Crystal Maiden/Guide

General

 * 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 straightforward 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 extremely low base movement speed. 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.
 * Crystal Maiden'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.
 * 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.


 * Crystal Nova is a large area of effect nuke that also slows enemies' movement and attack speed.
 * Use Crystal Nova to harass enemies out of lane. The movement and attack speed slows should prevent the enemies from fighting back with attacks, and the damage at level one is exceptional.
 * Crystal Nova's long cast range and wide radius allows Crystal Maiden to hit enemies 1125 units away (700 casting range + 425 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 Crystal Maiden 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. While it does not prevent enemies from casting spells, it can inhibit teleport abilities, as well as and other mobility spells. 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.
 * Disarm siege creeps with Frost Bite, preventing them from attacking allied buildings for a long time.
 * 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 enemy 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 tripling 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 Crystal Maiden'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 Crystal Maiden'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. Even if Freezing Field is 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 the enemy lineup as well as laning composition.

Items
Starting items:
 * provides Crystal Maiden with health regeneration to stay in lane and support her teammates without being harassed away and being forced to return to base.


 * also restores health to Crystal Maiden or her allies.


 * is a useful purchase due to Crystal Maiden's low base intelligence preventing her from casting too many spells in the laning stage.


 * can allow her to bring both of her disables to bear on an enemy, greatly increasing the odds of a kill during a gank.

Early game:
 * is very useful on Crystal Maiden to sustain enemies' spammable abilities during laning stage.


 * are a crucial early purchase on Crystal Maiden due to her extremely low base movement speed. Increasing her mobility allows Crystal Maiden to get within range to cast her disables on her foes, or outrun pursuing enemies.


 * also gives movement speed boost for cheap, and builds into various items.

Mid game:
 * are the cheapest upgradable boots available and allow Crystal Maiden to remain out in the field for extended periods of time. As Arcane Aura restores her mana pool while Tranquil Boots's passive heals her, Crystal Maiden can stay out in the field indefinitely and never need to return to base. The increased movement speed is also a boon, allowing her to roam, gank, and flee more effectively.


 * is a cheap source of extra attributes, which Crystal Maiden lacks. The increased charge storage also allows her to do more in fights.


 * can be a useful item to purchase if you intend on making use of Freezing Field regularly. Casting the active on yourself prior to jumping in with your ultimate can give you a little extra time to channel it. In other situations, it can be an awesome stealth initiation, escape, or survivability tool when used either on Crystal Maiden or her ally.


 * is a cheap support item that protects Crystal Maiden or an ally against physical damage.


 * augments Crystal Maiden's mobility, allowing her to instantly jump within range for locking down enemy heroes with her disables. It allows her to move around the map more easily either to support her teammates or to escape pursuing enemies.


 * is a good utility item for a roaming Crystal Maiden, as it can add a little periodical damage to her nukes or be used to recover health after ganks. The additional attributes and armor tank her up a bit, while the mana regeneration works alongside Arcane Aura to keep her mana topped up.

Late game:
 * grants Crystal Maiden additional movement speed, a larger mana pool, and mana regeneration. It is generally built if an additional disable against enemies is needed.


 * provides Crystal Maiden with repositioning abilities and increases the size of her mana pool to allow her to cast her disables more easily. Particularly, it is a good choice if saving up for a Blink Dagger is unfeasible.


 * is an expensive luxury item that should be considered only if given farm priority and all other support duties have been met. It prevents interruptions to Crystal Maiden's ultimate as well as increasing the size of her health pool.

Situational items:
 * gives survivability against attacking carries by granting Crystal Maiden a brief period of invulnerability to physical damage as well as some additional attributes. The active is also useful for preventing enemies from ending the channelling of Freezing Field by attacking her.


 * gives Crystal Maiden attributes to tank up. The extra movement speed allows her to position for casting spells.


 * is a strong caster item that greatly improves Crystal Maiden's disabling capabilities. The item facilitates casting spells from her small mana pool. The increased cast range allows Crystal Maiden to cast Frostbite and Crystal Nova from longer ranges to catch enemies.


 * can be used as an extra means of disabling enemies when combined with Frostbite. It provides Crystal Maiden with useful attribute and regeneration bonuses and improves her team's pushing potential.


 * is a very expensive support item, however, it gives a very reliable ranged hard-disable, a larger mana pool, some more HP, and a powerful mana regeneration boost.


 * gives Crystal Maiden a strong area slow which synergizes with Crystal Nova and Freezing Field. The armor bonus also makes her much more resistant to physical damage, making it harder to focus her down.

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