DOTAFire is a community that lives to help every Dota 2 player take their game to the next level by having open access to all our tools and resources. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting us in your ad blocker!
Want to support DOTAFire with an ad-free experience? You can support us ad-free for less than $1 a month!
Go Ad-Free
Null Talisman
Bounty Rune
Boots of Speed
Energy Booster
Arcane Boots
Bounty Rune
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Bloodstone
Dragon Lance
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Bloodstone
Ethereal Blade
Octarine Core
Arcane Boots
Hurricane Pike
Mekansm
Linken's Sphere
Bloodthorn
Blink Dagger
Black King Bar
Aether Lens
Eye of Skadi
Scythe of Vyse
Silver Edge
Divine Rapier
|
|
2 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
|
1 | 8 | 9 | 11 |  |
|
4 | 13 | 14 | 16 |  |
|
6 | 12 | 18 |  |
|
10 | 15 |
Hello Dota 2 players! I'm back from my 
Templar Assassin guide and this time I'm writing a guide for Lina the Slayer. Lina is one of the best nukers in the game and excels at bursting down heroes with her arsenal of spells.
Check out my Templar Assassin guide:
Click here to read 7.00: Psi Pwn your way to Easy Rampage
The sibling rivalries between Lina the Slayer, and her younger sister Rylai, the Crystal Maiden, were the stuff of legend in the temperate region where they spent their quarrelsome childhoods together. Lina always had the advantage, however, for while Crystal was guileless and naive, Lina's fiery ardor was tempered by cleverness and conniving. The exasperated parents of these incompatible offspring went through half a dozen homesteads, losing one to fire, the next to ice, before they realized life would be simpler if the children were separated. As the oldest, Lina was sent far south to live with a patient aunt in the blazing Desert of Misrule, a climate that proved more than comfortable for the fiery Slayer. Her arrival made quite an impression on the somnolent locals, and more than one would-be suitor scorched his fingers or went away with singed eyebrows, his advances spurned. Lina is proud and confident, and nothing can dampen her flame.
So that's Lina in a nutshell for you.
PROS
-Best nukes in the game
-AoE stun
-High intelligence
-Versatile
- Laguna Blade has a dramatically shorter cooldown than 
Lion's 
Finger of Death
-Abilities scale well
-Massive range
-Easy harassment
- Dragon Slave does decent damage and allows easy farming
-Good ganker
- Fiery Soul gives massive attack and movement speed at 3 stacks
-Spammable nukes
-Useful in teamfights
-Almost always wins in 1v1 combat (ignoring 
Terrorblade and his pesky 
Sunder)
-Easy kills
CONS
-Squishy as wet noodles
-Horrible attack animation
- Light Strike Array takes practice to land properly without the help of Eul's Scepter of Divinity
-Dependent on kills and Laguna Blade
-Sad Arcana
-Sluggish movement speed
As you can see, there are more pros than cons.
DRAGON SLAVE: Lina channels the breath of a dragon, sending out a wave of fire that scorches every enemy in its path.
Cast Animation: 0.45+0.53
Cast Range: 800 (Talents 925)
Starting Radius: 275
Travel Distance: 1075 (Talents 1200)
End Radius: 200
Damage: 110/180/250/320
Cooldown 8 (Talents 4) Mana 100/115/130/145
In the scorched barren of Misrule, Lina learned to manipulate the fiery breath of the Desert Wyrm as a form of entertainment.
Notes:
Dragon Slave travels at a speed of 1200.
Can hit units up to 1275 (Talents 1400) range away (travel distance + end radius).
The complete area is shaped like a cone.
LIGHT STRIKE ARRAY: Summons a column of flames that damages and stuns enemies.
Cast Animation: 0.45+0.67/0.43
Cast Range: 625 (Talents 750)
Effect Radius: 225
Effect Delay: 0.5
Damage: 80/120/160/200
Stun Duration: 1.6/1.9/2.2/2.5
Cooldown 7 Mana 100/110/120/130
Modifiers
Debuff Stunned: Dispellable with strong dispels.
Lina's essence allows her to focus the sun's energies, causing air to combust at will.
Notes:
Light Strike Array destroys trees within the affected radius.
The visual effects and the sound during the 0.5 second effect delay are only visible and audible to allies.
Lina has two different animations for this spell, leading to two possible cast backswing durations.
FIERY SOUL (Passive): Grants bonus attack and movement speed each time Lina casts a spell. Stacks with itself. Lasts 10 seconds.
Max Stacks: 3 (Talents 4)
Move Speed Bonus per Stack: 5%/6%/7%/8%
Attack Speed Bonus per Stack: 40/55/70/85
Stack Duration: 10
Disabled by Break. Prevents gaining new stacks. Already existing stacks still provide bonus attack and movement speed.
Modifiers
Buff Fiery Soul: Undispellable.
Dancing flames embody Lina's playful nature, bringing out her true blazing self.
Notes:
Using items does not trigger Fiery Soul.
Each spell cast refreshes the duration of the whole stack, making it theoretically possible to permanently have max stacks on.
At 2 stacks the buff grants 10%/12%/14%/16% movement speed and 80/110/140/170 attack speed.
At 3 stacks the buff grants 15%/18%/21%/24% movement speed and 120/165/210/255 attack speed.
(Talents At 4 stacks the buff grants 20%/24%/28%/32% movement speed and 160/220/280/340 attack speed.)
LAGUNA BLADE (Ultimate): Fires off a bolt of lightning at a single enemy unit, dealing massive damage.
Cast Animation: 0.45+0.7
Cast Range: 600 (Talents 725)
Effect Delay: 0.25
Damage: 450/650/850
Cooldown 70/60/50 Mana 280/420/680
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. Changes Laguna Blade's damage type to Pure, and allows it to slice through spell immunity.
Partially pierces spell immunity. Cannot be cast on spell immune enemies. Attempts to damage if target turns spell immune during the delay.
Can be cast on spell immune enemies when upgraded.
Blocked by Linken's Sphere. Blocked upon cast. Particles still visually appear.
Modifiers
Debuff Laguna Blade: Undispellable.
The air around Lina becomes so intensely torrid that it scorches a foe that came too close with white-hot lightning.
Notes:
Laguna Blade's damage is delayed by 0.25 seconds, so it can be avoided by turning invulnerable or hidden after cast.
Cannot be disjointed.
Dragon Slave
This is Lina's bread and butter skill. Once you have your mana regeneration up and running (about the time when you have your Eul's Scepter of Divinity), use this to harass enemy heroes and farm up creeps. Dragon Slave also has a MASSIVE cast range and travel distance. At level 4, it does 320 magical damage. That's nearly enough to one-shot the ranged creep and the back. Once you've got the 6% spell amplification on the Talent-Tree, Dragon Slave does exactly 339.2 magical damage. Spam this skill whenever needed, provided its short cooldown and decent damage. Also, it has a short cast time, so use it wisely in chases and ganks.
Light Strike Array
Light Strike Array is an AoE stun of 2.5 seconds when maxed. Unlike Dragon Slave, it has a miniature cast range and needs half-a-second to cast. It is very easy to miss. Remember, casting Light Strike Array gives Lina one stack of Fiery Soul, so you can actually get more out of the stun than other disablers. Also, it is an AoE that stuns in a circle. Some people need the Eul's Scepter of Divinity to land the stun whereas others don't. The reason why I include the Eul's Scepter of Divinity in this guide is because it gives you great mana regen, nice movement speed and a better disable in chases and ganks. I buy it purely for that reason and not for landing her stun. If you do use it to land Light Strike Array, that's fine. The cyclone from the Eul's Scepter of Divinity is 2.5 seconds. Count to two as soon as you've cast the cyclone and then immediately cast Light Strike Array. The other way to land Light Strike Array is to just simply predict the enemy movement, whilst staying behind some trees or something. Practice makes perfect!
Fiery Soul
This passive is very important to Lina's skill set. Since Dragon Slave is so spammable, you'll be gaining a lot of stacks of this. Combined with a Divine Rapier, you'll be having a lot of fun with this passive. Although Fiery Soul is very important, remember Lina is a nuker and is not designed to be a right clicker. Although her damage output should synergize with Fiery Soul, you should prioritize her nukes above this.
Laguna Blade
Lina's ultimate is very simple. You either use it to take huge chunks of health of the enemy's carry, use it to instantly finish off squishy heroes and supports, or killsteal with it. There's a difference between killstealling with Laguna Blade and finishing off weakened heroes. At least contribute to taking down an enemy before using Laguna Blade. Watch out for 
Blade Mails. In the early game, Laguna Blade does 450 magical damage. You can use it in mid lane to scare off heroes like 
Zeus and 
Shadow Fiend who are squishy. A fun thing you can do is burst down 
Crystal Maiden with Laguna Blade. Show your sister who's boss!
START:
- Null Talisman
TOTAL= 470 gold
One Null Talisman gives Lina much needed stats and damage. If you think you'll get harassed a lot in mid, buy 
Tango or ask for 
Tango (Shared). Don't worry if they don't want to share their Tango, buy it yourself. Remember, this guide is targeted to build Lina as a carry. If you do buy your own Tango, the total gold spent becomes 595, leaving 30 gold (or 230 if you random Lina) Try and take the Bounty Rune as you're the carry.
EARLY GAME:
- Arcane Boots
TOTAL= 1300 gold
These boots are all yours. They give 5 more movement speed than the average 
Phase Boots and 
Power Treads, increase your mana pool and give you an active effect: restoring mana. This is not only a benefit to you, but your team. Lina is not focused on right-clicking like other carries, but on spell usage. This instantly rules out Power Treads as an option of boots. Phase Boots damage is nice, but refer back to what I just said. If you are getting chased with the Arcane Boots equipped, maybe cast a couple of Dragon Slaves (assuming you have Fiery Soul) to get your speed going.
CORE:
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Bloodstone
- Dragon Lance
TOTAL= 9650
Refer back to Fantastic Abilities and how to use them for my explanation on the Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
I buy Bloodstone for the extra hp and extra 9hp/s health regen. That mostly fixes Lina's squishiness problem. The mana isn't needed as much but is still nice. Deny yourself if needed. Dragon Lance is nice as it gives Lina bonus range. Lina already has a massive attack range of 650 I think? The extra range is nice and upgrade it into a Hurricane Pike if you don't want a Divine Rapier.
6-slotted
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Bloodstone
- Hurricane Pike(I will talk about Divine Rapier later)
- Ethereal Blade or 
Aghanim's Scepter
- Octarine Core
- Arcane Boots
TOTAL= 24025 (23525 if you chose Aghanim's Scepter)
Now before anyone argues that this is way too much to farm, consider the following: Lina is a hero that relies on kills to be successful. If you aren't getting enough kills early game, chances are you're going to fall off pretty soon. Join in ganks as much as possible and try to get some kills going. Ethereal Blade is a good pickup as Laguna Blade does magical damage. It decreases the enemy's magic resistance by 40%, which is a lot. I'm pretty sure most heroes have a starting magic resistance of 25%. The Ethereal Blade will amplify your spells by 15% for 3 seconds. Also, Lina's intelligence is ridiculously high, so the attribute multiplier will do a lot of damage too. Aghanim's Scepter is for countering Black King Bar. Enough said. Octarine Core is nice as it lowers cooldowns and gives attributes.
The Divine Rapier can change games. It is recommended by others to buy a Divine Rapier when you're losing bad, so things can't possibly get any worse if you drop it. I'm not disagreeing, but think about Lina in the late game. The opposing team is most likely to have a tank such as 
Pudge and your spells will barely scratch them. Some heroes will have about 2k hp. Even Laguna Blade is starting to lose power as the enemy gains strength. Don't rush the Divine Rapier on Lina. Don't get it as a last slot item if you're fine with skipping Hurricane Pike. The bonus damage provided by the Divine Rapier can really keep Lina up, especially with the maximum Fiery Soul charges. If you do drop it, don't worry. Lina's specialty involves 1 on 1. Use Light Strike Array first and within the stun, cast all of your other spells and right click.
This is also for those boring and draggy games. Buying a Divine Rapier can make everything as fun as it was early game.
LEVEL 10
+60 Light Strike Array damage VS -25 seconds respawn time
The extra Light Strike Array damage is a must. When you equip the Bloodstone and get kills, you'll take off a lot more than 25 seconds respawn time.
LEVEL 15
+40 damage VS +125 cast range
Both choices are good. 40 damage is a lot, but Lina needs her spells more.
LEVEL 20
+6% spell amp VS +150 attack range
Again, Lina is more reliant on spells. The attack range isn't as important, but still useful.
LEVEL 25
-4 Dragon Slave cooldown VS +1 Fiery Soul maximum stacks
I know most people would tell me the Fiery Soul choice is better and I did mention that Lina's spells go off late game. However, Dragon Slave does 320 damage at level 4. With Octarine Core and the Dragon Slave talent, you can spam Dragon Slave every 3 seconds. That's delivering 320 damage per 3 seconds! With your right-click and spells, you will do a ton of DpS. The other option isn't bad, either.
Lina can easily dominate heroes like:
Basically, she's good up against squishy heroes. Lina also has the ability to cancel channels with Light Strike Array.
Lina is easily killed by these heroes:
Lina is weak against tanky heroes and heroes that can counter her spells.
TOP/BOTTOM LANE:
The major setback with this lane is the shared XP and gold. Dragon Slave is good for harassment, but it won't be very useful when you don't have the mana for it. As I have mentioned before, Lina is good at 1v1 combat. During rune rushes, you will be able to quickly burst down targets without the help of a teammate if you pick mid. Unless if you have a pure mid-laner on your team such as Pudge, try to avoid picking these lanes.
MIDDLE LANE:
Lina, in my opinion, is suited for mid lane. Her right-click harassing is decent and you will get solo XP and farm. Your goal is to hit lvl 6 and get Laguna Blade ready for ganks. Get Eul's Scepter of Divinty ASAP after you have your Arcane Boots. This will keep you supplied with mana. Remember that Lina has a horrible attack animation and the creeps are probably going to hit each other a couple more times before the projectile finds it's mark. Also, some of your attacks are going to miss. Try and figure out your own strategy for last-hitting with Lina: different ways work for different people.
Carry Lina relies on levels and items to be useful. And there are always going to be those frustrating games when things don't go your way. Hey! There's a place called the jungle. Lina's Dragon Slave is great for farming too. Race around and pick up those Bounty Runes when they spawn. If you are sneaky, you'll be able to collect all 4 Bounty Runes when they appear! If you want to give that a go, skip the Aghanim's Scepter or Ethereal Blade and try out a 
Shadow Blade. Pick up the runes on your side and then pick up the other ones whilst activating [{Shadow Blade]]. Sell it later when you have farmed up. Kill neutral creeps and enemy heroes when possible.
Sometimes, things get really bad and you can't carry Lina no matter how hard you try. Try a support Lina! I won't go over it in this guide, so be sure to check out support Lina guides if that's how my build is ending you up.
Thanks for reading this build on Lina, I hope it will help you when you play as her. I am planning to start a 
Vengeful Spirit guide as I haven't seen any 7.00 (or 7.01 or 7.02) builds for her yet.
Have fun!
DOTAFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite DotA hero’s build and strategy.
Copyright © 2019 DOTAFire | All Rights Reserved
Quick Comment (4) View Comments
You need to log in before commenting.