Crystal Maiden Blue-blooded Hard Support

ANNOUNCEMENTS

This is build is under continuous writing and goes through revisions from time to time to improve on capturing the essence of Crystal Maiden's support role from in-game experimentation and learnings.

Introduction

HELLO RYLAI FANS!

She's cute, has an adorable voice, got one of the best color combinations among the hero avatars, and all her skills say "Ice and Blue". She's Rylai the Crystal Maiden. One of DOTA's oldest and most famous heroes. She's got more fan art and memes than most others if you check Google Images.

My name is Rylon Crestfall. As you may noticed, it's the genderswap name for Rylai. I even have some fanfic ideas wherein Rylon is the son of Rylai etc, etc. That's why Rylon's hair isn't blonde and his eyes aren't blue (took traits from his dad), but that's enough about that story.

I'm a die-hard Rylai fan. I play Rylai so much that she basically covers up my match log. This is because I am a typical support player and who better to support than Crystal Maiden? Supporting is the thing that makes CM's world go round after all. With all my experience playing as CM, I just had to make a build to help other CM players out there work out the kinks because she is really a hard hero to master especially if you don't like the humble-underdog mentality, which is what's needed to play her properly. Mind you guys, there are a lot of "good" CM item builds that I've seen (although some of them are "ideal" and surely wont be achieved in the average pub game), and this is why I just had to make my own CM guide. I hope you guys enjoy reading and I don't mind some comments for improvement.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
1) Has two great nukes that combo well with almost every other Hero.
2) Does not greed over gold unlike other supports ( Lion, Skywrath Mage, Earthshaker, etc.).
3) A global mana aura that helps everyone in the team.
4) Psychologically, seeing a Crystal Maiden in your team "can/may' boost your teammates' morale for farming, playing another team role, mana-issues, hero picks.

Cons:
1) Really slow. Without Boots of Speed, she can't do much outside the lane.
2) Really squishy. ->> You have to master Crystal Maiden-positioning because getting greedy for tank items won't help the team.
3) Slow attack speed and attack animation. Difficult last hit for gold.

Clarifications:
This build doesn't prioritize Blink Dagger on Crystal Maiden because she will be playing as a "core" hard support. If you want to support utilizing Blink Dagger it's better to use a more efficient support Hero like Lina or Lion because they can farm it faster. Because she is so gold-deprived, saving up for a Blink Dagger on Crystal Maiden is risky and leaves her very very squishy, especially if you're faced against a good enemy team. This is a 5th role true-support build, not a for-fun build, using her squishiness and cons as basis for this build. :3 Because supports are the life-blood of the team.

Ice is Nice!

This part will talk about the skills of Crystal Maiden in relation to their upgrading pattern for this build. Just take note that this is the STANDARD pattern and that different situations will allow you to pick another skill the instant you level up.

A Day in the Life of Crystal Maiden

There are a lot of good support heroes out there like Vengeful Spirit, Earthshaker, Witch Doctor, Dazzle, etc. And let's face it- all these heroes could easily beat Crystal Maiden on a 1-on-1. In fact, she may well be the weakest character in the game when it comes to 1-on-1 scenarios, considering that she would have almost no utility items besides her usual Tranquil Boots, Observer Ward, and maybe Bracer, against a typical enemy hero that has a higher level than her with real items. Let's face it, she's not the most popular Hero pick for the average Dota2 player.


Her skills also are quite useless by herself. They only reach their full potential if there is another hero nearby. She has horrible stats and slow animation which means that she can't fight enemy heroes on her own. She's the damsel-in-distress of Dota2! If not played right, teamfights feel like 4-v-5... Now how does that feel?


These are why some people hate playing CM, or complain that they lost because CM was in their team. But the reason is because of the player, not the hero. Many people recommend CM for beginner players because her skills are easy to use. That doesn't mean that playing her will give you easy wins. Her skills maybe be easy to understand but because of her fragility and slow farm she is very hard to master. Easy to understand, hard to master. That's CM for ya. Being CM is tough work!

CM is meant to played as a hard support role. Her performance will always depend on the rest of your team because SHE CANNOT CARRY THE GAME FOR YOU. Winning a match with CM will always rely on the teamplay as a whole. This includes the team's strategy, the mid-player's ganks in the early game and the carry's farm. CM's job is simply to ensure a good transition from early, to mid, and to late, and she does this best by being SELFLESS.


YES, SELFLESS.

In the early game, you must give the creep kills to your lane partner. You must always buy the wards, both Sentry Ward and Observer Ward. You must buy the Dust of Appearance. You have to pull the safe lane while your lane partner gets the lane EXP. If they ask for Smoke of Deceit, you should buy; unless someone else bought it immediately and didn't request it. You are expected to buy the Flying Courier by the 3:00 mark, plus buy the new stack of Observer Wards. How are you supposed to get your Boots of Speed with the money you saved since the beginning with that? Your slow attack speed won't help you with that problem either. As the game progresses, your other items (being the most vulnerable support hero) besides your boots will mostly be either an Urn of Shadows/ Bracer/ Magic Wand compared to your teammates who have like.. REAL ITEMS. I really don't know how Rubick saves up for his Blink Dagger while buying wards. One of my life's mysteries when I play CM.

Crystal Maiden's life is a hard one and that's how she was meant to be played; or else, she wouldn't have the support role she's got now. Know that in reality, your sacrifices don't go to waste because:

1) By buying the wards, courier, etc, you've helped your team with their farm by that much.

2) By not last-hitting the creeps in the lane (neutral creeps when pulling is OK) you've fattened up your carry's farm.

3) Planting wards like rice, you were able to establish good surveillance of the world map.

4) Giving the kill to your teammates increases their farm for their items. You are the 5th role don't forget.


Basically, all these things are GOOD, GOOD, GOOD, and benefit the whole team a lot more than you expect. CM is very ITEM INDEPENDENT, She only needs her boots for movement speed and everything else after that is just to make sure she survives. She is the greatest martyr, mostly behind the scenes, and nobody will really realize this at all. But that's the magic of Crystal Maiden for you. You have to be really humble and selfless to play this ice chick. The role of Crystal Maiden isn't for the faint-hearted, and especially for this specific build, it demands the player to be very PATIENT and SELFLESS. It takes someone with real balls to play this girl right.

Early Game (Level 1-6)- Babysitter duty

The horn blows and morning in the world of Dota2 has begun...


Hero draft is very important. Luckily, Crystal Maiden fits in almost every kind of team (not noob picks PLEASE!) Just make sure that the hero picks are balanced in the picking phase. We wouldn't want an absence of tanks/hard carries, or too many Int heroes in your team, to avoid good counter picks from the enemy. T_T

Crystal Maiden should always start the game with the Animal Courier and Observer Wards. If there's another support hero in your team, any of either one of them will do. I usually just wait for the other guy to pick either the wards or courier, but if he doesn't pick after the first few seconds, I usually just buy Tango first and then Observer Wards. Now, he should supposedly be picking the [Animal Courier after that instant but if he still didn't buy it, you better check his inventory because maybe he's already bought items and can't afford it anymore. If not, then you can safely buy the Animal Courier. If there are no invisible enemy heroes like Weaver, Bounty Hunter, or Riki, then you can go and get Magic Stick to help you survive in the lane, especially since you are usually going to give 2 Shared Tango to the mid hero in your team.





Crystal Maiden isn't suppose to get the Bounty Rune at 0:00 if your ally is there with you. Be it the mid hero or your laning partner, give the rune to them.




It may sound boring, but in reality it's Crystal Maiden's shining moment in the game. Frequently throw your little ice darts (right-clicks) at the enemy heroes especially the melee ones, since they can't fight back and you will have an easy harass going on there. If there is a ranged enemy hero, you can always blast them safely with your Crystal Nova.

In the early SAFE lane, using Crystal Nova is great in creating space between your lane buddy and the enemy heroes AT A SAFE DISTANCE. With Arcane Aura, you can be ready with your nukes when needed and so that you can continue harassing the enemy with it (poof! poof!). You shouldn't be looking for kills, but instead, should be making sure your carry is safe. Frequent blasts from Crystal Nova will ensure that your enemies in the lane are short of Tango and will not be capable to kill you or your carry. Anyway, Level 4 for Frostbite will be coming very soon, and then things can start to get ugly. My point is just to bare with Crystal Nova via Arcane Aura until you get Frostbite at Level 4.

Note: If you have a good line up (like laning with a Juggernaut or a tri-lane for example) then you can afford to get Frostbite at an earlier level. But if it's the typical 2-1-2 laning and you don't trust your carry, please stick with Crystal Nova harassing til you reach Level 4 for a 5-minute well-farmed carry.

Always keep in mind that you should not last-hit the enemy creeps and that all hits should go to your carry. Deny your creeps when you can and get most of your gold from pulling the neutral creeps and the gold-per-second of the game. If you see a dying enemy creep and your carry has no means to reach it, then of course, you can take it for yourself. I usually find a dying creep and manipulate my Crystal Nova's cast area so that I can hit both the creep and the enemy heroes. That way, I'm still babysitting- I just happened to get a creep kill with it too. It's just one of the other means of finding gold as a babysitter.. Huhu..

Don't forget to buy the Flying Courier upgrade when its cooldown finishes up. But because of the issues with CM's movement speed, I usually upgrade after I get Boots of Speed. After the flying courier, the next thing you should buy are Observer Ward because the old ones at the start of the game should be gone by then. Once you received the wards from the courier, you should ward- preferably the rune spots because that would give you surveillance from most ganks. Remember: Crystal Maiden has a very annoying movement speed. You can't gank unless you have your Boots of Speed first AND ONLY when you know that the carry can farm safely without you.

After finishing your Tranquil Boots, start building your Magic Wand. Always mind buying Observer Ward and Sentry Ward for dewarding. It's better to keep the map warded. :)

Mid Game (Level 6-16)- Rylai the Remora

This is the part when Crystal Maiden becomes like... yes, you've guessed it, a remora. Just like the fish that sticks to bigger fish for protection and food, you have to stick with your team for protection and gold/EXP. You should only go alone when you are warding/dewarding because you won't survive an enemy encounter by this time of the game. It's all about how you position yourself in teamfights and ganks.


By this time you should have already got your core items ( Tranquil Boots, Magic Stick). Now you should be saving up for the much needed utility survival items Ghost Scepter and Glimmer Cape.


When to know which item to buy first compared to the other:

Ghost Scepter >> This is the default pick, provided they don't have spam nukers in the enemy team. All the hard carries, especially the annoyingly fast-killing ones like Phantom Assassin and Juggernaut will do NOTHING to you for 4 seconds. That's enough time to position yourself for your team to come rescue you.


Glimmer Cape >> If they have annoying spammers like Tinker and Zeus, there is no way you can safely stay in the fight even with a Ghost Scepter to protect you from their carry. You must get the magic cape of invisibility.



Cloak > Ghost Scepter > Shadow Amulet >> This is a hybrid flow. You finish your Ghost Scepter first, but you buy the prerequisite Cloak. You could do this if you have both an annoying enemy carry AND an annoying spammer in the enemy team ( Zeus + Phantom Assassin yadayadayada...)



Positioning:

Being the squishy maiden that you are, you have to be somewhere in the back when your team is roaming the map and let the tanks/initiators go front. When a fight does happen, use the range of your Crystal Nova and try to hit most/all the enemy heroes from a safe distance. Once the enemies are under the effect of your Nova's slow, cast Frostbite on the enemy hero that is focused by your teammates.

If you already casted Frostbite, you can try Freezing Field. You don't have to run in the middle of the battle, casting it from the safety of the edge will do since it has a huge area-of-effect. Once your enemies see this, they will either run away from your ult or focus on you so watch out! Hiding behind trees helps use the fog-of-war to your advantage so that you can channel your ult safely. Make sure to get the enemy under the effect of Freezing Field.

Late Game (Level 16-25) Rylai the 'Better' Remora

You'd basically still be sticking to your teammates like a remora fish. By now, things have become much more complicated.

1) Black King Bar of both allies and enemies would be used up and now be at lower durations (6-5 seconds).

2) Beware of late game items such as Refresher Orb, Scythe of Vyse, Abyssal Blade, maxed Dagon + Ethereal Blade combo, etc.

3) You should now have enough time and gold to have farmed a 2nd/3rd utility item. You should now have your Glimmer Cape/ Ghost Scepter, so go and get the other one! Your 3rd utility item depends on the situation of the game. I personally love to get Force Staff as my 3rd utility, replacing my Magic Wand, since it gives me hp regen and mana much better.

4) The good thing in the late game at least for Crystal Maiden, is that enemy supports would already have their item slots full with other utility items. This means that they won't be planting Sentry Ward as much. This means that warding/dewarding becomes much easier for Crystal Maiden and it helps your chances of winning by just a little more.

"All wards on me"

Being Crystal Maiden, you are expected 'specifically' to buy the Observer Wards and Sentry Wards. Don't think of it as a burden! Good warding always helps your team win the game and IT'S YOUR JOB since YOU are playing Crystal Maiden.

1) With vision, you can anticipate enemy ganks, and you'll also know where to gank/avoid the enemy.

2) You'll know when they're going to try and kill Roshan so that your team can stop them.

3) Dewarding destroys the enemy's map surveillance and wastes the enemy team's gold and map vision.

Take note that you need practice, practice, PRACTICE, to be a good warder/dewarder. Here are some things I learned while playing Crystal Maiden:

1) Once you've realized that your warding spot has been dewarded by the enemy, when you want to ward that area again, DO NOT WARD AT THE SAME PLACE. Find another spot safe from the range of Sentry Ward when planted at the original warding spot.

2) You have the option to ward the cliff spots of course, but if it's being dewarded a lot you have to find an alternate spot. If you're on the Radiant Team, don't plant your Observer Ward on the Dire cliff warding spot. This place is frequently warded and dewarded by the enemy. What you should do is to plant the Observer Ward at the center of the Dire jungle/forest or at the uphill at the Tier 3 so that you can still see the when the Dire Heroes will come out and where they'll be going. What you should plant at the cliff spot should be the Sentry Ward so that when the enemy dewards that spot, only the Sentry Ward will be destroyed while you still have vision with your Observer Ward hidden safely. The same thing can be said if you're on the Dire team. Remember to avoid warding at spots the enemy has already dewarded because they'll be expecting that again.

An Inside Look in Rylai's Bagpack

This chapter will talk about the different items of Crystal Maiden and there WHENs and WHYs.

The items listed below should ALWAYS be made on Crystal Maiden. They are CORE after all, and without them Crystal Maiden won't be much help to the team unless she isn't playing the 5th role in that particular match.





No question about this.. DUHHHHHH.. You MUST buy these from the shop AT ALL TIMES. Vision and dewarding is your life, Crystal!









Get this together with Observer Wards at the start of the match. After you get your Boots of Speed you should upgrade this into Flying Courier especially so that your mid lane hero can easily get his Bottle and control the runes.









This is the most affordable among the many Boots of Speed evolutions. It also gives very high movement speed and hp regen (if not on cooldown) and +4 armor which is good for Crystal Maiden. The affordability of Tranquil Boots will allow you to concentrate on building your other core items sooner and will also let you focus on Observer Ward.









After Tranquil Boots this is the a good tank item to make because the rest of your money goes on wards until you are lucky enough to save for either Glimmer Cape or Ghost Scepter.













Ahhhhh... the beloved Glimmer Cape. This is a good way to land a channeling ultimate like Freezing Field or Death Ward without getting interrupted. It's also a good escape item and can also be used on your teammates. It also gives a 60% magic resist to whoever is under the invisibility effect which means that even if that hero is under the effect of True Sight, bursts of magic damage won't work that well.












This gives +5 to all stats and has a really useful active to counter enemy right-clicks (usually done by enemy carries). This would be your savior in mid-late game especially if the enemy carry is already bringing their Black King Bar to the scene. Be wary of enemy nukers when you decide to activate this item.











The items listed below are picked when the scenario shifts to each item's particular situation. These are optional and Crystal Maiden must adapt and think-through the consequences of buying these things.





A good tank item to make (also increases your mana regen). It gives +6 str just like a Bracer and has a very good healing active (400 health) which you can use to heal your allies after a dirty battle with the enemy. You can also use the active on enemy heroes to ensure their deaths (additional 150 damage). Cast your urn on enemy heroes with Blink Dagger to prevent them from escaping. If you have a surplus of gold, you can make this before making your core utility.












Cloak is a good way to endure magic-burst heroes and is a prerequisite item to Glimmer Cape and Pipe of Insight.






This is the best way to chase down an invisible enemy hero. Although Sentry Ward are a good preparation, it's very stupid to chase a running Riki with them because of their small sight range. Buy Dust of Appearance with the generous heart Rylai is suppposed to have :D







Obviously you will want to buy this item later on when faced against invisible heroes like Riki, Bounty Hunter, Nyx Assassin, and Shadow Blade users such as Kunkka, Doom, Sven, Juggernaut, Troll Warlord, etc. Crystal Maiden SHOULD NOT carry the Gem of True Sight so that it will not fall into enemy hands easily.





This item's passive is a good way for Crystal Maiden to counter magic-burst/Dagon heroes like Tinker, Nyx Assassin, Bounty Hunter while its active is a good way to protect your team from the painful ultimates of heroes like Earthshaker, Tidehunter, Luna, Sand King, Venomancer, Leshrac, Lich, Zeus, etc.









This item is very handy but picked rarely by Crystal Maiden. It's cheap, gives additional 50% regen, +7 armor and an active which causes +/- 7 armor depending whether it is an ally or foe. This is also a good way to defend enemy pushes by using the active on the enemy wagons, since they are the hardest to kill. With enough luck, you might even upgrade this item into a Solar Crest or turn the tide of the game enough to buy other utility items and get your team back on it's feet.










This is not a popular item to build on Crystal Maiden but its disable can be very useful especially if nobody else in your team is going to make it. Late game carries are most especially painful with their right-clicks and the disable of this item's active can render them useless while your team takes them down. Heaven's Halberd also gives evasion and +str so Crystal Maiden can tank-up a lil' more. Sadly, this item's active no longer penetrates through Black King Bar.












You can make this, starting with a Bracer if you choose not go make Urn of Shadows earlier on, especially if there are already 2 other Urn holders in your team (a Pudge and Huskar for example).











These items are labelled as LUXURY and in such cases are picked when the team is winning over the enemy team, or when the scenario calls for the items' utility.












I consider Force Staff to be a much more defensive/flexible item compared to Blink Dagger. This is a much better escape item compared to blinking away (since getting damaged starts the 3-second cooldown). Although landing Frostbite with Force Staff sucks compared to the good precision of Blink Dagger, landing a Freezing Field will still be okay. It's better to come in LAST for a good Force Staff + Freezing Field combo because the enemy stuns and disables would have been wasted earlier on. You should also know when to save the active for yourself or your teammates or your enemies. It's an impromptu reaction item!










This is a very common item build for Crystal Maiden and with good reason. Blinking in for a good Frostbite or Freezing Field are a good initiate and a fair finisher, respectively. Since Mekansm is more prioritized in this build, by the time Crystal Maiden is able to afford a Blink Dagger the enemy heroes would already be very fat, it would be better to get defensive items such as Ghost Scepter and Glimmer Cape.









Another very common and default item for Crystal Maiden (one of the oldest too) is to build Black King Bar to safely channel Freezing Field without getting interrupted. This item is also very expensive (which is why it's mostly carries who purchase it) and getting a Glimmer Cape (cheaper!) is a good alternative. You can also get Ghost Scepter (even cheaper!) and channel Freezing Field without getting physically hit. The Crystal Maiden build that cores with a Black King Bar usually doesn't have you getting the Mekansm anyway, so with regards to this build's items, Black King Bar is a luxury.








This item is very popular especially when comboed with an escape skill -think Queen of Pain, Storm Spirit, Lina (with Blink Dagger for example). It's also a good way to block Juggernaut's Omnislash and interrupt Witch Doctor's Death Ward. But because of it's hefty price, is just too luxurious for a warder support like a Crystal Maiden-making-the- Mekansm kind of hero. I suggest picking this when you're faced against ult-channeling/cast-delay heroes like Witch Doctor, Shadow Fiend and Enigma so that you can interrupt them when they're at it. You can also Cyclone yourself to get rid of silence buffs. Is there an Orchid Malevolence or Silencer on the enemy team? GET EULS!











Another very rare item for Crystal Maiden. This should only be made IF and ONLY IF, you already had a Medallion of Courage (please go back and read from the Situational Items Section).







Another very weird and impractical (but fun) item to build on Crystal Maiden. The active gives a snail-pace Cripple on the enemy target making them unable to escape. This will go well in combo with Crystal Maiden's nukes since both spells slow and hold. This is also a way to tank up Crystal Maiden and increase her mana pool.









This is a good way to counter/abstain enemy heroes from using their disables. You should cast the Lotus Shield spell on the teammate who will most likely be targetted the most by (insert Enemy spell here). Very expensive but also very much worth it (??). Gives you boost of health and mana regen and makes you tanky.








This was the ancient way of pulling of Freezing Field without the use of Glimmer Cape, but, it also is still a good way of escaping. There are still SOME Crystal Maidens out there who use this build (I think...) and it won't hurt to put this item on the Luxury Section :)










This items are the rarest expected to be found on Crystal Maiden because they are just too expensive. They are also the most powerful. I have only been able to finish use one of these items before the match ended because I wasn't able to finish building them!










LOL. A very default but absurdly rare item on Crystal Maiden. You definitely won't be playing the 5th role if you get this! Gives great stats and makes your Freezing Field a tad more powerful. Honestly, with all the warding, healing, buffing, and ghost-forming, I have never even thought of ever getting this :(









This is my newly-discovered best friend. The upgraded version of Mekansm, and with good reason. It has a wonderful passive aura! The additional bonus armor and health regen when your hp drops to the 15% mark is the supports' ultimate answered prayer. It also has a faster cooldown that the original Mekansm, and heals mana too! This should be made LAST among your utility items. You have to follow the sequence: Mekansm> Glimmer Cape/ Ghost Scepter> Guardian Greaves. This is a luxury item and definitely not a core, so don't rush this, please! It's also long to make since you would have to sell your Tranquil Boots first and start over from Arcane Boots (since getting Arcane Boots in the early game will ruin your support-purchasing momentum).


* I am still experimenting whether I can exchange Tranquil Boots for Arcane Boots as an early game item, so please bear with this for now! :)









This passively gives you additional armor and mana regen. The active is a 2nd Crystal Nova since it both damages and slows, and it can also give you more clash potential. There is also the psychological effect that upon seeing the growing frost explosion, enemy heroes will tend to run away from the explosion, ruining their positioning :)








I quote "the most coveted item among magi" because... IT IS! It's hellish expensive but hellishly powerful and tide-turning! The infamous Scythe of Vyse or simply called Hex... Saving for this item is technically a daydream for Crystal Maiden.. Let the semi-carry like Queen of Pain/ Storm Spirit/ Tinker/ Puck make it! You don't have the luxury of hoarding the glory of the Hex Stick at all, Crystal!







This is even rarer than the Shadow Blade build, but what-the-heck, I'll add it anyway for the devout users of this build! Honestly though, I don't think Shadow Blade-using Crystal Maidens will opt to upgrade their Shadow Blades into Silver Edges but if they do, it's a bonifide luxury!

SPECIAL HERO MENTIONS AND WHAT-TO-DOs

The hard-hitting carry type are Rylai's babies at the early game and also one of her greatest predators. Because they rely on their physical attacks, the best way to counter these kind of heroes is with either a Glimmer Cape or Ghost Scepter. You must always stay away from these heroes while being at spell range from them so that you can nuke them when needed. Positioning is very important because you have to avoid being their target while at the same time ready to Frostbite them for your teammates.









Omnislash!!! Ghost Scepter ideally becomes one of your core when this guy shows up at the enemy team picks. Although Eul's Scepter of Divinity works just as well, you won't be able to farm for it fast enough because of Juggernaut's OP kill rate.









You can also use Glimmer Cape on the target to negate some of the damage (55%). On the otherhand, if Crystal Maiden is doomed, just pray that your Tranquil Boots were active since it will continue to regenerate your health even under Doom's effect. Then you have to run to your nearby teammates and hope they can deny you if you can't survive. :(









Pugna is a very annoying pusher, disabler, nuker, and yes even team clasher. His Nether Ward can destroy your teamplay because using items and skills will cause the ward to zap you! I suggest getting a Cloak to negate some of the damage (and maybe turn it into a Glimmer Cape later on). You should also try to destroy the Nether Ward especially if you are NOT using any of your skills. If the Nether Ward is too much for your team, you can get Pipe of Insight to nullify it, or suggest Black King Bar to your teammates. To counter his Life Drain, you can get Glimmer Cape and cast the active on Pugna's unfortunate target.











Most of these guys are have very significantly painful ultimates that affect large areas. The rest have large areas of effect. Before a clash, you must always remind your team to 'SPREAD OUT'. Pipe of Insight is good. Also remind your team to build Black King Bar


P.S. I strongly recommend an early Pipe of Insight against Venomancer because of his Poison Nova. There is no way your team will survive into late game without it.











These heroes' ultimates rely on channeling. Getting a Eul's Scepter of Divinity will help greatly!









These guys are painfully expensive to counter invisibility with. You will have to put off finishing your utility and concentrate on Dust of Appearance and Sentry Ward. You must also remind your teammates (especially the 4th and 3rd role players) to bring their own Dust of Appearance because of the very long cooldown. You must also be ready to buy Gem of True Sight for your team. Ask them whether a Gem is needed before buying it. Your team will have their own opinions of whether using the Gem will be safe or not.









Night Stalker has a very powerful impression because of his spammable nukes. You should always have a buddy when this guy is lurking around the map. When your teammates are farming on their own, always remind them that Night Stalker is missing!










These are the typical hunters. When you notice that your teammate is alone, you must remind them that (insert Hero here) is missing! That will keep them on their toes and not stay too long in one place at a time. Farming at the lanes are most dangerous because the enemy will surely have vision of those places. Heroes that carry Orchid Malevolence are also very good solo-hunters. Storm Spirit, Queen of Pain, Nature's Prophet and Windranger are very solid solo-gankers when holding an Orchid Malevolence in their inventory. The same thing can be said for Shadow Blade users like Bloodseeker, Legion Commander, and Tiny. Techies also has a special mention here because if he's missing, he's probably planted bombs somewhere! You must always warn your teammates of these heroes because your team will be too busy farming to take notice most of the time.









Nature's Prophet is a very powerful solo-pusher because of his army of treants and his ability to teleport wherever he wants. You should bring Teleport Scroll with you so that you can catch his wave of creeps before your towers get damaged too much. If Nature's Prophet has with him a Shadow Blade, bring Dust of Appearance. His carry items usually appear late into the game, so you don't have to worry if you face him defending your towers. Just keep those trees and creeps away for the mean time!







Urghhhhhhh! Hellfire hell *****!! Lina is one of Crystal Maiden's most feared opponents. Her Laguna Blade can easily destroy you! There isn't much you can do once Lina has Aghanim's Scepter. Glimmer Cape is a good way to get her lock-on away from you. Position yourself away from her and hope that your teammate can tank her lightning bolt.