Crystal Maiden/Guide

Ability Builds

 * In some cases it is better to max Frostbite first if you are going to gank an enemy with an escape or invisibility.

Tips & Tactics

 * 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 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.


 * 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 1100 units away (700 casting range + 400 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 channelling 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 and . 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 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 or, 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%, and boosted by Aghanim's Scepter can ramp up to 100% movement speed slow and -100 attack speed. 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 enemy line-up 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.