Dota 2 - Medusa Build Guide

BIO
Beauty is power. This thought comforted Medusa--the youngest and loveliest of three beautiful Gorgon sisters, born to a sea goddess--because she alone of the sisters was mortal. It comforted her, that is, until the day masked assailants invaded the Gorgon realm and tore the two immortal sisters from their home, unmoved by their beauty or by their tears. One of the invaders seized Medusa as well, but then cast her aside with a disgusted look: 'This one has the mortal stink upon her. We have no use for that which dies.' Humiliated, enraged, Medusa fled to the temple of her mother and cast herself before the goddess, crying, 'You denied me eternal life--therefore I beg you, give me power! Power, so I can dedicate what life I have to rescuing my sisters and avenging this injustice!' After long thought, the goddess granted her daughter's request, allowing Medusa to trade her legendary beauty for a face and form of terrifying strength. Never for a moment has Medusa regretted her choice. She understands that power is the only beauty worth possessing--for only power can change the world.

INTRODUCTION
Medusa is an agility hero that have a trademark imbalanced farming, carrying and also equipped with a good defense. He have a split arrow, a splashed attacks that just few of carry-ranged hero that have it. The splashed attacks is a perfect tools for farming on mid-late game where fast-farming is the key of successful game. If you can succeed in farming, Divine Rapier is one of the possibilities that will carry you into victory.

PROS	CONS
Have split arrow that just a few ranged heroes that have it.	If farm not succeed, become useless
Good farming ability on late game	A bad ganker
A nice skill to destroys illusions
Mana skill for Mystic Snake is become low because it can gain back some mana

ROLE

Ranged - Carry - Durable

STATS

LEVEL	1	15	25
HIT POINTS	416	855	1,548	SIGHT RANGE	1800 / 800
MANA	247	584	1,084	ATTACK RANGE	600
DAMAGE	44-50	79-85	124-130	MISSILE SPEED	1200
ARMOR	2	7	13

1. Split Shot

Medusa magically splits her shot into five arrows. These arrows deal a lower percent of her normal damage. The extra targets will not receive other attack effects (such as critical strike) and Unique Attack Modifiers.

ABILITY: NO TARGET, TOGGLE	OUTGOING DAMAGE: 50% / 60% / 70% / 80%
EXTRA TARGETS: 4 / 4 / 4 / 4	RANGE: 700

This is your main skill for farming and damaging foes on late game.With this skill you are granted with a splashed arrows that will makes you become a powerful farmer and a fearceful nuker in late game. With this, your farming speed on late game become insane. This makes you possible to farm some Divine Rapier on late game :D
There is just a few ranged heroes that can split their attack. And this skill makes you special, a ranged carry with a splashed attack to deal damage to all foes.
The slogan is: Just right click a target, and enemies are all gone.

2. Mystic Snake

A mystic snake made of energy jumps from target to target dealing damage and stealing some mana. After it reaches its last target, it jumps back to Medusa to replenish it with mana. The snake deals more damage and steals more mana per jump.

MANA COST: 140/150/160/170	COOLDOWN: 11
ABILITY: UNIT TARGET	AFFECTS: ENEMY UNITS
DAMAGE: MAGICAL	JUMP RADIUS: 475 / 475 / 475 / 475
JUMPS: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6	DAMAGE: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200
MANA STEAL: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50	INCREASE PER JUMP: 25%

This is a powerful nuke for late game. This skill will bouncing from one enemy to the other. And for each bounce, the damage and mana steal is increasing.
This skill makes you do skill and almost no mana loss because you get your mana back from the bouncing of this skill.
Deal lots of damage to the last bounced target. So the advice is: Cast this on creeps and wait until it bounce to your real target: the enemy hero. Believe me, it will be so painful for them.
Mana tips for spamming a skill: If you see your mana is full, use this skill, and it will reduce your mana because using this skill. Then wait until your mana is full again and cast this again. So this will maintain the time for constant harassing for your enemy.

3. Mana Shield

Creates a shield that absorbs 50% of the incoming damage by using Medusa's mana.

ABILITY: NO TARGET, TOGGLE

DAMAGE PER MANA: 0.75 / 1.25 / 1.75 / 2.25

This is your shield. A shield that made from mana. If you have lots of mana, your defense will increase. And if you have no mana, this skill doesn’t work.
On late game teamfight, this skill will become very useful to block your enemy’s damage. On late game,  you already have a decent mana and mana regen to block enemy’s damage that comes to you.
Maintain your mana efficiently and keep up your defense by not using all your mana for spamming Mystic Snake.
Tisps to make this skill stronger: Buy some +mana or mana regen items, example: Linken Sphere, Oblivion Staff)

4. Stone Gaze

Any enemy units staring at the Gorgon will slowly turn to stone, removing status buffs and slowing all speed properties. Deals damage to summoned units and illusions.

MANA COST: 200/100/0	COOLDOWN: 140/100/60
ABILITY: NO TARGET	DAMAGE: MAGICAL
RADIUS: 800 / 800 / 800	ILLUSION DAMAGE: 500 / 1000 / 1500

Makes all enemy in front of you to become slowed and harldy move. The real enemy will not receive any damage, but his illusions or underlings will.
A nice skill to slow down enemy in a teamfight. Your enemy will lose their movement speed and attack speed, makes their carry become useless. This will benefits your team by a lot.

SKILLBUIlLD

Level 1: Mana Shield

Level 2: Mystic Snake

Level 3: Mystic Snake

Level 4:  Split Shot

Level 5: Mystic Snake

Level 6: Stone Gaze

Level 7: Mystic Snake

Level 8: Split Shot

Level 9: Split Shot

Level 10: Split Shot

Level 11: Stone Gaze

Level 12:  Mana Shield

Level 13: Mana Shield 

Level 14: Mana Shield

Level 15: Stats

Level 16: Stone Gaze

Level 17-25: Stats

Why take Mana Shield for level 1? You need this for the anticipation if your enemy try to get firstblood from you. Defend yourself!

Why maxed Mystic Snake first? This is your main nuke for harassing and farming on early-mid game. Max this first for more painfu harassing.

Why maxed Split Shot before Mana Shield? Well you need farms to become strong. Be sure to farm like crazy. Use all your time to farm as much as you can. Your target is full item with Divine Rapier equipped.

STRATEGY

Early Game

On early game, on level 1 we recommend you to take Mana Shield for anticipation if enemy wants to kill you and steal firstblood. So you have more power to defense. 

Mystic Snake is your main source of damage for harassing your enemy. This is a painful skill on early game. On level 5 and Mystic Snake level 3 you already have enough Mystic Snake damage to deal about 35% of enemy’s HP. To deal that maximum damage: You need to target creep, not hero. This way your Mystic Snake will bouncing and finally damaging your real target, enemy hero.

Last hits carefully one creep by one creep. And harass enemy if they are on your range. But keep your focus on last hitting, because your priority is to gain as much gold for the late game.

Mid Game

The slogan for mid game is just one: Farming until the like crazy. Split shot has already gain it’s damage here. So you can begin to use it for farming. Mystic Snake + Split Shot = Instant 1 wave of reeps farm.

Remember to always activate Mana Shield for the anticipation if enemy want to surprise gank you. If you are being ganked, keep calm and activate Stone Gaze with the position of your body facing the enemy. With that, your enemy will be slowed and you can run away.

Keep changing lane into where the enemy creeps are pushing. Keep farm there using your Split Shot and gain as much gold as you can. Remember that in late game, your team will depend on you to deal the damages in the teamfight.. If you are accidentaly participate in a teamfight, use your Stone Gaze and Mystic Snake, and after that just right click your enemy. If your Split shot is already on level 4 and your enemy is more than 1, then you must use the Split Shot to deal damage to all enemies.

Late Game

In late game, it is your time to shine. Here you will be the main source of damage for your friends. What you need to do is: 

1. Keep farming with split shot and Mystic Snake

2. If there is a teamfight, you need to participate

3. Always use mana shield. If someone ganking you, you have the defense. And if needed, cast Stone Gaze to escape.

4. Always activate Split Shot, this is a very useful skill for farming and for teamfights.

5. Use Stone Gaze while teamfight . This will slow down their attack speed and movement speed.

As a Medusa, you shoudl not afraid to buy Divine Rapier if you already have some nice items. Like if you already have Pt, Linken, Manta Style, and Butterfly. Why afraid, you have a high defense and a split shot!

ITEMBUILD

1. Ring of Aquila
Total Cost: 985
Recipe: Wraith Band + Ring of Basillus

Passive: Aquila Aura - Grants mana regeneration and armor in a 900 AoE. Active: Toggle whether the aura affects other non-hero units. Multiple instances of Aquila Aura do not stack. + 9 Damage    + 3 All Attributes    + 3 Agility    + 1 Armor AURA MANA REGEN: 0.65    AURA BONUS ARMOR: 2

Why Ring of Aquila? It gives you mana regen. You need mana regen to use your skill on early game. This items also gives some damage. Also, mana is needed to activate your shield to increase your defense.

2.  Power Threads
Total cost: 1400
Recipe: Gloves of Haste, Boots of Speed, Belt og Giant Strength/ Robe of Magi/ Band of Elvenskin

Active: Switch Attribute - Changes selected attribute between Strength, Agility and Intelligence. Flat movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack. + 55 Movement Speed + 8 Selected Attribute   + 30 Attack Speed

Why Power Threads? It will gives you attack speed, thats what you need, attack speed and damages. Power threads is laso a flexible shoes, you can change it to STR, AGI, or INT for what you need.  STR for survivability, AGI for damage and attack speed, INT for mana.

3. Linken Sphere
Total Cost: 5175
Recipe: Ultimate Orb + Preserverance

Passive: Spellblock - Blocks most targeted spells once every 20 seconds. + 15 All Attributes                   + 6 HP Regeneration + 150% Mana Regeneration    + 10 Damage

Why Linken Sphere?
-Great survivability item to block a spell  for teamfight
-Linkens Sphere becomes more powerful the more late the game because teamfights becomes longer and you can block 2 spells in a teamfight.
- Linken gives you mana and mana regen to be able to always use your shield to block damages

4. Manta Style
Total cost:: 5050
Recipe: Yasha, Ultimate Orb, Recipe

Active: Mirror Image - Creates 2 illusions of your hero that last 20 seconds. Melee illusions deal 33% damage and take 250% bonus damage. Ranged illusions deal 28% damage and take 300% bonus damage. Percentage based movement speed bonuses from multiple items do not stack. + 10 Strength + 26 Agility    + 10 Intelligence    + 15 Attack Speed    + 10% Movement Speed Manacost:165    Cooldown:50

Why Manta Style? Creates 2 illusion of yourself to attack the enemy and deal more damages. This items also provide a defense mechanism for you because your opponent will be confused and don't know whose to attack, they should guess where is the real you.

5.  Diffusal Blade
Total cost: 3300
Recipe: 2 x Blade of Alacrity + Robe of Magi + Recipe.

Active: Purge - Purges a target unit, removing buffs, slowing, and dealing damage if it is a summoned unit. Passive: Feedback - Your attacks burn 20/36 mana and deal the same amount in damage. Upgradable. Diffusal Blade is a Unique Attack Modifier, and does not stack with other Unique Attack Modifiers. + 22/26 Agility     + 6/10 Intelligence      Cooldown; 12

Remember that your illusions can deal pure damage and manaburn too. You will get tons of damages by using this because that.

6. You can increase your DPS more. Choose your own DPS items.As a carry, damage is your priority.

	DAEDLUS	MKB	ABYSSAL	DIVINE RAPIER
DAMAGE	81	88	100	300
ABILITY	CRITICAL 2.4	100% HITS	STUN	NONE
CHANCE	25%	MINIBASH 35% DAMAGE: 100	MELEE: 25 % RANGE: 10%	NONE
OTHER	NONE	+15 ATK SPEED	+10 STRENGTH 2 SEC STUN	NONE

DAEDLUS: Daedlus will provide you with the a powerful Critical Strike.

MKB: 100% HITRATE will helps you to fight some evasion heroes like Mortred or Rikimaru.

ABYSSAL: A decent +100 damage and makes you become a Stunner

RAPIER: Be careful if you choose to hold this. 1 hit kill is a sure. 2-3 hits is the worst. Need protection from your support. Must come if the situation is clear safe for you to come inside the teamfight. Need disabler friends.

5. Butterfly
Total cost:: 6000
Recipe: Talisman of Evasion, Eaglesong, Quarterstaff

+ 30 Agility            + 30 Damage + 35% Evasion      + 30 Attack Speed

Why Butterfly?
It gives you more damage and more attack speed that makes you become much more powerful. It also gives evasion to helps you survive in teamfight.
Butterfly is always a good item for an Agility Carry.

FRIENDS
1. An Initiator
(Example: Enigma, Magnus, Earthshaker)
Initaitor will make the opening you need to start attacking the opponents. They have strong skills that will make you to attack pleasantly after they successfully initiate a teamfight

Enigma: Scenario: He jumping into enemy's crowd using Dagger and then he use his Blackhole. While enemies is being sucked, you come out and dealing a massive area damage, and then kill all the enemies
Magnus: Scenario: He jumping into enemy's crowd using Skewer or Dagger and then he use his Reverse Polarity. While enemies is being stunned, you come out and dealing a massive area damage, and then kill all the enemies
Earthshaker: Scenario: You infest him. He jumping into enemy's crowd using Dagger and then he use his Echo Slam. While enemies is being still surprised, you come out and dealing a massive area damage, and then kill all the enemies

2. Supportive Heroes
(Example: Shadow Shaman, Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit)

Supportive heroes have disables and nice skill to helps carries and makes a teamfight easier for the team.

Shadow shaman: Have hex, shackles, and wards to helps you disables enemy

Crystal Maiden: Have 1 lockdown, 1 slower, and have +mana regeneration

Vengeful Spirit: Have stun, swap, and +damage aura

3.  Some heroes that are  4 vs 5 Fighters
Playing with Medusa you need allies who can 4 vs 5 on a teamfight, some heroes like Invoker, Shadow Shaman, or Venomencer will do the works.

Invoker have lots of AoE damages, Shadow shaman have Aoe, damages, 2 disables and Wards, and venomancer have deadly Aoe Poisons and Wards, very good for 4 vs 5 enemies.

ENEMIES
1. Mana Burners & Diffusal Blade
Because of your mana being burned, you have lack of mana for Reicncarnation, very annoying.
(Example: Magina, Ezalor)

Magina: Have Mana Break that will burn your mana with his physical attack
Ezalor: Have mana leak that will reduce your mana the farther you move
Diffusal Blade: Sama as magina, will burn enemy's mana with each physical attack

You have advantages vs. them

2. Cloners

(Example: Naga Siren, Chaos Knight, Phantom Lancer)

You have a very good damage to destroys all clones, so if enemy have clones, kill all the clones using Stone Gaze

VIDEO SECTION

1. The Legendary Medusa Zsmj (Commentary by: Luminous)

Watch this game and you will know the true power of a Medusa.

2. Closer Look on Medusa

Watch this to know more about Medusa.

FANART