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 into the lategame, his offensive power can destroy enemies during the early game and remain useful throughout the game, though more so to very fragile heroes than others.

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 ability and his complement of disables makes him an effective team-fighter and support in any stage of the game.

Tips

 * Lion is renowned for being one of the strongest and most well-rounded disabling supports in the game. He has two hard disables in Hex and Earth Spike, which allow him to set up kills in virtually any situation once he hits level 2, potentially giving his team a strong early advantage with his combination of nukes and disables. Be sure to layer your disables properly, in order to lock down a target for the longest possible duration instead of stacking the disables and wasting one or both.
 * Like most other intelligence-based casters, Lion suffers from low strength and agility growth, making him frail and easy to kill if focused down. Due to this and his strong array of disables, Lion benefits greatly from building survivability and mobility items, as his great intelligence growth combined with his Mana Drain ability means that he is never wanting for mana to cast his spells.
 * Beware that due to his single-target nature, all of Lion's spells can be blocked with, or even worse reflected with . As such, be extremely careful about when and where you cast your spells, and be sure to regularly check the enemy's inventory so that you know if they are building towards either item.
 * Because of his powerful early disabling potential, Lion can be played in a variety of ways.
 * In most cases, Lion is played as a hard support, protecting his safe lane carry by pulling neutral camps and harassing the enemy off-laner. He is also able to set up kills with his disables if he is able to get within range to cast them on the enemy, whether it be their off-laner or rotating to gank their mid-laner.
 * True to his name, Lion is also a strong roamer who can prowl and pounce on enemies in their lanes, using his disables to hold them in place while his teammates kill them.
 * In unusual circumstances, Lion can also be a respectable mid, as his good base damage allows him to compete with other mid heroes with last-hits, and his disables allow him to set up the enemy mid if supports rotate for a gank. The early gold and levels can allow him to transition into a strong roaming who can catch enemies with his disables and nuke them down with Finger of Death.
 * is a disable that deals damage and stuns in a line in front of Lion, making it a well-rounded stun and nuke.
 * Because both its damage and stun duration scale with levels, Earth Spike is generally Lion's best ability to max out first. This allows Lion to deal respectable nuke damage and disable for a good duration with a single spell.
 * Earth Spike is unusual in that it can be both ground-targeted and unit-targeted. This allows the spell to be used both as a reliable and unreliable disable, however it also means that the spell can be blocked by even if ground-targeted.
 * Due to its line target nature, Earth Spike can potentially damage and stun multiple targets at once. If the opportunity presents itself, try to position yourself such that you can line up a stun on at least two enemies at once.
 * One unusual aspect of Earth Spike is that it can be targeted at only 500 range but travels up to 825, possibly hitting enemies up to 950 units away. This means that while the spell can reliably stun an enemy at 500 range or less, with skill it can be used as an unreliable stun to disable an enemy at almost twice that distance.
 * Beware that Earth Spike does have a travel time, and that it is possible for the enemy to dodge the spikes near the end of the spell if they are fast enough. As such, it can pay off to get as close as possible to a target before casting Earth Spike on them, to give them as little time to react if possible.
 * Keep in mind that the elevated spike animation will still play if the spell catches an invisible hero. While it cannot be used to reliably search for invisible enemies due to its thin radius, a successful hit will alert allies to a stunned invisible enemy, allowing them to cast an area-targeted unreliable disable or nuke on that spot.
 * is an extremely powerful hard disable that can silence and mute its target, preventing them from casting spells or using items. As well, it has an instant cast animation, giving the enemy absolutely no time to react.
 * Due to its poor scaling, Hex is generally best left with one point in the early game. Each additional level only adds half a second to the disable duration while drastically increasing the mana cost, which can tax Lion's mana pool beyond its limit. It is better left as the last ability to max out, as Lion can replenish his mana pool reliably with more levels in Mana Drain, and it is unlikely that targets need to be hard-disabled multiple times in the early game when all-out teamfights are rare.
 * Due to its instant cast time, Hex is a powerful initiating disable since it can lock down a target immediately when Lion gets within range to cast it. As well, the slow it inflicts on the target makes them an easier target to hit with a followed up Earth Spike. However, this will generally vary according to the situation, as Earth Spike's longer disable range can allow Lion to disable an enemy from a greater distance away first, then follow up with a longer-duration Hex.
 * Hex can instantly destroy illusions, making it a powerful counter to certain illusion heroes and . If the enemy can create a small number of powerful illusions with abilities like, or , Lion can instantly remove one of them from play or hard-disable the source of the illusions directly. And if an enemy uses Manta Style defensively, Hex can instantly remove one of them, increasing the chance of finding the right hero to 50%.
 * In dire situations, Hex can be cast defensively as well. If a lone enemy initiates on Lion and he is unable to kill them with his nukes, casting a max level Hex on them will disable them for 4 seconds, more than enough time for Lion to channel a Town Portal Scroll to escape.
 * is a strong utility and soft-disable spell that allows Lion to roam independently as he can maintain a near-limitless supply of mana.
 * Next to Earth Spike, Mana Drain can be a powerful spell to max out early on. While it is not very strong at level 1, getting it to level 2 allows Lion to start recouping the mana cost of his spells, giving him the mana to cast his full combo whenever he needs to. At level 4, it can drain mana at double the rate that it does at level 3, making much more powerful.
 * Used judiciously, Mana Drain can hinder enemies' attempts to lane as Lion can threaten to remove their mana pool if they remain in the area while he casts this spell on them. It is particularly effective against melee heroes who have to approach the creep wave to last-hit, and used over time it can force them to leave the lane as they will not have the mana to cast any of their spells, including escape abilities in the event of a gank.
 * While Mana Drain can be a powerful harass tool in the laning stage, it can leave Lion wide open to retaliation since it is a channeled spell that forces him to stand still. Be sure that the enemy is not in a position to jump on him before attempting to cast this spell on them, and that allies are ready to come to your aid if necessary.
 * Remember that Mana Drain can be cast on any non-friendly unit that has a mana pool, not just enemy heroes. This means that Lion can drain mana from ranged lane creeps, as well as neutral creeps with mana pools. However, keep in mind that casting this spell on neutral creeps will draw aggro, so it is best to cast it when they are otherwise occupied in order to avoid taking damage while draining mana.
 * Past the laning stage, Mana Drain has strong utility despite its seemingly mediocre effects. Its ability to drain up to 120 MP/sec means that, when combined with other disables, it can completely destroy an enemy's ability to retaliate at all as they will have no mana to cast any spells or use certain active abilities. It can be extremely powerful against heroes with small mana pools that rely on survivability abilities, with being one of the most prominent examples.
 * Like Hex, Mana Drain is capable of destroying illusions, removing them from play upon the first drain instance (0.1 seconds after casting). As its cooldown and mana cost is even lower than Hex, Mana Drain can effectively destroy an illusion every five seconds
 * When used in combination with Earth Spike and Hex, Mana Drain can allow Lion to completely remove Manta Style illusions from the field: use Earth Spike to disable all three targets and identify the real hero by how much damage they take, destroy an illusion with Mana Drain, and follow up with Hex on the hero once Earth Spike's stun ends.
 * Due to its long cast range, Mana Drain can be used to break an enemy's Linken's Sphere ahead of a fight or gank. However, be very careful when attempting this, as Mana Drain's cast animation can add an additional delay that the enemy can take advantage of.
 * is one of the most powerful magic nukes in the game, capable of dealing a tremendous amount of damage to a single target.
 * In general, it is best to use Finger of Death at the start of an engagement, rather than in an attempt to finish off a foe. Using the nuke on an enemy at the earliest opportunity will ensure that it deals all of its damage rather than a portion of it, and can allow your team to kill the target faster. As well, it is usually wise to try to let your team's carries score the last hit and claim credit for the kill, as they can usually make better use of the gold than Lion can. However, if there is a chance that the target may escape, do not hesitate to take the kill yourself, as getting a kill on the support and assist gold on other teammates is better than missing the kill and everybody getting nothing at all.
 * Keep in mind that there is a 0.25 second damage delay once Finger of Death connects with a target, meaning that the damage will take effect 0.55 seconds after giving Lion the command. This delay can allow players with quick reaction times to evade its damage and possibly escape death, as activating spell immunity or becoming hidden/invulnerable will effectively dodge the damage, wasting the spell.
 * Due to its strong nuking potential, Finger of Death can be profitably used on a squishy enemy support rather than trying to damage the enemy carry. At the start of a teamfight, if the opportunity presents itself to instantly remove an enemy player from the field, it can benefit your team far more than dealing more damage to their tanky carry: killing a support at the start will prevent not only any high-impact spells they might otherwise cast, but also any items that could give their team an advantage (such as or ). Be sure to use your judgment and choose your targets wisely.
 * Beware that Finger of Death's nuke can be turned against you if the enemy builds the right items. A can cause Lion to blow himself up as well as the enemy, preventing him from further using his disables in a fight, while a  can amount to the same result, but even worse if Lion has an Aghanim's Scepter that can allow the enemy to bounce the beam onto his allies as well. Check the enemy's inventory for such items ahead of time, and be sure to refrain from casting your spells if the enemy attempts to bait you.
 * Lion can benefit from building many different items to suit his needs.
 * is crucial to purchase regularly as a support Lion. As a ranged hero, Lion can destroy enemy Observer Wards he finds, taking away map vision from the enemy team.
 * can be a strong alternative purchase over Bracer. Given his roaming ability, Lion can accumulate charges relatively easily, and then use those charges offensively or defensively, healing his team or dealing more damage in fights.
 * gives Lion more utility, along with a blend of armor and mana regeneration. As a ranged support with strong disables, Lion can use the active on gank targets, increasing the damage they take from teammates' physical attacks. It can also be used on Roshan to reduce his armor, and later upgraded into a for even more benefits.
 * is useful on low-HP casters such as Lion. The ability to evade physical damage for a short duration can buy Lion time to survive if the enemy attempt to focus him down, giving him the few seconds he may need to get his spells off.
 * is a powerful utility and mobility item on Lion that grants him more mana, base damage and some HP sustain. It can serve as an inferior substitute to Blink Dagger, or as a supplement to further increase Lion's mobility. The active can also be used to help allies re-position as needed, or on an enemy to disposition them or instantly break their Linken's Sphere ahead of other disables.
 * gives Lion strong utility and some initiation power. The active can allow Lion to invisibly approach gank targets and get within range to cast his disables, and can even be used as a shield while channeling Mana Drain. More importantly, it can be cast on allies who are caught out of position, granting them invisibility and strong magic resistance to aid them in escaping.
 * can give Lion some very strong benefits. The item grants more movement speed, giving him more mobility, as well as some more intelligence and mana regen to help him with casting. The active ability can be used either as an additional disable on the enemy, or on Lion himself to give him temporary invulnerability while purging debuffs like silences.

Trivia

 * In the transition from DotA to Dota 2, the names of two of Lion's abilities were changed. Impale changed to Earth Spike and Voodoo changed to Hex.
 * Lion's rival response towards lion killspecial 01.mp3 "All we need now is a wardrobe." is a reference to the second book in The Chronicles of Narnia book series by C.S. Lewis, titled The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.