Lestat
Supreme Master
Data inscrierii: 25/Oct/2007
Mesaje: 23
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 Trimis: 13/04/2008 19:36 Titlul subiectului: Lestat`s Guide to Sabermommy PotM |
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EARLY GAME STRATEGY
INTRODUCTION
I am not god, do not follow my teachings like a religion, be flexible. Necessity often overrules tradition.
A matriarch and high priestess... blah.... serves as light in darkness... the bottom line is she kills nooblets and feeds em to her pretty kitty. I wonder what kind of litter box it needs.....? To be honest, this isn`t your average "easy-to-play-with" hero. It`s stupid to think that. Mirana requires at least medium experience in DotA world, as well as patience.
Let`s have a closer look at the item builds that have evolved on this hero, since her aparition on the DotA stage:
Mirana Nightshade apeared first in DotA Allstars v6.38 am I right? Well, the only thing that has changed at her IIRC is the Invulnerability when she`s leaping, which was a terrible nerf, I`ve feld it almost every time...
Let`s see the common item builds on her
a) The SnY Build (since 6.38 until 6.42) Cost: ~18075
Commonly seen when she was young and people haven`t got much experience with her, including dear me:D We didn`t like her MS. We don`t like it now... The build looked like this
Boots of Travel
Sange and Yasha
Vanguard
Vanguard
Ring of Basilius
Perseverance/Linken`s Sphere
Flaws: Well, this may be a poor try of a suporter hero, not the best aparently... At least it`s cost efficient, but Mirana can do much more
b) The Manta Build (since 6.40/2 until 6.44/5) Cost: ~30800
Initialy seen as a crazy build, this seemed to atract Mirana fans, including dear me  and it looked like this
Core:
Power Treads
Manta Style
Optional:
Butterfly
Perseverance/Linken`s Sphere [rarely seen on her]
Buriza do` Kyanon
Monkey King Bar
Flaws: Mirana isn`t made for the big scene of the battle agi heroes, of course her DPS was very big and was feared by every single INT hero, but tanks could so easily destroy her... And it`s very expensive for a mana dependent Mirana
c) The Sublim Mirana Suporter Build (since 6.42 until 6.44/5) Cost: ~20000
This is a build I like for the neîntrecut Mirana suporter. I loved this, simply loved this, but it kinda faded, since many tanks were nerfed
Core:
Boots of Travel
Arcane Ring
Vanguard
Desolator
Mekansm
Assault Cuirass
Optional: NONE
Flaws: I can`t think of any flaws I this build. It`s cost eficient, and makes Mirana one of the best suporters, but the reason I gived up to this most beloved build is that Desolator wasn`t popular anymore, neither Mekansm, or it`s just made for Int like Ajushta [perfect unstopable healer], Silencer, Rotund`jere, Ezalor or STR guy Omniknight.
d) The Skadi SnY animation canceling build [since 6.44 until 6.48] Cost: ~28800
A very funny build, very usefull, and discouraging as well as tricky build. The whole idea was to get Skadi before SnY or just place them down, then pick up Skadi first, and then SnY, so that the frost animation was canceled, and people think you don`t benefit from the frost attack...
Core:
Boots of Travel
Eye of Skadi
Sange and Yasha
Vanguard
Optional:
Butterfly
Monkey King Bar
Flaws: Aparently none, great stat boost, MS close to 500 with the help of Leap, increased survivability, decent DPS but something is missing: How the hell are you gonna farm this expensive item build with the lack of mana you got?
e) The Stupid Lifesteal Build [Since like ever ] Cost: ~31100 gold
Core:
Power Treads
Satanic
Sange and Yasha
Optional:
Butterfly
Buriza do` Kyanon
Monkey King Bar
Flaws: Many, starting from the fact that Mirana doesn`t have the damage to suport not even a decent lifesteal. Survivability isn`t increased by too much, and doesn`t make Mirana a suporter, nor a killer, nor a DPSer. This build is just stupid and very expensive... THE MOST EXPENSIVE
f) Curent Build [from this strat, since 6.48b, the new stable map] Cost: ~27000
Core:
Power Treads
Arcane Ring
Mjollnir
Linken`s Sphere
Optional:
Butterfly
Monkey King Bar/Buriza do`Kyanon/Radiance
Pros: Makes Mirana a killer DPSer, since we agreed I don`t like making Mirana a suporter anymore. The cost is decent, since she has enough mana for the spammability of Starfall. The survivability of Mirana increases decently, since she has evasion, hp boost from linken`s as well as hp and mana regen, and 2 escaping skills. I just love this build. Can you see the beauty in it? :X Gotta love it
Cons: Still doesn`t make Mirana the hero that can match anyone. She`s food for permabashers and for fat tanks like Omniknight and Centaur [even if these 2 could`n kill her]. Come to think of it, everybody`s food for permabashers... And it doesn`t give you much HP, but, frankly, you don`t need iot. You need damage and attack speed, and sufficient MS so that you can flee from absolutely every lost team clash
STAT GROWTH
1.85/level on Strength is mediocre, but since she`s agi, we`ll not complain, at least I`m not going to
2.75/level on Agility... Not bad, but not enough... I think it should compensate a bit more, look at Terrorblade...
1.65/level on Inteligence is yet again, mediocre, since she depends on her skills, and her base damage, armor and HP does NOT compensate this lack of mana
Her overview at the start of the game doesn`t give us much hope, does she?
I`ve chosen her skills like this because, first of all, she isn`t focusing on having much mana, and since Elune`s Arrow`s mana cost is quite decent, even for Mirana, we will have to settle like this. We need at least a level of Leap early game, it`s self explanatory.
Maxing out Starfall in early game is crucial, even if you won`t be spamming it, untill your arcane ring comes. You will feel the strong absence of stats, but if you consider that she needs the stats more than starfall, then so be it. This is how it works for me and it works great. It is only situational.
RANGE
Her range is 600, standard night elf/ high elf/human looking hero in DotA. Just kiddin`, don`t think this matters. Her range is more than suficient.
MOVEMENT AND ATTACK SPEED
Mirana is a relatively slow hero, but her Leap compensates this. Even if her ms isn`t spectacular, she is able to survive with it in a 5v5 match untill level 5-6 at least. Same with her ASPD, let`s face it, she`s far from beeing Luna like at this chapter.
ROLE IN THE TEAM
A close look at the skills, and we should see that she`s a suport hero, by all means necesary... Her starfall serves as an AoE nuke with the purpose of erasing the creep masses, her arrow serves as an initiating and finishing nuke with a more than decent stun, her Leap has a Speed Aura Effect, and her ultimate serves well as an escape/gank mechanism.
Well, let`s not make her the suport hero everyone depends on, damn cry babies... Let`s take her to the other side, as a killer machine, because 80% of DotA players don`t have in their character the will of good aid, and I`m one of the 80%
ITEMS TO START
This is a 5v5 scenario, so be carefull, and choose other strategyes in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 because it won`t work.
Start with:
   
or
Choose mid lane and beg for solo for at least 7-8 minutes, or choose bottom lane if sentinel, with a melee tankish strength hero, or top lane with the same tankish melee strength hero. Why? First of all, you`ll need a tank to back you up if your team has chosen an other hero to solo the mid in order to be carry. Mirana along with Traxex, Sniper is the damage dealer behind the tanks [we`re not talking about raw hardcore BIG damage].
Now that we`ve settled this, let`s see what is your gameplay in the two scenarios I`ve mentioned.
ABOUT HER SKILLS
Basically, it`s your pushing/farming/harrassing ability. Not much to say about this, just that it`s a very good skill, with a 60% chance to hit an enemy in a 600-900 range. That`s beautiful:X
Let me tell you how it works: It flies almost directly from your position to the aimed position. It works similar to Pudge's Meat hook in that it works on the first target it comes to. Unlike Pudge's Meat hook, it does not work on friendly units. It is directly proportional to to the distance the target is from the firing point. Similar to the Enchantress' Impetus, except with stun duration. So getting on top of an opponent and casting it on him is not always a good idea. It goes anywhere from 0.5 seconds to 5 seconds
Escaping mechanism, on of them as you can see. This is easy to master... Just don`t jump in areas that has clifs/trees or you might get stuck. I`ve been killed once or twice because of this and I`ve learned my lesson. Beware, if you leap when ruptured, you`ll get the damage... The things I like about this skill is that it`s casting time is 0.00 which means that you can leap from most of the disabling skills, like Dismember, or Black Hole.
9/10 times, this is used deffensively... But when used offensively, it makes wanders... Fotografie 5 heroes pushing, and suddenly, another 5 line-up pops up. Before you even notice, you`re DEAD.
I
MID LANE SOLO
LANE ENEMIES
Best case scenario
              
There`s no way these hero could outstand/outsmart you, in case you`re a complet idiot, well, that`s a relief huh?
Worst Case Scenario
       
Basically, heroes with strong nukes, fat hp, or crazy DPSers will give you quite a hard time, which will discourage you, but be aware, the power of Elune is with you. I might`ve skipped a few heroes to fear, but I hope you got the point.
You will rarely cross the river and hit once or two times the tower, but that`s just it, do not exagerate. You are not the greatest last hitter/denyer so you`ll be having a hard time in the first 4-5 levels. Don`t think of starting to kill, except if the oportunity hits you in the face, then, by all means, KILL!
The main purpose is to control the lane as much as you can. You can easily controll your lane with starfall. Yep, preety good skill ain`t it?
When it comes to harassing, you are not the best, but neither the worst. Harrass with your starfall+elune`s combo. A well throwed arrow might assure you the kill in the best case scenario, if not, you still might force your enemy to go back to the fountain and regen, and that means more experience to you, and the chance to hit again the tower once or twice. Slowly, you will have the necesary money to complete your Arcane Ring, this is the first item to complete , then buy a Boots of Speed, finish your Bracer, maybe get a Boots of Elvenskin if you got an early kill, and that`s just after the first trip to the fountain.
Allways look at the minimap, maybe your enemy would consider ganking you, or just push the mid lane, well then, this is all about sinconizing... You should be smart enough to call your teammates first, gank the mid laner, push the first tower down and then just spread.
GANKING
Only gank when:
It’s near
You’re sure your CAN KILL HIM
He’s fragile [the enemy, d`uh]
Your Elune`s Arrow is Usable and have enough mana for a Leap, Starfall and another Arrow
There are good allies [disables, nukes]
When it comes to ganking, well, here`s your chance. Get to the top/bottom lane, and place strategicaly your arrow, of course, your teammates should be warned, to stay in touch with you. If you have succeeded in placing your arrow in the right place, leap towards your enemy, hit him hard, maybe a starfall, then let your teammate finish him
PUSHING
You won`t be pushing too much alone, since you don`t have the damage, and you are kinda fragile
FARMING
Farming will be fun as soon as you max out Starfall, and that is at level 9. By then, you will have your Arcane Ring, so farming will be great.
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I don`t think there will be any team clashes early game, so by the end of it, you should have, in the best case scenario:
    
Option 2:
or in the worst case scenario:
II
TOP LANE SCOURGE + FAT TANK / BOTTOM LANE SENTINEL + FAT TANK
Lane Enemyes
Best Case Scenario
Yep, the very same
Worst Case Scenario
     
I hope you get the point, but not to worry, hopely, your lanemate, the fat tank, will back you up.
You have the same items as in case I but you have a teammate on your side. This is a little bit tuff, because you won`t be farming so well, only if you`re a master of last hitting, which would mean that your teammate wouldn`t farm at all. Any tank is blessed with Mirana on one side, and the best heroes to combo with her would be:
       
Needless to say, painfull AoEs, and stuns which will whipe out your enemyes
GANKING, PUSHING AND KILLING WITH YOUR TANK
Warn your teammate, if you have low HP, go back, so that your enemy would think you`re going home, come back through the forest, place a well made arrow on your enemy, which will stun him for at least 4 seconds, then leap forward him, starfall, hit hit, and let your teammate finnish him with a nuke. Be carefull to manage your skills, look at your enemyes hp, if the enemy is backed up, you do the hitting, and your tank will do the harrassing of the other one, with a little luck, you might kill them both. HARRASS! You are a well proportioned range chick no melee good-for-nothing will spoil your fun.
FARMING AT THE SIDE OF YOUR TANK
Talk to your tank and manage every creep wave one at a time. Tell him to cast his AoE on the creeps, and you finish them with your starfall, give him mana, then you cast Starfall, and let him finish the next creep wave. In due time, you will both have the gold needed. It`s all about team play. Your mate will apreciate you, your enemyes will fear you.
By the end of the early game in this scenario, you might have more items, or gold than in case I if you are good with your teammate
Best Case Scenario, with at least 2 kills and a tower down:
Worst Case Scenario, with 2 or 3 deaths and one of your tower down:
MIDDLE GAME STRATEGY
This is the part where you shine baby XD
Nobody stays in the same lane as in Early game, so there won`t be 2 situations [solo/fat tank asist]. If you want to have the fat tank beside you always, at all cost, you might not have all the desired items, so I sugest you should leave your fat tank, I know it`s hard, but they grow up so fast:X
KILLING
This is in the first part of Middle Game
You have the items necesary to make you a decent pusher. This is where you get your most kills. And luckely, you have finished your Maelstrom, `cause it`ll help you a lot.
1. Get near your tower, on one side.
2. Aim and throw Elune`s arrow
3. Leap towards your enemy -> Starfall -> hit -> chase -> hit -> hit [Chain Lightning hopely triggers]-> Leap -> Starfall -> DEAD [You will have enough mana for two starfalls and two Leaps. If he isn`t dead, stay out of the tower`s sight, and throw a quick arrow. This will not guarantee 100% the kill, but you`re likely to anticipate his moves. He will probably go a little bit right after he passed through his 3rd tower [particulary speaking in mid lane], so he`ll be so self confident that he`s safe, he`ll expose himself to the deadly arrow.
Mana Replenishing
Do not neglect your Arcane! Replenish Mana anytime you can, and try to replenish when allies are near, so they could benefit too.
GANKING
Ganking will not be a problem here... You know what your initiating spell is [Elune`s Arrow] so just follow the steps from Early Game.
Elune`s Arrow -> Leap -> Hit -> Starfall -> Hit -> Hit [Chain Lightning triggers most of the times here, with many luck you`ll trigger 2 or 3] -> Kill...
PUSHING/DEFENDING
Your Starfall permits you to lane controll very well, and if enemy heroes are aproaching fast, just beep for aid. Pushing is easy for you, again, with the help of your Starfall
AVOIDING GANKS
When in Middle lane, you can throw an arrow in one side of the river, the side where your teammates have warned you for the miss. In this way, your arrow will reveal possible enemies, maybe hit one of the heroes, who knows. Same on side lanes lanes, that would be easier. Remember, Mirana has two escape mechanisms, one of them is global, I strongly suggest that you should use your ulti for yourself only if you have large amounts of gold and don`t want to lose them. Even though she has good escaping abilities, do not exceed river limits on side lanes solo, you`ll gonna be a sitting duck, WARDS ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS!!!
HOW TO USE MOONLIGHT SHADOW
1. When you are about to gank with your teammates 2 or 3 enemies which push one side, in order to push back. Use your ultimate just before entering the lane, and just before it ends, start attacking. DO NOT attack immediately, there may be backup coming, and you do not want to be cought in the act and get killed. Engage your attack, clean the creep wave with your Starfall and start pushing
2. If your teammates have planted wards, and there`s a strong chance that a team clash could come soon, activate your ultimate, spread out, and then aproach from two sides, engage the battle. BE CAREFUL not to be in the middle of the fight, let your tanks do that, you are the damage dealer behind them, remember.
3. If your enemies aren`t around the minimap, or you just saw them because of your well placed ward, rush to Roshan, activate your ultimate when you see that Roshan is at 1/4 of his HP, engage the battle, CRUSH your enemies, finish off Roshan and get the Aegis. I`m talking at 2nd person, but I`m not refering directly to Mirana, I`m refering to the team:D
HERO KILLING
Here`s where you suposevly have your Mjollnir, and Perseverance... You are now a strong feared DPSer. Initiate with your arrow, everything is focused around the proper usage of Elune`s Arrow, I can`t seem to stress this out enough. Then Leap towards your enemy, hit, Starfall [by this time the stun has gone] activate your static shield on you, hoopefully you`ll get a static charge. Hit again. You should`ve have triggered until now about 2 or 3 chain lightnings. This should finish off even the strongest of heroes, yet again, fear fat tanks and nukers, because you still don`t have enough HP. And beware of permabashers.
By the end of the mid game, you should have at least:
  
Best Case Scenario:
  
LATE GAME STRATEGY
It is very similar to mid game, only killing is a little bit more harder, considering that your enemies as well DO grow up.
Let`s take a look at what heroes you CAN handle
DISABLERS
 
You will be able to handle them pretty easy, since their spells lose their effectiveness. The only thing you`ll be having trouble is the disable itself, but if you have your linken`s, probably will avoid it. Even if they manage to disable you, you have your leap, and the ms increase are no amtch for them. It`s going to be your pleasure in destroing them
RANGE DPSERS
 
Hard time with these guys, you could take them out only with a tank/suport by your side, because they can cut through your relatively tiny armor
TANKS
Hard time with these guys, but you can take them because of your decent ASPD and static charge/change lightning, combined with your spells, I`d say you could take them, but I can`t guarantee that. And maybe with a little help from an ally. Still, if you can`t kill them, they can`t kill you either.
Now, let`s take a look at the heroes you CAN`T handle
PERMABASHERS
      
Stay out of their sight, as they will crush you in mear seconds
BIG SUPORT GAY HEROES
You`re gonna have such a hard time with these guys... Such a hard time...
PUSHING
Pushing is quite easy now, just follow the mid game strategy. Use starfall as to farming, pushing, and defending.
TEAMWORK
Again, use your ultimate in team battles. You might want to handle the disablers first, and leave the tanks for the tanks. Disablers and DPSers that don`t hit you are the ones you should focus. Finish fleeing heroes with Elune, but use it wisely
FLEEING
Fleeing is easy for you, I can stress this out. You haven`t have anything to worry about. Mirana is the most versatile hero in the fleeing chapter. Just be carefull how you Leap... Nobody wants you up a hill or in trees for 20 seconds, as you will be food for AoE skill heroes...
PURCHASES
Complete Butterfly
Start building MKB/Buriza/Radiance/Divine
Finish game!
INVENTORY
  /  /  / 
Monkey King Bar is for DPS boosting, Buriza do` Kyanon is for mor damage due to critical, Radiance is for farming capability way beyond your mortal belief, and Divine Rapier, erm... simply pure DAMAGE:X
Everyone has it`s taste :D
ZOOM-IN
1. Is it possible to have those items? They look expensive
Answer: For Mirana is very easy to have these items, since she`s capable of farming with Starfall, and with the aid of Mjollnir
2. Why extend your build to Butterfly and not HoT?
Answer: Fluturel asures your survivability. 30% evasion means 30% more life that isn`t wasted. You need damage and ASPD, not just plain old HP. HoT will just boost your HP, and you have Linken`s to boost it. It`s more than enough
3. Why do you use Starfall as a farming tool? It sounds stupid, I don`t see how you could take the whole creep wave by last hitting, since Starfall alone will not kill the creeps.
Answer: Starfall is made for pushing as well as for farming. As long as you have Arcane Ring farming is do-able, pushing is do-able, Double-KSing is do-able kiddin:D
Maybe the game will end before even ending MKB/Buriza/Radiance/Divine, but still, you can try
CONCLUSION
What can I say? Mirana`s versatility can push far over the natural suport hero scenario.
REMINDERS
The only notable reminder is Elune`s Arrow beeing your signature skill. Use it for what it`s made:
Initiate
Finish/Chase nuke
Or that little thing I told you that you can prevent ganks with it
CREDITS
DS Team for the excelent work done here
Orochi and his Strategy Contest
angelic_tutpikz for being a worthy mirana offender. Look angelic, you got a spot in my strategy [if you don`t know what I`m talkin` about, just see the "Luna Moonfang vs. Mirana Nightshade" thread in the "Heroes" Section ]
My wooden PC that gives me terrible head aches
LAST WORDS?
I don`t see how adding pictures would help you, but I added a replay just to show you how to use well your skills, and the order of buying the items, as well as methods of farming. It`s not my greatest replay, because I`m not the replaysaver kind of guy, I prefer screenies of my scores:D and live witnesses but it`s a way of showing a different ways of teamplay with Mirana. There pub games, so don`t think about nasty 2 hour matches. I hope you like it. Get the replays at:
http://rapidshare.com/files/107981842/2miranareplays.rar.html
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