Naga Siren/Guide

Carry/Greedy Naga
Naga Siren is renown to be one of the most boring carries to play against (or watch), and rightfully so. Indeed, she will never put herself in harm's way, instead pushing one or more lanes at once thanks to while she will be farming the jungle. It is possible to gank her, but it can be somewhat tricky since her illusions should keep her lanes pushed, and could potentially see you coming in the jungle if you haven't used a. Finally, it is both very easy for her to run away and for her team to react if you haven't bursted her down quickly enough thanks to her.

As a carry Naga Siren, there probably is no scenario where you don't want to go for as your first major item. Before you get it however, you may want to get as many cheap, cost-efficient items to fill out your slots, and get the most out of them: for obvious reasons; a  for some cheap mana-regen, that can be further upgraded into a  for some cheap stats; an  for more cheap mana-regen and to survive an enemy's initial burst damage; a  for some cheap survivability, that will also tank up your illusions; a  or a  if you're against spell-spammers. If you're still missing mana, consider immediately upgrading your boots to, since you will eventually build Octarine Core, recycling the. Also consider a since you won't be missing any farm thanks to your illusions spamming  for last hits; and the regen is most welcome. Finally, a can help you secure some last hits (you have low base damage) and the upgraded  can allow you to transition safely to the jungle as early as level 1.

Once you've got your radiance, your farm should explode and you should quickly upgrade your boots to. If it's too greedy, maybe get a first, that will later be upgraded into a. And should probably be your fourth major item. With Octarine Core, you will have 100% uptime on your illusions, and a very low cool down on Rip Tide.... and you will have your Song every 45 seconds, allowing for some cheeky pushes if they have no way to prevent you from casting it then running away.

As your last two items, make your choice between a, a , a and an. Diffusal Blade can be purchased earlier (it's a lot cheaper) if you need the purge or the extra punch on your illusions. Butterfly, thanks to the evasion it provides, is good if the enemies rely on right clicks (maybe cleave?) to take down your army, and haven't built yet. The +35 agility will also help your army take down towers faster. Heart of Tarrasque is usually the more popular choice. +1150 HP for your and your illusions will help them survive plenty of magical damage, and also tank towers with ease. Eye of Skadi is a hybrid choice, +725 Hp and +25 agility is nothing to scoff at. The slow is also very welcome if your hero is doing some actual right clicks.

As a carry Naga, there will be games where you have more farm than you know what to do with. There are three and a half natural choices to spend extra gold on: keep a buyback, consume a, further upgrade your boots into , and buy a for your team. If you've still got gold to spare, it's time for you to get a little creative. Using your 7-second AOE disable, you can play around a second for some extra items. Drop your Manta, use a for some extra pushing power. Drop it, pick up a instead to be extra safe. Drop your Butterfly, pick up a to refresh your illusions, bkb and song. You still have some time to spare? Include the active of in this combo, that you will apply twice, and combine your Song with an  for it's healing properties... 11-slotted Naga is a little unusual; 8-slotted Naga (with BKB + refresher) is definitely not unheard of. It has been done before and will be done again.

As for your skill build, there are two main ways to play carry Naga. The standard way is to max Rip Tide, take a value point in Ensnare, then max Mirror Image, with Song whenever possible. The greedier build is to skip Song and Ensnare entirely, being 4-0-4-0 at level 8. Rip Tide is better than Mirror Image at the earliest levels, but a fourth point in Mirror Image is probably more valuable than a fourth point in Rip Tide to speed up your farm. After that, take only a single point in Ensnare and skill stats over extra points in it.

Support Naga
Naga Siren has always been a strong support hero. Her images make the perfect scouting tools, and natural aura carriers: and  should probably be your first items, as well as an eventual. Similarly to a support, she has a reliable root with Ensnare and some armor reduction to soften the enemies (and Roshan) with Rip Tide

As a support Naga, you will want to make a proper usage of your ultimate. In a scenario where you have little to no coordination with your team, the best moment to use it is to contest and possibly steal Roshan and the. Another safe moment to use it is to cancel an opponent's channelled spell (including s). Otherwise, it's up to you not to screw up your team's spells and items, and, once the song is being sung, up to them to correctly time their spells for after it expires.

As for items, if you're not trying to transition in a carry Naga with a Radiance, you can go for the traditional support ones with, , ...

Regarding skill build, it is probably wise to start off with a value point in Ensnare. You probably still should max Rip Tide first, but max Ensnare second, after a value point in Mirror Image at level 3 or 4.

General

 * A very strong combination on Naga Siren is and . This makes Naga an incredibly versatile pusher, and Linkens makes it nigh impossible to catch her off-guard while pushing, allowing for an easy Song of Siren escape. Another item worth mentioning is . Slithice's illusions carry the Radiance aura, allowing farming over large areas and greater combat presence.
 * Naga Siren can push with impunity; Rip Tide can affect entire creep waves, Mirror Image's illusions can deal tremendous damage to towers, and Song of the Siren makes it very difficult for the enemy team to gank her even if overextended.


 * Mirror Image's period of invulnerability is very short, but can allow Naga Siren to dodge many spells. Some easier examples (due to slow projectile speed) include 's and 's.
 * Note that none of the auras from will affect illusions from Mirror Image, but they will carry it for the rest of your team, or to help creeps.
 * Combined with Rip Tide and items, the illusions generated by Mirror Image can greatly enhance Naga Sirens's farm, allowing her to take two camps at once during the early game, and eventually three to four from mid to late game.
 * Mirror image has a lengthy 40-second cool down (down to 30 with ). When trying to defend against numerous opponents, do not waste your illusions by sending them all at once. Instead, send them one by one, and perhaps try to have one get around the enemy heroes to block and destroy the next incoming creep wave.


 * It is important to keep Ensnare's unique properties in mind. Its major downside is that Ensnare only prevents movement, and does not stop enemies from fighting back with attacks and spells.
 * Ensnare can be applied to targets with Spell Immunity, most notably holders of.
 * Ensnare will interrupt channelling abilities such as Witch Doctor's.
 * Heroes with invisibility such as, and  should be prime targets of Ensnare, as they will be revealed for its duration.
 * Ensnare will also prevent the usage of teleportation such as 's.
 * Ensnare can also be used to snare the, preventing it from moving allowing for an easy kill.


 * Rip Tide's damage and armor reduction mean that Naga Siren can hit hard even in the early game, and is more than viable to level first. Even when fully leveled, the magic damage it deals is mediocre. Its most important attribute is ultimately armor reduction, which can multiply the physical damage that is dealt by you, your team and your illusions
 * Rip Tide will affect targets around Naga's Mirror Images and other illusions. Illusions can be used to engage for Naga, due to their expendable nature.
 * Once you're farming creep waves with the Radiance burn, you can secure a couple of extra last hits using the nuke damage from Rip Tide rather than relying on the burn.
 * However, this will ultimately make you push slower since your allied creeps won't benefit from the armor reduction on the enemies.


 * Song of the Siren is often used to make another initiator's job much easier, as it gives them time to position themselves while your targets are stunned.
 * It is possible for you to rudely interrupt your teammates' momentum when using this ability for your own sake. Avoid using it as an extra team-fight disable when your teammates already have the upper hand disabling the enemy, as it wastes their abilities by completely making their targets invulnerable. Opt for using Ensnare as a disable instead.
 * When a crucial escape is necessary (i.e. when losing a team fight), use this ability to impede your pursuers. Any opposing target who approaches you will be stopped in their tracks, making for a smoother exit.
 * In a bad situation, You can use a during Song of the Siren, or you walk away for a smooth escape.
 * The interaction between Song of the Siren and an opposing is important. BKB can help enemies avoid being locked down by Song, but it may also make that enemy vulnerable in a teamfight by allowing Naga's team to focus on one target without backup, especially when combined with Ensnare. Enemies should try to activate their BKBs together or take special care in their positioning to reduce this danger.

Items
Starting items:
 * and both provide needed health regeneration during the laning phase.
 * help reduce the amount of damage she might take from harassment and creeps while laning. It further upgrades into a

Early-game items:
 * provides some attributes as well as a source of mana regeneration for her and her lane partner.
 * is great if you're farming the mid lane (which good players tend to go for with Naga).
 * gives good mana regeneration to keep spamming your spells, and allows you to survive some magical burst.

Core items:
 * makes Naga an incredibly pusher and increases her farm speed.
 * gives solid overall attributes, some movement speed and attack speed in an aura and a strong active that gives even more attack- and movement speed to yourself and all allied heroes/illusions around you.

Situational items:
 * gives a lot of damage and the Radiance aura works on illusions, giving Naga the ability to farm multiple areas of the map at the same time thanks to
 * gives her good attribute bonuses as well as the ability to summon more illusions.
 * gives her more damage, armor and attack speed, as well as the Manabreak Attack Modifier which greatly boosts the damage output of her and her illusions.
 * provides a large amount of hp, tanking you and your illusions up massively. It also provides an enormous passive health regeneration while not fighting, so you can return to fights faster with full health.
 * offers bonus attack speed, damage and armor, and the evasion gives more survivability to her and her illusions.
 * provides you with good all around attributes as well as regen, which allows you to stay farming without having to go back to base. On top of that, it provides a spellblock which can make Naga harder to kill in conjunction with.
 * will provide you, your illusions and any other illusions with a critical strike, as well as providing raw bonus damage for the main Naga.
 * is recommended mostly as an option when Naga is played as a Support or when you have a great lead, but can greatly increase the survivability of you and your allies.
 * are a good choice both on support Naga (for obvious reasons) and on carry Naga to later recycle the.