TheSofa's guide to Sagan

Introduction

"At last, it's time!"

Hello, there! This is TheSofa bringing you my first guide.

Pros / Cons

Pros Potential 5 second stun Great Ultimate for saving people High AOE from Starstorm-can farm/push fast Very flexible High Agilty gain

Cons Poor Base damage A bit squishy Low Strength and Intelligence gain Mana problems

Roles

Mirana can be played in almost every role:

#1 role: This takes advantage of her high primary attribute gain (+2.75 agility) and the fact that she can farm fast with Starstorm. However, this does not maximize on the effectiveness of her Sacred Arrow early game, and will not be setting up ganks with her Moonlight Shadow.

#2 role If your team already has a carry ( Anti-Mage, Medusa etc.) you can take this role. Usually you will build the armour reduction build, but more on this later.

#3 role Although Mirana is not very good at initiation, she can initiate a gank with a Sacred Arrow though the fog. In this role, you will be expected to set up ganks with Moonlight Shadow, and follow-up stuns with long-range arrows.

#4 role This is where your build starts changing. Because you do not need to farm, you can leave Starstorm until later. Now you should focus on maxing Leap (unorthodox) for the movement and attack speed buff. You will be expected to help with the courier, and carry dust etc.

#5 role If you're playing all-random and all your teamates got carries, you can play this role. Mirana is not the most suitable (like Chen, Dazzle, etc) for this role, but she can do it. Just take 1 level in Sacred arrow for the stun, and focus on Leap. Help teamates escape with Moonlight Shadow.

Mirana is usually played as a roaming support, because Sacred Arrow is a really great stun that will almost guarantee kills if landed.

Skills

"It was not luck, but skill!"

Let me get to the skills before we rush on to all the items, shall we?

Type: Targets:

Active

Calls down a wave of meteors to damage nearby enemy units. The closest enemy unit will take 75% more damage.

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Notes:

• The damage dealt by Starstorm is considered Magical damage.
• The damage in ( ) is if the second star hits.

Usage:

• This is your bread and butter. Use this to farm and as your main nuke.
• The manacost is quite high, so use this carefully.

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Type: Targets:

Active Point

Fires an arrow with deadly precision, dealing large damage and stunning the first enemy unit it strikes. Stun duration increases based on distance to target, ranging from 0.01 to 5 seconds. Bonus damage up to 140 is applied based on distance to target.

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Notes:

• The damage dealt by Sacred Arrow is considered Magical damage.
• For every 150 distance it travels, stun will increase by .5 seconds and damage will increase by 14
• Grants 650 flying vision
• It moves at 857.14 units per second.

Usage:

• Use this with setup like Disruption, Nightmare etc.
• This skill's manacost is a bit too high to be used only to grant vision. However, it can be done.

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Type: Affects:

Active Self

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

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Notes:

• Leap disjoints projectiles
• The bonus attack and movement speed is applied at the cast location
• Like a Force Staff, Mirana will leap in the direction she is facing
• Leap speed is 1600

Usage:

• This is you main escape, though you can use it to buff allies as well.
• The buff is rather strong, giving attack-speed in an AOE is pretty awesome.

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Type: Affects:

Active Allied Units

Turns Mirana and all allied heroes invisible. If Invisibility is broken, it will restore after fade delay if the shadow's duration has not expired. Silence will stop Moonlight Shadow.

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Notes:

• Illusions do not get invisibility
• Silence will pause fade time
• Buff goes on, even if Mirana dies

Usage:

• Use to set up ganks like a Smoke of Deceit
• Use to help allies escape around the map

Skill Build

The skill build I provide is probably the only orthodox thing in this guide. 1-1-1, then max Starstorm first, then max Sacred Arrow, then max Leap. Let's look into the details.

Starstorm's damage is more Sacred Arrow. Assuming the arrow get's max damage and the second star hit, that would be 460 compared to 525. Granted, the arrow has longer range, and it stuns for a long time, but Starstorm does damage in an AOE and is your farming skill. Let's put it into a chart.

Starstorm Deals more damage (Anti-)Pushes very well Deals damage in an AOE

Sacred Arrow Absurdly high range Stuns

As you can see, maxing Starstorm is more damage and farm focused, while maxing Sacred Arrow is more disable and ranged focus. Note that Starstorm without the second star actually deals less damage than Sacred Arrow at 0 range.

Stat build (Safer build)

Pros Safest build Balanced Can purge with Manta Style Slows to help carries/damage dealers to stay on target Your illusions get Leap's attackspeed buff

Cons Not a whole lot of damage by yourself, reliant on team-mates Takes a while to build up Illusions do not recieve Moonlight Shadow

This build is recommended if your first few minutes were bad, like there was a Huskar that just got a triple kill on your trilane. This build is balanced, offering much more HP and survivability than the others. It also offers more mana so you can afford to spam Starstorm.

Start

Again, your standard regen so you can stay in lane
Cheap stats. What's not to love?
1 Slippers (yeah, 1 slippers)is recommended to assist in last-hitting.
Early

Frees up item slots and a nice burst heal. You can sell this later for a Black King Bar
Phase boots are recommended to improve damage.
More survivability and stats makes sure you stay alive.


Early-mid
Again, do not hesitate to buy a Black King Bar. If you need it, get it. Don't say "Buy TheSofa's guide didn't say I should get it..."

Get the necessary components to the Manta Style, the first item you aim for. I suggest building the Ultimate Orb first, it provides a variety of bonuses, such as HP, mana, and damage.

Late mid
Finish your Manta Style, and begin working on your Eye of Skadi. I recommend buying the Point Booster first, as the HP and mana is priceless in sticky situations. However, if you feel like you're slight ahead or at least even, then you may consider buying the Ultimate Orbs first, as it provides damage and attack-speed as well.

After all this, your should be well into the late-game and should save for buy-back. If you feel like you are overflowing with money, I recommend buying a damage item, such as Butterfly (The standard choice), Monkey King Bar (against evasion), or in extreme cases Divine Rapier.

Roaming

Roaming Mirana is one of the few roles that Mirana can play. Due to her long stuns with Sacred Arrow, it is surprisingly effective.

Pros Allows one of your team-mates to receive solo experience. Extremely irritating for opponents Causes enemies to be more cautious, they are always scared of arrows coming out of nowhere.

Cons Not much experience for yourself You have to land the arrows If your solo exp guy messes up, then the situation is pretty bad

Start
We want to start with boots to get in-between lanes quicker.
A clarity will ease your mana-problems early on. Feel free to buy more after the game starts.
Tangos to recover after early skirmishes.

Early
Both boots are fine, with Tanquils you plan to stick with the support role all game, with Phase you can do a bit of catch-up and transition back into a semi-carry.
An awesome ganking tool, it provides slightly more health and mana regen. The extra 150 damage is great for finishing enemies. Although it might not seem like a lot, but remember it is pure, which equivalent to 25% more magic damage.
Ahh, the wonderful bottle. Allows you to bottle runes to refill, whether to restore lost HP of Mana. Great sustain.

Early-Mid
Medallion is a great pickup on Mirana. It increases your main carry's DPS a lot, and is great for an early Roshan. The mana regen is always appreciated since Mirana is so mana-intensive.

Support/Fun/Troll/Other

Sometimes, you really have to deviate from these builds. Sometimes, a certain situation requires a certain item, and I can't give you all the situations you are going to face. However, I can guide you and give you examples.

If you have these in your Allies:

• Stun
• Heavy slow ( Viper Strike, Ice Wall etc)
• Set-up ( Nightmare, Frostbite, etc)

Then, you might want to max Sacred Arrow to chain stun.

If your enemies are reliant on their spells to survive ( Weaver, Puck, etc), and your team is made up of Agility and Strength heroes, you can buy a Orchid Malevolence. The stats aren't great, but you need to shut down that hero.

If you are pushing their base, swimming in gold, and you find that you always survive with 100 or so HP so you have to return to your fountain, get a Heart of Tarrasque from their secret shop!

If they have carries that deal way too much damage for your liking, consider a Talisman of Evasion that will eventually turn into a Butterfly or Heaven's Halberd.

Situational Items

A request from Yzreel. In no particular order.

These boots will allow you to push with your team, and saves you an inventory slot. A pushing item.

Works well with: Mjollnir, and Desolater.

Great against evasion carries ( Phantom Assassin) and great choice if your team struggles with getting the enemy tier 3's.

Good against: Butterfly, Heaven's Halberd, and Blur.

Great against escape heroes ( Puck, Weaver etc.). Generally your Int. hero gets this, but if they refuse, you can. You do benefit from the attackspeed, and extra mana doesn't hurt.

Good against: Initiators, Escape, and intelligence heroes in general.

An extremely situational choice, hand of midas can be obtained if you wish to take things late game.

Good with: Carry build.

A great late-game choice, it can be obtained after an attackspeed item ( Mjollnir, Assault Cuirass). The stun penetrates BKB, so it's great for taking down other carries.

Works well with: Attackspeed items
Good against: BKB users.

The ultimate tank item, it allows you to be much tankier than usual. However, I wouldn't recommend it, it is not Mirana's playstyle. If you need HP, consider an Eye of Skadi.

This is more of a support-y item.

Good against Roshan
Works well with Ghost Scepter

Physical immunity is extremely helpful, especially if you are playing support and do not want to be 2-shotted by an enemy carry. Be wary of magic damage, though. A neat trick is Ethereal Form > Boots of travel (NOT tp scroll).

Good with: Medallion of Courage, Boots of Travel.

I have deleted the mana-burn build, and put it here, because it is situational. However, there are many situations where this item comes in handy. It give +25 agility and +6 Intelligence at level 1. That gives you 25 much needed damage and roughly 40 max mana to help with your mana problems. Compare it to an Eaglesong, which is the same price. It give the same amount of agility, but gives mana, and it's active, Purge. Purge is a purge. Yeah. It instantly destroys illusions and summoned units, which is really great against Warlock's Golems! This is usually my go-to item if there is a Warlock in the opposition. Note that your illusions, whether from Manta Style or a illusion rune get the mana-burn.

At level 2, it gives +30 damage from the agility, and 36 more damage from the mana-burn. This item actually gives +66 damage! That is more than a Sacred Relic, AND it gives +25 attackspeed, ~3.5 armour, and lots of mana. Not to mention the purge.

Good with: Manta Style

Good against: Summoned units, Warlock.

Do I really need to explain this? Generally you wouldn't be in the middle of the fight, you'll be in the outskirts, but if it's necessary, NO HESITATION.

Shoutout to EternalEnvy and SingSing. This is a glass cannon item, and is extremely situational. Only do it if you're crazy or otherwise extremely good.

Great if you have melee carries, the lifesteal is awesome, but don't overlook the armour.

Can be purchased if you are roaming, cheaper than Urn of Shadows but doesn't have the 150 DoT.

If you're against nasty single-target BKB-penetrating spells ( Doom, Fiend's Grip etc.) this is the item for you. Gives nice regen and survivability.

Sample Builds

Glass cannon/ Against Heavy armour

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Early finish

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Carry #1

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Carry #2 (MOAR HEALTH)

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Semi-Carry #1 (You don't like magic)

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Semi-Carry #2 (Korean Build)

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Support

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Roaming

Teamwork

In order to figure out how Mirana interacts with the team, we need to understand her strengths and weaknesses in a team's point of view.

'Good' team attributes.

• Great ulti if team messes up.
• Can dish out moderate AOE damage with Starstorm
• Great buff from Leap
• Long stun from Sacred Arrow with set-up
• Can mess up enemy positioning with Sacred Arrow
• Great abilities for ganking
• Very flexible, can fit into almost any line-up

Things allies need to be aware of when you play Mirana (Or you need to be aware of when there is a Mirana on your team.

• Her Sacred Arrow requires set-up. Pick a hero that has a guaranteed stun to maximise on the long stun
• She has horrible base damage. Auras like Precision Aura, Vengeance Aura etc. all help
• She can solo off-lane, so you can pick a jungler

Gameplay

Levels 1-6
Generally I would stay in lane and last-hit. Once you hit 6, you can tell your team, and set up a five-man gank. Try not to die in these stages, you are really fragile and you need the farm. If you have a lane partner with a stun, you might want to try kill the enemy. However, this is risky, and can often be turned against you due to you fragile nature.

Levels 6-15

Adapt. Adapt. Adapt. Whatever you do, adapt.
Be sure to participate in teamfights. I like to stand back when a teamfight is on the brink of starting, and fire a long-range arrow as soon as it does. Then I Leap into the fray (or at least close to it) to provide attackpeed for my allies. Be sure to cast Starstorm in teamfights, 300 damage in a AOE is nothing to laugh at. If your team messes up, or the other team is winning the teamfight, it's ok to cast your ulti and make a clean escape.

If you went the armour build, make sure to keep allies and enemies within the radius of your Assault Cuirass and tell your team to focus on the same guy to maximise on the armour reduction from your Desolator. You can take Roshan, just don't do it alone. Make sure you use your Medallion of Couragewhen you have the chance.

If you went the stat build, be sure to be in the middle of teamfights causing chaos and havoc with your illusions and slow! Remember to right-click their carry to slow his/her attackspeed with your Eye of Skadi.

If you went for the anti-caster build, then activate your BKB, and manaburn away! Be sure to purge any annoying debuffs with your Diffusal Blade, whether on yourself or your ally.

Level 16-25

By now, your team should be sticking together and pushing/anti-pushing. Use Starstorm to clear creepwaves, and your Maelstrom/ Mjollnir should do the rest.

Enemy priorities (If you are playing semi-carry):

#1: Clean up enemy supports, particularly if they have strong teamfight spells ( Weave, Black Hole, Chaotic Offering etc. ). You really want to kill them before they use they're spells.
#2: Biggest damage dealer. Be it their carry, their nuker, focus them down so your carry can have a easy life.

The most important thing, however, is team-coordination. Pick out the most dangerous enemy, then then entire team focuses on him at once. For Mirana this means landing an arrow on him (with or without set up), then leaping into attack-range. Hopefully you catch them by surprise so you kill the poor guy before the enemy team reacts. See above for teamfight tips.

Spots for shooting arrows

Coming soon on September 1st!

Allies

Enemies

Note:These are only representatives from a group of enemies.

First row: Stuns, slows and silences are extremely annoying to deal with. With silences you cannot Leap away to safety, same with stuns.

Second row:Burst damage takes advantage of your squishy nature, and because it's instant, you cannot juke with Moonlight Shadow OR Leap. :(

Third rowPurges are annoying. You spent all that effort landing that arrow. These guys just purge it off their allies. Really annoying.

Special Mention: Zeus. Thundergod's Wrath counters Moonlight Shadow pretty effectively and his nukes really hurt Mirana.

Mirana's Balance Changelog

Mirana has been popular in the last few months, and was pick/banned a lot in The Internationals 4. Subsequently, she has been nerfed in the last two patches.

6.81b

• Sacred Arrow's minimum damage decreased by 40.
• Sacred Arrow's minimum stun decreased to 0.01

This patch nerfs Sacred Arrow, but not too significantly. The minimum damage decrease means that point-blank arrows aren't as powerful any more. The minimum stun decrease also has the same effect, but it still can be used to interrupt channelling abilities.

6.81

• Sacred Arrow vision decreased from 800 to 650

Only a slight nerf, Mirana's arrow now gives less vision, but still ample to scout out Roshan, and other juke paths.

6.82

• Leap speed reduced from 2000 to 1600
• Leap distances rebalanced to 600/700/800/900
  
  Only minor changes, but
  Leaping farther is great for catching up with heroes, but you aren't going to get there as fast. I'd say it's a overall nerf, but nothing heavy.

Responses to comments

"Who should I arrow in a team-fight?" -Bunkansee

Probably the most dangerous target (ie. Their carry) or the guy your team wants to kill first. Sacred Arrow has an extremely long range, so you can make good use of that and stun their initiator from far away. You team will benefit from initiating first. If you miss, that's also fine, it probably messed up their positioning. :)

"Would Mirana be a suitable mid by any chances?" -Bunkansee

Generally, no. Mirana does not benefit from the pros of being mid: Rune control, relative safety, and solo exp. You would rather have an ally to help you set up a Sacred Arrow, wouldn't you?

Credits

Icefrog- for making this game
Dr. D- for his guide to formatting

Special mention: Bunkansee- Thank you so much for editing this guide for me, and being the first person to 'befriend' me on DOTAfire!

Note to general public

This is my first guide, please go easy on me. Please provide constructive feedback, if possible (;D). Also, I do see people have voted down my guide, and I'm fine with that. I'm human. However, I would like to hear (or see) why my guide is not meeting your expectations. I have put a lot of effort into this.