InDota 2, there are heroes who deal massive damage with their spells. And then there are those who hit like a truck in the late game with the right items. Lina gives you the best of both worlds. With plenty of nukes in her arsenal and a passive that gives her bonus attack speed each time she casts a spell, Lina, the fiery mage, is one of thestrongest late-game heroesin the currentDota 2roster.
But that doesn’t mean picking the hero is an auto-win for the team. The hero is extremelysquishy, much like Windranger, and relies a lot on securing an early lead. If you plan on adding this hero to your toolbelt, here’s a complete guide showcasing her best items, playstyle, and spell order to help you get started.
Dota 2 Lina Hero Overview
Lina is a ranged caster whoseprimary stat is Intelligence. She has two active abilities, one passive and an ultimate that unlocks once she reaches level 6. Her attack range is quite high, but her base attack speed, attack animation, and agility gain are all relatively low. On top of a low health pool of only 560 at the start, the hero also has a pretty low starting armor, making her early laning phase easy to punish.
How it Works
Dragon Slave (Q)
Lina fires a wave of flame in front of her, damaging every enemy unit it hits.
Light Strike Array (W)
Lina summons a column of flame in a small AOE that damages and stuns enemies.
Fiery Soul (Passive)
Gives Lina bonus attack and movement speed each time she hits an enemy unit with a spell. Can stack up to 7 times.
Laguna Blade (R)
Lina shoots a bolt of lightning at a single enemy unit dealing massive magic damage.
Other than these abilities, Lina has an Aghanim’s Shard and Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade.
TheDota 2Crownfall updateadded two facets and an innate ability to Lina’s tool kit. Her innate ability, Combustion, allows Lina to deal additional damage to enemies anytime she deals 175 damage to an enemy hero. Her two Facets are as follows:
Dota 2 Lina Build Guide
Lina is usually played in the middle lane as thePosition 2 of the team, but in some matchups, she can also play as thePosition 1 Hard Carry. For this guide, we’ll be sticking with her Position 2 build since it’s the one that’s performing best in the current meta.
Though the hero can deal an impressive amount of physical damage with the right items, playing her as the mage and focusing on her spells is the better approach in the middle lane. Since you won’t need as many items to start dealing damage, you can play at a faster tempo on the map. There’s nothing more satisfying than blowing up an enemy hero with your spells as soon as you find them with Lina, and that’s exactly what you’ll do with this build.
Here’s a complete breakdown of how the build works:
Ability Order & Talent Build
When you’re playing as the mage Lina, you’ll want to go with your first Facet, Thermal Runaway. This will give you extra Fiery Souls stacks from your ultimate, which, combined with your Aghanim’s Shard upgrade, will significantly boost your magic damage output. For the early laning phase, you want to go with Dragon Slave first to secure the ranged creep and farm quickly.
The following image will give you a complete idea of her spell order and talent build:
Maxing out your Dragon Slave first will allow you to clear creep waves quickly and farm thestacked neutral jungle camps. Despite playing as a spell-caster, you’ll want to max out your Fiery Soul next, as it also grants you bonus movement speed. Put one value point into the Light Strike Array at level 4 and pick up your ultimate as soon as it’s available.
For her talents, you’ll want to go with the side that increases her magic damage output or lowers her ability cooldown. At level 25, go with the talent on the right-hand side to gain a damage-blocking shield anytime you cast your ultimate.
Item Progression
As a Position 2, Lina can come online pretty fast because of her ability to quickly farm camps with her spells. Remember, allDota 2games are unique and require you to adjust your item choice depending on the matchup and situation. That being said, here are the main items you’ll want to pick up on the hero throughout the game.
With Lina, you’ll want to start with a set of Tango, three Ironwood Branches, and a Faerie Fire for the laning phase. This gives you enough stats and attack damage to secure the early farm as you work toward your Bottle. Ask for an Observer Ward or buy one yourself to get a vision of the enemy Midlaner and Runes.
Use an Ironwood Branch from your inventory when consuming a Tango to get bonus regen during the laning phase.
Since you’replaying in the middle lane, Bottle should be your first priority in the early game. This gives you enough regen to consistently use your spells to harass your lane opponent and secure creeps. ensure you secure the early Water Runes to refill the Bottle.
The Bounty rune at minute 3 can also be used to refill the two charges of the Bottle.
After that, go for Null Talisman and Boots. If you’ve got two Ironwood Branches in your inventory, buy the Magic Stick and Recipe to complete your Magic Wand.
Lina likes to play actively on the map, and Boots of Travel is the best option for this. If the lane is going well, it’s okay to rush this item so that you’re able to easily TP to the side lanes and join fights. After that, it’s usually best to go for an item that gives you some mana regen. Aether Lens and Kaya are two good options for this. Ideally, you want to pick one item between the two.
Go for Aether Lens if you want to build into Ethereal Blade later, or Kaya if you’d rather go with Yasha and Kaya.
If you’re nearing the 15-minute mark and have 1400 Gold saved up, go for Aghanim’s Shard next. Aghanim’s Scepter is the final core item you’ll need for the hero.
Once you’ve got your core items covered, the option for your build opens up a lot. If the enemy team has a lot of silences or disables, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity is a great choice for Lina. you may also upgrade it to Wind Walker in the late game. Black King Bar is another excellent defensive item that can help you play around your opponent’s disables. Linken’s Sphere can work wonders when you’re playing against a Legion Commander orWinter Wyvern with a point-target lock.
As for offensive options, Blink Dagger is often pretty good on Lina. It allows her to close the gap quickly or even escape to safety if things turn south. Octarine Core is good for reducing ability cooldowns, while Scythe of Vyse can be a solid late-game choice against heavy-hitting carries. In certain matchups, Dagon 5 can be a decent item since it gives you an extra nuke and spell lifesteal.
How to Play Lina in Dota 2
Lina is a pretty squishy hero, and the trick to playing her is to know when to be aggressive and when to play it safe. Her early game revolves mostly around farming the lane and jungle creeps and rotating to gank when her ultimate, Laguna Blade, comes off cooldown. You don’t want to rotate to bad fights since one death can severely affect your tempo.
You’ll want to come out of the laning phase with your early game items complete along with an extra item., That can be your Boots of Travels or Aether Lens/Kaya. With these items in your inventory, you’re able to start farming the map. Keep an eye on your minimap to see if there’s a fight breaking out. You can join quickly with your Boots of Travels and secure a kill, getting a good boost in your bank.
During team fights, you want to go after the squishy heroes. Since you’re using the Thermal Runaway Facet, you’ll want to start the fight with Laguna Blade. After that, stun with your Light Strike Array and follow up with Dragon Slave. Throw in a fewright-click auto attacksin between, and the enemy hero should go down pretty quickly. While fighting, try to play around map vision. Ask your supports tosecure vision using Observer and Sentry Wards. Lina is extremely easy to focus down, and your opponents will likely try to remove you from the fight when the battle begins. Stay near the backline and use your Flame Cloak from Aghanim’s Scepter to position properly during team fights.
Mana management is critical for Lina, especially in the early game. Ferry out Clarities and Mangoes when needed. You don’t want to stay on the map without mana for too long. Since all your abilities have pretty low cooldowns, you want to always be fight-ready. If you’re playing against a physical damage carry like Alchemist, don’t hesitate to use your Ethereal Blade defensively. Since you’re immune to physical attacks for the duration, you’ll be able to use the bonus move speed from Fiery Soul stacks to get away quickly.
That’s pretty much all there’s to know about playing Lina inDota 2. Her spells do take a while to get used to. With some practice and a bit of game knowledge, however, you should be able to play Lina like a pro and watch yourselfclimb up the rank tiersin no time.
