Th3 Undrgod's Guide to MIRANA

Introduction

Hiyo,
im Th3 Undrg0d and welcome to my guide on POTM .So Mirana is one of those hard snowballing mid to late game carry or semi carry heroes(if played properly tho).She is very interesting and fun to play.And any noob can play her but it takes a true master(hours of experience) to play her efficiently.


The joy of watching your Sacred Arrow catching some noob out of position is
heavenly.She can be played in any lane and is very versatile with her items(only con is she needs good mana management).She can fit into any position on your team from 1st-5th position ,What more do you look for in a hero?

.She has a good nuke of 300 dmg(525 with luck)
.A 5 sec disable (one of the longest disables in the game).
.A pretty good (if leveled early on )escape/chasing spell which also grants allies more movement speed.
.And one of the best initiation spells in the game.

Some games you would see her in a 1 st postion carry role or a 2nd postion mid ganker.A utility offlane role(rare),4th postion roaming mirana or a 5th position support mirana.The thing that attracts me most to this hero is her versitality,which only few heroes can offer in Dota.(like Windranger)

Your impact in a game as Mirana is not only about whether you land ur arrows right(although that is very important,And the enemy will take you for a compelete noob if u spam ur arrows),but it is about the items and skills you choose to pick up.
example picking up a Mjollnir against an enemy Storm Spirit isnt going to help you or your team (atleast in lower skilled games)kill him,whereas a wise Mirana would go Orchid Malevolence, Diffusal Blade .( Diffusal Blade hits hard early on,trust me)

Im not going to explain in detail how to play mirana and wat items to pick up in every situation.But im only going to suggest those items.(it is upto you to be wise enough to choose your build in that particular game).


So lets get started..........

Pros / Cons

PROS:
.Ez to play and understand
.She's hot
.Good nuker(low CD)with Starstorm
.Good long range disable(5 seconds!!)with Sacred Arrow
.decent Escape Leap
.An ult that is good for both team initiation and escape Moonlight Shadow
.Hits hard if she snowballs early-mid game

CONS:
.Has Mana issues (not a great deal)
.Shes Comparatively Squishy
.And because she is squishy she needs good positioning to be played with.
.Has a hard time farming when compared to traditional carries.
.Somewhat sad AGI gain

Skills and Tips:

Skills:

StarStorm

Type: Targets:

Active

Calls down a wave of meteors to damage nearby enemy units. One random enemy unit in 325 range will take a second hit for 75% of the damage. Has a 12 second cooldown at all levels.

Notes

Starstorm cannot hit invisible units.
.The spell will choose a new target for the second star if the first died before impact.
.Effectively deals a total of {131.25/262.5/393.75/525} damage to a single target with the second star hit.(unforunate soul....)


So basically Starstorm is your main damage source till you get your right clicks online.It is your hero finisher if one could call it that.

You can use this spell to farm jungle, push the lane out or do AoE damage in ganks and team fights.When you catch any enemy player alone then you have a sure shot 525 damage nuke to kill him.

The one thing id recommend is to right click the enemy hero once before you use Starstorm,I say this because Mirana's base attack range is 600 and Starstorm has a range of 625.Initially when i started playing Mirana i noticed that i would (underestimate the range) sometimes miss the nuke.So i made it a habit then on to right-click before use.Another important thing is that if you find yourself relying on Starstorm more often,then Power Treads should be your boots of choice.

Personally,I feel that Dota is a game where a single point of HP or a single drop of mana can change the favour of a gank. And power tread helps you with just that.

I see many a time even in 3-4.5k brackets that if a hero buys power treads he leaves the boots unswitched till the end of the game.This item for me lets the hero get the optimum usage of his spells and abilities.

If you dont know what treads are then I shall explain.
One Power Treads grants a total of one of the following:

STR: 171 health (current health percentage stays unchanged), 0.27 health regeneration and 30 attack speed (and 9 attack damage to strength heroes)
AGI: 1.26 armor and 39 attack speed (and 9 attack damage to agility heroes).
INT: 117 mana (current mana percentage stays unchanged), 0.36 mana regeneration and 30 attack speed (and 9 attack damage to intelligence heroes)

So basically as Mirana your treads should be in Agility,This gives you more attack speed and damage.When you are farming creeps or hitting Enemy heroes this is the attribute you want.

When you cast a spell you want to quickly switch to intelligence.What this does is it temporarily increases your manapool and when using a spell such as starstrom ,a 100 mana is removed from your mana pool.So when you switch back to agility you would have ended up saving a suffiecient amount of mana which would later allow you to Leap out of a dangerous situation.Not only that but it also gives a small increase in mana regeneration.(I was lazy to do the math but i think you end up saving like 17 mana).

Switching to strength is never advised unless you are taking damage in the early game.And it is this part of the game that every hit point counnts.Switching to strength may help you avoid giving an embarassing 1st Blood to your otherwise noob opponent.

Sacred Arrow

Type: Targets:1

Active

Fires a long-range arrow with deadly precision, which stuns and damages the first enemy unit it strikes. The stun duration ranges from 0.01 to 5 seconds. With bonus damage up to 140, added, based on the distance the arrow travels to its target.

.For every 150 distance the arrow travels, the stun duration upon impact increases by 0.5 seconds, and the bonus damage added increases by 14. For example, an arrow that travels for 300 range stuns for 1 second and deals an extra 28 damage, and an arrow that travels at least 1500 range stuns for 5 seconds (which is the maximum stun duration) and deals an extra 140 damage (which is the maximum amount of bonus damage).
.Gives 650 flying vision.
.The stun duration is determined by the distance between where Mirana fired the arrow and where the arrow hits its target.
.The arrow moves at a rate of 857.14 units per second.

TIPS:

Sacred Arrow is Mirana's skill shot.First thing you need to know is that not all of your arrows are gonna connect.There are certain things that come better with experience rather than just by simply being said or shown.But ill try to help you with some small tips.

The main factor that makes Sacred Arrow such a strong ganking ,initiation and disable spell is the element of surprise.The 1st and most important rule you are going to need to know is never try to arrow an opponent who has vision of you.

Lets face it,however great this spell might be,it is a skillshot for one and it is so ****ing slow.

In my experiences against Mirana,I would be farming mid playing Storm Spiritand trading hits with the opposing mid Queen of Pain.I look at my minimap and clearly see a Mirana moving toward me from the rune spot and then she would stop for a second, then continue on towards me.I see a small projectile move towards me,all I do is step back for a second,let it pass then continue farming like nothing happened.What she did wrong was that the element of surprise is taken away.

This is what a good Mirana player tries to avoid.
To get your arrows right all you need is simple observation skills.If your going to gank your mid lane then just look at the enemy mid laner's creep farming pattern.(you will understand more with experience).What your trying to figure out is where he stands when he last hits a certain creep.WIth experience this will become apparent.

Now that you know where to arrow.The question is how do you get there?

GANKING MIDDLE LANE:

The most cost effective item in the game is Smoke of Deceit,Quickly get the courier to deliver it to you,move back to your tower ,pop it and just walk past the enemy wards towards your mid lane.(although i suggest taking a support along with you,just in case to help with enemy TP supports).Also the enemy are likely to ward only the rune spots,So take advantage of this and get as comfortable as possible.

Now,Landing your arrow is a bit tricky.Understand the enemies view of things.The lesser vision he has of the arrow the lesser time he has to react to it and so the easier it is to land the arrow.The best way to do that is to stay in the trees surrounding the mid lane.

Co-ordinate with your mid hero by pinging him once then,As soon as the arrow is released start moving towards the enemy.So that you and your mid can finish him off as fast as possible so that you dont give the enemy supports a chance to roatate mid. and get EZ first blood ,kill XP and assist gold.

SECURING BOUNTY RUNE FOR YOUR TEAM AND POTENTIAL 1ST BLOOD:

Another situation is the fight for the Bounty Rune.If you are playing in low levelled
pub then directly shoot an arrow(directly at the rune spot) 2 or 3 sec before the timer
reaches zero.Theres sure to be a gready Noob at the other end of your arrow.

If playing against slightly smarter opponents then shoot the arrow either right or left of the rune because they are gonna momentarily gonna pause for a second before proceeding to take the rune.Some players dont even contest for runes knowing that a Mirana is playing against them.Your very presence in a team is going to drive your opponents mad,because they always have to be cautious.

GANKING SAFELANE OR OFFLANE:

Now heres where it gets kinda tricky.You are going to gank the enemy offlane,and you know that he is going to play extremely cautiously and defensively but an offlane kill means so much to your team knowing that your offlaner is recking **** in the enemy safe lane.You would surely need your supports to help out in this one.You can ask your carry to push out lane so that your supports(with a good disable or stun) can close in.Now executing chain stuns is crucial.If everything goes right then you should get an easy kill and free tower.

Like i said earlier,every player has his own creep farming pattern,for an offlaner the little number of creeps he get due to support pulls is alot.When the carry allows the lane to push the enemy offlaner is most likely to farm it(and concentrate only on that).So if you figure it out,a good long arrow can get the job done for you and your carry.

The enemy safelane is gonna have the enemy carry trying to farm all the creeps he can get.A good smoke with 2 supports can help you get past the enemy wards and possibly their pulling supports.Similarly study the enemy carry's farming pattern and move on him even before the enemy supports have the time to react.

If you fail your gank,then call for reinforcements and push down the enemy safelane tower
as 4 heroes(ask your carry to farm mid and maybe push it too).This will not only disrupt the enemy carry's farm and space but also zone them out from that area of the map.

MID GAME:

MID game is the time where both teams look to take towers,farm up and take team fights.And it is often these fights that decide who's way the networth is going. Mirana for one can heavenly influence the outcomes of Team fights.
Now all you have to do is a quick ***esment and figure out who is the biggest threat to our team and in what way is he going to stop us from winning team fights.

And it is exactly this person that you want land your arrow on.Take for example,the enemy [zeus] is causing a problem for your team.For all we know a Zeus isnt going to be in the centre of a fight but rather gonna be spamming his spells from a safe distance behind his cores and carries.So instead of heading into fight with your team,you could rotate behind the enemy to catch him off guard and then kill that son of a ***** , then help your team out.The Best part is admist the team fight none of the opponents will notice an arrow coming straight towards them because theyre busy dealing with the rest of your team.

LATE GAME:

Same goes for late game where the supports do less and carries do outright damage.Carries like Phantom Assassinor a Gyrocopter like to get in the enemies faces and do tons of damage.If these carries try anything like that on your team,greet the with a nice warm Sacred Arrow to the face.Unlike in early or mid game,the carries are gonna stand and fight 1v1 with your teams carry,If that is the matter,then an easy 5 second arrow will disable the enemy carry long enough for you to wipe the rest of the team along with him(mind Black King Bars tho).

What im trying to make you understand is theres not gonna be too much movement involved late game but only right clicking,so its gonna be quite easy to get in a good arrow.

LEAP:

Type:
Targets:none

Mirana empowers allied units with a ferocious roar, granting bonus attack and movement speed before leaping forward into battle. Speed bonus lasts 10 seconds.

Leap is a simple spell which is an active drums of endusrance.The movespeed can be given to allies while initiating on the enemy,while chasing them down,while running from the enemy or while pushing lanes.

.

Leap can be used to dodge projectiles.
.The bonus movement speed and attack speed is applied at the cast location.
. Mirana will Leap forward towards the direction she is currently facing.
.The buff lasts for 10 sec.
. Mirana can jump over terrain by using Leap.

Usage of this ability give allies (4%/8%/12%/16%) of movement speed increase for levels(1/2/3/4)And an attack speed bonus of(8/16/24/32)at levels(1/2/3/4) respectively.

MOONLIGHT SHADOW:

[
Type:
Targets:


Turns Mirana and all allied heroes invisible. If a hero is revealed, invisibility will restore after the fade delay as long as Moonlight Shadow's duration has not expired. Silence will prevent revealed units from becoming invisible.
Moonlight Shadow is to me one of the best Initiation spells in Dota 2.It is almost like a global smoke gank.
Moonlight Shadow can be used for initiation, pick offs,Roshans,Roshan fights etc.
I dont think Moonlight Shadow is a good escape spell because knowing that there is a Mirana the enemies usually prepare with dust and sentries.So you need to be really carefull and pressure them so much that their supports dont have enough cash for Sentry Ward.

.Magic immune allies will be affected.
.Units affected will not auto attack enemies.
.Silence pauses the fade time, but does not reveal invisible units.
.Even if Mirana dies, the buff on allies does not end until its duration.
.If the unit is under the effect of Doom it will still be revealed.
.Fade time are(2.5/2/1.5) at levels(1/2/3)

Build Justification and play styles:

So,in this section i will be explaining my builds."PLS DO NOTE THAT,THE ITEMS IN THIS BUILD ARE OPTIONAL AND SHOULDNT BE PICKED UP EVERY GAME."

BUILD 1(MID MIRANA):

In this build,I go for a single level on Sacred Arrow and max out Starstorm.This is because as a mid hero(position),you would want to gank enemy safe lane or your safe lane whenever you get the chance to.If you get a useful rune or hit level 6 then you should gank.The only thing that differs in Sacred Arrow levels is the damage(the stun duration is based on distance). Starstorm early-mid game is very powerful and does huge Aoe damage,so enemy heroes are going to melt.

Starting items:

A Mid Mirana needs good early damage while ganking. Phase Boots are your item of choice beacause of the bonus+24 damage it gives and the ability to phase through units to get the perfect Starstorm. Blades of Attack give you good enough damage for last hitting early game and can later be made into Phase Boots.




The Iron Branches give the needed stats and Tango(shared) help you sustain in lane till you get your bottle.

Early game:

Bottle gives you good mana and health regenration.It helps you store runes.
Note:If you find that the enemy supports or jungler are taking runes,then bottle crow.

Basically bottle crowing is refilling your bottle by sending it to base and back via courier.Just 20 seconds before the runes spawn have the courier come stand behind your tower.If you have secured the rune then just send the courier back.But if you have not then place the bottle in the courier and hit that big juicy speed burst button to send it to base and back.So even though you dont get rune your health and mana are always full.

(IMP NOTE:push out the lane by spamming spells before going for rune,this pushes the creep wave towards the enemy tower keeping your enemy preoccupied and making sure he misses out on important xp(and gold) if he does go to get rune.)
(IMP NOTE(2):The courier moves 30% slower with an empty bottle in it.Thats why i suggest using the speed burst button after you place the empty Bottle in it.You could also use 2 charges and send the courier back)




Phase Boots are good damage while ganking and in easy pick offs coupled with your Ring of Aquila,But Power Treads are better for a more farming mid kind of play style which some people prefer.


This is an amazing pick up item for any agility hero.The bonus damage,the agility gain which inturn leads to more bonus damage and armor are amazing.

(IMP NOTE:There is this small trick one can perform with this item,This is restricted to the laning phase only.The trick is to keep your Ring of Aquila switched off.When the enemy mid laner tries to last hit a low hp creep quickly switch it on.This switching on,gives the creeps an armor buff hence you are most likely gonna mess up the enemy hero's last hits.Also works with Ring of Basilius)



This is an extremely useful item on a squishy hero like Mirana,The stats boost is amazing early game.The move speed and attack speed bonus are really significant early-mid game.The active is pretty amazing and somewhat synergizes with Leap.

(IMP NOTE:Drums have only six charges,use the active only while chasing down the enemy team or helping your whole team flee,also when you need to take down that high profile target)



Helm of the Dominator is a really good pick up for Mirana.It proves its worth mid-late game with much needed life steal.It gives bonus damage,health regeneration and armor which are all key to an agility mid hero.This also can later be made into a Satanic.

(IMP NOTE:Usually I dominate an enemy ranged creep, and use it to stack ancients for me or my carry to farm at 10 or 5 min intervals.All you need to do is to set a hotkey for that creep and place it infront of the the ancient camp.At exactly X:53 or X:54, make it attack the ancients and walk back.Repeat this every min and farm ancients with your supports when you have the right amount of damage(ancient farming is still pretty easy for ranged heroes))



Just like an Anti-Mage finishes a Battle Fury, Sange and Yasha is Mirana's battlefury.It offers an amazing strength,agility,damage,attack speed and movement speed boost.It makes Mirana more tanky and her right-clicks more deadly.It synergizes well with Helm of the Dominator.The maim is also pretty good and with the attack speed increase there is a higher chance of procs.

MID-LATE GAME:

Mjollnir is a really popular item most Mirana players like to get.The attack speed increase is crazy and it has crazy pushing power with high proc chance.It can also be used defensively as static charge makes your enemy take close to 250 damage by attacking you.It is really effective when it is an early pick up and also passively stacks with life steal(except chain lightning procs).



Manta Style is an amazing stats item that one could get.Personally i go for it only when i go for armor reduction build(life steal doesnt stack with Desolator(except vlads)).The illusions with Desolator hurt so bad and are really effective when taking down towers or pushing lanes.You can also use Manta Style to dodge certain projectiles or debuffs(eg. Orchid Malevolence)



Black King Bar is a must have item for mirana generally.It totally shuts out heroes like Storm Spirit, Queen of Pain, Leshrac for 12 seconds giving you enough time to take carry of them.Im not saying you pick this item up only against these heroes,generally get it against stun heavy or nuke heavy enemy line-ups.The damage and strength are good stats too.



Solar Crest works really well,when going for armor reduction build.the only sad thing is it has to be activated(unlike a Desolator, Assault Cuirass.It is a very cheap and cost-effective item.You can also use it on your carry late game.



Diffusal Blade is great against annoying Wraith Kings or Medusa(given that you face them before they are 4-6 slotted).The active purge removes common debuffs like Bounty Hunters Track or Dust of Appearance.It can also be used while chasing down heroes as the purge slows and removes the heroes buffs.
(IMP NOTE: Diffusal Blade instantly kills of summoned units like Warlocks golem or Invokers forge spirits.



Orchid Malevolence is good pick up against those hard to kill escape heroes like Ember Spirit, Storm Spirit, Pucketc.This item scales really well damage wise and also gives pretty good mana regeneration.



Desolator offers cheap but very effective early-mid game damage.The armor reduction is amazing and helps in pushing down lanes and towers.I personally do not prefer this item in difficult games because Mirana depends heavily on life steal and deslator doesn't stack with it.

LATE GAME:

Daedalus is a good damage item which gives you a chacne to deal 240% your damage(critcal) with a 25% crit chance.This is really useful for a high attack speed hero like Mirana leading to more crits procing.



Monkey King Bar is my personal favourite damage item.It gives an amazing +88 damage and 15 attack speed,both of which Mirana benifits from.The holder gets true strike and a minibash , meaning no more evasion for heroes like Phantom Assassin, Riki, Brewmaster, Troll Warlord.




Scythe of Vyse is my go to item when facing hard to handle late game heroes.It gives a really good stats boost and the active helps alot in team fights



Satanic is my personal favourite core item on Mirana.This really makes her the powerhouse she is(she is usually underminded).Amazing regeneration and tankiness not to forget game changing active ability of 175% lifesteal for 3.5 seconds.(I DONT SUGGEST GETTING A SKADI BECAUSE IT IS VERY DEFENSIVE AN ITEM AND YOU CANT DO MUCH WITHOUT DAMAGE)



Silver Edge can be used to pick-off those weak supports or core who are trying to farm their jungle up to get their items before important team fights.Also its ability to remove passives for 4 seconds really turns tides against passive-reliant heroes such as Huskaror Phantom Assassin.It has a lower cd than a shadow blade and gives good strength gain.



Butterfly is like your luxury item.I buy this item to finish off my armor reduction strat as my Manta Style illusions get much more tanky and damage heavy.



Theres not much to say about this item.
:D

WOmbo COmbos:

Having your team mate pick a reliable stun or slow will help both of you chain them together and will be a deadly combo at all stages of the game.Some notable allies are Bane, Lion, Sand King, Crystal Maiden, Shadow Demon, Shadow Shaman,earth shaker, Pudge and not to forget Kunkka.

I hoped you like the guide......
Im still working on other stuff and dint quite have time to finish this guide.
Pls do give suggestions and your builds,tips and tricks.
Thank you,
Th3 Undrg0d.