Lina - guide to the hottest girl in Dota 2

Lina is a key person in Dota 2. See for yourself: the character originates in Warcraft III as an ordinary unit, and then grows into one of the most iconic MOBA characters.

In the original DotA, Lina appears to us as a reimagining of the sorceress from the Blizzard strategy. Already in those days of Slayer (the title of Lina in the Dota universe), the fiery girl took on the shape that still follows her.

The global changes in DotA did not affect Lina much. The character has almost completely retained its authenticity. Lina in Dota 2 is still a simple at first glance, but far from a thoughtless character to play.

In skillful hands, the heroine can incinerate enemies in solo, but if you hesitate or make a few mistakes, the game will become extremely unpleasant.

A key skill when playing as Lina is proper positioning in a fight. About him, and not only - in our review of the hero.

Variation of Lina in Dota 2

The main advantage of Lina in Dota is variability. A character capable of playing the role of both a position 4-5 support and a midlaner. We are sure that there are adepts who can play Lina in the 1st and 3rd positions, but meeting such is akin to meeting a unicorn.

Be that as it may, in Dota 2 there is always a “classic” build. In the case of Lina, we are talking about a physical build on Lina.

The temptation to hit a magic build is great, especially given the update to Aghanim Scepter in patch 7.32, but we recommend doing this at your own risk and peril. More stability is provided by the “physic” option and playing in the mid lane.

Items and builds for Lina in Dota 2

As mentioned above, there are two builds in total - magical and physical. Below we will talk in detail about the second build option, but we will not completely bypass the magic build.

What Lina needs on abilities:

Aether Lense/Eul/Kaya - "starter" items that allow you to overclock the farm, while participating in fights. You can buy in combination, but don't overdo it: the peak power of items is mid-game.

Aghanim Scepter + Shard is a key combo for the game. Aghanim Scepter gives a new ability that gives a significant boost to spell damage + the ability to be more mobile in a fight. The shard in this combo plays the role of a “fallback” and will allow you to slightly increase the damage from your hand.

Black King Bar/Linken Sphere - will give you the “right to make a mistake” when you get into a “hot situation”.

See below for the situation. In any case, for the late game, we recommend smoothly “getting off” magic damage by adding Skadi, Daedalus and other “canonical items on Lina”.

We will not dwell on the magic Lina in detail yet. Perhaps this will require a separate material, if this one is useful.

A good choice for Lina in any playstyle is to buy the fast Boots of Travel. With the help of them, Lina can quickly replenish mana, with which we often have a problem, and kill packs of enemy creeps very quickly, and in addition to her native movement speed, she gets an incredible movement boost.

After traveling in a physical build, we have a choice between Shadow Blade, Black King Bar and Dragon Lance. But choosing all these artifacts together will not be a mistake, the main thing is to correctly distribute the sequence of their purchase. Closer to the late game, you should pay attention to Daedalus/Silver Edge, Satanic, Eye of Skadi. Situational will be Monkey King Bar, Linken's Sphere, Assault Cuirass. Sometimes you can take Witch Blade, and if you lack control Scythe of Vyse.

Again, in Dota 2, situationality is a very important parameter.

Lina's abilities and leveling in Dota 2

Dragon Slave. The hero unleashes a dragon's breath that deals damage to all enemies in its path. Lina's first ability will be relevant throughout the game, if at the beginning of the game she is most often used to deal damage to enemy heroes, then closer to the mid-game and late game, Dragon Slave does an excellent job of killing a bunch of enemy and jungle creeps.

Light Strike Array. Summons a pillar of flame that stuns and damages enemies. This is our only and main control, at the last level of pumping it stuns for 2.5 seconds, and the cooldown is only 7 seconds. In combination with the first ability, it deals a lot of magic damage, and during the stun of the enemy, we have a window to deal damage from the hand, not to mention the ability to press the ult into a stunned opponent.

Fiery Soul. Increases attack and movement speed whenever the hero hits an enemy with an ability. Ability effects stack with each other. One of the main abilities of Lina, which helps to deal a lot of physical damage. At the last level, we get 280 attack speed, without the upgraded talent at level 20. Combined with the hero's longer attack range, it makes Lina a killing machine.

Laguna Blade. Fires a bolt of lightning at one enemy, dealing devastating damage. Increases Lina's magical damage very much, complements our combination of Dragon Slave + Light Strike Array + hand strikes. At the last level of pumping, it deals 900 damage, and with a talent at level 25, it changes the type of damage from magical to pure.

The order of pumping abilities is as follows. At the first level, we download Dragon Slave (it helps to control the enemy creep-mage and standard-bearer + harass of the opponent's hero), at the second level, we download the passive ability, then again Dragon Slave, at level 4 stun. After that, we focus on the maximum leveling of the first ability, and after its leveling, the maximum of Fiery Soul. Ulta always swing whenever possible (6, 12, 18).

Lina talents in Dota 2

}} +25 damage. The alternative talent for -3.5s Dragon Slave cooldown doesn't seem to be that useful. 25 damage gives Lina a lot with her attack speed.

}} +350 health. Lina with her strength gain of 350 health is like a breath of fresh air, it boosts her a lot. The alternative is also strong, but against the background of additional lives it looks worse.

}} +1/+1% haste per Fiery Soul effect. The unequivocal choice of this talent, the alternative in the form of +11% spell damage is taken in the assembly of magical Lina, but our task is to give out a lot of damage from our hand.

}} Pure damage from Laguna Blade. At level 25, there are no talents to improve Lina in terms of physical damage, so we take a more pleasant one for us. In the late game, dealing 900 pure damage with the ability is good damage.

How to win on Lina in Dota 2

At the beginning of the game, we need to confidently defend mid, since we have everything for this. Our abilities + attack range are great for winning most matchups. If something goes wrong, we always have the option to comeback through the jungle and push lanes, we just need to stock up on Clarity to restore mana. In the mid-game we farm lanes, break towers if possible and take profitable fights in which it is desirable to act as the second number, Lina does not like when the enemy team focuses on her. With the purchase of Shadow Blade, we can do solo kills, but we need to be careful with this, because just a few deaths can greatly affect our chance of victory. Ideally, you need to have overfarm on enemy heroes. In the late game, we continue to act as the second number, you need to start fights yourself only in ideal scenarios, and in all other situations, stand behind your team and do tons of damage.

Note

Keep an eye on the mini-map and use the potential of Boots of Speed at 100%, don't ignore fights with the team, sometimes they can bring a lot, but don't forget about killing creeps.

Matchups for Lina in Doya 2

Let's consider and write down in the table the heroes that can become a nuisance for Lina in the mid lane, or vice versa, who do little for our hero.

Which of the players can learn how to play Lina in Dota 2

I advise you to look at Quinn, NotsingToSay, Paparazzi and Stormstormer. It is these players who demonstrate a high level of play on Lina and quite often play her both in pubs and in pro matches. Copying their playstyle is not a mistake.