Lionize me - a guide to support and mid Lion

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you are retarted and I wont read this guide

After all the changes to mana drain, buff after buff after buff, and then a change to hex which has a massive increase in it's first point, I agree with getting 1 point of mana drain at 4.

Before, mana drain was not worth getting in lieu of hex. Hex needed the levels desperately and lion needs stats to survive. The only time I would have ever taken mana drain before was solo-mid lion, at which time you could more safely use that skill and spamming spells to push the lane is actually a tactic for winning the mid lane.

Now, hex has a massive level 1 cooldown that scales fantastically. 1 point in mana drain will let you keep decent mana in lane and getting your cooldown on hex isn't that vital early into the game. Although I am not sure I would max mana drain unless the opponent has illusion or manta carriers that will be hard to deal with otherwise (cancer doesn't count, since you usually can't deal with an army with a single target 5 second cooldown ability)

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The mid lane oriented build should probably include mana drain for the same reason. the only difference I would personally make between the 2 builds is that mana drain has more leeway in the mid build where you have more levels than other heroes, where the support lion desperately needs stats to emulate having additional levels

Hex actually scales pretty well on the cooldown. It's probably what Icefrog does to encourage early mana-drain but ensures people still put points in Hex.

More than one point in mana drain can be really nice as a support. Lots of offlaners are very reliant on mana to escape and keeping them oom can be much more useful than chucking a few puny right clicks. Hex really does not scale that well any more either, so you get more per point of mana drain in lane.

It is something of a rarity to have that much farm on him really - but you might think of it after getting an Aghanim's Scepter (and probably a Scythe of Vyse too). Basically you get a LOT of HP/MP and good mana regen - this is very handy when you're potentially throwing out a 600 mana nuke every 20 seconds or so. At this point in the game Mana Drain can't really keep you supplied anymore (you don't want to be using it in the middle of a teamfight).

Healing your team mates on death, and respawning faster are pretty nice too. I'd certainly recommend it over a Heart of Tarrasque.

Yeah, I was trying to think of a situation for Bloodstone, but the way I see it, I think it's only really worth it if you can get it before you start snowballing so you can grab those charges easily, I think it's sort of wasted if grabbed as a late-game item. I could be wrong, but that's just my opinion. Thanks for the feedback and suggestions though!

Really nice guide, good builds, advice and item builds - high praise :)

The only thing I'd suggest is to break up your item groups a little, it's a touch confusion, otherwise GJ.

Oh, and I'd take a Bloodstone over a heart anyday on lion!