Lina is another of Dota’s original heroes that remain largely unchanged in gameplay. Sure, there are a few additions to her abilities and how they work here and there. But she’s remained relatively the same since IceFrog and co. first conceived her. Now, the addition of several new items as well as changes into Dota 2 did change a few things on her general playstyle.
Thus, we’re going to talk a bit about Lina in Dota 2, and how to make the most out of gameplay with this hero.
Who Is Lina in Dota 2?
The Legend
Lina the Slayer and Rylai the Crystal Maiden are siblings, with the former being younger than the other. However, there’s no love lost between the two of them, and their spats are a thing of legend. Their lovely temperate home is usually beset by their rivalry, constantly being flash-frozen or set ablaze. Their parents, annoyed at their two children not getting along, decide to separate them for everyone’s safety.
Lina is the clever one of the two and is the more belligerent. She’s incredibly willful, but it’s tempered by her cunning. When she and her sister are separated, she is sent to an aunt in the desert of Misrule, whose temperatures are naught but comfy for the blazing woman. Her arrival in the desert was marked by a rather blazing entrance of chaos, and once she bloomed into adulthood—more than a few suitors were sent away with scorched fingers and burnt pride. Lina after all is like a roaring flame, beautiful to gaze at, hard to touch. And it’ll take a lot more than that to stop her flame from burning brighter.
Type of Hero
Lina the Slayer is an intelligent main stat hero that fights from a range with burning fireballs and other flame-related abilities. She excels in burning opponents to cinders by high burst damage from her abilities. This makes her one of the more terrifying ganking heroes in the game. Because a well-placed stun from Light Strike Array can set up to a powerful Dragon Slave + Laguna Blade Combo. She’s one of the most flexible heroes in Dota 2 when it comes to her role in-game.
What Are the Skills of Lina in Dota 2?
Dragon Slave
Misrule, Lina’s home, is a scorched barren, enough to bore someone. It’s here that Lina took the breath of a Desert Wyrm and made it her own. For power? No, purely to amuse herself.
Lina sends a wave of fiery death in the shape of a dragon forward, scorching enemies to ash.
Notes:
- Dragon Slave has a speed of 1200. This means it takes 0.9 seconds to travel the full distance of the spell before it vanishes. The area that the attack encompasses is shaped like a cone and hits up to 1275 units away.
- Dragon Slave dels 85/160/235/310 damage, costs 100/115/130/145 MP, and has a cooldown of 8 seconds. With Talents, this cooldown is reduced to 5.5 seconds.
Light Strike Array
Lina is pretty much fire itself. Her very essence allows her to channel the energies of the sun, causing the air around an area to combust itself.
Lina summons a pillar of flame that scorches enemies and stuns them for a few seconds.
Notes:
- Light Strike Array has a stun duration of 1.6/1.9/2.2/2.5 seconds and damages for 80/130/180/230 damage per level. With talents, the damage is increased to 210/260/310/360.
- Light Strike Array’s stun is applied first before damaging the enemy.
Fiery Soul
Lina’s nature is embodied by a blazing flame, dancing in the days and nights.
Lina gains bonus movement speed and attack speed every time she uses one of her spells. This bonus lasts for 12 seconds.
Notes:
- Fiery Soul stacks 3 times. Lina gains stacks of Fiery Soul every time she casts Light Strike Array, Dragon Slave, and Laguna Blade.
- The buff refreshes every time Lina casts a spell while adding a new stack. However, she doesn’t gain a stack when using item abilities.
- It’s theoretically possible to always have maximum stacks of Fiery Soul active. However, it’ll cost Lina absurd amounts of MP to recast Light Strike Array and Dragon Slave enough times to keep the buff active, making it unfeasible.
Laguna Blade
Lina’s flames burn so strong that the air around her turns into white-hot lightning. This is usually enough to turn her foes to dust.
Lina’s flames are so strong she can shoot lightning that would make you wonder if she’s a Sith. She fires a bolt of concentrated lightning towards an enemy, dealing incredible damage.
Notes:
- Laguna Blade deals 500/700/900 damage towards a single enemy within a 600 cast radius. This damage is Magical damage but is changed to Pure Damage when she’s equipped with Aghanim’s Scepter. This allows Laguna Blade to cut through Spell Immune units as well.
- The spell can be further upgraded with Aghanim’s Shard, which increases its cast range by 250. In addition to this, it also hits any unit on the way to its destination, dealing full damage. Due to this, Laguna Blade with Aghanim’s Shard can damage enemies that have Linken’s Sphere.
What Are the Talents of Lina in Dota 2?
| Level 10 |
|
| Level 15 |
|
| Level 20 |
|
| Level 25 |
|
How to Play as Lina in Dota 2? (7.30b)
General Play Style
Lina is an incredibly potent hero in any role she plays. However, she excels in a semi-carry/carry/support role. In her Semi-Carry role, she’s more of a ganker, flitting in and out of lanes to pick off enemies that are low HP. Carry Lina operates similarly, but usually stays in lanes more to farm gold and EXP for the fights to come. However, she’s not that popular as a carry, as she’s incredibly squishy and is prone to be ganked herself.
Meanwhile, Support Lina is more focused on ensuring that the enemy carry is having the worst time possible. She steals enemy camps, harasses them to the point of leaving, and overall just ensuring that the lane is untenable for them. In this case, it’s usually a good idea to focus more on magical damage rather than physical damage. Having high MP helps this playstyle as it allows her to spam as many of her skills as possible. Combine that with Neutral items that reduce cooldowns and you have a game.
Suggested Skill Progression
Depending on the playstyle, you can either go for Light Strike Array or Dragon Slave. Depending on the situation, you can either annoy the ever-living hell out of your opponent with Light Strike Array. This allows Lina to shut them down for a few seconds, robbing them of precious last hits and EXP. On the other hand, you can go for the aggressive route and get Dragon Slave, last hitting as many enemy creeps as possible and chipping away at the enemy hero. You don’t go Fiery Soul at Level 1, ever. It’s useless until you can use your abilities.
Lastly, always prioritize getting Laguna Blade as fast as possible. This allows Lina to shred enemies in the early game as most heroes don’t have spell immunity at level 6. A Light Strike Array followed by a few auto attacks and a Laguna Blade is usually enough to kill someone. When ganking or team fighting, always ensure that you have Laguna Blade and Light Strike Array available. These two abilities can erase an unlucky support/carry.
Suggested Talent Build
Talent-wise, it’s usually a good idea to get the -2.5 Dragon Slave Cooldown and +130 Light Strike Array damage first. Come Level 20 though, and you have a choice to make. If you’re going for a Physical Damage Lina, getting the +30/2% Fiery Soul per Stack Talent is best. You then follow this by getting the additional +150 Attack Range. This makes Lina a machine gun of Physical Damage, especially if paired with items like Daedalus or Desolator.
However, if you’re going for the Magical Route, it’s a different story. This time, you’re going for the additional spell amplification and reduced Laguna Blade cooldown. This makes Lina into a Nuke of Absolute Destruction, frying enemies to a crisp with a Light Strike Array – Dragon Slave – Laguna Blade combo.
Suggested Items
Due to Lina having the ability to deal physical and magic damage, the suggested items are divided into two sections. You can mix and match items, of course, with no issue. But it’s usually a good idea to pick something and stick with it. Unless it’s Aghanim’s Scepter, that Pure Damage conversion is just too good to not get.
Physical Damage Lina Item Build
Start of Game
- Mantle of Intelligence 2x
Gives Lina additional stats in intelligence which helps in her damage and MP stores and regeneration. This is also one of the items needed for Null Talisman, one of the best early game items for Lina to get. - Faerie Fire
An item that gives Lina additional attack damage in addition to healing her. However, do note that using Faerie Fire as a healing item will consume it. The additional attack is great for the early game last hitting in addition to being an emergency HP restoration item. - Circlet
Another good stat boost for Lina in addition to being one of the items needed for Null Talisman. This makes it one of the more necessary items for Lina in the early game. - Iron Branch
A good stat booster for the early game in addition to being one of the items needed for Magic Wand. It’s also a good way for Lina to consume her Tango as it creates a tree for Tango use. - Tango
Lina needs to have some healing items since her abilities are made for pure offense. Unfortunately, she can’t spare much gold to get a few Tango and thus will have to rely on her teammates to give her some.
Early Game
- Null Talisman 2x
An easily built item that gives Lina good stats for the early game. In addition to this, she can easily sell it to get better items later on. - Bottle
Helps Lina’s long-term survivability with a refillable HP and MP regen item. It also allows her to pick up Bounty and River Runes which refills the bottle. This allows Lina to stay in the lanes longer, and to be a nuisance to her enemy in lanes. - Magic Wand
The obvious addition once Magic Stick is purchased. This allows Lina to stay in the lanes longer. This is because every enemy spell gives this item a charge that increases the HP and MP restoration it gives. The longer she stays, the more charges it accumulates until it maxes out, healing Lina a substantial amount in the early game. - Phase Boots
A great item to have on Physical Damage Lina as it increases her attack damage.
Mid-Game
- Shadow Blade
Helps Lina in sneaking up towards unaware enemies, allowing her to cast Light Strike Array for maximum surprise. In addition, it’s a great way for Lina to escape ganks, as she doesn’t have any way to do this on her abilities. - Eul’s Scepter of Divinity
Allows Lina to send enemies high in the air in preparation for Light Strike Array. In addition, it gives her great MP increase as well as MP Regeneration and increases her movement speed. - Blink Dagger
Has similar functionalities to Shadow Blade, with the ability to teleport Lina into and away from the battle. It’s usually redundant to get this item if you have Shadow Blade, but it’s also a good idea to be safe than sorry. - Crystalis
For players that want to take advantage of Fiery Soul, Crystalis is a great item to have as it gives her Critical Damage. In addition to this, it’s one of the items to get Daedalus, one of the most powerful Critical Damage items in the game. - Dragon Lance
Gives Lina decent stats in addition to increasing her attack range, which synergizes well with Carry Lina. It’s also one of the items that make up Hurricane Pike, a great item to have for Lina players who want to be safe when attacking enemies.
Late Game
- Assault Cuirass
Gives Lina some much-needed armor in addition to increasing her attack speed. A great item that synergizes well with Fiery Soul. - Hurricane Pike
Another escape item for Lina in addition to giving her the ability to attack enemies from afar. - Boots of Travel
Helps Lina in ensuring she’s always in the battle in time with the ability to teleport on allies. Once upgraded, she can even teleport on ally heroes. - Black King Bar
A safety measure against magic damage, especially since Lina is vulnerable to high damage abilities. Lina’s low HP is a great hindrance, so having BKB is a good idea. - Desolator
Allows Lina to shred enemy armor, allowing her normal attacks to hit harder. Combined with Fiery Soul, and the enemy’s armor is shredded, allowing Lina to finish them off faster. - Bloodthorn
Allows Lina to silence enemy heroes in addition to dealing an absurd amount of damage to them. Perfect for ambushes and for dealing with pesky spell-slinging heroes like Razor or Viper. Still not enough to kill them properly though. - Linken’s Sphere
Gives Lina additional stats as well as Spell Block, which blocks spells targeting her every 12 seconds. This can be a great lifesaver, especially against enemies with targetable spells. - Daedalus
Pretty much a better version of Crystalis, with better critical damage, and more base damage to add to Lina.
NoteYou can buy Aghanim’s Scepter for Physical Damage Lina as well. However, this item has more benefits on Magic Damage Lina due to her propensity for spamming spells.
Magic Damage Lina Item Build
The Magic Damage build has a few items similar to the Physical Damage build, particularly in the early game. The build diverges mostly on the mid to late-game. So we’ll just list the items you need on the start and early game, and save the explanations on the mid to late-game items.
Start of Game
- Mantle of Intelligence 2x
- Faerie Fire
- Circlet
- Iron Branch
- Tango
Early Game
- Null Talisman 2x
- Bottle
- Magic Wand
- Eul’s Scepter of Divinity
- Arcane Boots
Mid-Game
This is the start of the differences between Magic Damage and Physical Damage Lina. This is because Magic Damage Lina is more focused on spell damage, which means more mana consumption. This allows her to have the MP spam her abilities willy nilly in the early game. In addition to this, Arcane Boots can be disassembled to create Aether Lens later on, with the boots being used for Boots of Travel.
- Boots of Travel
- Blink Dagger
- Aether Lens – gives Lina the ability to cast her spells from farther away. This is especially great for Light Strike Array ambushes and Laguna Blade attacks on fleeing enemies. It’s also one of the items needed for Octarine Core, one of Magic Damage Lina’s greatest items.
- Aghanim’s Scepter/Shard/Blessing – can turn Laguna Blade into a weapon of mass destruction. It changes the way it works in such a fundamental way and pretty much destroys low HP enemies that Lina encounters.
Aghanim’s Shard is particularly great as any enemy that’s on the path of Laguna Blade is also hit by it, dealing full damage. And if Aghanim’s Scepter is already there, the damage type is now Pure and pierces Spell Immunity.
Late Game
- Linken’s Sphere
- Black King Bar
- Bloodstone – gives Lina additional HP and MP regeneration in addition to boosting her overall stats. It also grows in potency every time an enemy hero is killed near Lina. Do be careful though, as dying will make Lina lose 3 charges of Bloodstone.
- Octarine Core – gives Lina more stat boosts in addition to retaining the increased spell range. It also gives her Spell Lifesteal, giving her more survivability.
- Shiva’s Guard – the alternative for Assault Cuirass for the Magic Damage build. It gives Lina additional MP Regen and armor, as well as an active ability that releases a wave of frost that slows and damages enemies.
- Yasha and Kaya – give Lina additional movement speed and Spell Amplification, increasing her damage. It also gives her additional MP regeneration, stats, and attack speed.
- Ethereal Blade – pretty much Lina’s luxury item. It allows her to increase the damage of her nukes, and slow enemies down so that she can kill them. It’s also a good way to escape ganks from Physical damage carries.
When Do You Pick Lina in Dota 2?
You pick Lina on two different occasions. The first is that you and your team want a great magic nuke that turns enemies into ash, that’s Carry Lina. The other is that you want a good way to initiate fights and gank enemy lanes for kills, that’s Support Lina.
Either way, she can excel on those jobs and be a great addition to any team comp on Dota 2. Just make sure that you can keep up the pace of her spells.
Heroes Countered by Lina in Dota 2
Heroes with Low HP
Any heroes with low HP like Ancient Apparition or Crystal Maiden are in immediate danger the moment Lina gets her Laguna Blade. The combo will instantly turn their HP into nothing.
Enchantress
Enchantress is a great hero that can slow down attacks using her Untouchable. However, Fiery Soul allows Lina to mitigate the slow, and she’s easily destroyed by Laguna Blade thanks to her low HP. In addition, she’s also great for clearing Enchantress’ creep that she charmed into her service.
Necrophos
Laguna Blade can slice through Necrophos’ Ghost Shroud and deal with him easily.
Treant Protector
Treant Protector needs trees to turn invisible. Unfortunately for him, Lina’s Light Strike Array and Dragon Slave destroy trees.
Pudge
Pudge’s Dismember can be stopped by using Light Strike Array. In addition, a Physical Damage Lina can easily chip down Pudge’s HP with the use of Fiery Soul.
Counters Against Lina in Dota 2
Faceless Void
Faceless Void can easily mitigate the damage that Lina deals by using Time Walk. In addition, she’s a prime target for his Chronosphere, which can destroy low HP heroes if Faceless Void is fast enough.
Phantom Lancer
Phantom Lancer can easily dodge Lina’s abilities with the proper use of Doppelganger. In addition, the sheer amount of clones can easily confuse Lina and prevent her from using her high damage spells like Laguna Blade. Lastly, Phantom Lancer builds Diffusal Blade, which will reduce Lina’s MP to 0, preventing her from using her spells.
Slark
Slark’s Dark Pact can be cast before Light Strike Array hits him, which will activate when he’s stunned and dispels it. In addition, Slark has several great methods of closing in on Lina, while also stopping her from using her various spells. Special mention goes to Shadow Dance, as it allows Slark to escape from Lina’s Laguna Blade.
Silencer
Silencer’s abilities are a natural counter for heroes that rely on spells. This is especially true for Lina as she needs to use her spells to ramp up the damage, even on Physical Damage builds. His Last Word and Global Silence renders her incapable of casting, while Arcane Curse discourages ability usage as it’ll damage her when she does.
Spectre
Spectre, like Slark, has great ways of closing in on Lina through the use of Spectral Dagger and Haunt. In addition, Lina is in great danger against Spectre due to her Desolate and Dispersion abilities.
Also Read: Dota 2: Spectre Tips & Tricks for New Players (7.30b)
Razor
Razor is an especially tanky hero that builds items that increases his armor. This allows him to survive Lina’s attacks. In addition, Static Link is a great counter for Physical Damage Lina as it reduces her normal attack damage to near 0.
Sven
Sven has high HP, even in the early game. In addition to this, it’s pretty easy for Sven to kill Lina quickly due to his high damage output. He’s also a hero that builds Black King Bar, which immediately invalidates Lina’s abilities. Well, other than Laguna Blade if she has Aghanim’s Scepter, but she’s probably dead by that point.
