The Ice Queen - Rylai, the Crystal Maiden

Introduction

So you've chosen to play that Queen of the Frozen Waste, that Crystal Maiden, that Mistress of All Things Cold, Rylai of Icewrack! Welcome to Sabetwolf's guide to one of the best supports in the game. A renowned hero for her minimal item dependance, incredible skill set and great utility for her entire team, be prepared to find yourself stricken by her icy charms.

Crystal Maiden is a great pick up in almost any team line up, with the capability to slow her enemies, whilst dealing significant damage in a large radius, freeze them in place for a few seconds, tap into pools of arcane energy to feed her entire team strong mana regenerative powers and call down a blistering glacial storm.

Lore and Role

Pros / Cons

Pros Great skill set Minimal item dependancy Minimal level dependancy Global mana regeneration Good attack animation and projectile speed

Cons Squishy. Very squishy. Stun is not an complete stun - spells can still be cast Mana heavy early game Very slow movement speed Did I mention squishy?

Skills

Rylai has an incredible skill set, with Crystal Nova dealing significant AoE damage that heavily slows her enemies, Frostbite binding her enemies in place for a couple of seconds, Arcane Aura giving respectable mana regeneration to her entire team as long as she is alive, and finally her ultimate, Freezing Field, a massively damaging channeled spell, brining down a storm of ice around the Crystal Maiden and slowing her enemies heavily.

CRYSTAL NOVA

Ability: Affects: Damage:

Target Point Enemy Units Magical

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

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Notes:

• Provides vision in target area
• The air temperature around Rylai drops rapidly, chilling all around her to the core.

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FROSTBITE

Ability: Affects: Damage:

Target Unit Enemy Units Magical

Encases an enemy unit in ice, prohibiting movement and attack, while dealing damage per second.

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Notes:

• No blink abilities can be used, except for Phantom Assassin's Phantom Strike
• Unique Attack Modifier abilities cannot be manually cast while Frostbite is active.
• Units that turn invisible while Frostbite is active are revealed for Frostbite's duration.
• Rylai channels winds from the Blueheart Glacier, imprisoning attackers in thick blocks of ice.

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ARCANE AURA

Ability: Affects:

Aura Allies

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

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Notes:

• Mana Regeneration has double the effect on Crystal Maiden herself
• Cold temperatures promote the essence of magic, causing Rylai's presence to allow spell usage in abundance.

FREEZING FIELD

Ability: Affects: Damage:

No target Enemy Units Magical

CHANNELED - Surrounds Crystal Maiden with random icy explosions that slow enemies and deal massive damage. Lasts 7 seconds.

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Notes:

• Creates random explosions every 0.1 second inside AoE, each exlosion having a radius of 230
• Slow applied to all units in 685 radius, not just those damaged
• Once the place of her exile, Icewrack has become an anchor for Rylai's frigid onslaught.
  

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Advice On Skill Points

There are literally dozens of ways that you can build Crystal Maiden, but by far the most common build is one focusing around the use of Frostbite. It's relatively long freeze period assists in ganks, leads easily into other cast-delay abilities, such as Sacred Arrow from Mirana, Sun Strike from Invoker, or Light Strike Array from her sister, Lina, does mediocre damage of its own accord, but most importantly, its means the enemy has to sit there and take a beating from you and your buddies.

Conversely, some skill builds choose to focus on the use of Crystal Nova. Crystal Nova has a large AoE, does significant damage, even at low levels, and most importantly slows its target. This can prevent or allow escapes, assist pushing creep waves, and general be a massive pain in the *** to enemy laners, as it is very easy to land due to a low cast time, short animation and large AoE. It's high mana cost is quickly offset by Rylai's Arcane Aura, but early game it can be inhibitive for use, especially if using in conjunction with Frostbite. This is typically maxed first only when playing a very aggressive pushing lane, or when soloing a lane.

Apart form these two skills, Crystal Maiden has the skill for which she is most well known in the DotA universe: Arcane Aura. This aura granting mana regeneration to her entire team is HUGE, especially early game, or when your team consists of heroes who's main problem is a lack of mana. No more! Arcane Aura isn't typically skilled much before your other two skills, but do give it some consideration if your team really benefits from it. It is suggested to have at least 1 point in this skill before level 6, as the regeneration granted greatly helps in recovering from usage of Freezing Field.

Speaking of which, we come to Rylai's Ultimate ability - Freezing Field. This hugely damaging ultimate can make or break team fights, secure kills and escapes, and utterly destroy the enemy. Conversely, if used improperly, it can leave you in the open, with no mana and on low life. Being a channelled spell, centred around Crystal Maiden herself, you are very vulnerable whilst casting it, and its relatively large mana costs inhibit use of it in conjunction with heavy casting. I strongly suggest getting your first point in this ability at level 6, as it does provide a huge amount of damage. According to the Dota 2 Wiki, theoretically this ability could deal a whopping 7350 damage at level 1. Never going to happen of course, but on average an enemy should take 828 damage if within for the full duration. Not so high, but at level 6 very significant.

Note: If you activate this, you're gonna get hit by a stun. Be prepared, and don't start using it till the stuns are thrown/you activated a Black King Bar/ Omniknight (or potentially Rubick...) used Repel on you. Also, this is a channeled spell - don't start moving if you want it to continue.

Avoid putting points into stats until late game - your abilities are far more advantageous.

At the top of the page you'll find various different skill builds that are all in common use.

Items

When it comes to items, Crystal Maiden has a wide option of items available to her. As a support, it is unlikely she will get these items. Lucky for us, Crystal Maiden is one of the least item dependant heroes in the game - her abilities are what make her a master at her role.

In general, a good Crystal Maiden, playing her role as support, will end up with very few items. Other times, you get fed so hard you turn into the carry. Play her well, and you will enjoy all those ups and downs.

The role of a support is to, quite obviously, support her team. You'll be buying the courier, you'll be upgrading the courier, you'll be buying wards, and you probably won't be buying massive 4k+ items very often.

Starting a Match, and what Items you Should Pick Up

Every game you start, you will begin with 625 gold (Unless you randomed Crystal Maiden (lucky you!), in which case you'll start with 825 gold. Or you repicked, in which case you'll end up with 525 gold :( ).
So let's spend it!


First - Animal Courier, 150 gold. Someone already bought it? No fear! You get to buy Observer Wards instead, also 150 gold.

Up next, a Healing Salve, at 115 gold. 400 health over 10 seconds, as long as you don't get hit? If you've played DotA before, you no doubt know the virtues of the Healing Salve.

More regeneration to come, pick up a Tango for 125 gold. This wonderful tree-eating plant will heal you for 115 health over 16 seconds, 4 times, even whilst you are getting pummelled. Even more useful, you can give some of it to your allies so that they can use it too.

Then you get to pick up a nice Clarity for 50 gold. This little blue potion will give you 100 mana over 30 seconds. You may end up not using it, using it on an ally, or using it to refill your mana pool after an early fight so you're ready for the next one in time. It's more than okay to sell it at a later date if it never gets used.

OR

?

After all this you're gonna be left with 185/385/125 gold. Here is where the choices come:
Do you want mobility early so you can get around the map more easily in a few seconds? Buy a Town Portal Scroll for 135 gold. If you're stuck with the 125 gold option, merely buy it from the Side Shop as you make it to your lane.
Or do you want to start building towards your first core item, Tranquil Boots? In that case, purchase a Ring of Protection for 175 gold. This is the only part of the Tranquil Boots you can not buy at the Side Shop.
If you randomed, congratulations! You get both!

Consumables

Crystal Maiden is a very item independent hero. This mean that without items, you're still useful. With items, Crystal Maiden can be absolutely lethal.

First and foremost however is your job at supporting the team.

3 minutes in to the game - Time for you to upgrade your Animal Courier to a Flying Courier for 220 gold.
7 minutes in to the game - Initial Observer Wards have timed out, buy new ones and replace them

Throughout the entire game, you'll be buying multiple items for your team.


Observer Ward for 150 gold. There applications will be covered later.


Sentry Ward (200 gold) if the opposing team has an Invisible hero, or you are trying to deward them and remove their vision, granting your own team an advantage. For each ward you kill, you get 50 gold. This means, that if each Sentry Ward you place gives you vision of two of their Wards, you've earn't your money back. Sweet.


Occasionally, the opposing team will have enemy heroes that escape by using invisibility, through the use of a Shadow Blade, Bounty Hunter and his Shadow Walk, or even Rikimaru with his Permanent Invisibility. If this is the case, you're going to be buying Dust of Appearance (180 gold). This wonderful little contraption gives you a two use 1050 unit AoE reveal of all invisible things around you (with the exception of Slark using his ultimate, Shadow Dance).


Finally, your team may also attempt to gank an enemy hero, but want to be unseen so they can set it up more easily. In this case, you may be buying Smoke of Deceit for 100 gold. When this is activated, any ally hero within 1200 units will turn invisible and gain a speed bonus, and hides their minimap icon. This invisibility only wears off if they walk within 1050 units of an enemy hero or tower, the hero attacks, or it wears off.


Of special notice is the Town Portal Scroll. This item, for 135 gold, means you can teleport to any allied building on the map, potentially every 60 seconds. It can give you an escape if you hide long enough to use it, support an ally, counter push the enemy and support a tower, or lead to a gank as you teleport in and stun. Always carry one - 3 last hits on creeps will replace the gold. Your life, a towers life, or an opponents life is worth far more.

On Warding

In DotA 2, warding means the placement of Observer Wards to gain vision of the map, a crucial advantage. It means you can set up ganks, avoid said ganks, contest fights in the Roshan pit or plainly be where the opponent isn't. There are a huge quantity of great warding sites across the entire map. (thanks goes to team-dignitas for the map)

Key:

Wards that give vision of the Runes. Some of these may also block Creep Spawning
Flying vision wards for Jungles and slight coverage of lanes
Jungle wards. Some of these may also block Creep Spawning
Aggressive wards for pushing or setting up ganks
Aggressive laning wards
Situational Wards - blocking Spawn camps or giving you Lane Vision

Locations of Special Note

Core Items

You've taken care of your team? Good! It's time for you to get your items!

First and foremost, Tranquil Boots. At 975 gold total, minus the 175 for the Ring of Protection if you chose to start with that, these lovely boots give you a passive 10 hp regeneration (impressive), 4 armour and 80 movement speed. All of a sudden, you've got 360 movement speed, adn can keep up. These boots compliment your Arcane Aura, as you can now stay in lane indefinitely. Unfortunately, they have a downside. If you attack an enemy, or are attacked, they "break". When broken, they only give you 60 movement speed (340 total) and you lose the passive health regeneration for the next 13 seconds. Not debilitating, but be wary. You should be getting these by the ? minutes mark at least. You may be able to get them much earlier if your lane is going very well. This is one of your most important items, so at some point prioritise yourself over the team to get these.

Up next, an item of fantastic use on Crystal Maiden. The Blink Dagger! This little dagger, at a whopping 2150 gold, is your first major item. With a 1200 unit teleport at your command, all of a sudden Crystal Maiden becomes a force to be reckoned with. Escape, capture, surprise, initiation, quicker movement, you name it, it provides it.
You should be getting this by about the ? minute mark. Again, earlier is good, but it is a secondary priority over other items.

At some point after your Tranquil Boots, you're going to realise how squishy you are. A solution to counteract that a bit - Bracer. Bracers are a cheap way to increase your health, for 525 gold and give you some decent stats, while later building into a Drum of Endurance. This may come before or after your Blink Dagger - it will all depend on when you need it.

Next item to come, Eul's Scepter of Divinity. This wonderful device will improve your mana regeneration even further (150% mana regeneration, yes please), will give you an extra 40 Movement Speed (400 or 380 if Tranquil Boots are broken), and most importantly, give you another disable. The active ability of this staff is a cyclone, which traps an enemy unit for 2.5 seconds, preventing them from doing anything. For 2700 gold, it's a bargain, and has an easy build up. This item is very secondary in comparison to assisting your team however.

Finally, if no one else has built one and you've got some money on hand, upgrade that Bracer into a Drum of Endurance. This item gives a movement and attack speed bonus aura around your hero, and gives you some more nice stats. It has 4 charges you can use to further boost movement and attack speed, giving your team a better chance to escape, gank or catch a fleeing enemy. You're only likely to get this after your Eul's Scepter of Divinity. With this, your movement speed total will increase to 416 or 399 if broken, and even further when activated (460 or 437). The charges are limited but can be replenished at a later date by purchasing a new recipe item for it. (Note: Racecar Maiden Best Maiden)

Moar money????

You're telling me you have more money to spend after all of that??? Impressive, your lane is going amazing or your team is getting a lot of kills with you assisting.

Crystal Maiden has a few luxury items that she can buy. Be warned though - many times a game will finish before you've even come close to getting any of these. Don't be demoralised by this, it means you were either doing your job great and your team got an early victory, or, unfortunately you got absolutely steam rolled. If you're good, most of the time it will be the former.

Onto those fantastical items you wish you could have!

First you may want to consider whether your team needs more support. Do they? You're purchasing a Mekansm, or if someone else already has one, a Pipe of Insight. These items give great support to your team mates, giving a great burst heal or a strong magic resistant barrier. Both are incredibly useful in team fights or in pushing to the T3 Towers up the stairs of your opponents base.

They don't need more support, or other people already have them? Time to build some stuff to maximise the damage you can do with your Ultimate! You've already got a Blink Dagger, let's utilise it to leave the enemy team shivering amidst the glacial storm of Freezing Field. Does the enemy have lots of stuns? Pick up a Black King Bar! This item will give you magic immunity for a short period of time. Conversely, the enemy has lots of stuns, but none of them are AoE? Buy a Shadow Blade. You can activate the Shadow Blade while channeling your ultimate ability to turn invisible amidst the storm. Provides a great escape mechanism too! Got one or the other? Pick up an Aghanim's Scepter for more damage, and an even stronger slow!

Fights going on all over the place? Replace your Tranquil Boots with Boots of Travel These give you a massive 100 movement speed bonus permanently, but most importantly acts as a free, reusable teleport scroll. Incredibly useful for getting around the map.

Damage and another Disable? Pick up a Scythe of Vyse. Pricy, but powerful. Conversely, taking too much damage? Grab a Shiva's Guard instead. Tanky maiden??? You betcha.

Midas Gaming

You may have seen many professionals picking up the golden item Hand of Midas. The Hand of Midas is a unique item in that it instantly turns an enemy or neutral (non-Ancient) creep into 190 reliable gold and 2.5X experience. However, it costs 1900 gold to purchase. Effectively, this item pays itself back after 5 uses, as you can sell it for half cost. As such, it starts earning money for you from the 6th use onwards, which will occur just past the 7 minute mark of owning the Hand of Midas.

Pros More money overall Can be used to instantly kill key creeps (e.g. a creep surrounded by Ion Shell casted by Dark Seer)

Cons Heavily delays first items Has very little effect on your hero (30 attack speed)

Overall, it's personal choice whether or not to buy this item. If you do buy this item, attempt to get it well before the 20 minute mark - after this point, you typically won't gain a substantial benefit from purchasing it.