Lion

Lion the Demon Witch is a ranged intelligence hero who is adept at disabling and nuking his enemies, as well as being a strong lane support. Although his abilities do not scale, his offensive power can destroy enemies during the early game and remain somewhat useful throughout the later game.

Lion is famous for his outstanding ability combos, making him a solid and versatile choice in any team composition. He has the ability to drain mana from enemy heroes with his Mana Drain skill and his complement of disables makes him an effective team-fighter and support in any stage of the game.

Tips

 * Earth Spike works as both a nuke and a stun, and can hit multiple enemies. Targeting Earth Spike on the ground can be less accurate, but is necessary to utilize the ability's max range.
 * As a pure disable spell, Hex doesn't deal damage but lasts longer than Earth Spike. It also has an instant cast time, making it a more secure standard opening spell when going on the offensive in a gank (rather than risking a swift enemy reaction to Earth Spike).
 * Use your disables one after the other so you maximize potential disable time.
 * Using Mana Drain on enemy heroes is a very good form of harrassment, and it maximises killing potential for laning partners like Anti-Mage.
 * Whether skilling Mana Drain as a semi-carry is more or less effective is dependent on the situation. If Hex and Earth Spike are skilled and Arcane Boots are built (with an optional Attribute Bonus) Lion will be much harder to kill, and still have enough mana at any time. However, some enemy heroes will be badly maligned by having their mana stolen from them, and some allied ones will be facilitated. Let the hero lineup on both sides inform your decision. For example, if there is a Storm Spirit or Leshrac on the opposing team, skilling Mana Drain is wise as these heroes are crippled horribly by accelerated loss of mana. However, if the enemy team has an Outworld Devourer or a Keeper of the Light, skilling Mana Drain is fairly pointless as these heroes have abilities which replenish mana for themselves and others.
 * Mana Drain is still useful if left for late-game, as it greatly reduces Lion's need to return to base.
 * Finger of Death is a very powerful nuke, especially considering Lion's largely supportive role. Use it to help damage enemy carries or to eliminate support; but try not to use it for a sure kill unless a carry is unable to execute it themselves, as they require kills much more than Lion does. Combined with Dagon, it deals enough damage to one-shot many heroes throughout most of the game, but its best to resist this to allow allies to level.
 * The low cooldown of Hex and Mana Drain are good for dispelling Linken's Sphere and any illusions.

Trivia

 * In the transition from DotA to Dota 2, the names of two of Lion's skills were changed. Impale was named Earth Spike and Voodoo was named Hex.