Medusa

Medusa the Gorgon is a ranged agility Hero. Highly item-dependent, 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 and harrassing 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 initiations alike, with crippling effects on all who dare face the Gorgon.

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 last hits.
 * Split Shot and Mana Shield are both highly item-dependent 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 game without a high mana pool 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.
 * You should always have a Town Portal Scroll in order to escape incoming ganks and as well as for defending your base. It is especially useful for countering engagements and tower dives, as Stone Gaze severely punishes teams who commit to a fight.
 * It is possible to farm ancients with Medusa at level 1 by putting a point into Split Shot. However, it requires juking into the jungle, and may need more skill to perform in on the Dire ancients.
 * Remember that Petrified heroes will take no damage from magical attacks. This is especially important if you have a nuke heavy team as activating Stone Gaze at the wrong time can cost your team a battle that could have been won otherwise.
 * Proper use of Stone Gaze together with Split Shot makes Medusa a great counter to heroes that either summon illusions, purchase Manta style in their item build or rely heavily on their auto-attacks to do damage. Examples of these heroes would be Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight and Faceless Void. Remember that a successful Stone Gaze will clear all illusions from Medusa's vicinity.
 * Magic Wand gives stats that Medusa needs early game. The Energy Charge may help in critical conditions.
 * Satanic is an excellent item in combo with damage-increasing items in terms of standing very long in team fights due to lifesteal and strength bonus. The Unholy Rage may help recover hit points quickly when it drops at critical level, when there is no mana to sustain Mana Shield.
 * Monkey King Bar provides Mini-Bash, decent damage output and True Strike which is an ability not to miss on attacks, countering enemies with evasion. True Strike also applies to secondary targets of Split Shot and illusions.

Trivia

 * While the lore of Medusa is heavily inspired by its ancient Greek counterpart it should be noted that in the early versions of the myth, Medusa was born hideous to primordial sea deities Phorcys and Ceto who are described as cthonic monsters from an archaic world.
 * The mythology that describes Medusa as having incomprehensible beauty was introduced later by the Roman poet Ovid and in that version Medusa did not exchange her beauty for power. Rather after being attacked by Poseidon in the temple of Athena the enraged goddess twisted Medusa's beautiful visage to the point that merely looking at her would turn the onlookers to stone.