 1 (1.5 second disable for 100 damage) until 9, a level you should never just expect to get as a support hero (since you have to win teamfights to get levels as a support)

I guess what I am saying is, it is kind of like Lich with Sacrifice. You get the one point early for lane control and the ability to spam you spells, but you don't get more than 2 points. You may not be at full mana all the time, but it doesn't matter if you are at full mana just so long as you have enough mana to cast your spells that have imporved in damage. Improve the damage of your spells rather than improving your ability to spam them, especially if without imporving that ability you already can. Scaling the opponents downtime and your damage up is better than being able to spam level 1 spells for the rest of the game, but mostly the opponents downtime, as that stays significant all game

To address Wisdomseyes1 points,

First of all, I want to thank you for the feedback.

I believe some of the points you mentioned are already addressed in the guide, but just to clarify

It really isn't recomended to go more than 1 or 2 points in aura. While in build #1 I get two points, specially to sustain a higher ammount of harass on the early stages, help your other lanes, and have a chance to use your ultimate on level 6, in build #2 I advise what is often standard for pro-players nowadays, skilling Crystal Nova and Frostbite earlier. In this case, you absolutely need clarities is case you want to make use of your spells more often.

Since the aura upgrades, getting the second point in aura before level 6 is enough for you to use your ulti @ lvl6. You shouldn't ever skip 1 point in aura at least at level 3, since the regen for you is actually 2mp/sec, sustaining your spells through the whole game.

When I intend to skill aura on level 2, I skill frostbite on level 1, because it's more spammable and will help babysitting with harass, and ganks.

The gauntlet, also addressed at the guide, can really be skipped in favor of wards. I often do. But in case your team has someone buy the wards, you can go for gauntlets since, in Crystal Maiden's case, it gives more EHP than Ring of Protection, and god knows how this hero needs EHP. Anyways, relevant points.

A few things I thought I would mention

1) Getting multiple points of Arcane Aura is often a very bad idea. Early, it limits your ability to nuke enemies down. Later on, the levels of mana regen you get are not nearly nice enough to justify the points over stats. Getting 1 point of Arcane Aura at level 3 or 4 depending on the need of spamming spells (so lane dependency) is crucial.

2) While getting a level 2 Arcane Aura isn't the greatest idea in lane, jungling Crystal Maiden would use that early level to great effect. Post 6.78, that 3 mana regen at level 2 is extremely useful for making allowing crystal maiden to get a quick level 3 in the jungle and farm up boots, allowing her to roam with great effect.

(Jungling Crystal Maiden starts in the hard camp and uses Frostbite's default 10 seconds on creeps (700 damage) and kills the large creeps, usually getting level 2 off the first creep kill with half of the creeps that can spawn, otherwise needing to kill just 1 more creep for level 2)

3) Your item build starts with a gauntlet of strength, which suggests you automatically intend to go for Bracer/ Urn of Shadows. each item in itself is situational, where courior/ wards are never situational.

4) Freezing Field at 6, though you don't have the mana pool to support it, nor the HP/ armor to be in the middle (or really even edge) of the teamfight to support using the ability safely. It costing half of your mana also doesn't help, allowing you to drop all 3 and then be done, where just dropping your two primary nukes makes you contribute to the teamfight far more, stunning or slowing with actual nuking potential twice in a teamfight with both of your nukes, or dealing with constant aggression by always having mana to use your spells. Your ult is the most damage in the game at level 1, more than even a level 16 lich ult... but only if it actually lands and goes through the full duration. These are not likely. Making the consistent parts or yourself stringer rather than spending points on hit and miss skills until they are more useful is what the prefered method of scaling.

Try looking at build #2, then.

Great guide, altough i would pump up the crystal nova instead of the aura, if the ganks were going well.

Glad that you liked! =D
I hope you upvote =P