Templar Assassins for different levels of play

This guide was once posted on Dota-Allstars Forums under the alias of IDeadshotI, and was the most viewed Lanaya guide there. Now that I've made a comeback to Dota 2, I've updated the guide for higher levels of play, and to adapt to the changing metagame and newer items. This guide will be long, and will be comprehensive, so be prepared for a long read.

Author's Foreword

The main reason I wrote this guide was because I ABSOLUTELY HATE it when I saw people who picked Lanaya, and end up with some sub-par skill build like Meld-Stats, and equally bad item builds like Shadow Blade, which do help but come with a high opportunity cost. Something worse than seeing people play and feed with Templar Assassin, is seeing people repick Lanaya when they random her. Templar Assassin is a very much misunderstood hero in pub levels and has a pitiful win rate of 40ish% based on Dota Buff stats.

Beware, for this guide has walls of texts and will burn the eyes of the unprepared.

Pre-requiste to playing Lanaya effectively

To play Lanaya effectively, and to her full potential, you need to:
- Have decent last hitting skills at melee range (e.g. 3 to 4 creeps per wave when free farming)
- Have decent map awareness (e.g. notice enemy hero is missing even if teammate doesn't report)
- Familiar with every hero and their respective capabilities
- Know the map well
- Have no qualms with soloing mid
- Be confident in yourself - you'll be soloing mid, and confidence is as important as your level of play.
- Hopefully have teammates who aren't too [insert choice derogatory term here]

Advantages of playing Lanaya

- Easily one of the strongest mid heroes, capable of outlaning all but a select few counters
- Good animation for last-hitting (partially thanks to the low range)
- Unsurpassed killing power independent of items early game
- Unsurpassed slow at any range, permanantly slowed if pre-warded well
- Superior map control with proper wards placement (even with the pitiful sight range)
- One of the best heroes at mind games
- Counter for most typical tanks like Bristleback
- Very good at capitalizing on a gold advantage when on the winning team, preventing opponents from making a comeback
- If properly played, equally capable of making a turnaround even on the losing team

When to pick Lanaya?

Solo queuing a pub? You'll want to pick Lanaya late, assuming there are no solo mids already present in your team. Avoid picking her if the opponent team took Batrider / Dark Seer, or if they have 3 or more tanky heroes (Slar, CK, RK and most STR non-casters qualify).

Drafting against opponents? If you don't already have a strong mid, and the opponents don't have the aforementioned direct counters, Lanaya is viable in most line ups, bringing a very useful slow to most ganks. Can be played differently, ranging from early ganker to semi-carry for a strong mid game. With a team centered around her, she can actually be played full carry, although her max effectiveness peaks comparatively earlier than most other hard carries. You'll want to push and end early, abusing her Desolator to get those towers early game.

You'll want to take middle lane to control the runes, so make sure you don't already have other mid solos on your team.

Once again, this cannot be over emphasized - try not to first pick her, because although she's a great all-rounder, a select few heroes counter her so badly you'll be screaming and tearing your hair off.

That said, plenty of games still leave her with an opportunity to shine, especially so in pubs. Most importantly, remember to have fun!

Hero Overview

Base Range: 140 (Ranged Hero)
Move Speed: 305
Str: 18 + 2.1
Agi: 23 + 2.7 (Primary)
Int: 20 + 2.0
Damage: 53 - 59
HP: 492
Mana: 260
Armor: 4.2 (20% reduction)

At Level 25:
Base Range: 380
HP: 1822
Mana: 1144
Damage: 137-143
Armour: 15.98 (49% reduction)

Lanaya has pretty decent stat gain overall. Not exactly hard carry material, but enough mana to support all her skills late game and decent HP and attack speed.

Skill Overview - Refraction

Refraction:
Manipulating her psionic veil, Templar Assassin becomes highly elusive, avoiding damage while gaining a bonus to her damage. These effects are separate, and have a limited number of instances.
Duration: 3/4/5/6 attacks or 17 seconds
Bonus Damage: 20/40/60/80
Mana Cost: 100
Cooldown: 17 seconds

Notes from Dota2 wikia:
Direct HP Removal does not trigger the damage block.
The instance blocking and damage bonus are independent of each other.
Only instances of more than 5 damage (after all reductions) will remove a charge.
While Refraction's damage block is active, Lanaya and her allies will see a visual effect around her (a white "forcefield"). This is not visible to the enemy.
Whenever Refraction blocks an instance of damage, a small visual effect will occur. This is visible to both allies and enemies.
While Refraction's self-damage bonus is active, Lanaya gains a visual effect (her psi-blades will be longer and glow more). This is visible to both allies and enemies.

Notes from Author:
Easily one of the most defining skills of Templar Assassin, her gameplay is centered around using this skill effectively. This skill is what makes TA such a beast at mid lane early game, shrugging off repeated harassment and last hitting and denying with ease. Combined with a bottle, given rune control once can use it practically every creep wave, granting 4/4 per wave in experienced hands. Even unorthodox opponents like Bane Elemental who maxs Enfeeble first won't be able to stop you from last hitting once you get a few levels of this.

Tips from Author:
One of the most important tip is that the damage charges don't go down when you deny a creep. Combined with Psi Blades, this lets you repeatedly harass, last hit and deny without losing any of the charges. Very important to take note of.
Casting it when under Last Word will block its damage.
Gets rapidly eaten by DoT effects such as Rot and Blade Fury which will decimate the defense charges in a second.
Does not block Culling Blade.
Aforementioned Direct HP removal includes: Bane's Nightmare, Necrolyte's Heartstopper Aura, Invoker's EMP, Vengeful's Wave of Terror and Warlock's Fatal Bonds.

Skill Overview - Meld

Meld:
Templar Assassin conceals herself, gaining invisibility while remaining still. On the next attacked enemy unit, Lanaya will reduce its armor and deal bonus damage to it.
Invisibility Duration: Indefinite
Bonus Damage: 50/100/150/200
Armor Reduction: 2/4/6/8
Armor Reduction Duration: 10
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 7 seconds

Notes from Dota2 wikia:
Meld is broken by any action, including moving. Thus, to use it as a nuke, you need to immediately attack right after Melding.
The bonus damage and armor reduction is only applied if Meld is broken by attacking a unit.
The armor debuffs don't stack with each other.
The invisibility has a fadetime of 0.001 seconds.
Meld places a buff on the Templar Assassin rendering her invisible. It is not channeling spell, and will therefore not be broken by stuns or silence.

Notes from Author:
This skill allows Lanaya to eat nearly all casters and supports all the way to late game, and synergizes perfectly with Refraction. -8 armour is not trifling matter especially when most supports have less than that. Put into perspective, given a conservative estimate of 4 armour, after being hit by Meld once said hero will receive a 21.9% damage amplification. Most annoyingly, Meld will have no effect if the attack fails to land, usually due to a miss. Upslope evasion is 25% (although it will feel alot more), Laser will guarantee a miss as will Windrun, to name a few skills.

Tips from Author:
The armour debuff is placed before the hit is landed, allowing the bonus 200 damage to be amplified as well.
Failing to click on the hero correctly will cause Lanaya to break Meld and waste both mana and cooldown, so it is recommended to attack-move the ground when no other targets are in range.
Not recommended to be used when opponents are juking as the lack of vision often causes it to be wasted.
Due to the near-instantaneous fade time, it can be used to avoid projectile based-spells such as Shadow Strike, Viper Strike, Magic Missile, and even Homing Missile.
Mainly to be used offensively only. Camping with Meld is effective, but very situational (usually only after pushing a lane significantly while opponents are accounted for). Opportunity cost of waiting is relatively high also.
Sometimes used as a last resort to buy time for teammates to teleport in. Of course, most competent opponents bring dust/wards...

Skill Overview - Psi Blades

Psi Blades
Templar Assassin's psi blades slice through the attacked unit, spilling and damaging enemy units directly behind it, while gaining bonus attack range.
Bonus Attack Range: 60/120/180/240
Spilled Damage Area of Effect: 80 width, 615/655/695/735 length
Spill Range: 590/630/670/710

Notes from Dota2 wikia:
Spilled damage hits invisible units.
Attack effects (like Unique Attack Modifiers and bash) will only will be applied to the primary target

Notes from Author:
This skill makes Lanaya a valuable asset in team fights while greatly increasing her laning potential. As mentioned earlier, it still cleaves when used to deny creeps. This increases her effective range alot, as just one level of it gives her an effective range of 815. The damage is blocked only by magic immunity, and all splashed targets take the damage of the original - i.e. if you hit a creep with lower armour, they will take more damage than if you hit them yourself. Late game it allows Lanaya to clear creeps faster than nearly any hero.

Tips from Author:
Use it to push the lane early. The advantage of pushing mid is that it allows you to grab the runes while the opponent has to deal with the creeps at their tower or sacrifice the exp and attempt either rune while the creeps follow them. Combined with Psionic Traps, very few heroes can beat Lanaya at rune control early.
Use it to harass. If you have the chance to play offensively, stand at the opponent's ranged creep and rotate around it to splash the opponent. Don't forget that denies deal damage too, which are alot easier to land since leftover creeps will automatically home in on the opponent's hero, allowing you to get in a few free hits.

Skill Overview - Psionic Trap

Psionic Trap:
Templar Assassin places mystical traps that invisibly monitor enemy movement. When sprung, at her command, they exert a slowing influence of 30% in the area. Traps charge up to slow more by 5% for each second up to 50%
Cast Range: 2000
Maximum Traps: 5/8/11
Fade Time: 2
Trap Duration: Permanent
Mana Cost: 15
Cooldown: 11/9/7 seconds

Notes from Dota2 wikia:
Traps are magic immune and have 100 HP.
Traps do not prevent neutral creeps from spawning.
Traps have 400/400 vision range.
Psionic Trap has a gold bounty of 1.
It will take 4 seconds after the trap is placed to reach the maximum slow of 50% from the trap

Notes from Author:
This skill used to have a full 50% slow and 7 second cooldown at level 1, but they decided to nerf it (and for good reason). Useful for all sorts of other purposes from giving vision to testing if opponents have sentry wards. If control is shared, teammates have the ability to help you detonate the trap as well. Traps should only be detonated manually (I.e. clicking on the trap and activating its detonate skill), instead of using the skill Lanaya has (which has a short cast time).

Tips from Author:
Traps are what makes Lanaya so good at rune control. Giving sight on both runes, even if the opponent gets to correct one you can just cast another to slow the opponent from your side of the river and rush for the rune first.
Two traps in lane (one on the center of each slope) offers Lanaya a good deal of protection against most direct ganks. If the opponent pushes up to the trap nearer to your tower, there's also a good chance of getting a free kill.
Sometimes you'll want to trap a few other spots early game, especially if the opponents have heroes like Pudge.
Thanks to its low mana cost and great cast range, even when you're low on health and mana you can still assist a gank from a relatively safe distance.

Skill Build

For solo mid Templars, the build usually is pretty linear.

1 - Psi Blades
2 - Refraction
3 - Refraction
4 - Meld
5 - Refraction
6 - Psionic Traps
7 - Refraction
8 - Meld
9 - Meld
10 - Meld
11 - Psi Blades / Traps
12 - Psi Blades
13 - Psi Blades
14 - Traps / Psi Blades
15 - Stats
16 - Psionic Traps

The purpose of this build is to dominate the lane. Refraction essentially gives you free last hits every wave, which, when combined with one level of Psi Blades, allows Lanaya to out lane most solo mids. Harassment is also not a problem. The main drawback is that it lacks the burst damage to take down most people, as one level of Meld alone isn't usually enough to kill opponents. If you have a haste rune, though...

Maxing Refraction first means you'll want to focus on mid abit more. Unless you manage to net a haste rune or invis rune early, you should be heading back to mid. Lanaya can capitalize on early farm very well, which is why you shouldn't be ganking until you have max Meld and instead should be accruing gold and levels.

Variations in the build should only be introduced when the situation calls for it. If one is losing mid very badly, additional levels of Psi Blades may be considered, but only in extreme scenarios. Also, Meld may be taken over additional levels of Refraction against aggressive laners like QoP, where they force engages where you can't really back out from. If for some reason a Huskar lanes you at mid, take Meld too, since once he jumps you with his ulti you can nearly insta-gib him back with Meld.

Here's a comparison on Refraction VS Meld for short engages.

Let's assume at level 7, with one or maybe even two traps, you can expect to get about 3 hits in, with one of them being a Meld strike. On to the math.

Every level of Refraction confers an additional 20 damage per hit, while every level of Meld gives you 2 more armour reduction and 50 more phsyical damage. Given a rather conservative estimate of having only Boots of Speed and 3 GG Branches, Lanaya would hit for 83 per hit on average.

4 Refract / 1 Meld / 1 Psi Blades / 1 Trap - 539 physical damage and -2 armour
3 Refract / 2 Meld / 1 Psi Blades / 1 Trap - 529 physical damage and -4 armour
2 Refract / 3 Meld / 1 Psi Blades / 1 Trap - 519 physical damage and -6 armour
1 Refract / 4 Meld / 1 Psi Blades / 1 Trap - 509 physical damage and -8 armour

What do these stats mean? Basically, under the assumption that you can only get 3 hits in, Lanaya will actually do more damage with a Meld-reliant build after factoring in the greater armour reduction. However, the opportunity cost is relatively high, as one forsakes the laning advantage, the potential denies and harassment and the additional defensive and offensive charges for Refraction. The damage difference is actually more than it seems - on an enemy hero with 4 armour, 4R1M would do 481.3 damage, while 1R4M would do 620.4 damage. Meld is indeed more useful for offensive purposes, but should only be taken over Refraction if the lane advantage over the enemy is simply too great.

Item Build - Public Games

Finally, on to the most controversial section of this guide.

Most veteran players wouldn't have learnt anything new from the skill build section, seeing as at higher level of plays most competent players will add skills appropriately. However, from competitive play to pubs, all kinds of item builds can be seen. Which are the most effective? Here I'll break down some of the more popular builds, and when they show their true colours.

Before deciding on a build, you first need to evaluate your current metagame. Are you stacking with friends? Are your replays ranked in the Normal, High or Very High tier? Or perhaps are you competing regularly? (Hell you probably wouldn't be here in the first place) Even within the same competitions, or across regional servers, the metagame can vary greatly, especially amongst different levels of play, so the term "one build fits all" hardly fits the bill.

Regardless, you'll probably start with the same items, and the popular solo-mid build works well for Lanaya. One set of tangos (which you might not even need to use) and 3 GG branches, giving you a nice base damage of 61 and the ability to get bottle right after the first wave if you net the first four.






Following that, in this order - Boots of Speed, Blades of Attack, Blades of Attack. Phase Boots are doubtlessly the best footwear for Lanaya, adding to her burst physical damage, while letting you catch up with the opponent. Excellent for both laning and ganks. Remember to animation cancel for best results.



On to the different levels of play.

Public Gaming - Ranked from Low to Very High
This is actually a very wide spectrum, differing greatly across the various regions. However, some things can be found in common across most games. Assuming you are solo queuing, you will have burden teammates who have no idea what they are doing despite somehow being paired up with you, or supports acting like carries, or some other form of negative addition to your team. Call that solo mid, and hope that at least one of your teammate has the sense to buy the courier and set up at least one rune ward.

Let's set things straight first - these kind of games, you'll want to play as a ganking semi-carry that racks up enough kills mid-game to become a menace late game. You won't be looking to out-carry opponent hard carries, but you'll buy time for your team's own hard carry to get fat while eating their supports. Doubling as both a ganker and a pusher, you'll tear down towers like no other. And for that, you'll need....






Yeap, a straight Desolator. Start building up from the hammers right after your Phase Boots. Why not Blink first? I'll delve into the reasons later, but trust me when I tell you that Desolator is the best item you can go for at this point of the game. It gives you EVERYTHING. Damage, more armour reduction. With just Phase Boots and Desolator you can easily shred most supports in two hits. What item next? It'll depend on how you're currently faring. I like to use 14 minutes as a benchmark for the time I get my Desolator - typically I'll consider this as very well. At this point in the game, you can easily solo Roshan with a Double Damage or Regen Rune.... Supposing he doesn't bash you too often.

OR OR

If your team is dominating and you want to press the advantage, Crystalys will ensure you stay ahead of your opponents. Suppose that they have too many disables, or spell-reliant heroes (i.e. Invoker, Pugna), rush that straight BKB and watch them flee in terror as you tear them asunder. Missing too many kills because of escape mechanisms? Revolving around a gank-centric playstyle? Get that Dagger, especially if their team consists mostly of squishy supports who hang behind in teamfights and harass with their spells.



Regardless of which one you chose to get, this is what you'll want to get next. Exactly the same reason why Kunkka gets this, except that you don't have to wait four seconds between splashes, and it lets you kill creeps even faster. Why not attack speed? Most team fights ideally you'll be animation cancelling and trying to splash the opponents, not going straight up against another DPSer. Attack speed theoretically gives more DPS, but you want to make the hits that you land matter, especially when the supports at the back aren't going to be standing around letting you splash them all day.

(OPTIONAL)


Here we get another split point. If your team still has the overwhelming advantage and they have irritating evasion skills like Blur, Laser or Wind Run, MKB's 88 damage will push your criticals into the four-digit region and ensure you never miss upslope again. For a more balanced late game though, you'll want to be going for Butterfly instead. Even if you opted for MKB first, make sure you get your Butterfly next.


OR

If the following section is still relevant, you'll probably be in the end game stage already. Save up for buybacks, spend your gold sparingly - and get that Boots of Travel. Very important, especially because Lanaya is such a great pusher. Too much gold and have that last slot to fill? Make a choice between Manta and Mjollnir - survivability versus DPS. Against a disable heavy team you'll want Mjollnir and try to take them down before your BKB runs out, whereas against single target hard carries Manta may buy you that one or two seconds that make all the difference you need. Play according to the situation.

In a nutshell....



This will be the generic build in that respective order, Blink or not depending largely on your playstyle. Late game though, you'll probably need to trade it for DPS eventually.

Item Build - Competitive

What build you'll want to get for more competitive matches depends largely on your role in the team also. A team centered around a Lanaya playing the role of something akin to a carry Gyrocopter will see you going for straight damage not unlike the public game build. For the more gank-oriented, however....



No change in starting items. Still rushing that early bottle. In between, depending on how well you're farming, it's arguably fairly useful to have the Magic Wand, which uses the branches you got at the start of the game anyway, especially if you're going to be running lanes ganking all the time.



After that, though, gold should be saved for the core of the build....



Arguably one might go for BKB first, depending on the circumstances, as Dendi did in the recent game against Mouz. Either way, you'll probably want to go for it next anyway.



Following that, Yasha and Crystalys respectively. The game will probably be progressing too fast to have the time to farm up the hammers for Desolator, which remain an effective item, so it's better to go for cheap and effective items that don't require expensive parts to be of use.



Of course, if the game drags on, you'll have the time to get more gold, and the item build should eventually taper back to the public game build.

Gameplay

Possibly the most important section of the guide, and the exact reason why most people screw up with Lanaya even when getting the skill build and item build right.

Lanaya is a hero meant to be played very aggressively. Low hp is not an excuse to back out of engages, and often one can engage two heroes solo, given that their teammates are not on the verge of teleporting in. Refraction and Meld combined together make Lanaya one of the most effective players of mind games.

First, the laning phase. Probably the first six-seven minutes, typically lasting until you hit level six or so.

Optimally Lanaya will solo middle, taking rune control and dominating the lane. Very few heroes can outplay Lanaya in the middle. Good QoPs, however, have an annoying tendency to harass you alot while dominating runes with blink. If, unluckily, you happen to lane Viper at mid, you'll be having a nightmare as well. Against such lanes just settle for taking levels first, and hopefully bottle-crow if a teammate has bought the flying courier.

Lanaya can function very well in both side lane, especially against solos. Not the best candidate to face tri-lanes, however if called correctly and facing a solo farmer like Alchemist / Naix, she can deny them of farm fairly effectively while taking decent farm herself. Psionic Traps are especially useful for defensive purposes in side lanes, making it nearly impossible to get ganked unless the opponents have smoke. For an example of this, Dendi's Dire solo bottom TA against Naix during Na'Vi against Mouz is a fairly good one.

What if you're facing a losing lane? For mid, unless you are getting decimated by roamers who run in and out of even your own jungle, TA has not much problem playing defensively. Refraction even lets you get those last hits under your own tower, unless the opponents manage to force deny and keep the creep wave at their own tower, in which case you'll be forced to call a gank or wait for the runes. For side lanes, it's much harder, especially if you're getting ganked alot - apart from getting help from teammates, you won't really have much means of retaliation.

Hopefully you've gotten your ulti without having faced any setbacks. This is the point where you need to make a few gameplay choices. Just like how Gyro can be played both support or carry, TA can be played several ways very effectively. At this point, you can play an offensive ganker, buying time for your hard carry to take the farm. Get your Blink Dagger ASAP and keep initiating ganks on side lanes. TA brings alot into a gank, especially if your teammates have long disables. Rune control will also help alot, letting you land free Melds with invis runes. A hasted Lanaya can also cut the enemies from behind the tower and dive them under most circumstances. Use Refraction about 3000 units away from the expected point of engage, so that it'll be ready again about 5-6 seconds into the engage. Remember that when chasing out of range, denies on allied creeps are often a very useful way to last hit that fleeing opponent.

Alternatively, Lanaya can choose to farm for the next five to six minutes. At this point there is no longer any excuse not to dominate mid, and perfect last hits at mid will usually ensure a Desolator 14-15 minutes into the game. Inevitably opponents will try to gank you, but with two Psionic Traps in mid on both upslopes they will have an extremely hard time trying to take you down. Decent teammates will also teleport in to help against opponents that overextend, ensuring you net a few kills in the process. This playstyle is more suited for those who would like to take the game into their own hands and control the flow of the game.

If you went for offensive ganking gold won't be so easy to come by. Gameplay will remain more or less the same throughout most of the game - gank, take runes, gank some more, gank again. For those who went for Desolator first, however, the gameplay will change alot.

First - once you have your Desolator, you can solo Roshan. It will take all of your mana and a full bottle, so this is not recommended unless you manage to net Regeneration, Double Damage or Illusion runes, which will usually guarantee that you take down Roshan without losing much health. Just alternate Refraction and Meld accordingly, although you may want to spend some time waiting in Meld when your Refraction charges are down.

Next - farming/pushing. Having Refraction on with a Desolator lets you take out ranged creeps in one hit and melee creeps in two. Lined up well, Lanaya can take farm as fast as Alchemist at this point. When pushing towers, sometimes it is more beneficial to move up and kill the enemy creeps before they hit your wave, since they will still be in one straight line from moving. Towers also die insanely fast to Refract + Desolator, so you can go for early pushes straight after Deso.

Skirmishes - getting a Desolator means you won't be initiating most ganks, but rather getting initiated on. Play defensively for head-on fights, as getting in just one or two hits on the nearest opponent often can cause havoc against your opponents. Even for defending, getting lucky splahes on wandering opponents can take down their hp extremely fast. If you get the opportunity to come in from behind, however, just go straight for the supports. You'll often drop them before they even have a chance to react. The important thing to note about Psi Blades is that the splash range is based on when the projectile hits the target, meaning that denying allied creeps can extend the range by a fair bit as they move forward, letting you hit even tower-hugging opponents. Hitting 2-3 allied creeps in rapid succession has sometimes netted me kills on unlucky supports playing defensively.

Camping - after Desolator nearly any hero will go down to a double Meld. If you push a lane far enough that someone will eventually come and farm it, given the chance you have the option of setting a trap in fog and Melding over it. Landing two consecutive hits from Meld does about 800 physical damage amplified by -14 armour reduction, possibly more if you manage to turn on Refraction between Meld strikes. This will take down almost any hero in one shot, often before they even have a chance to use their own escape mechanism. However, this is very situational, and camping in one spot when you already have your Desolator is not recommended unless you are reasonably convinced you have a good chance of getting a kill.

For those who go for the more carry-oriented build, TA's role in large team fights is mainly to take down the assists during the duration of your BKB. Skirmishes are normally very one-sided in your favour, so just cast all your skills accordingly. Team fights are abit more tricky, however - if you have aforementioned BKB, aim for the supports first - if not aim to survive long enough to get your second cast of Refraction, which will normally keep you alive long enough to take down one or two more opponents. Try to end the game after your BKB as much as possible, because while TA can easily take down entire teams, hard carries with half the farm can and will often thrash you around.

Mind Games

In a nutshell, Mind Games usually involve luring/tempting the opponents when you have low health, then turning the engage against them. Typically has the trade off of high risk, high reward. Can be very devastating when played well, but equally so for your own team when played wrongly.

Refraction is easily one of the best defensive skills in the game, making it very hard for opponents to dive you successfully. To take advantage of this, deliberately enter the edge of opponent's vision while your hp is in the red, making them jump you and get taken out instead. However, this can only be used effectively in lower-level pubs, as once you reach a certain standard of play, opponents will not be so stupid as to rush you without coordinated ganks. At that level of play you will need to take the offensive either by ganking or pushing.

Meld also has superb defensive capabilities, as long as it is not overused. A good player can ensure QoP never lands her Shadow Strikes, and when juking opponents by running upslope or into trees, Meld can be used to make them think you ran further ahead. If by any chance they eventually return and your Meld's cooldown has ended, you can often use it to net a free kill as well. Using it to break teleport scrolls in the last second can also be considered when opponents have a stun and are about to land it, potentially letting you wait there while they think that you are already safely in base. However, all of these tricks are countered by any form of true sight, so use them sparingly.

Trivia

In Dota 1, Refraction was based on a combination of triggered heals that healed you for the damage taken both before and after to make it seem like you took no damage at all. Combined with Aphotic Shield, Lanaya can actually HEAL hp when taking damage.

Casting Refraction while the spell is already active (through Refresher Orb) will simply renew both the offensive and defensive charges.


Back in Dota 1, Meld gave her a windwalk lasting 3600 seconds on all levels. A trigger is then fixed on her to give her bonus 200 damage the next time she deals a physical attack, while using a dummy unit to reduce the armour of the target. Meld's bonus damage is triggered, unlike windwalk damage (Gondar) which never misses. However, the 200 bonus damage and armour reduction is not gone, since the trigger only disappears when you move. As such, the lack of movement will ensure the bonus damage still remains. At one point before it was fixed Meld could therefore be re-casted on the same spot, allowing the 200 bonus damage to stack. Hilarity ensued, especially when heroes walked out of base with full hp and went down in one hit.


Originally Psi Blades was once based on the engineering upgrade for the Night Elves called Vorpal Blades. Attacking an opponent would cause the next damage source from Lanaya to be cleaved, usually her projectile, but worked with Radiance and even Dagon. With proper cancelling, Dagon could be cleaved in a straight line, dealing pure unreduced damage.


When first introduced Psionic Traps could be teleported to with Boots of Travel, making full-map control a breeze with teams that rushed BoT.

Conclusion

Wow. Somehow you've read through this lengthy guide, or perhaps you just decided to scroll down instead to see what was at the end. Oh well. I hope this guide has helped you to understand Lanaya better in one way or another. I will still be updating this guide to make it easier on the eyes, and adding more information here and there.

For those curious, my dotabuff profile is http://dotabuff.com/players/68379658. I have a 75% win rate with Lanaya over 150+ games, and my average GPM is 620. I queue in very high tier for SEA servers, sometimes against competitive players, so if you're from SEA you'll probably play against me at some point or another.

Thanks for reading!

[Caylupa]

Is it possible to go for another lane with her besides mid? Or would she be too underfarmed?

[soap]

"Beware, for this guide has walls of texts and will burn the eyes of the unprepared."

My body is ready

[Positivity_-]

What author is trying to tell you Saber, is that once u get desolator u can get blink in 3minutes without a gank u can basically 2-shot wood camps and whole creeps waves with refraction on.

[Zenoth]

desolator scales better to blink. i would say it depends on your team composition and how well you're doing in the lane. if i can dominate mid, which isn't too unlikely, while controlling runes, i usually can up desolator by 12-14 minutes, which makes a bigger difference than blink in teamfights. it also lets you down creeps like nobody's business, which makes the blink follow really quickly.

on the other hand, if you're not playing the 1 role (which TA can fill actually, although usually she's played as 2) and your teammates are mostly initiators, blink makes a better first item. very game-dependent though.

[kakasz]

So what is better as 1st item (without boots ofc) - blink dagger or deso? I used to buy blink as 1st.

[76561198069912408]

my fisrt favorite hero is TA this guide have little prob, you tell us if TA will offensive ganker right? but why must rush desolator first then blink dagger that mean 30-60% ganked by TA will fail, if TA play solo mid rush blink then deso, TA will easily gank everywhere and masively win early game-late

[Positivity_-]

I remember this guide from long before dota 2(Didn't stop me from reviewing it again).. Nice guide :).

[Sneaky Heat]

Cool guide thanks