Medusa

Medusa the Gorgon, is a ranged agility Hero. Highly item-dependant, she acts as a carry who can potentially strike down entire teams at once while protected by tank-like survivability. Split Shot allows her attacks to hit multiple targets, greatly increasing the potency of damage-granting items. Mystic Snake grants Medusa some presence in the lane and skirmishes, and its mana stealing refunds part of the cost to boot, making it an excellent farming tool. Mana Shield protects her from the opening damage of teamfights, and if supplemented with items makes killing Medusa a fatally time-consuming process. Stone Gaze acts as a fantastic defensive mechanism against ganks and initiates alike, with crippling effects on all who dare face the Gorgon.

Recommended items
Ring of Protection is vital until Medusa has skilled Mana Shield as she has the lowest base HP in the entire game. It can be turned into a Ring of Aquila or tranquil boots if so desired. Magic Wand gives some stats that Medusa needs in early game plus the burst heal charges is very good for emergency situations.

Phase Boots give movespeed and damage, but Power Treads are a stronger DPS option and provide additional stats. Tranquil Boots are also an option, and allows Medusa to stay in lane longer. Boots of Travel give Medusa mobility which she needs for farming creepwaves and defending the base with ease and together with Yasha, Medusa's movespeed will be very fast(429).

Linken's Sphere provides spell block, decent stats for the cost, and an extension from an early perseverance, fulfilling the role of increasing Medusa's durability and providing regeneration as well as giving some right-click power.

Items such as Manta Style and Eye of Skadi are great items for Medusa as they provide her excellent stats for her very low base stats. Butterfly's evasion synergizes with mana shield (which ignores armor from other durability options) while providing strong DPS to work with Split Shot. Taking into account Medusa's good survivability plus the Split Shot skill makes her an excellent Divine Rapier carrier. Satanic is a good item in combo of the Divine Rapier and other damage-increasing items in terms of standing very long in team fights especially if Medusa's health drops in critical level and when there is no mana to sustain Mana Shield.

Tips

 * Mystic Snake should be maxed first as it is Medusa's only nuke and primary farming tool.
 * Try to aim Mystic Snakes to bounce off enemy creeps before hitting heroes to maximize their effects.
 * On a standard lane creep wave of 3 melees and 1 ranged, a level 4 Mystic Snake that bounces on the melees first will instantly kill the ranged creep on contact.
 * As more creeps are added to the waves, a few attacks with Split Shot active should be used before casting Mystic Snake to ensure lasthits.
 * Split Shot and Mana Shield are both highly item-dependant abilities. Consider spending pre-level 6 points in Attribute Bonus for a small but more tangible boost in power.
 * By activating Split Shot before you use Manta Style or Illusion rune, the illusions will gain the Split Shot ability which is a very good boost in terms of increasing your DPS.
 * Be wary about leaving Mana Shield active in the early to mid-game without a high manapool or some mana regen items. Heavy damage may leave you unable to cast Stone Gaze, which can turn the tides of a gank or teamfight when used correctly.
 * When pushing, activate Split Shot when attacking towers to whittle down an incoming creep wave.
 * Items built from Ultimate Orb and Perseverance are good for Medusa, such as Linken's Sphere and Manta Style. The bonus stats and regen make Medusa very tanky with Mana Shield active.

Balance changelog
6.77
 * Stone Gaze icon.png Stone Gaze cooldown reduced from 140/110/80 to 140/100/60.

6.75
 * Mana Shield icon.png Mana Shield absorption rate increased from 0.75/1.25/1.5/2 to 0.75/1.25/1.75/2.25.
 * Mystic Snake icon.png Mystic Snake damage bonus per jump increased from 20% to 25%.
 * Split Shot icon.png Split Shot damage per arrow increased from 45/55/65/75% to 50/60/70/80%.

6.74
 * Split Shot icon.png Split Shot now shoots 5 arrows instead of 4.

6.73
 * Toggle cooldown on Mana Shield icon.png Mana Shield removed.
 * Stone Gaze icon.png Stone Gaze rebalanced:
 * No longer changes the scale of the purge per level (was negligible), now recovers at a medium rate always
 * Instead of checking to stone units over the first 0.6 seconds, it checks over the full 5 seconds.
 * Units affected by the Stone Gaze icon.png Stone Gaze cannot get reaffected during the application period
 * Illusion & Summoned unit damage from 600/800/1000 to 500/1000/1500
 * Manacost from 100/50/0 to 200/100/0
 * Cooldown from 100 to 140/110/80