FyRe's Guide to Medusa

Here is a In Depth Guide for those struggling to learn how to build this hard carry. It covers several item builds and In my opinion how to maximize late game potential. Understand that Medusa often doesnt begin to come online until 30-40 minutes of the game, so she should be picked when the team doesnt have a push strat.

Introduction

Welcome to FyRe's Guide to Medusa.

Things to Know:
1) Medusa is a hard carry. Gold is important, she requires a lot of farm to come online, and your team should be shooting at a 30+ minute game.
2) Medusa only has 1 true counter, mana burn. Every other hero in the game, has abilities that you should adapt your build around. I will try to cover several of the builds (and why you should change your build around them), and teach you the things that I have learned from playing 600+ Medusa games.
3) Medusa is a lane winner. It is very hard to lane against her once she hits level 3 of mystic snake. If you can hold your own until about 4:30 seconds(Dual lane) or 3:30(Solo Lane) you should have level 3 mystic snake, and you should win your lane vs anyone but (Invoker, OD, Antimage, or Nyx).
4) Do not get a Midas. I know, it is tempting, you are a hard carry and you want to up your GPM. However you should be getting kills and causing havoc in the midgame with stone gaze. DON'T BE THAT AFK FARMER. You will lose the midgame and be unable to outcarry good midgame carries like Ursa, Troll, OD, AM, etc.
Laning
Minutes 1-10
I often up mystic snake first, and go for whichever rune is closest to safelane. I don't mind taking mid against anyone except invoker or OD. (EMP and OD's int steal will wreck your early game)
If they have an OD or an Invoker, I usually go safelane.
Always up Mana Shield first, however, dont put more than one point in it until about level 10.
Mystic snake is one of the best harassing skils in the game. And it is why you are going to win your lane. DO NOT UNERESTIMATE IT. It is a bizarre spell, after 600+ Medusa games I still dont quite understand its full mechanics. It is only hard to land, if you don't know how to count to 6. However, it almost always goes to the nearest target. In lane, the creeps often walk in a line, just count to the level of snake you have, to make sure the last bounce goes to a hero in your lane. Try your best not to waste a cast, because early game Medusa has serious mana problems.
This is how much damage Mystic Snake deals per jump when all jumps successfully hit (before reductions):
Level 1: 80/108/136 damage (324 total damage)
Level 2: 120/162/204/246 damage (732 total damage)
Level 3: 160/216/272/328/384 damage (1360 total damage)
Level 4: 200/270/340/410/480/550 damage (2250 total damage)
Great You have uped mystic snake its about 4 minutes in, time to stop playing conservatively. Slow down your lane, and count the creeps, unless your hero is vs a dual lane, in which case just -1 from your count. And push the lane with your snake. You can most likely get kills this way. People dont expect the snake to do a Laguna Blade's worth of damage, any support will allow you to get a kill in this way. Do it, and win your lane.
Minutes 10-20
Max Split shot after mystic snake. You should only have 1 value point in mana shield because it only scales after you have the stats. People will argue all they want, however split shot will help you farm where mana shield will help you die slower. People shouldnt be killing you easily after you have stone gaze.
Boot choice:
TREADS (10 Minutes)
I always get treds until late game. Why? 1 reason and 1 reason only. Tred switching. You can cast your snake on int and return on agi. This allows you to GAIN more mana every time you cast it. When you build your skadi, you can drop it on the ground after you cast it and pick it up after it returns. Mystic snake is one of the only FREE spells in the game. You can gain mana from casting it. You should almost never have to go back to base when you play medusa, because you should always be gaining mana. And increasing your EHP. Late game I get Travels, to be more effective in teamfights.
Skadi (20-25 minutes)
Skadi was made for medusa, She benifits from it so much. The stats allow her to become very durable with mana shield, and the slow of her attack combined with stone gaze make her near impossible to kill in most situations.
Assault Currias or Butterfly or MKB (35 Minutes) BKB?!?
You should be picking up one of these items. Purely Situational. Does the other team have a Phantom Assassin? or an Arc Warden Mkb is the choice then. Does the other team have a Chaos knight or an Ursa? AC will help you more. A BKB is sometimes situational if the team can stack stuns however, most often you gain more benifit from AC or Butterfly.
Does the other team have a void? Satanic is the choice here. Faceless Void doesn't have the damage to burn through your mana shield, and he will lose the manfight vs Medusa, Satanic is just insurance if you get jumped by multiple Carries. *SEE INSERT PICTURE*
Btw, not only did I survive the above picture, I got an ultra kill.
Satanic is also situational and often gives massive survivability. However I recommend avoiding it if you are vs a Ancient Apparition.
Divine (40 minutes)
After your AC or Butterfly or MKB or Satanic most carries cannot kill you. However you don't often have the damage to kill other hard carries. Divine Rapier time. When you get your first divine you should be shooting for 2 more items: Boots of Travel, and more divines. Seriously, just stack that ♥♥♥♥. I have played games where i have bought 5 divines 3 in the bank and 2 on my dusa. Still unkillable. Medusa is a character that is all out, she almost cannot carry a team without a divine. Unless your team is constantly putting pressure (as they should) you often find yourself as a slow moving sponge unable to dish out real damage. The negative armor from AC will give you more damage if you have AC with 2 divines as opposed to no AC and 3 divines. Do not underestimate the power of negative armor.

SKILL TREE TALENTS
LEVEL 10: 15 Damage (More significant that the crappy 12 int)
LEVEL 15: 15% Evasion (Basicly a free talisman)
LEVEL 20: 600 Mana (This is about 1500 EHP) Only get the Split shot target if they have mana burners on the enemy team)
LEVEL 25: 25% Lifesteal (Your damage is already crazy at this point, You should be unstoppable)

What time is it?
40 Minutes? Time to push, you should be in the front of the line. Bait the team, the other team will see how big you are and have your team behind you to counter engage. I recommend having the most effective multiple hero ultimate begin. (e.g. Tidehunter, Silencer, Enigma). And then hit stone gaze. The other team has 1 choice, *try* to burst you down whilst being slowed by 50% and taking 50% more damage or lose barracks.

WHEN NOT TO PICK MEDUSA!!!!!!!
The only instance where I do not pick medusa is when the other team has invoker. Invoker can ♥♥♥♥ on Medusa all game from level 3 till the end game. Invoker is often too difficult for Medusa to control.
Going against an invoker, OD, or antimage requires 2 items on medusa that I often don't want to buy. Bloodstone and BKB. They are REQUIRED vs these carries. (I know what you are thinking 'OMG, Bloodstone! DELETE THIS GUIDE, This guy knows nothing!!!) Sure, keep saying that but with at 70% winrate on medusa Keep talking ♥♥♥♥, let me know how that works out for you.
Let me explain:
OD cannot steal all your Int because bloodstone gives STATIC MANA.
Invoker can drain your mana, however it just regens right back up real quick.
And Antimage doesn't want to spend the time draining 400 static mana at 64 hits each, thats 7 THATS RIGHT 7 auto attacks before you have reduced just the mana from bloodstone. Not to mention your stats.
You out survive and out damage all 3 of these carries. I often don't pick medusa vs invoker, just because he is too difficult for medusa to control. Every other carry gets ♥♥♥♥ on by this build.
GLHF GENTS!

Laning