Ice take you!(Updated 7.00)

Updates

• items→fixed
• talent tree added
• skills→fixed

Let me Support You!

Hello everyone im era the empress of the low level mmr. Haha. Calibrated low when I still don’t know how to play doto.(I dont want to create new account cause Im attached to my account) Im pretty noob but I just wanna share how I play my favorite hero in dota. It's so hard to play her in low bracket mmr and I can only play in SE server where everyone blames the support. Well anyway I still love supporting. Hehe. Crystal Maiden is my favorite hero and Ive played more than 300 games as Crystal Maiden.

PS.:
English is not my 1st language and im living in japan for 3 yrs which makes me more dumb in english, so please forgive my grammar and spelling.Ive never joined an essay contest in my life so this guide will be direct with no flowery words.

This is my first guide and it is intended for players with the same bracket as me. Since I dont know if my build and item choice would be viable for high skill/pro players because im not one of them. The build, items, and playstyle is my very own choice inspired by high level players.

I would love to hear suggestions and advices from the veterans here in dotafire to improve my gameplay and my guide. Thank you.

***7.00 update brings Crystal Maiden a new life.
What do you think of the new Crystal Maiden?

When To Pick the Ice

• If you know when to fight and not to fight
• You can't say never pick maiden when there's a certain hero in the opponent that counters her, cause as a position 5 player, you should and should always pick first.
• You'll just have to be smart when playing any support hero. Im not smart though, just lucky.HAHA!
• Never pick her if you're greedy
• Map awareness is a must(You must know when to give up a tower instead of defending it and dying with your tower being destroyed, its like shooting 2 birds with a bullet for the enemy team)
• Basic warding knowledge(Meaning You must know when and where to ward, it doesn't always mean that you have to deward the ward. Sometimes you have to let them think you dont know they've put a ward somewhere)

Advantage & Disadvantge

Advantage

• AoE Spell
• If played smart you can almost always turn a bad start to better
• Freezing Field can really kill all 5 enemy heroes(if lucky enough)
• Arcane Aura can benefit all team mates
• Item independent after acquiring her tranquil boots and 1 mobility item

• squishy(In a sense that the enemy carry can 1 hit kill you)
• Very very very slow in all sense(Attack speed and animation, MS, turn rate)
• Enemy loves killing you first
• When enemy carries got their bkb on youre useless(so tell your team to back off if your carry is not yet ready)
• When you have an arcana everyone expects you to be pro(lol)

Skill Explanation

Crystal Nova

Type: Targetting Method: Targets:

Active Point Enemy Units

A burst of damaging frost slows enemy movement and attack rate in the targeted area.

• Provides 900 radius ground vision at the target area for 6 seconds.
• Plays a sound effect during the cast time which is audible to everyone.

• you definitely want to max nova 1st when youre laning against 2 range heroes
• Nova is more useful mid game so I max this 2nd after my frostbite Max this first after getting 2 points in Arcane Aura
• The use of this skill is mostly for slowing down fleeing enemy or slowing down a chasing enemy.( This cost a lot of mana so I dont spam this skill early)

Frostbite

Type: Targetting Method: Targets:

Active Unit Enemy Unit

Encases an enemy unit in ice, prohibiting movement and attack, while dealing 50 damage every half-second. Lasts 10 seconds on creeps level 6 or lower.

• Despite the visual effects, Frostbite applies its effects immediatly and cannot be disjointed.
• Frostbite stuns the target upon cast for 0.1 seconds.
• Frostbite entangles the target, preventing it from moving and attacking.
• Disables the following spells: Blink, Teleportation, Charge of Darkness, Phase Shift and Blink Dagger.
• After the initial stun, units under Frostbite can cast their abilities, except for the ones mentioned above.
• Frostbite reveals invisible units for its duration.
• Frostbite deals 50 damage in 0.5 second intervals, starting immediately, resulting in 3/4/5/6 (20 against creeps) damage intervals.
• Frostbite can deal up to 150/200/250/300 (1000 to creeps) damage (before reductions).

• this is usually the skill I max first. Coz as cm youll always want to go with your carry in the safelane, and this is your main harrassing skill. This is a very good skill to steal the rune and get a first blood.

• I max this skill first coz late game the damage were negligible. Very good skill in harrassing offlaners. And you can use this to farm the jungle early which I don’t recommend. You can kill 1 creep when pulling and stacking in early game. But never ever leave your lane just to farm the jungle creeps.

Arcane Aura

Casting Method: Targets:

Passive Allied units with Mana Pool

Gives additional mana regeneration to all friendly units on the map.

• Is an aura, so its buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
• Stacks with all other sources of flat mana regeneration.
• The flat mana regen bonus is not considered by percentage mana regeneration increases.
• Regenerates up to 60/90/120/150 (120/180/240/300 on self) mana in one minute.
• On level 4, it effectively provides slightly more mana than Arcane Boots which is used whenever it's off cooldown (137.5 opposed to 135 in 55 seconds).

Maxing Arcane Aura first:

• I havent tried this, I only tried levelling Arcane Aura up to 3 levels in a very very rare games. Wherein everyone in the team needs mana and you cant afford to drag the game later than 30 min. But 95% of your CM career, you wont have to cross the path of maxing your Arcane Aura first. Please just NO!
• I usually dont level aura when trilaning until level 5. When youre trilaning the carry must farm while the other 2 must kill and harrass without getting harrassed in return. So you must use you skills smartly.(Thats why communication is a must when trilaning.)
• Getting 2-3 points early is the best way to sustain your mana.

Freezing Field

Type: Targetting Method: Targets:

Active No Target Enemy Units

CHANNELED - Surrounds Crystal Maiden with random icy explosions that slow enemies and deal massive damage. Lasts 10 seconds.

• Slow affects both movement and attack speed.
• The slow is applied on all enemies in the radius, even if they aren't hit by an explosion (lasts 1 second).
• Every 0.1 second an explosion occurs, for a total of 70 explosions.
• If an enemy remained in the radius for the entire duration they would take an average of 1317/2133/3137 (2133/3137/3889*) damage.
• The explosions occur around Crystal Maiden, and aren't based on the place of initial cast. The area of damage of the spell can thus be modified by using Force Staff on Crystal Maiden.

• Some would level Freezing Field everytime its available. Yes im doing it too, but I realized after playing Crystal Maiden a lot its not always applicable. I have this habit of thinking that landing a good Freezing Field is just pure luck just like Ogre Magis' multicast. I can only channel 1-4 Freezing Field uninterrupted with a kill. Most of the time its interrupted or enemies had fled. Yes positioning is the key for a successful Freezing Field but lets get realistic, you wiill never land all your Freezing Field withh 100% success in a game with smart playing enemies. And another thing is the mana cost. I have games where I've level this at level 6 and 11 and a teamfight had occurred and run in the middle of the fight forstbite/nova and --- oh my, pressed r, and cm said 'not enough mana'. LOL.

Talent Tree

• +50 damage maybe tempting but CM needs the 15% magic resistance than the damage. I only choose the +50 damage if and only if my team were owning the game and Im pretty sure I wont be focused in every team fight.

• Yes, Crystal Maiden needs health points but I don’t think it helps her in team fight, she's more useful playing behind the team and dealing damage as far as she could, since I consider her Freezing Field as a very optional skill, and you cant channel it in every teamfight especially if you're against magnus, sven, lina and other hero who can interrupt it, so most of the time I get the +125 cast range, and when you decided to get Aether Lens it will be +365(Am I right?lol). Frost Bite range were too short, and its the most useful skill early-mid game unless you need nova which has a pretty decent range.
• Every 0.1 second an explosion occurs, for a total of 70 explosions.

• This one needs a good decision making, when the game seems to dragged late and I think I'll be useful enough and got my Tranquil Boots, Blink Dagger, Black King Bar and Glimmer Cape at this point of time I would surely choose -35 respawn time. Otherwise, I'll choose +120 Gold/min

+1.5 Frostbite duration VS +200 Crystal Nova damage

• I don't think that the +1.5s Frostbite duration would doany change late game unless you're getting aghanims scepter. For me the +200 Crystal Nova is a big help when pushing racks.

Item Explaination

Starting Items:
If you feel safe:

• Tango(give 2 to mid hero)-your mid hero will love you
• Ring of Protection-for your Tranquil Boots later(cant be bought in the side shops.
• Animal Courier-you failed being a support if you let your carry buy this
• Enchanted Mango the +1 regen helps me a lot especially against BB/pa and the +150mana had saved my *** a lot.
• Observer Ward(plant 1 in mid high ground)-good samaritan will be blessed
  and save your remaining coins for
• Flying Courier @3:00(almost a must)

• Flying Courier@3:00
• Sentry Ward if you're laning against invis(you'll never regret buying this early game)
• Magic Wand or Magic Stick-always buy this when laning against spammers like PA. THis will save your *** from getting kicked
• If you dont need anything else buy your Boots of Speed

• complete your Tranquil Boots-to sustain lane harass(no other boots that suits well for her(IMO)
• More Observer and Sentry Wards
• Always carry Town Portal Scroll(especially if theres a blood seeker)
• option1:a Bracer or 2 if enemy team were harrassing you so badly
• option2:if youre teams doing good, and youre not feeding, you can start saving gold for your Blink Dagger( Crystal Maiden needs mobility).

Freezing Field

• Scythe of Vyse-who don’t love this, this counters everyone. frost bite first 1 or 2 right click, hex then Freezing Field.
• Blink Dagger-I usually don’t have enough gold for this, never ever buy this if your team needs something else. But this is the ultimate positiong item for cm. I have a high winrate with this item. If not because of its price I would put this as her core. But again dont BUY this if your team needs something else.I consider this as her core now. Unless you're dying a lot you must buy this.
• Pipe of Insight/ Mekansm-CM is not a good carrier of this 2 important items, but if nobody gets this, please don’t hesitate to buy 1/2 and stay back. Get this when there's a lot of magic damage in the enemy team. I think Mekansm doesnt suit Crystal Maiden she don't have the mana for this item. I have bought Pipe of Insight a lot of time though, since sometimes its more useful than the glimmer cape in a very rare games.
• Force Staff-the stats were great. Build this if theres a riki in the enemy team. Riki wrecks me everytime, and I realize this is the only item that I need to escape. This can help your teammates too or push an enemy towards you.　Stats were good too. force staff is good for cm bcoz' its cost effective mobility item though not cant position accurately as blink dagger does, its very good item for cm. If you're team werent doing good, skip [[blink dagger and buy Force Staff
• Vladmir's Offering- if youre team have 3 melees and youre having a good start early game, you can tell them that you will build vlads for them, letting them buy early damage items.(DO NOT BUY VLADS EVEN IF SOMEBODY ASKS YOU TO)
• Eul's Scepter of Divinity-silencer, clinkz,and storm spirit usually build Orchid Malevolence. And a silenced cm is cold dead cm after 10sec.
• Medallion of Courage- a very good item which rarely seen on cm. It’s a gankers item but if nobody gets this and you got ursa in your team, you may consider getting this one. This items can be upgraded to Solar Crest, which I recommend to build once youve build MoC. Its a very good item against agility heroes.
• Necronomicon-not a fan of this item for cm, but if your team wants a pushing strat, you can buy this. This also helps against a mad Juggernaut. And the level 3 necros got true sight. Dewarding will be too easy. And the
  pesky invis will be revealed. But natures prophet is more suitable for necronomicon. Hihi
• Ghost Scepter-for the diving pa, omnilash, and other carry. Just watch out for your sister. This amplifies magic damage to yourself.
• Glimmer Cape-does not interrupt chanelling spells. Can also be cast to allies. Im not yet very confortable with this item, but ill update you once I get used using Glimmer Cape. I LOVE GLIMMER CAPE. SAVES MY *** A LOT OF TIME.
• drums of endurance-I love this cheap item, i usually buy this.When Axe loves chasing me the active really helps me run. LoL. Got 77 games with this item with 61% winrate so its not a bad item.
• Linken's Sphere-good against blood seeker and other one target method spells.
• Lotus Orb-reflect spells. When I buy this Item I usually use the active to my carry. Its a very nice item for supports. You can really support your carry with this item.
• aghanims scepter-I got high winrate when I build aghs. But still this is very situational. I usually buy this when the enemy team dont have stuns or only have a few stuns that can interrupt my Freezing Field. With aghanims scepter now Freezing Field adds tracker and If an enemy unit is affected by the tracker modifier for 2.5 seconds, it gets Frostbite icon.png Frostbite​ applied based on its current level. Seems tempting and wants to put this on her core but no! sycthe of vyse is better.
• Shadow Blade-50 50. I dont recommend this. When I started dota before I build this a lot. But later on I realized its not cost effective and can easily be countered. You can build shadow blade but dont use this to engage in team fights. Try it for yourself. I realize Shadow Blade is an item used not to escape fail gank, but to initiate a gank. Gankers should get this item.

Playing with Ice

70% of the time youll be going safelane with your carry. You'll know instantly if you'll need to play safe or you can go for an aggressive playstyle after seeing who you'll be laning against.
When facing against an aggressive lane me and my carry will be passive and just get what farm is availabe until he gets his first carry item or a regen item and your tranquil boots.
You can visit the nearby neutral camp and frostbite 1 when stacking.
Play safe when youre laning with this heroes:

• Huskar-hes the laning master. Nobody can bully him early. Unless he's a total noob.
• Viper-same with huskar.
• Axe-a good axe will never creep skip unless he got tranquils/ring of health, you will be alright as long as you got a range carry with you. If he use Battle Hunger on you just frost bite a small neutral creep.
• Venomancer-annoying support that can bully you out of lane. A good veno will not spam his ward, his attacks will hurt your low hp pool.
• bristle back-just stay back you cant do anything with this guy just spam nova on him. Don’t attack his back. Lol. Don’t ss when this guy's around.
  he will turn his blademail and will happily see you die with your own ss.
• phatom assassin-Its common nowadays for a solo pa. Just get your wand coz shell be spamming her dagger to last hit. A good PA will be very careful when playing solo offlane. So you need some good moves to kill her. Shes unstopable if you allow her to get her items and levels while soloing offlane unless your offlane is doing good too.
• Clinkz/ Riki/ Bounty Hunter-just buy sentry. They will not be deadly early on. You can kill them. But late game, you'll be dead. All you can do late game is hide and map hack.
  
  never leave your lane early unless your team say so. I have tried ganking early leaving my carry vulnerable, resulting to kill the offlanes support in exchange for my carry's life. Most people say cm doesn’t need levels, yes that’s
  true but not your first 7 levels. You need it badly. I only leave my carry if im sure he won't die for 2 min when I stack some camps and when I ward the rune spot
  and the mid. Only gank mid when the creeps were pushed towards your tower and you need to ward somewhere. Always help your mid(if you cant roam to ward coz its risky just buy ward and let the
  mid laner ward for himself especially if there's a Pudge.
  
  When laning always call MIA so everyone on the other lanes will play safe.<3
  
  Warding is the most crucial thing in dota. But the timing of when and where to ward is more crucial. Never ever use all wards early. You can block there neutral camps using sentry which will only
  block 1 or 2 spawn since the enemy will know if their camps were being blocked. But its still a good thing as long as you blocked it once or twice.
  Just ward the runespot so your mid will have vision for incoming ganks and for bottle crowing. And buy wards everytime its available. But don’t use it all. If the enemy has junglers, blocked the camps.
  Don’t forget to buy dust and smoke and deward.
  
  Late game?
  In games that passed 50 minutes or more, its usually a very close fight between my team and the enemy team. Everyone were 6 slotted. All you have to do is think smart. What item to use to counter a hero. And Never waste your buyback option. There's no sense in buying back and then just die in vain. I usually starts to build scythe of vyse or shivas guard when the game drags to 40 minutes. I guess that 2 items were really great for any support in late game.

Ending

Never understimate the enemy everyone can comeback. Never KS unless your carry cant assure a kill. They wont mind it. Remind the carry to farm early and play safe. Even it means being passive. Better than dying.

I have noticed that not dying more than 2x for 10-20 min is a must when playing a support. You can die 10x later but never die early game.

I just like to emphasize that Crystal Maiden is not a semi carry or a semi support. You have and always have to fill the role of being a position 5 player. But if there's someone willing to take the positon 5 role then go ahead and finish your core asap and buy something beneficial to your team. I have played other supports too, but only cm can play a game without rushing any item other than wards.
I have played with a lot of cm pickers which really did a good job killing the enemy, but I don’t like their playstyle of being greedy and not buying support items. Rushing blink daggers and not buying cour and the first set of wards.
They even farm the jungle leaving our carry out of choice but to farm in the enemy jungle. Theyre good but I find them ineffective to the role they were portraying.

Thats all folks. Ice is really nice. Playing Dota is not always winning, but having fun, meeting new friends, and gradually being good. You will never be good if you wont lose. And you will never win if you wont accept defeat. Never blame cause everyone can comeback, so if a teammate plays bad you'll just have to play good to compensate the loss. Always play cool and enjoy the game. Chao! Bye! Sayonara! Paalam!