Lina
Lina | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lina, the Slayer, is a ranged intelligence hero, adept at destroying enemy heroes quickly by delivering massive bursts of magical damage, making her one of the most effective gankers in the game. She possesses immense damaging capabilities all throughout the game, but is very fragile. Two of her fiery spells are her main source of damage, Dragon Slave sends a wave of fire to burn enemies in her path while Light Strike Array stuns them with a concentrated pillar of solar flame. Each of her spells deals great damage early on and has a low cooldown. Her Fiery Soul bolsters her attack and movement speed every time she casts a spell, which gives her scaling damage for the later game. Laguna Blade, her ultimate, is her ace in the hole. Lina fires off a huge bolt of lightning at a single target, dealing colossal damage. Laguna Blade's damage is staggering in early-mid game, and late game is still enough to destroy frail enemy heroes. Dragon Slave, Light Strike Array, and Laguna Blade are incredible flaming nukes that can incinerate her target instantly, and Fiery Soul allows her to transition into a strong and fast physical attacker. Though her power falls from its peak late game, mana-boosting and damage-increasing items can be purchased to keep herself up.
Contents
Bio[edit]
Abilities[edit]
Notes:
- Dragon Slave travels at a speed of 1200, taking 0.9 seconds to travel the full distance.
- With the travel distance and end radius, it can hit units up to 1275 range away.
- The complete area is shaped like a cone.
Notes:
- Light Strike Array first applies the debuff, then the damage.
- Destroys trees within the affected 250 radius.
- The visual effects and the sound during the 0.5-second effect delay are only visible and audible to allies.
- Lina has two different animations for this spell, leading to two possible cast backswing durations.
Passive
Self
Notes:
- Using items does not trigger Fiery Soul.
- Each ability cast refreshes the duration of the whole stack, making it theoretically possible to permanently have max stacks on.
- At 2 stacks the buff grants 10%/12%/14%/16% (
14%/16%/18%/20%) movement speed and 80/120/160/200 (
140/180/220/260) attack speed.
- At 3 stacks the buff grants 15%/18%/21%/24% (
21%/24%/27%/30%) movement speed and 120/180/240/300 (
210/270/330/390) attack speed.
- At 2 stacks the buff grants 10%/12%/14%/16% (


Can be cast on spell immune enemies.
Notes:
- Places a debuff on the target, which applies the damage upon expiring. The debuff lasts 0.25 seconds.
- This means the ability can be avoided by being invulnerable, hidden or spell immune as the debuff expires.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, Laguna Blade's damage changes from magical to pure, and allows it to slice through spell immunity.
- With Aghanim's Shard, Laguna Blade always affects a line in front of Lina, no matter how it is targeted.
- When targeting a unit, the lightning is released towards its current location upon cast and still goes the full length.
- Places a buff on Lina upon cast, which applies the damage on all enemies within range of the lightning upon expiring. The buff lasts 0.25 seconds.
- This means directly targeting a unit does not guarantee a hit on them, since it does not place the debuff on enemies.
- With the travel distance and damage width, it can hit units up to 975 range away.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
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+150 Attack Range | 25 | -25s Laguna Blade Cooldown |
+30/2% Fiery Soul Per Stack | 20 | +11% Spell Amplification |
+130 Light Strike Array Damage | 15 | +350 Health |
-2.5s Dragon Slave Cooldown | 10 | +30 Damage |
- The cast range talent also affects the max distance of Dragon Slave.
- This attack damage talent is added as raw attack damage, so it does not benefit illusions, and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
Recent Changes[edit]
- Increased agility gain from 1.8 to 2.1.
- Light Strike Array
- Increased effect radius from 225 to 250.
- Reduced mana cost from 100/110/120/130 to 100/105/110/115.
- Increased Fiery Soul stack duration from 10 to 12.
- Talents:
- Level 10 left talent: -2s Dragon Slave cooldown increased to -2.5s.
- Increased Light Strike Array damage from 80/120/160/200 to 80/130/180/230.
- Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Laguna Blade
- Reduced effect delay from 0.25 to 0.
- Increase cast range bonus from 150 to 250.
- Laguna Blade
- Talents:
- Level 10 left talent changed: +75 cast range ➜ -2s Dragon Slave cooldown.
- Level 25 right talent changed: -6s Dragon Slave cooldown ➜ -25s Laguna Blade cooldown.
- Reduced base attack damage from 19-31 to 19-27.
- Reduced base armor from 1 to 0.
- Increased Light Strike Array cooldown from 7 on each level to 10/9/8/7.
- Increased Fiery Soul attack speed bonus per stack from 40/55/70/85 to 40/60/80/100.
- Reduced Laguna Blade mana cost from 280/420/680 to 250/400/550.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Lina:
- Increases Laguna Blade cast range by 150 and turns it into a ground-targeted ability, traveling the full distance and hitting every enemy unit that comes within 125 range of it.
- Notes: Keeps its unit-targeting aspect, but always travels in a straight line, no matter how it is targeted.
- Talents:
- Level 15 left talent: +110 Light Strike Array damage increased to +130.
- Level 15 right talent: +300 health increased to +350.
- Level 20 left talent: +30/+1.5% Fiery Soul attack/movement speed per stack increased to +30/+2%.
Recommended Items[edit]
Starting items:
- Tango restores health to keep Lina in lane.
- Null Talisman gives attributes so Lina can get last hits.
- Iron Branch provides cheap attributes; it also gives more healing out of Tango.
- Clarity sustains mana so Lina can keep using abilities, threatening enemies more.
Early game:
- Magic Stick is useful since Lina is squishy and has multiple high-cost low-cooldown spells picking up Magic Stick can increase her early staying power greatly.
- Boots of Speed helps Lina get into position to land her abilities while avoiding danger zones.
- Bottle is a common pickup for Lina when playing in the mid lane.
Mid game:
- Phase Boots's attack damage complements Fiery Soul to increase Lina's damage output.
- Arcane Boots is a viable alternative, especially for a more support oriented Lina.
- Bloodstone can solve Lina's mana issues while also improving her low HP pool. With enough charges, she can keep up her full stacks of Fiery Soul without having to worry about being out of mana during the next team fight.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity enhances Lina's positioning even further and greatly boosts her mana-regeneration because of her high base Intelligence and Intelligence gain. It can also be used to set up Light Strike Array fairly reliably.
Late game:
- Blink Dagger gives Lina the ability to stay back in safety, then blink in at an opportune moment to cast her Light Strike Array before the enemy can see it coming and evade it.
Situational items:
- Aghanim's Scepter roughly boosts Lina's Laguna Blade damage by another ability point, increases her survivability because of the increase to her attributes, and lets her damage stay relevant even against Black King Bar users in the mid or late game.
- Drum of Endurance improves her own positioning and all attributes for relatively low cost and also benefits her team.
- Shadow Blade can be useful for a carry Lina, as it helps her to cast Light Strike Array while invisible, and also provides her with an escape mechanism.
- Scythe of Vyse gives her team an important disable that also helps to ensure she lands Light Strike Array. Furthermore, its attribute bonuses will make her a bit more survivable and drastically improve her mana regeneration.
- Crystalys provides a good damage boost when playing as a semi-carry Lina, and can be upgraded to Daedalus.
- Black King Bar is sometimes picked up when Lina is carrying, especially against teams with many disables.
- Shiva's Guard both helps with Lina's mana regeneration problems as well as her low armor value while also benefiting her team with Shiva's Guard's aura and active ability.
- Rod of Atos provides Lina with a larger mana pool that becomes more important as teamfights expand and Laguna Blade becomes more mana-intensive, as well as a significant boost to her low HP pool. Its active effect can also greatly assist in landing her stun, and has a low enough cooldown to do so almost as soon as Light Strike Array comes off cooldown again.
- Octarine Core's lifesteal gives more survival potential in teamfights. Also, it gives a huge intelligence boost, as well as a greater ability to spam spells.
- Ethereal Blade is a decent luxury item if the farm is available. It allows Lina to amplify her magical nukes, and slows enemies to help her land them. Using the active on herself is also a good escape mechanism against late game carries.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Support Carry Nuker Disabler |
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Complexity: | ★☆☆ |
Playstyle: | Like her younger sister, Lina's elemental affinity was the source of many headaches. Sent south to live with a patient aunt, she learned to master her Fiery Soul in the blazing Desert of Misrule. Channeling the breath of Desert Wyrms, she unleashes her Dragon Slave to burn a path before her. Attuned to fire, Lina ignites the ground with Light Strike Array, incinerating foes in a column of flame. Even the hardiest of heroes fear the Slayer's signature spell: The Laguna Blade. Focusing every bit of heat around her, Lina fires a condensed bolt of white-hot energy, instantly terminating her opponent with minimal struggle or effort. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- The original Lina Inverse "The Slayer" was modeled after the main character from the novels/anime/manga Slayers where Light Strike Array, Dragon Slave and Laguna Blade are all spells used by the original Lina Inverse.[1]
- Lina's line ▶️ "Better to burn out than fade away" is a reference to the Neil Young song, My, My, Hey, Hey.
- The line also appears in the suicide note of Kurt Cobain.
- The line ▶️ "Turn me over... I'm done." is a reference to Lawrence of Rome who was roasted alive on a giant grill and joked, "Turn me over — I'm done on this side."
- Lina's rival response towards Batrider ▶️ "Why'd you stop? This isn't Batrider country." is a reference to a line in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.[2]
- In older versions of DotA, Lina was a male hero that used the Blood Mage model, also used by the Invoker. In these versions, Lina was known as Link Inverse.
- Lina's line ▶️ "It's not the heat, it's the humiliation." is a reference to "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." a quote from Yogi Berra.
- Lina's coils around her neck are possibly a representation of Kayan Lahwi women in Myanmar, who are also referred to as "dragon women".