Hello everyone! Today, I will guide you through the Lion Build. I work hard to keep my Dota 2 builds and guides updated according to the latest patch, and I will help you guide the best Lion build for this meta. I have 1050 games with Lion as support, with my expertise I will guide you on how to stomp down and win ranked games easily, Let’s dive in.
Introduction
Lion gives enemies little chance to retaliate. Stunning targets with a damaging row of spikes, or temporarily transforming them into harmless creatures, even if his powerful spells aren’t enough, he and his allies should still have all the time they need to slay their enemies. Lion is a powerful spellcaster and is mostly played as a support or ganker hero due to his disabling spells. He is best to partner with carries or another spellcaster to finish enemies quickly
Type
Ranged, Disabler, Initiator, Nuker, Support
LANE PRESENCE
In this meta, Lion has been played a lot and the following are the statistics of Lion in this patch.
| Lane | Presence | Win Rate | KDA | GMP | XPM |
| Hard Support | 63.99% | 47.06% | 1.91 | 311 | 483 |
| Soft Support | 27.30% | 47.20% | 1.98 | 320 | 505 |
| Mid Lane | 5.84% | 44.74% | 2.6 | 423 | 609 |
FACETS
The new added feature in this patch along with the statistics.
| Facet | Presence | Win rate | KDA | GPM | XPM |
| Essence Eater | 67.24% | 48.65% | 2.23 | 343 | 542 |
| Fist of Death | 32.76% | 46.59% | 2.25 | 385 | 586 |
Hero Attributes
| Movement speed | 290 |
| Sight range | 1800/800 |
| Armor | 2.1 |
| Base attack time | 1.7 |
| Damage | 49 – 55 |
| Attack point | 0.43 |
Pros and Cons
| Strong disable | Slow movement speed |
| Powerful ganker | Easily get counter by spell immunity |
| Scales well into late game | Low mobility |
| Easy to learn | Weak against spell-immune |
| Serious nuke damage | Low heath and armour |
Source: https://www.dotabuff.com/heroes/lion
Item Build & Skill Build
According to the current patch 7.36a, this is the skill build you should make.
Skill Build
- Take the Earth Spike on the level 1.
- Rock spikes burst from the earth along a straight path. Enemy units are hurled into the air, then are stunned and take damage when they fall.
- Due to its line target nature, Earth Spike can potentially damage and stun multiple targets simultaneously. If the opportunity presents itself, try to position yourself so you can line up a stun on at least two enemies simultaneously.
- Further, upgrade the skill according to the following sequence (8,9,10)
Tip: One unusual aspect of Earth Spike is that it can be targeted at only the 575 range but travels up to 850, possibly hitting enemies up to 975 units away.
- Glimpse should be taken on level 4.
- Transforms an enemy unit into a harmless beast, with all special abilities disabled.
- Due to its instant cast time, Hex is a powerful initiating disable. However, this will generally vary according to the situation, as Earth Spike’s longer disable range can allow Lion to disable an enemy from a greater distance away first, then follow up with a longer-duration Hex.
- Further, you can upgrade the ability according to the following sequence (13,14,16)
- Mana Drain should be taken later on Level 2.
- Channels magical energy, taking mana and slowing enemies over time. Can target allies to give them mana and movement speed at a 50% rate.
- Due to its long cast range, Mana Drain can be used to break an enemy’s Linken’s Sphere ahead of a fight or gank. However, be very careful when attempting this, as Mana Drain’s cast animation can add a delay that the enemy can take advantage of.
- You can upgrade this ability according to the following sequence (13,14,16)
- Finger of Death rips at an enemy unit, trying to turn it inside-out. Deals massive damage and grows stronger with each life it consumes
- Finger of Death is one of the most powerful magic nukes in the game, capable of dealing a tremendous amount of damage to a single target.
- In general, it is best to use Finger of Death at the start of an engagement, rather than in an attempt to finish off an enemy. Using the nuke on an enemy at the earliest opportunity will make sure that it deals all of its damage rather than a portion of it, and can allow your team to kill the target faster.
- Always level up to this ability in the following sequence (6,12,18 )
Note: Buying Aghanim’s Scepter grants a buff to Finger of Death and increases damage. Decreases cooldown. Finger of Death hits all units in a small area.
Tip: Get Aghanim’s Shard on Lion, which causes Mana Drain to affect up to 2 additional enemies and increases break distance. Lion becomes Debuff Immune with 60% magic resistance while channeling.
Talent Tree Choices
- Level 10 Select +10% Mana Drain Slow.
- Level 15 Select +70 Max Health Per Finge.
- Level 20 Select +20 Finger of Death Damage Per Kill.
- Level 25 Select +250 AoE Hex.
Item Build:
Starting items
- 1x Magic Stick
- 1x Tango
- 1x Blood Grenade
- 2x Iron Branch
Early game items
- Tranquil Boots
- Magic Wand
- Bracer
Mid-game items:
- Blink Dagger
- Aether Lance
- Kaya
Late-game items:
- Aghanims Scepter
- Aeon Disk
- Ethereal Blade
- Wind Waker
Situational items:
- Force Staff
- Ghost Scepter
- Ethereal Blade
- Rod of Atos
- Scythe of Vyse
- Lotus Orb
- Gem of True Sight
- Octarine Core
Early gameplay / Mid game / Late game
Early gameplay (0:00 – 12:00)
You should determine whether you are going to roam or stick to the lane to protect your teammates from the beginning so that you can buy the required items. With roaming, when you have two controlling abilities, you and your teammates can easily get kills if combined well.
With a protective lane, if your lane teammates are heroes with good damage ability, you and that person can win the enemy lane or get kills early. However, with low HP, the most important thing for you is to have a good standing position to minimize the damage taken when roaming or laning. During the match phase, you always have to follow the Town portal scroll to support your teammates in time.
Mid gameplay (12:00 – 25:00)
This is the extremely frequent roam and gank phase when your team’s gankers already have enough levels and basic items for ganking, and create space for your carry team to farm to the maximum, or go to that lane to help. It pushes the lane, counter gank if the enemy targets your carry team. Because Lion’s mana regeneration is perfect, you can gank continuously during this phase (unless you already have the ultimate, it’s different).
Depending on the approach distance, you can use Earth Spike first to hold the enemy and then use Hex to increase the hold time. Finger of Death is a powerful damage skill, you should launch it early when you are sure your teammates can get a life or finish the enemy when they have run too far. When buying equipped with Blink dagger or Force staff, you can actively rush to initiate the enemy so that your teammates run to kill the enemy team. Remember to place wards, and deward in this phase regularly.
Late gameplay (25:00 – 60:00)
In this stage you go with your teammates, fully ward, use Smoke of Deceit to gank single targets, or start a team fight by surprise, creating conditions to proceed to destroy the opponent’s Ancient or push 1 lane, force the opponent to defend the tower or have to fight. When you have Aghanim’s Scepter you will deal a lot of damage with a cooldown of only 20 seconds. Your ultimate goal in combat will usually be initiators, supports, nukers, and enemy tankers, using
Earth Spike to lock the enemy so that they don’t harm your team in team fights (and carry guys usually already buy BKB in this stage), or you can make the enemy carry unable to react by focusing your control skills directly on the target, burning the carry health to a low level (or finishing it if your skill is enough damage) so that the target does not dare to rush into team fight anymore, creating a winable situation.
Counters of Lion
Anitmage
- Counter Spell can counter lion by reflecting the incoming spells if timed well.
- To learn how Antimage can counter Lion, read the full guide here.
Rubick
- All of Lion’s minimap abilities are dangerous even to Lion himself, and Rubick may steal them with the Spell Steal.
Disruptor
- Just like Rubick, the Disruptor may effortlessly put the Lion in life-threatening danger and render him helpless by manipulating his position with the Glimpse.
- To check how Disruptor can counter Lion, check the guide here.
Tidehunter
- Tidehunter can counter Lion’s long-duration disables by Kraken Shell
Life Stealer
- Rage makes Lifestealer immune to magic and gives him magic resistance which can drastically reduce magical damage from Lion’s abilities while also preventing Lion from doing anything to him.
Abaddon
- Aphotic Shield applies strong dispel on targeted allies, while Borrowed Time does the same on Abaddon himself upon cast, removing disables, such as Earth Spike and Hex.
Clockwerk
- Clockwerk can counter Lion by battery assault and power cogs making it hard for Lion to escape.
Night Stalker
- With the Crippling Fear spell Night Stalker can run after Lion and can easily counter him or even can kill him.
Wrapping it up
That is all for Lion! After the new update, a lot has changed and I hope this new guide will help you dominate ever game! Still if you need help, you can choose our mmr boost service to unlock the new medal right away!