How to Medusa?

[Emi]

From all of the heroes in Dota 2, there is this hero I never really understand about. The hard carry Medusa.

People say she is easy to play and I tried to pick her few times but I messed most of the matches. it seems like I deal no damage at all and always died first in teamfight. Compared to another hard carry like Mercurial, I can contribute alot to my team by just having a vanguard. I read guide and it wasn't really help at all.

If you guys could give me tips to play her, how to be effective with her, please don't mind to share.
Thank you.

[Deepbluediver]

Farm, farm, farm some more. What exactly you build varies slightly depending on who else is on your team but straigh stats are almost never bad so Skadi is a popular item in almost any build.

[Emi]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Deepbluediver:

Farm, farm, farm some more. What exactly you build varies slightly depending on who else is on your team but straigh stats are almost never bad so Skadi is a popular item in almost any build.

Oh from what you stated, seems like she need a TON of farm to be effective. This kind of hero will be really hard in my bracket when we have 4 men carry most of the time.

[Woody]

I go aquila, treads, pike, skadi, butterfly, bloodthorne most of the time. 0,4,4,0 skill build at lvl 8. Early game spam snake to push wave and harras enemy. Midgame either group with team to push or farm in safe places. Late game sit front and center of a fight tanking damage and out putting loads.

Talents;

lvl 10; 15 damage
lvl 15; whichever you think is best that game
lvl 20; 600 mana
lvl 25; 25% lifesteal

Little tip some jungle camps and ancients have 2 or more creeps with mana so you can gain mana by using snake on them.

[Deepbluediver]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SatayAyam:

Oh from what you stated, seems like she need a TON of farm to be effective. This kind of hero will be really hard in my bracket when we have 4 men carry most of the time.

It depends in large part for who your up against, but yes that's true. From what I've heard, Medusa is one of the hardest carries in the game, right up there with CK and Spectre. This isn't to say she can't be usefull before being 6-slotted, just that her performance increases exponentially with the amount of gold she can invest.

[Emi]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Woody:

I go aquila, treads, pike, skadi, butterfly, bloodthorne most of the time. 0,4,4,0 skill build at lvl 8. Early game spam snake to push wave and harras enemy. Midgame either group with team to push or farm in safe places. Late game sit front and center of a fight tanking damage and out putting loads.

Talents;

lvl 10; 15 damage
lvl 15; whichever you think is best that game
lvl 20; 600 mana
lvl 25; 25% lifesteal

Little tip some jungle camps and ancients have 2 or more creeps with mana so you can gain mana by using snake on them.

Thank you sir for your tips. I will try the build you stated above. I never get bloodthorn for Dusa. Def should try.

[Krpa]

Pretty much why I avoid playing dusa. It takes ages to be relevant.

[Emi]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Deepbluediver:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SatayAyam:

Oh from what you stated, seems like she need a TON of farm to be effective. This kind of hero will be really hard in my bracket when we have 4 men carry most of the time.

It depends in large part for who your up against, but yes that's true. From what I've heard, Medusa is one of the hardest carries in the game, right up there with CK and Spectre. This isn't to say she can't be usefull before being 6-slotted, just that her performance increases exponentially with the amount of gold she can invest.

I have met really good Dusa's players in my bracket and yes she is really scary at late game with full 6 slots. But most of Dusa I met are bad cus teams don't understand her potential and she doesn't get enough farm.

[Emi]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Keba:

Pretty much why I avoid playing dusa. It takes ages to be relevant.

Your ancient falls first before you get enough farm XD

[Krpa]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SatayAyam:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Keba:

Pretty much why I avoid playing dusa. It takes ages to be relevant.

Your ancient falls first before you get enough farm XD

Pretty much. xD

[Deepbluediver]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SatayAyam:

I have met really good Dusa's players in my bracket and yes she is really scary at late game with full 6 slots. But most of Dusa I met are bad cus teams don't understand her potential and she doesn't get enough farm.

I normally build Medusa tanky, that way I don't have to worry about ganks and I can focus on slowly wearing down the enemy while my team pours on the damage. It was only recently where I was in a match and I was informed that it was my fault we lost because I didn't build damage items. Silly me, assuming the Sven and Shadow Fiend would provide the damage. Instead I ended up surviving the teamfights while they died instantly, but then I couldn't do enough damage to stop the enemy Spectre from taking our Rax.

https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/3030859936

[Krpa]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Deepbluediver:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von SatayAyam:

I have met really good Dusa's players in my bracket and yes she is really scary at late game with full 6 slots. But most of Dusa I met are bad cus teams don't understand her potential and she doesn't get enough farm.

I normally build Medusa tanky, that way I don't have to worry about ganks and I can focus on slowly wearing down the enemy while my team pours on the damage. It was only recently where I was in a match and I was informed that it was my fault we lost because I didn't build damage items. Silly me, assuming the Sven and Shadow Fiend would provide the damage. Instead I ended up surviving the teamfights while they died instantly, but then I couldn't do enough damage to stop the enemy Spectre from taking our Rax.

https://www.dotabuff.com/matches/3030859936

Sven doing damage? Are you mad?

[Deepbluediver]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Keba:

Are you mad?

I was a little upset but normally I try not to let things like that get to me.
:P

[Apocalypse]

I might probably be the right person to answer this, probably.

[Apocalypse]

Well, first and foremost, the best lane that you can go to is the mid.

While leveling up, give highest priority to mystic snake and then to Mana shield. But definetly get your ultimate. Under no circumstace must you skip the ultimate.

Why is that so? Well, you are pretty weak early game, even though you have a mana shield and an insane harass ability. Your stone gaze isn't an offesive skill early game, it is to protect you from ganks, therefore always keep enough mana for Stone gaze, a bottle will be of great help for this, so will be your mystic snake. Many times, I have escaped ganks and got a tripple kill in return for this.



Items: Well, get an Aquila and boots of your preference, some go for PTboots, I prefer Phase because, sometimes that extra speed might come in handy, so will taht damage during your ultimate. Linken is almost always a must, unless there is a PA or a Bristleback or similar hero in the other team, the mana regen is still good. Else you can go for Bloodstone. Common items are Butterfly, Mjolnir, Manta. Schythe, Skadi (double skadi isn't that great) and DragoinLance. EBlade is a very good item in some games, even though it is still tricky to use it. Even with this much games as Medusa, I generally avoid EBlade, but I have to admit that it is still very good item.



You generally wont need to farm jungle, if you play it right, and you will be combat ready by minute 21.

If you want extra mana from neutral camps, mystic snake om Satyr camp, thats quick and easy. Or you can kill both the bigger stone golems and mystic snake the smaller stone golem for maximum mana steal.



Why Schythe of Vyse? Well, this is to counter some particluar heroes with mana break abilities, like Antimage, OD (Medusa's biggest counter ever), and Nyx. It gives you some time for some free hits and you can couple it with your stone gaze for extra time. Pretty much no one would survive that.



There are many other things, but I guess you are good to go with just this much.



Talent Tree, yes :



Get the extra intelligence

Get the attack speed

Get the extra split shot

Get the life steal.

[U C A N I U S]

First of all, understand the hero.
Medusa is a mana dependant hero. Get many ultimate orbs! Linken, skali are some. Why? the orbs give you stats unlike those boosters.

Do not solo fight in early game.
Medusa lack damage in early game, try to gank with your team.

Builds (2:2:1:1 by Level 6)
Mystic Snake + Split arrows give you the farm in lane. She is a laning hero. Phase boots give you slightly more damage to farm better as well.

Mana shield
She lacks mana in early game without a linken, so do not keep mana shield on in fights, she OOM in seconds. At level 15, +600 mana talent makes you tanky with mana shield on.

Mid game
Builds (3/4/2/1) somewhere in mid game. Max snakes first.

Late game
Keep mana shield on. You are the tank. Move front and center of team. Do not use ult unless they full on charge your team.

Remember these rules and you can bloody carry your team with medusa every game. Unless your team is full of feeders and noobs!