Queen of the North

Born in a temperate realm, raised with her fiery older sister Lina, Rylai the Crystal Maiden soon found that her innate elemental affinity to ice created trouble for all those around her. Wellsprings and mountain rivers froze in moments if she stopped to rest nearby; ripening crops were bitten by frost, and fruiting orchards turned to mazes of ice and came crashing down, spoiled. When their exasperated parents packed Lina off to the equator, Rylai found herself banished to the cold northern realm of Icewrack, where she was taken in by an Ice Wizard who had carved himself a hermitage at the crown of the Blueheart Glacier. After long study, the wizard pronounced her ready for solitary practice and left her to take his place, descending into the glacier to hibernate for a thousand years. Her mastery of the Frozen Arts has only deepened since that time, and now her skills are unmatched...

Hero

Rylai, the Crystal Maiden, is a ranged intelligence hero who uses the power of frost and ice to cope with her foes.Renowned as a well-balanced hard support, Crystal Maiden possesses strong nukes and disables that allow her to apply strong slows to enemies. Crystal Nova is a powerful area-of-effect nuke that slows both attack and movement speeds of enemies within an area for several seconds, while Frostbite encases an enemy in a block of ice for several seconds, immobilizing them and dealing moderate damage per second. Combining these two abilities together along with a laning partner's own spells is often enough to bring an enemy hero to their knees. Her Arcane Aura passive will also regenerate mana for Rylai and her allies, greatly boosting their ability to cast spells in the early game. Although her strong early game presence can be countered by her extreme frailty and poor mobility, she can still inflict a heavy amount of damage in teamfights later on if she is able to channel her deadly ultimate, Freezing Field. Her global mana aura, strong disabling and nuking prowess, simple spell layout, and almost complete lack of item dependence make Crystal Maiden a reliable support caster that can be a strong asset to any team, and judicious use of her ultimate allows her to lay waste to her enemies when used properly. With protection from her team and appropriate item selection, she can be the only support any team needs.

History

• Rylai is one of the oldest heroes from the original DotA in Reign of Chaos DotA. Her title used to be Frost Maiden.
  
• Rylai's name in Warcraft DotA was Rylai Crestfall. Her surname was removed in the transition to Dota 2 for the implementation of her sibling rivalry with Lina.
  
• Crystal Maiden's Arcane Aura used to be named Brilliance Aura.
  
• In early versions of DotA, Crystal Maiden and Lich used to share the same Frost Blast ability (although they were both named Frost Nova). However, in later updates, Crystal Maiden's Frost Nova was changed to Crystal Nova, turning it into a free-cast area-of-effect ability, while Lich kept the original effects.
  
• In Warcraft DotA, Crystal Maiden's Frostbite can freeze the enemy's Fountain and the duration was counted as creep.
  
• League of Legends features an item called Rylai's Crystal Scepter, a homage to the Crystal Maiden from the original DotA.
  
• In World of Warcraft an alliance NPC is named Rylai Crestfall, a homage to the original Crystal Maiden from Warcraft III's DotA.
  
• Crystal Maiden's leveling-up response Play "Is it cold in here or is it just me?" is a reference to the action movie Demolition Man.
  
• Crystal Maiden's respawning line Play "You only live ice..." is a reference to the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice based on the novel of the same name.
  
• Crystal Maiden's line Play "It's all fun and games until someone's frozen solid." is a reference to a novel written by Christopher Brookmyre entitled All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye.
  
• Crystal Maiden's rare response Play "Can you guess my... favorite poet?" is a reference to Robert Frost due to his last name.

Abilities

Crystal Nova is a large area of effect nuke that also slows enemies' movement and attack speed. Crystal Nova's long cast range and wide radius allows Rylai to hit enemies 1125 units away (700 casting range + 425 radius), making it a strong initiating slow that can hinder enemies' attempts to run away so that Crystal Maiden and her teammates can more easily pursue. In teamfights, cast Crystal Nova early on, as the movement speed slow can hinder enemies' movements and set up spells for teammates, while the attack speed slow can reduce their ability to fight. Its low cooldown allows Rylai to cast it multiple times over the course of an engagement, so casting it early in a teamfight will give it more time to come off cooldown to be used as a supplementary nuke and slow afterward. Crystal Nova provides ground vision in its casting radius for a short duration. This allows it to be used to scout high-ground areas, particularly for checking elevated cliffs for enemy wards or inside Roshan's pit.



Frostbite roots the target enemy while also disarming them and dealing damage over time. Frostbite can be a strong disable due to its ability to instantly immobilize an enemy. It also interrupts channeling abilities by applying a mini-stun upon cast. While it does not prevent enemies from casting spells, it can inhibit True Blink abilities, as well as Charge of Darkness and Phase Shift. Depending on the enemy lineup, maxing out Frostbite first can give Crystal Maiden's team an edge in fights. Frostbite lasts 10 seconds on creeps, no matter what level it is. This can be useful for jungling on the side as it will always deal 1,000 magic damage to neutrals, and can be useful for rooting enemy-controlled creeps during fights. Frostbite's up-time increases drastically as it is leveled, as the cooldown decreases in tandem with the disable duration's increase. At level 4, it is possible to keep an enemy rooted for 50% of the time, so staying alive in teamfights can allow Crystal Maiden to severely hinder right-clicking carries if they have no method with which to prevent her from casting it.


Arcane Aura provides a global aura that replenishes teammates' mana over time, with the bonus doubling for Crystal Maiden herself. Arcane Aura benefits the whole team greatly in the laning stage, as allies with strong nukes or disables can cast their spells profligately to gain a lane advantage. Even past the laning stage, at max level it restores more mana than using Arcane Boots on all teammates globally whenever it is off cooldown, which allows all allied heroes, especially those with small mana pools, to cast spells much more frequently. It is wise to get at least one level of Arcane Aura in the early game. As Rylai's low base intelligence greatly limits her ability to cast her disables during the laning stage, having some form of early mana replenishment goes a long way towards improving her ganking prowess. When choosing when to level up Arcane Aura, you should bear in mind your team's composition, as well as that of the enemy. If the enemy has numerous mana-destroying spells or your team can benefit from the mana regen in-lane, then taking at least a couple early levels can give your team the freedom to use their spells more frequently. However, bear in mind that this comes at the cost of having fewer skill points in your disables in the early game, weakening your ability to gank enemies.


Freezing Field is a channeled spell that summons a blizzard around Crystal Maiden, greatly slowing all enemies while dealing heavy damage over time. Freezing Field is an incredibly strong area nuking spell that deals more damage the closer an enemy is. However, it can be unpredictable and can be easily interrupted by Crystal Maiden's enemies if cast at the wrong time. Freezing Field also consumes a lot of mana at higher levels, so use it sparingly. Freezing Field must be used at the right time to avoid interruption and being focused. Generally speaking, in an encounter it is best used after the initial nuking phase, when the enemy's stuns are on cooldown. If your team has an initiator with the capability to disable a group of enemies, such as Ravage or Black Hole, Freezing Field should be used in tandem with their mass disable. Using Freezing Field very often results in Rylai's death if cast out in the open, and she rarely is able to channel it for its full duration, but if she can maintain it even for a few seconds it will be useful for her team. When positioning yourself to cast your ultimate, try to utilize trees and high ground as cover if the option presents itself. By shielding yourself in the fog of war, the enemy loses the ability to use targeted stuns to interrupt you, increasing the odds of channeling the spell for a longer duration. Freezing Field can be used as a supplementary slow after Crystal Nova in a teamfight. Stacking the two slows together can reduce enemy movement speed by 50-80%. Even if Freezing Field is quickly interrupted, the slows and damage can greatly inhibit the enemy and give Crystal Maiden's team an opportunity to catch the enemy with further area disables and nukes. In general, it is not recommended to level up Freezing Field every time it is available, as it is highly situational and increases drastically in mana cost as it's skilled more. However, its slow and gigantic (if unpredictable) damage can be very useful in early game, especially against enemies that lack the means to interrupt it, so taking one point in it early on and leaving it at level 1 until much later can give you access to the ultimate while preserving your mana pool and freeing up your skill points for other abilities. Overall, let your decision be informed by the enemy lineup as well as laning composition. When ganking, it is important to layer your disables, even among your own spells. While Crystal Nova's cooldown prevents it from being used too often in an engagement, Frostbite's 6 second cooldown at max level allows you to cast it twice in quick succession. The most effective way to disable a target is to Frostbite them first, and then apply Crystal Nova right before its duration ends. The slow from Crystal Nova can prevent an enemy from moving too far before Frostbite comes off of cooldown, which can be cast again before the slow debuff expires.

Gameplay

Crystal Maiden is an efficient support who specializes in slowing enemies. Her highly valued Arcane Aura increases mana regeneration for all her teammates, while she remains effective throughout the game with very little items. In large fights, she can channel a Freezing Field to obliterate enemies over a wide area, along with using Frostbite to target individuals. However, Crystal Maiden is quite fragile even compared to other supports, and is one of the slowest heroes in the game. Crystal Maiden is a well-rounded support who possesses good early-game disabling and roaming capability. She is also an easy hero to learn, as her abilities are straightfoward and give her team strong disabling and nuking potential. Like most intelligence casters, Crystal Maiden is extremely squishy and easy to kill if focused down by the enemy. This is further exacerbated by her low base movement speed, tied with Invoker for the second-lowest base movement speed in the game. Due to her strong disable potential, she can most effectively mitigate this and by building mobility items that give her a measure of escape, since it doubles to give her initiation potential. Because her abilities are strongest in the laning stage of a match, Crystal Maiden can greatly aid her team by being extremely active on the map as early as possible. Crystal Maiden is most often played as her team's hard support, babysitting her safe lane carry and purchasing the support items for her team. Because she does not require farm in order to be effective, she can afford to spend most of a match with few items more than basic boots and a Town Portal Scroll. Rylai's strong disable repertoire makes her a very strong early roamer, as she can disable and nuke down enemies in order to secure kills in the laning stage.

Bad Against

Hero	Name	Explanation
	Ancient Apparition	Cold Feet stun is more likely to proc on slower targets - that includes Crystal Maiden. It can also be used to discourage full channel of Freezing Field. Ice Vortex can be used to reveal a Crystal Maiden who is trying to hide out of line of sight, and can negate the Magic Resistance granted from Glimmer Cape. Ice Blast is very easy to land on a Crystal Maiden who is busy channeling Freezing Field. Ancient Apparition likes to stay far away from the fight, and is less likely to get caught out by Crystal Maiden's spells.
	Bristleback	Viscous Nasal Goo can hinder Crystal Maiden's already abysmal mobility, which allows Bristleback (or his teammates) to run her down and kill her. Bristleback frequently builds Blade Mail, which can quickly kill Crystal Maiden if her ultimate is used while he is under its effect. The passive part of Bristleback ability will trigger many, many times under the damage from Freezing Field, and as the stacks increase, the damage output from each successive cast (or proc) will eat away at Crystal Maiden's small HP pool.
	Clockwerk	Battery Assault, Power Cogs, and Hookshot can interrupt Freezing Field, the latter two being able to go through invisibility should Crystal Maiden use Glimmer Cape. Rocket Flare can be used to find Crystal Maiden should she try to hide in the trees to try to safely cast Freezing Field Hookshot allows Clockwerk to easily close in on Crystal Maiden and kill her.
	Doom	Doom alone can easily pick off Crystal Maiden since she is fairly fragile, even using only auto-attacks and Infernal Blade / Scorched Earth. Doom prevents her from using any abilities in a fight, making her impact negligible. Devour allows Doom to acquire a stun, allowing him to cancel Freezing Field even without committing Doom
	Earth Spirit	Boulder Smash and Geomagnetic Grip allow Earth Spirit to easily disrupt Freezing Field, regardless of where Crystal Maiden is due to their incredible range. Earth Spirit is quite possibly the best hero for stopping long channeling abilities, and Crystal Maiden is vulnerable to him without a Black King Bar. All of Earth Spirit's spells allow him to easily close in on Crystal Maiden and kill her. Since she is a low health support, she generally stays behind in teamfights, but Earth Spirit can easily close the distance. Crystal Maiden has low movement speed and no other escape mechanism, rendering her extremely vulnerable to Earth Spirit's arsenal of long-range, damaging spells.
	Legion Commander	Duel is a great initiation into Crystal Maiden, preventing her from using Freezing Field or any other abilities and allowing the enemy team to quickly kill her before she can aid her team in a fight.
	Naga Siren	Mirror Image can dispel Frostbite. Ensnare and Song of the Siren can stop Freezing Field. Ensnare goes through Black King Bar while Song of the Siren doesn't care about any kind of invisibility. Song of the Siren can allow her team to quickly close the gap on Crystal Maiden.
	Nyx Assassin	Crystal Maiden has a very bad movement speed, so Impale is far easier to land against her. Furthermore, even while trapped by Frostbite, Nyx Assassin can still cast Impale. Crystal Maiden has very low armor, so Vendetta is very effective. Nyx Assassin has two ways to stop Freezing Field, provided she doesn't get a Black King Bar. He can pop Spiked Carapace and simply walk into the field, or he can use Impale to interrupt the field, since Crystal Maiden has to channel it.
	Tidehunter	Gush can make Crystal Maiden's already weak armor even weaker. Kraken Shell can break Frostbite, preventing him from getting stuck inside Freezing Field. Ravage is very useful for interrupting Freezing Field, even while Crystal Maiden is under the effects of Glimmer Cape. Crystal Maiden must purchase a Black King Bar, which is far more costly.
	Tusk	Snowball allows Tusk to easily cancel Freezing Field from a safe distance without putting himself in any danger. Walrus PUNCH! is most certainly a high enough damage nuke to easily kill off Crystal Maiden. Ice Shards can prevent the already immobile Crystal Maiden from escaping, making her an easy kill for either Tusk or a teammate.
	Visage	Grave Chill will make Crystal Maiden's bad movement speed even worse. Soul Assumption charges can easily be stacked up from Freezing Field, allowing Visage to nuke enemies multiple times throughout the fight. Familiars' Stone Form can also be used to interrupt Freezing Field, even while Crystal Maiden is under the effects of Glimmer Cape. Crystal Maiden must purchase a Black King Bar, which is far more costly.

Good Against

Hero	Name	Explanation
	Slark	Though Slark's large damage output is most certainly a concern for the squishy Crystal Maiden, she does perform fairly well against him, when coupled with aid from her team Slark has no innate way to cancel Freezing Field, but the common purchase of Skull Basher does make Slark a substantially greater threat to Crystal Maiden and the game progresses. Freezing Field can still hit Slark while he is under the effect of Shadow Dance, and for the early and mid game, the damage output of Crystal Maiden's ultimate far outscales Slark's passive regeneration, making a quick use of Freezing Field as soon as Slark uses Shadow Dance a great way to address him. Frostbite and Crystal Nova are helpful in disabling and slowing the slippery Slark so he can be killed by her teammates.
	Phantom Assassin	Though certainly not a "hard counter", Crystal Maiden's skillset (magical damage nukes) does pose a substantial threat to Phantom Assassin through the mid game, especially if followed up with engagement by her team. A quick use of Freezing Field directly after Phantom Strike can leave Phantom Assassin trapped inside the area of effect, capitalizing on Phantom Assassin's relatively low HP pool when she is not protected by Blur. If Phantom Assassin chooses not to buy a Black King Bar relatively early, the attack slow from Freezing Field can greatly hinder the proc chance of Coup de Grace in a teamfight. However, Phantom Assassin's massive damage, and her tendency to build both Black King Bar and Skull Basher makes her a formidable foe the later the game goes, and fighting her without a team is almost never a good choice.
	Templar Assassin	As with other heroes mentioned in this section, Templar Assassin is not a hero that is fully "countered" by Crystal Maiden (the way she is against Viper and Jakiro), however, the proper combination and execution Crystal Maiden's spells, stacked with her team, can most certainly spell the end for Templar Assassin. Frostbite can quickly eat away Refraction charges, leaving Templar Assassin vulnerable for the rest of her team to kill. Freezing Field will still apply damage to Templar Assassin when she is under the effect of Meld, making it an even less viable form of escape until a Blink Dagger is purchased. Blink Dagger is also cancelled by all of Crystal Maiden's spells, and the fairly short cooldowns on Frostbite and Crystal Nova make her a great asset to a chase against Templar Assassin. This is not to say that Templar Assassin has any difficulty killing off the low armor, low HP pool Crystal Maiden, so fighting her alone is never advised.

Works well/poorly with

Works well with...

Hero	Name	Explanation
	Juggernaut	Frostbite provides the perfect setup for Blade Fury, a deadly combo as early as level 1. Later, it can be followed by Crystal Nova to provide an additional slow and ensure the full damage of Blade Fury. Arcane Aura provides much needed mana regen for Juggernaut as all his spells cost a considerable amount of mana. It allows him to repeat the combo Frostbite + Blade fury at any opportunity in the lane, while staying healthy thanks to Healing Ward. The aura stays relevant well into the late game.
	Timbersaw	Frostbite provides great set up for Timbersaw's many abilities in all phases of the game, allowing him to place Chakram directly on top of an enemy hero, then following up with the rest of his combo Though Timbersaw is forced to build extensive mana regeneration in order to fuel Chakram, the addition of Arcane Aura is very useful in the early game, allowing Timbersaw to always have Timber Chain available for escape or initiation. Freezing Field stacks very well with the slow from Chakram, and Timbersaw's excellent mobility allows him to easily chase down heroes who escaped from the full damage of Freezing Field.
	Sven	Arcane Aura helps significantly with Sven's pitiful starting mana regeneration, allowing him to more freely use Storm Hammer and Warcry in lane, and well into the middle and later game. Storm Hammer layered well with Frostbite in lane is a quick and easy way to ensure a kill, and if Crystal Nova and Warcry are added, it allows for insane chase potential for even the most stubborn of laners. With both Frostbite and Crystal Nova, Crystal Maiden is well equipped to help Sven chase down enemies, or hold them in place while he kills them. This helps to prevent Sven from being kited, especially during the duration of God's Strength.

Works poorly with...

Hero	Name	Explanation
	Outworld Devourer	Arcane Aura becomes obsolete once Essence Aura becomes maxed out, as the latter is far more potent than the former. Astral Imprisonment can save someone from Freezing Field and unlike other spells that grant enemies invulnerability, this one lasts for 4 seconds and cannot be canceled/dispelled.

Equipment

Blueheart Sovereign
Charge of the Tundra Warden
Ensemble of the Crystalline CometWraps of the Winterbringer
Glacial Magnolia
Lady of the Lumini Polare
Frostiron Sorceress Set
Glacier Duster Set
Icebound Floret
Regalia of the Crystalline Queen Set
Frozen Feather Set
Winter Snowdrop
Heart of the North Set

Items

Weapon

Item	Name
	Dragonfish Sceptre
	Force Staff
	Frost Owl's Beacon
	Sceptre of Icewrack
	White Sentry
	Wizardry Staff of the North
	Eul's scepter

Special Items

Item	Name
	Yulsaria's_Glacier
	Wolfsden Gift
	Blueheart Tails
	Yulsaria's Mantle

Taunt

Item	Name
	Making Friends
	Beautiful Snowangel

Fun facts

• Rylai wore pigtails during her youth.
  
• Rylai is Lina's younger sister, with whom she shares a sibling rivalry. According to Rylai, she was always the "good one".The two sisters destroyed their parent's house six times, through fire and ice.
  
• Rylai once considered becoming an artificer of magical goods, and crafted many wards as practice.
  
• Rylai is sometimes known as the Maiden of North.
  
• Rylai is able to channel winds from the Blueheart Glacier, where she currently resides.
  
• Rylai is able to summon shards of ice from Icewrack.
  
• Rylai's ability to lower the temperature of her surroundings causes magic to flourish nearby.
  
• Rylai does not like outward displays of force.
  
• Rylai knew Tusk in her youth, and used to have snowball fights with him.
  
• Like her mentor, the Ice Wizard, Rylai plans to return to Blueheart Glacier someday, and hibernate for a thousand years.
  
• Rylai received a feather-like robe and staff from the Ice Wizard before he descended into the glacier.
  
• Rylai owns a crown, once worn by the Yulsaria, the Frozen Witch.
  
• Rylai has had contact with the Frostiron Tribe.
  
• Rylai has likely been to Wolfsden Tavern, and owns a hat from there as a souvenir.

Crystal Maiden & Sven

Would you please be so kind to leave this a guide a thumbs up if you liked it? Thank you!

[Agent CaBz]

wew

[I Throw Rocks At Trains]

razor + CM is a won lane most of the time. (freeze and slow paired with razor's static link)

[血亏]

PERFECT!

[*^]

Good guide, only thing is that I feel slark does well vs cm, becasue she can be picked off easily and he can purge both slow and root

[Ruse]

CM good against slark and PA, rofl

[Lustrum]

i want to stick my sword up her bunghole

[electra]

Yea :)

[123]

shes hot

[electra]

I am glad you people liked it...Crystal is my all time fav hero...I have more than 1000 games with her...so I needed to create a guide dedicated to her :)

[Mordecaii-]

..