Asian Girls | Dota Guide and Strategy

I. Table of contents

2. foreword
3. hero description
4. pros & cons
5. basic stats
6. skill desription
7. role in a team
8. skill build and justification
9. item build and justification
10. gameplay walkthrough
11. alternative Mana Drain/Necronomicon Build
12. other heroes
13. replays
14. conclusion
15. credits
16. changelog

II. Foreword

I decided to write guide to Demon Witch because of two reasons. Firstly, there was no Lion guide in this forum so far and secondly, I just love him and pick him in almost each –ap game. I am going to present you my way of playing Lion, and I think it’s not the only right way how to play him. I will wellcome your experience with different builds and tactics. This is my first guide so feel free to comment on it and help me to make it better.

III. Hero Description

Demon witch is located in scourge midnight tavern, the first hero in the second row.

Contemporary Background Story
“A renegade wizard who delved deeper in studying demonic arts, this old aged archmagus was sentenced to damnation by the Dalaran council. As last resort of escaping death, he prformed a forbidden ritual and sold his soul to Archimonde’s bidding. Without trace of compassion and with a twisted mind, he seeks retribution to his comrades. He commands earth to stagger those who hinders his path with sharp spikes or siphons their will out. Never hesitating to transmogrify others to impunity nor doubtful of ripping his enemy inward out with his fatal touch, Lion like a predator loves doing it all over again.” (vertigo12)

6.48b and earlier Background Story
“With control over the terrible powers of the demon lord Archimonde, Lion is a feared and respected enemy on the battlefield. Once a wizard of Dalaran, he ventured deeper into the unknown arts and became corrupted by the iron will of the Frozen Throne. He is a powerful disabler, able to afflict all sorts of curses onto an enemy and has achieved the zenith of demon magics.”

IV. Pros & Cons

+ 2 disables and an ulti which really hurts!
+ great team support both in offence and defence
+ good ganker in midgame
+ not really item-dependant (you can afford to adapt your item-build significantly as the game develops)
+ cooperates very well with huge majority of heroes

- really fragile (but not that easy to kill)
- suffers from nukes/stuns greatly in earlygame
- your abilities make you high priority target in team battles
- he isn’t much of a late gamer (by lvl 20 noone will fear of your ulti anymore)

V. Basic Stats

Str 16 + 1.7 per level
Agi 15 + 1.5 per level
Int 22 + 3.0 per level
Overall stats gain per level: 6.2

Basic move speed is 290 (340 with BoS and 375 with BoT)

Starting attack: 42 – 48, cooldown 1.48 sec (+15% IAS), range 600
Starting armor: 1.1
Starting life: 454
Starting mana: 286

To be honest, his basic stats suck. From stats gain per level just intelligence is nice. We are going to fix it by items – nulls earlygame, soul booster midgame.

VI. Skill Description

Impale

The Demon Witch releases his demonic magics into the ground in order to thrust solidified rock spikes along a straight path. This sends all his enemies into the air, only to take damage on their painful impact with the ground.

Level 1 - 60 damage, 0.5 second stun.
Level 2 - 130 damage, 1 second stun.
Level 3 - 200 damage, 1.5 second stun.
Level 4 - 260 damage, 2 second stun.

Cooldown: 12 seconds.

Level 1: 100 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 120 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 145 mana, 12 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 170 mana, 12 sec cooldown.

So this is your bread&butter skill, therefore it is going to be maxed first. It gives a stun with a so so demage. The best thing is, if targeted properly, it can hit more heroes at the same time! Notice the fact that if you try to animation cancel, it will shorten Impale AoE too, so don’t do it! If targeting single hero, click directly on him, otherwise he can dodge. I think it hits automatically then. This is not recommended in few cases of chasing hero though: targeting area (giving direction) actually enlarges your Impale range (as it hits target by the end of spiked path, not the begining). Use it when enemy hero is escaping with a sliver of his life and you can’t reach him with impale, impale the ground behind him (in his direction) to get him. As well as he has just turned head behind trees and gone from your line of sight, you can try to impale trees in direction slightly in front of area you expect the enemy hero to be at the moment. But this technique takes some time to handle well, so don’t try it if not necessary. Nevertheless, try to learn both ways of using Impale (I call it Ground Impale and Hero Impale) and choose wisely in which way to cast it in various situations. Each of them has its pros and cons. Get to know them well, you will need it.

Voodoo

Transforms an enemy unit into a random critter, disabling special abilities.

Level 1 - Lasts 1 second.
Level 2 - Lasts 2 seconds.
Level 3 - Lasts 3 seconds.
Level 4 - Lasts 4 seconds.

Cooldown: 13 seconds.

Level 1: 110 mana, 13 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 140 mana, 13 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 170 mana, 13 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 200 mana, 13 sec cooldown.

Oh yeah, 4-seconds-lasting hex (at lvl 4). Almost useless earlygame, but this is the skill which makes enemy heroes die in team battles! Nicely goes with impale. It means 6 sec stun. Wicked ]:-P
Note: Voodoo isn’t a stun but a disable, but it has actually the same effect, as chickened enemy won’t run far away, indeed.

Mana Drain

Absorbs the magical energies of a target enemy unit by taking mana from it every second.
Lasts 4 seconds. Cast range improves per level.

Level 1 - 20 mana drained per second.
Level 2 - 40 mana drained per second.
Level 3 - 60 mana drained per second.
Level 4 - 100 mana drained per second.

Cooldown: 25/20/15/10 seconds.

Level 1: 10 mana, 25 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 10 mana, 20 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 10 mana, 15 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 10 mana, 10 sec cooldown.

I tried to max Voodoo first and mana drain enemies but this proved to be bad tactic because of shitty mid game (you need both your stuns maxed ASAP to kill effectively). So I use it just in mid/late game to refill mana from ranged creeps while farming or to make any forwarding hero to fall back without wasting a stun. The point is you don’t need any mana regen boost item.
Note: In 6.48b and earlier, mana drain took 5 sec, not 4. Furthermore, mana drain lvl 2 drains now 160 (4*40) mana instaed of 150 (5*30) in 6.48b and earlier. But lvl 3 drains now 240 mana (4*60) as it drained 250 (5*50) mana in 6.48b and earlier.
Note: Use mana drain to waste enemy spellblock (heroes with linken or rosh).

Finger of Death

Instantly rips at a target, attempting to turn it inside-out. Deals massive damage.

Level 1 - Deals 500 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 650 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 850 damage.

Cooldown: 150/90/55 seconds.

Level 1: 200 mana, 150 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 420 mana, 90 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 650 mana, 55 sec cooldown.

Instant killing! Yeah, this is why Lion is so hated and feared by enemies all midgame. Somewhat looses effectivness late game, though. You need Aghanim’s scepter to make your enemies feel your presence on the battlefield. If you desperetaly need to finish Scepter or BoT late game, you can use FoD for last hitting heroes in team battles, but don’t abuse it, it’s not right to steal kills from your allies!

VII. Role in a Team

Oh, he’s a disabler (read as supporter) with a weak body and a strong ulti (untill lategame). That means one important thing – you need always someone to go with you, because you can’t do enough demage alone to make your stuns a threat and you will appreciate help in case of ambush. If you go alone, here’s a very simple math: your two stuns + two enemy heroes means you live. Two stuns + 3 enemy heroes means you die. Remember that well. In addition, don’t try to farm neutral creeps with Lion, it’s not worth your HP loss. So teamplay! Don’t go solo earlygame and spread few wards. Maybe some of readers won’t agree with me but I think he’s an excellent ganker anyway. And late game, I love to preserve the combination of disabling and direct demage dealing. I rarely played him like a pure disabler or pure hero killer, because I think it’s just not the role which would suit Lion the best. Pick rather Rhasta, Bane elemental or Lina, not Lion in that case.

VIII. Skill build

1. Impale
2. Voodoo
3. Impale
4. Voodoo
5. Impale
6. Finger of Death
7. Impale (maxed)
8. Voodoo
9. Voodoo (maxed)
10. Mana Drain
11. Finger of Death
12. Mana Drain
13. Mana Drain
14. Mana Drain (maxed)
15. Stats
16. Finger of Death (maxed)
17. - 25. Stats

Max Impale first, getting Voodoo (maxed as second at lvl 9) and of course ulti at lvl 6, 11 and 16. If the game goes wrong and you defend more than kill, you can get stats boost instaed of mana drain at lvls 13 and 14. I strongly recommend not to do any other changes in skill build.

Skill Build Justification

As I mentioned before, you need both your stuns maxed ASAP and that‘s that. Impale goes first because it also does some harm and has AoE. You need to max Mana drain then, too, otherwise you would suffer from lack of mana during midgame. I think there’s nothing more to add.

IX. Item Build

Core Item Build

2 null talismans = 2*485 (circlet of nobility 185, mantle of intelligence 150, null tallisman recipe 150)
Boots of Travel = 2 700 (boots of speed 500, boots of travel recipe 2 200)
Soul booster = 3 300 (point booster 1 200, vitality booster 1 100, energy booster 1 000)
(2 free slots for RoR/consumables/wards/aegis)

+ chicken, observer wards, (scroll of town portal, sentry wards…) = approximately 1 000

Total of 7 970 gold

Optional Item Build

Ring of regeneration (375)
2 bracers instaed of null talismans = 2*510 (they cost together 50 gold more than nulls)
Void stone (900)

Item Build Jusification

Null talismans boost your mana regen early game as you have no mana drain yet. Slight HP, demage and base mana boost is also awesome earlygame (you have to make up for your shitty stats anyway). Ring of regeneration lets you to hold lane longer. Since midgame, you need BoT to farm and gank effectively. Your skills are deadly enough, you need items to enhance your survivability. Soul booster is the best option as it also gives you infinity of mana (combined with mana drain). In addition, it consists of items of cost about 1100 gold so it’s no big problem to save for it even if you die from time to time. Late game you have several possibilities as Lion is very adaptable hero. I recommend dagger but you might prefer hexstaff, Necrobook or Orchid.

When game starts, buy chicken and share it with your lane-mate. He might reward you by some tangoe if you get too harassed. Since you will gank and don’t wanna be ganked, use wards. They will pay for themselves and they help whole team! (Not to mention rune control.)

You can use optional build for harsh games, getting RoR asap to hold a lane longer. Get void stone early to spam Impale. You don’t have to sell void stone, you can use it for Eul’s scepter of divinity or perseverence (and then you can go for Linken’s sphere or blood stone). Just remember, use this only if it seems that you are going to have really hard times. You need BoT and Soulbooster more.

Other Items’ discussion

Guinsoo’s Scythe of Vyse (5 175) (Eul’s scepter of divinity 2800)
Cyclone isn’t as good disable as Impale or voodoo, and hex isn’t better then voodoo (lvl 4) neither. 3 disables might sound really great, but as I said before, imho it isn’t worth giving up boosting your ulti and your HP. You don’t need mana regen boost since I play Lion as a killer earlygame, not a nuker (impale is a goddamn bad nuke, in comparison with nukes of lina, zeus, lich or rylai). From midgame you have mana drain. Demage boost is nice but you got other, more important things to care about. An intelligence boost you can get from Aghanim instaed. But as I mention in optional item build, there might be situations in which is good to go for Hex, which will be mentioned later. In that case, become a heavy nuker as you would have incredible amount of mana.

Dagon (3 000 + upgrades)
The same as above, energy burst seems ok to stack with Finger of Death, but in late game, it isn’t that effective (considering the gold cost). You would also die more often than kill without proper HP boost. To sum up, if you wanna get it, then get it, but get it damn soon and you can pwn! (especially in pubs where a lots of agi and nukers were picked, but i prefer more team items as necro, your teammates will benefit from it too.)

Eye of Skadi (7 050)
Yeah, I love Eye of Skadi. It’s really great item, I think frost attack counters vampiric aura from Vladimir’s offering for example. But it isn’t great item for Lion! You don’t need frost attack, you already have 2 disables. It‘s hard to save for because of two ultimate orbs, and it costs 7 050! Never get this item with demon witch.

Vanguard (2 275)
Yes, this item really helps Lion not to die, but I consider such an amount of gold to be a waste, because it doesn’t give you any other advantage, unlike BoT or SoulBooster. Yet you might find yourself in no choice but buying Vanguard if dying a lot from heroes with high IAS but mediocre demage (faceless void etc.)

Hood of defiance (2 350)
Interesting choice, but again, the similar reasons as in case of Vanguard. 30% spell reduction is nice, but 8 hp regen won’t help significantly to save your ass late game. It would make for enemy team just approximately 1 second longer to bring you down. It’s just not worth spending gold on for you. Consider buying this item (during midgame) just in case of dying a lot from nukers (you can get eul + HoD instaed of Soul booster and BoT in this case).

Linken’s Sphere (5 500)
I don’t think this is best suitable item for Lion. If you have money and finished core build, go for Dagon or Hex instaed. And if you die, for 5 500 gold you get both vanguard and hood of defiance. But if you have really plenty of money late game and you don’t know what to get next, Linken isn’t that bad choice.

Blood Stone (5 075)
Yes, this is good option when the game goes terribly wrong with you. I got it just few times as I don’t have to most of times, but as you will see in walkthrough, it would nicely go with your previous item build in certain cases.

Kelen’s Dagger of Escape (2 150)
Actually, this item works on Lion well. It will save your ass many times and give you some kills, too. Blink is imba

Necronomicon (2 750 + upgrades)
This item is absolutely deadly on Lion! But as it’s most effective in midgame, you have get it before/instaed of soulbooster. It works really well with slightly different skill/item build. I will cover it in alternative Lion build later.

Aghanim’s Scepter (6 000)
Your FoD will now deal 1100 dmg. You get 50hp and 100 mana and +30 int too. If you sum it up, I think it’s somewhat not worth 2 700 gold more. You don’t need that int boost anyway and +250dmg for your ulti is not that much too in late game (heroes’ spell reduction is rather high).

X. Gameplay Walkthrough

EARLY GAME (lvl 1 – 6)

Suggested Lineup
Leave mid for solo of Spectre, Viper, Twin headed dragon, Enigma or Razor etc. Go top or bottom lane. Since you have chicken, you don’t have to go to fountain until lvl 7 or later (if played carefully). So I recommend bottom lane for sentinels (top for scourge) - leave shorter one to others. Line up with anybody who has at least 1 disable or 1 nuke – this is real advantage of playing Lion.
Note: Try to creep block with your lanemate when the first creep wave born.

Earlygame Shopping
At start, buy chicken first. Then purchase Circlets of nobility and safe the rest of gold for second Circlet. You are rdy to go now. Avoid visiting fountain (unless you got problems with health – buy RoR asap)! But if everything goes well, just chicken components of nulls (getting the second circlet first) as quickly as possible. You should have some wards at least at lvl 5. If you have lack of gold, get boots of speed before second null to be rdy to gank till lvl 7 comes. Heal yourself with Flask of Sapphire water instaed of fountain walks if necessary and if you have mana problems, get a clarity potion by chicken. If your mana problems last out, get Sobi mask and sell it by midgame. Remember, if you play wisely, you can get by with your mana just with nulls. Don’t save money by not buying wards!

Use your chicken!
Press ctrl+1 while chicken selected to create control group for quicker micro. (I also recommend program called DotA keys for better micro). Share your chicken with your teammate. This can be really advantageous if your teammate isn’t a complete asshole. If he’s hurt and you have full HP and RoR, lend it to him. Or otherwise – ask for tangoe or drink from his bottle. And spread your wards with chicken! See picture for save chicken paths. Be careful about neutral creeps, during day they can kill your beloved chicken pet!

Early Kill
Pay special attantion to denying creeps and harrassing your opponents. Remember, don’t attack creeps at will, just last hit. It’s no use in pushing early game. The closer you are to your tower the better. During 1 and 2 lvl use just Impale from 2 to 3 times. Try to outmaneuver your enemies, making them scared of your impale. Wait for good situation though, when 1 enemy hero is near you, your lane mate and creeps and the other is slightly behind him in a direct line with you (or at least both heroes are very close to each other). Impale the first one so you stun the other one too. Good lanemate will attack one of stunned heroes. So will you – attack the same one.

Send your lane opponents to their fountain to overlevel them. If he’s enough foolish to stay and don’t heal himself properly, you can attempt an early kill at lvl 3. This is most likely with any hero who has any stun or direct demage dealing or both (vengeful spirit, earthshaker, sven, skeleton king etc.) That’s when you use a powerful combo wich you won’t stop using until end of the game:

Impale + Voodoo
At lvl 3 it means 130 dmg + 1 sec. stun for Impale and 1 sec. voodoo disable. That’s not very much but if your lanemate has stun or nuke it can lead to a kill, eventually to a first blood. Try it again at lvl 5 (200 dmg, 1.5 + 2 sec. disable) – don’t nuke until then, just wait for good opportunity to impale few times. It’s good to safe mana during lvl 4 so you can perform your Impale + Voodoo combo at lvl 5 and 6 again, but for the second time with your ulti – Finger of death (500 dmg). You should have at least 1 null by that time so you should get by with mana if you don’t spam impale.

omfg, can’t hold a lane!
If you are facing a really terrible hero (Lina, lich) just play safe, don’t deny, just catch exps. They are more precious in earlygame then gold for you. Save gold for RoR before you get first null. If it wouldn’t help much, follow optional build with 2 bracers (instaed of nulls) and void stone. Get BoS afterwards. Nevertheless go to fountain for heal at lvl 7 and try to gank someone.

LVL UP!
Try to be always near an area (range 1000?) where creeps die. Catch exps in early game. If you are under lvl 6 don’t be shy to use a scroll of town portal to return from the fountain faster. Exps are worth it. The faster you will get lvl 7 the better. That’s when all the fun begins :-).

MIDGAME (lvl 7 – 16)

Wards and Teamplay
Using chicken, your line opponents wouldn’t even know the fact, that you put one ward to check rune place and the other to the forest in the corner, rendering both you and your lanemate almost imune against midgame ganks. In addition, you can easier gank mid, knowing who’s checking runeplace or is going neutral farming. When facing windwalking enemies be sure you have always some sentry wards in your inventory. Again use chicken to spread wards because of sentry wards you could have some problems with free space in inventory. Last but not least, ward the rune place and collect runes for ganking!

Ganking
This is why I love Lion so much. I do know that there are better gankers in DotA, but with Lion, to gank is real fun :-). By the lvl 7 (Impale maxed for 260 dmg + 2 sec. stun, voodoo lvl 3 for 3 sec.) you should have 1 or 2 nulls, (maybe RoR if necessary,) boots of speed, scroll of town portal and few wards. Now you are rdy for some action. Spread some wards and try to cooperate with another hero, avoid ganking alone. The best heroes to gank up with are dps agility heroes (Ursa, Razor…) or int dmg dealers like Lina or Leshrac. Strenght heroes with stun or slow like earthsaker, leviathan or magnus are really good as well. Again you see the real strenght of Lion. Your combo Impale (attack, attack) + Voodoo (attack…) and Finger of Death can bring down almost every low HP hero without any decent escape mechanism in DotA during mid game. If he survives, then pursue and impale ground towards him. Avoid tower diving – your HP is somewhat low, too. When ganking single hero, just run your impale+voodoo+FoD combo. If ganking multiple heroes, start with impale (trying to hit as many targets as possible) and save voodoo to counter enemy reactions. If you followed my advice and if you got good team, opponents will start nickname you Demon Bi**h by midgame

Farming
Don’t forget to farm during midgame, don’t gank all the time. Just seek for good opportunities. Otherwise you will end up terribly underlevelled. And you have to earn some gold, too. Last hits on 5 – 6 enemy creeps (1 creep wave) will give you the same gold as last hit on a hero. From lvl 12 (mana drain lvl 2) stop ganking and farm from time to time to replenish mana from enemy ranged creeps. Don’t stay long (from 1 to 3 creep waves) to prevent ganks.

Midgame Shopping
During midgame, you must save money for 2 items – soul booster and boots of travel. If you gank succesfully, go for BoT first. If you can’t kill when ganking or keeping getting killed yourself, buy point (or vitality) booster first, and finish soul booster, using scrolls of town portal to map control. Try to sell not even one null talisman, you need both of them from lvl 7 to lvl 12 (untill you have mana drain at lvl 2). You can sell one of them later to get first or second booster earlier. Again, buy items by chicken as soon as you can. You can remove now sharing units from your former lanemate as you don’t have to hold a lane for all the time since midgame.

If things go wrong
If you don’t doing well, concetrate on farming and holding line. Spread wards to prevent ganks. If you have bought bracers and void, buy vitality booster, then sell RoR and buy Ring of Health to finish Perseverance. Go for eul’s scepter of divinity instaed of Perseverance in case of facing 2 or more stunners in enemy team. Two or more nukers counter with Hood of Defiance. If any teammate leaves, try to share his items without team sell – your team would get just half of the money. As you’re not much item-dependant, you can take just 1 bracer and sell it and leave better items to teammates who need them much more than you (any yasha, demon edge etc.) to dominate in late game. If ganked, impale one hero, voodoo the other one and run. Be rdy with a chicken near fountain or hidden behind trees at secret shop and if you are going to die inevitably (doom, poison nova with shadow strike, being attacked by naix with avatar freshly on…), try to buy something (especially what you need to buy) very quickly by hitting 1 two times and two more mouse clicks to prevent gold loss.

LATEGAME (lvl 17 – 25)

Team Battles
So now your role in team suddenly changes. You’re not a ganker anymore. Prepare for tough team battles and play safely, because you are the first to get killed most of time. Don’t be coward but hold back. Try to have always 1 disable out of cooldown if battle isn’t too heated. Never use Impale + Voodoo combo when facing hero with channeling ulti (Pugde, crystal maiden, Enigma or sand king etc., sniper’s assassinate can be countered by stun too). In this case, go for Eul instaed (remember to have always one disable rdy, if you suspect your enemy to have his ulti rdy too). In teambattles play carefully and wisely, don’t waste your stuns in vain. Use them mostly in case of countering enemy actions (attack, use of skill) or to initiate attack/counterattack forward/escaping hero. Think about next possible moves of opposing heroes. It’s you who can choose now what hero will fall by casting voodoo on him, or by demaging him by Finger of Death (or both). You don’t have to save FoD for last hitting all the time, you can start off some enemy hero (lina, razor etc.) with it. Proceeding with voodoo, good allies will finish him very quickly. That’s nice way how to use your (in lategame not-so-good) ulti in more teamplay way. Wait patiently for the best moment to hit, but react quickly then. Sentry ward battlefield in case of presence of wind-walking enemies. Care about your teammates and try to save them by your skills if they are about to die, but remember the basic Math you have read in ROLE IN A TEAM section about, you won’t help much your team if you die.

Some general advice to end with
Basically, don’t expect Lion to excell in lategame and prepare to die more often. Still you can turn the whole teambattle. Get Perseverance to finish Bloodstone or get Dagger. If you dont die, you can go for Necrobook or Orchid. Use BoT to push and defend, ward just both rune places. You can also share your chicken (if alive) with all of your teammates because you won’t probably need it anymore, or hardly ever since lategame.