Medusa Guide

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Well, this is our second guide. We believe people enjoyed, loved and approved our first guide (Stay Cool, Shadow Priest Guide); judging by the response, feedbacks and comments we got and in a way it has made us attempt this feat again.

Those who have gone through other guides to refine their gameplay or for quick suggestions for improvement of the same will know that there is a dearth of a comprehensive, yet easy-to-comprehend guide on Medusa. It is this lack that has propelled us into writing this, what we consider, a much needed guide on Gorgon

We both, Andre and StarBreaKeR~, are former clan-mates and hence have played numerous games together in our college LAN and on Garena alike. And though, in the recent past this has become a bit complicated due to un-forseen circumstances, we hope to play once again in the near future. At present, after much fussing and debating, we have actually found time to take this step. [Andre from Hong KongNow back to India ;) and StarBreaKeR~ from India.]

Hero Overview Why Pick Medusa Statistics Pros & Cons Skills Skill Builds Inventory Control & Items Good Allies & Bad Enemies Gameplay FtW.. Replays The Making of this Guide Log - de - Change

Medusa- the farming machine, the late game carry, the right click hero. You love her, you hate her, but you simply cannot ignore her in the current metagame. Well, thanks to IceFrog (complete Medusa remake in 6.60), she has really made an impact on the DotA gameplay in recent times. Changing her skills has sent her to the top tier of heroes; a platform flaunted by the likes of Vengeful Spirit and PotM. Medusa is probably, the only hero that can DPS like a normal carry and "tank" at the same time; as the game progresses.

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Well, probably the only serious counter to Medusa is Anti-Mage (or, for that matter any melee image hero possessing the feedback orb). Anti-Mage, we can safely say, is not a very popular hero in pro clan matches and pubs alike; so picking Medusa is fine in almost any kind of team line-up. But two thing must be made sure:

1. You get a Solo Lane in the team, and
2. The team has at most one more carry.

Still, many people like to take the so-called Personality Analysis Test before playing any hero. So, here it goes:

Pick Medusa only if : You like to farm. You can farm. You enjoy your farm. You have map awareness. You like "Right Click" heroes. Don't Pick Medusa if : You are an epic fail at farming and you know it. You want to gank. You want kills. You enjoy kill-stealing. You have not read This Guide.Just Kidding :P

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Strength 14 + 1.65 AgilityPrimary 20 + 2.5 Intelligence 19 + 1.85 Attack Animation 0.5 / 0.6 Damage 44 - 50 Casting Animation 0.4 / 0.5 Armor 1.9 Move Speed 290 Missile Speed 1200 Attack Range 600 Sight Range 1800 / 800

Medusa's starting strength is lowest among all heroes in DotA. Starting agility is ranked 38th among 101 heroes currently in DotA, higher than only 6 other agility heroes. In terms of base Intelligence, Medusa stands 43rd, not bad as an agility hero. With the recent nerf in strength gain, only 15 heroes are currently lower than Medusa. As far as agility gain is concerned, its not that impressive either. Medusa stands in what you can call as the lower tier of agility heroes. Surprisingly though, Medusa stands 12th among all heroes in terms of Intelligence gain. With average armor, below average movement speed and with just 53 base stats Medusa does not feel much of a threat stats wise. But her skills have unmatched potential to make her rich with items of your choice; that too at an amazing pace and with minimum effort.

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Pros :

[+] A Tank with substantial DPS.
[+] Very Effective Farmer / Richer.
[+] Very profound lane presence / Control.
[+] Almost UnGankable.

Cons :

[-] Very poor starting stats as well as stats gain.
[-] Mana-Burn counters her.
[-] Useless without good farm / Completely inventory dependent.
[-] Little or no ganking potential.
[-] Late Gamer. No real early and mid game contribution to the team.

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At present, Medusa's skills are simply awesome and aptly suited to her role in the game. The Split Shot and the Mystic Snake are perhaps the best farming skills among all heroes. They provide you with all the gold you need; annihilating wave after wave of creeps. The Mana Shield ghoulishly increase your EHP and her ultimate, Stone Gaze makes it almost impossible to gank her and stop her feverish rate of increasing riches. Hence, her makeover in v6.60 was duly justified. It made her into a tank renting out substantial dps.

Here we will highlight only the salient and important points about the skills so that you know "how to" and "when to" use them for maximum effectiveness. Numerical details of the skills have also been added for your quick reference.

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Split Shot

Medusa magically splits her shot into four arrows. These arrows deal a lower percent of her normal damage.

* Ability Type: Toggle
* Targeting Type: Instant
* Ability Hotkey: T
* Mana Cost: 0
* Cooldown: 0

Level	Effect
1	4 arrows each 45% damage
2	4 arrows each 55% damage
3	4 arrows each 65% damage
4	4 arrows each 75% damage

Notes -

* Only the primary target will recieve attack effects like bash and orb effects.
* Secondary targets will be the three closest enemy units excluding the primary target.
* If there are less than 4 targets in 600 aoe then number of arrows will decrease while the damage of each arrow will still be according to the level of the skill.


A greatly under-rated skill by many but it does increase your DPS by 200% at level 4. As mentioned in the hero page orb effects will apply to the primary target only. Even if you go for Crsytalys/ BuriZa the Critical does not get factored in each split shot. Few more facts about this skill :

*This skill can be turned on/off without having to sacrifice mana.
*It has no cooldown makes it so useful, especially for farming, and
*This skill is based on transformation ability so it can be used to dodge projectiles from Leoric, Vengful etc.
*Toggling this skill on / off counts as a spell and thus can be used to dispel Silencer's Curse of the Silence.

Also in a team battle, where you'll probably be the tank (obviously mid/late game) you'll be inflicting 75% of your actual damage to 4 targets at a time.

Mystic Snake

A mystic snake made of energy jumps from target to target dealing damage and stealing some energy. After it reaches its last target, it jumps back to Medusa to replenish it with mana. The snake deals more damage and steals more mana per jump. The snake's power is increased by 20% each jump.

* Ability Type: Active
* Targeting Type: Unit
* Ability Hotkey: C
* Cooldown: 11 sec
* Casting Range: 800
* Area of EffectArea in which the snake searches for next target: 500

Level	Mana Cost	Effect
1	140	80 base damage, 20 base mana. 3 jumps.
2	150	120 base damage, 30 base mana. 4 jumps.
3	160	160 base damage, 40 base mana. 5 jumps.
4	170	200 base damage, 50 base mana. 6 jumps.

Notes -

* Every time it steals mana (only happens on units with mana), the amount it steals is increased by 20% of its base value.
* Every time it damages, the damage amount is increased by 20% of its base value.
* The damage and mana steal amounts increase independently..
* The mystic snake moves at a speed of 633 until it is returning, at which point it moves at a speed of 833.


Probably this is "THE SKILL"- along with Medusa's ultimate- that has made her into such a favorite pick in competitive dota. A farming tool basically, it allows you to dominate your lane with little difficulty or no difficulty at all. The fact that it returns mana is what we consider as something just awesome. And if you are skillful enough to hit 3 units possessing mana with your snake, you virtually spend no mana for casting the spell which consequently makes your lane presence more dominating; when laning solo against a single opponent or two. (actually, more heroes= more mana return, assuming you are able hit every one of them.)

Mana Shield

Creates a shield that absorbs 50% of the incoming damage by using Medusa's mana.

* Ability Type: Toggle
* Targeting Type: Instant
* Ability Hotkey: E
* Mana Cost: 0
* Cooldown: 10 sec

Level	Effect
1	Absorbs 0.75 damage per point of mana
2	Absorbs 1.25 damage per point of mana
3	Absorbs 1.5 damage per point of mana
4	Absorbs 2 damage per point of mana

Note -

* Absorbs damage before any damage reduction takes place, meaning that armor will not reduce the amount of mana needed to absorb damage.


Trademark Medusa. And probably a known secret of her success. This skill is what makes her such a feared hero, especially in the mid/end game. Effectively doubles Medusa's EHP (Effective Hit Points). Allows you to tank and at the same time inflict insanely high DPS. A fully-farmed Medusa with mana-shield on is what effectively constitutes a gg (for you, and doom for the opponents).

Stone Gaze

Any enemy units staring at the Gorgon will slowly turn to stone, removing status buffs and slowing all speed properties. Deals more damage to summoned units per level.

* Ability Type: Active
* Targeting Type: Instant
* Ability Hotkey: G
* Area of Effect: 800
* Duration: 5 sec
* Cooldown: 100 sec

Level	Mana Cost	Effect
1	100	Slow attacks by a factor 2, stops movement. Deals 600 damage to illusions and summoned units.
2	50	Slow attacks by a factor 3, stops movement. Deals 800 damage to illusions and summoned units.
3	0	Slow attacks by a factor 5, stops movement. Deals 1000 damage to illusions and summoned units.

Note -

* Affects any units that have line of sight with Medusa at any period during 0.6 seconds after cast.


Since this skill was introduced and changed in v6.60 from single target purge to AoE slow, it has lost its effectiveness as an aggressive skill but has been transformed into perhaps the best defensive ultimate in the game. Many people (including us) at first hated this skill and doubted its usefulness. But, contrary to all our doubts, this skill has proved its eminence and usefulness time and time again. It makes you almost unGankable. Attack speed/ movement slowed by a factor of 2/3/5 is more than enough to escape from almost any but the 5 opponent ganks (which rarely takes place). Slows almost every attribute of the affected hero like movement speed, attack speed, turn rate etc. Also able to take down most illusions easily.

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We both hate a rigid and set build for any hero. Skill builds, in our opinion, should be flexible and should depend on the gameplay style of your team and situationally, the opponent team. Still, considering almost every situation possible, we have finally come up with these three skill builds. We believe, at least one of them will fit into every game you play, no matter who the opponents might be.

Skill Build 1 Skill Build 2 Skill Build 3 Level 1 :: Stats (1) Level 2 :: Mystic Snake (1) Level 3 :: Mystic Snake (2) Level 4 :: Stats (2) Level 5 :: Mystic Snake (3) Level 6 :: Stone Gaze (1) Level 7 :: Mystic Snake (4) Level 8 :: Mana Shield (1) Level 9 :: Mana Shield (2) Level 10 :: Mana Shield (3) Level 11 :: Stone Gaze (2) Level 12 :: Mana Shield (4) Level 13 :: Split Shot (1) Level 14 :: Split Shot (2) Level 15 :: Split Shot (3) Level 16 :: Stone Gaze (3) Level 17 :: Split Shot (4) Level 18 - 25 :: Stats Level 1 :: Mana Shield (1) Level 2 :: Mystic Snake (1) Level 3 :: Mana Shield (2) Level 4 :: Mystic Snake (2) Level 5 :: Mystic Snake (3) Level 6 :: Stone Gaze (1) Level 7 :: Mystic Snake (4) Level 8 :: Mana Shield (3) Level 9 :: Mana Shield (4) Level 10 :: Stats (1) Level 11 :: Stone Gaze (2) Level 12 :: Stats (2) Level 13 :: Split Shot (1) Level 14 :: Split Shot (2) Level 15 :: Split Shot (3) Level 16 :: Stone Gaze (3) Level 17 :: Split Shot (4) Level 18 - 25 :: Stats Level 1 :: Mana Shield (1) Level 2 :: Mystic Snake (1) Level 3 :: Mana Shield (2) Level 4 :: Mystic Snake (2) Level 5 :: Mystic Snake (3) Level 6 :: Stone Gaze (1) Level 7 :: Mystic Snake (4) Level 8 :: Mana Shield (3) Level 9 :: Mana Shield (4) Level 10 :: Split Shot (1) Level 11 :: Stone Gaze (2) Level 12 :: Split Shot (2) Level 13 :: Split Shot (3) Level 14 :: Split Shot (4) Level 15 :: Stats (1) Level 16 :: Stone Gaze (3) Level 17 - 25 :: Stats

The basic trend, if you examine closely, is the same in all skill builds. You have to max out Mystic Snake first, followed by Mana Shield and then Split Shot; upgrading her ultimate whenever available.

The main difference in the three Skill Build Sets is that in Skill Build Set 1 you upgrade 2 levels of stats instead of Manashield before level 6. There is little difference between Skill Build Set 2 and Skill Build Set 3, but if you go for Skill Build Set 1 you can expect quite a different experience of playing Medusa.

To prove the above fact, we have presented a comparison for your convenience:

Consider, a vulnerable level 6 Medusa with no items. Now let us compare this fragile hero, assuming in one case you've gone for Skill Build Set 1 and for Skill Build Set 2 in another. (Note: EHP calculated with mana shield on).

• Skill Build 1
• Skill Build 2

* Avg Damage - 63
* 663 HP / 416 MP
* Armor - 3.6
* EHP against physical attack - 802.21

* Avg Damage - 59
* 587 HP / 364 MP
* Armor - 3
* EHP against physical attack - 1147.66

So you may say, "Cut the crap, dude! Skill Build Set 2 is way more imba compared to Skill Build 1!" And so we say, "Do not rush to conclusions my friend!" Let us analyze these figures again- only this time not only the maths but the real deal.

• Skill Build 1
• Skill Build 2

* Slightly more damage. Better last hit
* More mana to spam Mystic Snake
* More HP but less EHP
* EHP at level 1 - 516.65
* Can use ultimate always.

* Little less damage
* Less mana for Mystic Snake
* More EHP due to mana shield
* EHP at level 1 - 651.17 (Mana Shield on)
* But It takes just 331 damage to disable your ultimate (Assuming you have full mana).

We hope you see the point we are trying to make out here. Skill Build 2 definitely gives you more EHP but if you go for Skill Build 1, you trade in 345 EHP as a bribe, to be able to use your ultimate in case of a sudden gank anytime.

And this is also quite possible if you spam Mystic Snake repeatedly (which we recommend you should after upgraing to lvl 3; for remember the Snake does return mana and Gaze requires just 100 of it). Of course, you'll have lower EHP but remember at level 6 with Skill Build Set 2, it requires just 331 damage (assuming you had a full mana pool- which is again, never possible because remember- you were spamming the snake) to effectively leave you with no ultimate.

Then again with the 2nd skill built you have more EHP at level 1, which may just be enough to save you from the level 1 ganks.

So, we leave it up to you to decide which built you would like to go for:
*Skill Build 1 is for those who like to play a bit aggresively.
*Skill Build 2/3 is for those who are more defensive in nature.

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• Starting Items
• Early Game
• Mid Game
• Late Game
• Rejected Items

Middle Lane Solo

Mid lane is probably the safest lane to farm, in our opinion, as its the shortest. You will probably meet only one hero on the opposing side. He too will try to concentrate to farm rather than harass you. Problem arises in case of a rune whoring Zeus or Beast Master or Nevermore. Another major drawback is no access to goblin shops. Countless useful itemsBoots, PT, PMS, Sobi, Stick, RoR can not be bought without going to the baseProvided you don't have a chicken or the secret shopNearly half the distance to base. Well, maybe if you random Medusa, then you can go for a chick. But other than that we would strongly discourage you from buying one. This may seem a major problem in pub matches but in high level matches this will not be an issue; since supports will get the chicks and wards for you for sure.



You can go for the above build if you are sure of your laning abilities, possess a keen map awareness and are confident you wont be ganked (assuming your team has warded the river). If the above fit into your gameplay style, you can be sure the opponent mid solo hero will not be able harass you much. Fast farming helps you get Perseverance quickly, which is further helpful in laning as it helps you spam the snake repeatedly.



This one is a much more balanced out built, though it provides less right click power. But you can still stay in lane amidst harassment and ganking attempts.

Bottom / Top Lane Solo (Sentinel / Scrouge)

This lane is quite suited to Medusa like gameplay. Mainly because she has such good lane control. Again, this lane might be a bit risky for farming once the lane is pushed (so, if possible try to deny and try to get only the last hit).

The main advantage of a side lane is that you are most likely to face two opponent heroes. Even if these heroesHero combos like Sven-Lina; WD-Vengeful have aggressive spells, you can have lane dominance from level 5 (but try to remain defensive before that) onwards; again, thanks to the incredibly powerful Mystic Snake. But, you may not get the "I-Last-Hit-All-Creeps-From-Level-1" confidence. This config works best with a jungler who can pull the lane when you have pushed too far.

(Magic Wand)

Simple all round wand lover's build. Magic Stick will be bought from goblin shop asap and this gives you lots of inventory space for a quick PMS, boots or RoR.



This is what we call "The Rambo" build for side lane. The RoP is to be coverted to RoB asap and do make sure that your RoB is always in "Hero Only" aura mode. You don't want to push the lane too forward with armored creeps. But if you go for RoB, do remember that you get more mana regen with Sobi Mask alone after a few levels32 int to be precise with no items is what Medusa boasts of at lvl 7. But, the +6 damage and armor makes RoB a better choice.

Possible Useful Items from Goblin Shop :

You can get PT on the side lane before your perseverance. Helps in better last hit, escape and stats manipulation. Or, you may go for the boots only if you prefer to rush your core items. If you are in mid lane always tend towards getting the perseverance faster, as the secret shop is closer than the base.

Many players like to go for a PMS with Medusa even though the damage block is insignificant because she is ranged and not a melee. But the increase in agility does enhance your right click power.

The stick / wandRefer to the wand centric item built is very useful against spell spammers like Bristleback and also serves as a anti-gank tool against PotM, Slardar, Alchemist etc. Stats from gg branches and the burst regen can be the difference between life and death on many occasions.

The Butterfly Effect! Better last hit, better survivability and IAS. Well, actually early game is the time when you accumulate a lot of gold (other than uber late game). So, we prefer an eaglehorn rush rather than these items. Also the early game is dominated by nukes and burst damages thus the evasion is not of much use.

The advantages of RoB over Sobi Mask are mentioned in the RoB oriented starting item build. You can skip Perseverance and go for Manta Style straight, and still have mana for spamming the Mystic Snake.

In a nut shell, we feel you "should" have:

X [Personal Preference]

Other possible items at this stage would be :



Always keep a Scroll of Town Portal with you.. It can not only save you from the Viper or the Bloodseeker but also help your farm by moving you quickly to lanes ripe for farming.



For all other heroes that you might have played, you must have kept your Power Treads in Strength Mode to get the maximum EHP. For Medusa though, its slightly different. If your armor is 6 or less then you have more EHP if you keep PT in Intelligence. While if your armor is more than 6 its more beneficial to keep your power treads in Strength mode.

Then again, there is a slight problem. If your current mana is more than half your physical EHPPhysical EHP = MaxHP*(1+0.06*Armor), neglecting mana shield, keeping power treads in Str will give you more EHP always because in the above mentioned event, your total EHP ceases to depend on your mana pool.

Graph drawn with 1000 max HP and 400 max Mana, assumes level 4 Mana Shield

We are interested to find the point of interaction, At the point of interaction EHP from str PT will be same as EHP from int PT. This calculation will also show that it is independent of the amount of hp and mana you have.

(HP + 190)*(1 + 0.06*A) + 2*MP = HP*(1 + 0.06*A) + 2*(MP + 130)
=> HP + 0.06*A*HP + 190 + 11.4*A + 2*MP = HP + 0.06*A*HP + 2*MP + 260
=> HP + 0.06*A*HP + 190 + 11.4*A + 2*MP = HP + 0.06*A*HP + 2*MP + 260
=> 190 + 11.4*A = 260
=> A = 6.140

HP - Hit Point
MP - Mana Point
A - Armor

For magical EHP int treads are better than str till 38% magic resistance. Hence, we do not recommend any extra magic resistance items for Medusa. so for the base hero magic resistance int treads is way better than str.

The perseverance will let you stay in lane and spam Mystic Snake to farm to your heart's content.

As you already had the the Slippers, it makes sense to convert them into wraith bands / PMS. Well, actually many players prefer to sell the slippers to get their core quickly rather than making them into Wraith Bands. It's basically a personal preference with little effect in gameplay.

Bracers: the good old hp boost. We say, not bad at all! More hp to survive ganks... ftw!

(6625 Gold)
or
(6500 Gold)
or
(6350 Gold)

As you can easily see, these three set of items almost cost the same. So, let us now discuss the merits and demerits of each of the these item sets:

Go Linken Sphere - Gives you survivability, a legendary Spell block, substantial mana and hp regen. But if there is a Sniper or any other hero (like BB) who is likely to disable your Linken with frequent spells, we would strongly suggest you go for any of the other two items mentioned. With only Linken in your inventory, you will have decent tanking ability but will lack right click power.

Go Eaglehorn - With this and Split Shot your farming will take a huge leap. But you will lack survivability provided by Linkens / Manta. You should get an Eaglehorn only when you know that you can farm a little while more (5-10 mins) and your team is not defending base towers. With Eaglehorn however, you may not have serious tanking ability but a ton of "Right Click" power. But you will be able to farm your next items real fast. Is it a risk worth taking? It's your call dude!

Go Manta - Its a mixture of both dps and survivability. Good right click power, good survivability and pseudo spell dodgeNeed skill ofc. But then again if the opposite team has "aoe" spells casters, your manta images are gone quite fast and this item will prove to be an epic fail as it does not give you mana regen.

A point to be noted for the images is that if you are using split shot and go for the manta-split, then your images will have the split shot ability even if you yourself turn it off after the images have been produced. Also the reverse effect is equally true. It must be noted that Mana Shield gets deactivated when you use Manta, so don't forget to turn it on.

We would say, at first try to get these three. (or, at least two of these three items)



Then you may opt for one or more of the following options as per your preference or the game in hand :

This gives you a lot of stats but not much dps. If you think that your tanking ability is more important for the team rather than your dps, then undoubtedly this is the best choice you have got. The slow from EoS is immensely valuable as you do not have any disable or any other way of holding down your enemies.

This item gives you fairly a great deal of dps. It provides raw damage so it will not help your tanking ability in any way unless you get the next suggested item. The interaction of split shot with critical shot is as follows: When critical damage is to be inflicted (based on the chance mentioned in the item description) Medusa will shoot only one arrow to the primary target whose damage will be reduced to 75% and then multiplied by the crit factor.

This works very well with your Buriza. It gives little damage and thus is more of an tanking item rather than dps. Though its not without its drawbacks: You lifesteal only from your primary target while using split shot and your primary shot is 75% of your attack damage. Still, we would recommend it for late game because of the increase in survivability it provides and the ability to go head to head with other lifesteal carries.

Another awesome item to boost your dps and your ability to tank. If there are armor reducing elementsNevermore, Slardar or any other Desolator yielding semi carries in the opposite team this item can counter them well.

Taking into account your ability to tank, this item can be really game breaking. This can easily turn around the a highly unfavorable game in your favor. Though we all know the risks associated with this item.

Aggressive tanking. Combined with the Butterfly gives you a perfect mix of DPS and tanking ability. Its interaction with Split Shot is just like Buriza. When Chain Lightning procs Medusa will shoot only one arrow with reduced damage.

In general these items either have issues with Split Shot or does not give the exact benefits Medusa needs. Still some of these can be bought as a highly situational item. Even if you go for any of these we would seriously recommend that you get your core items first.

Not a totally rejected item but there are better items for you to go for. If you somehow fail at farming then, this item can be scraped from the junkyard.

Your Split shot is wasted. you shoot only one arrow, that too with reduced damage.

Again, you shoot only one arrow with reduced damage. Though this can be corrected by turning off true strike but still Buriza is better in our opinion.

No mana burn while Splitting Shot. Leave this item for the PotM or melee heroes with images. Well, if you are the only agi in the team and the Warlock or Omni needs to be countered you can go for it, but only after your core.

Great on paper, +45 damage, 260 mana, huge mana regen and of course the ability to Silence an opponent hero. But this item gives no HP boost and as we have mentioned before time and time again, if your mana is more than half of your Physical EHP then the extra mana does not increase EHP any more.

• Good Allies
• Bad Enemies

Medusa, for a better game, should always solo. This hero does not need any kind of support or babysitting early game unlike many other carries. With a little map awareness you can "farm safe" even without wards. In competitive matches, however, strategically placed wards give added advantage to the already "ungankable" Medusa. But Medusa has one and perhaps the only disadvantage- she cannot get kills easily. Well, in a sense we mean that she has nothing to hold down the enemy for eg. a slow or stun (except for her ultimate which is also situational). Thus, being a hero with tremendous dps she needs only one thing- Disables!. A problem? Not exactly! What for do we have supports? They always provide the disables and aid your cause. So here is a list of the legendary disablers of DotA who are superb allies for Medusa.



Btw, did we forget someone? Ah, the lovely Maiden with her seducing aura.

Well, Mana burners effectively reduce your EHP drastically faster (and Medusa has always had low HP issues). So, here is a list of heroes to watch out for :

->
->
->
->

Apart from these, even a hero possessing Diffusal Bade (Feedback Orb) can also give you a very tough time. But, generally opponents rarely get Diffusal Blade- Level 2. Ranged heroes like PotM, Morphling etc may not be able to harm you that much. But the melee Diffusal carriers with images cause most of the trouble. Though you have the skill to destroy images almost instantly but still these heroes can produce images much faster than your 100 sec cooldown, "End of the World" spell. So beware of the following :

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• Early Game
• Mid Game
• Late Game

As already mentioned before, always insist on going as a solo laner. You can either go mid-lane or bottom (sentinel) / top (scourge) .

For Mid Solo: You don't have to rune whore but if you have a lane opponent like Zeus or Nevermore, you would like to get the rune now and then to deny them the lane advantage. But doing that may deny you the ability to farm at frequent intervals which you know by now is most essential for you. Needless to say, while on lane you have to try to last hit every creep. Medusa is all about farm and if you don't start well you might take time to catch up. Denying, if you are able to, is always an advantage but not as important as trying to get every creep that comes in your lane. Considering, the opponent hero goes missing for collecting runes and wastes a bit of time in effort to deny, you should be able to manage 60-80% of the creeps. Your goal in 10 min should be around 45-55 creeps. Spamming of Mystic Snake should be done from level 5 onwards (Level 3 of Mystic Snake). It is at this point of time that your lane domination will really start getting stronger and there will be little resistance to your farming. Aim for 100-120 creeps by the time the clock shows the 20th minute mark into the game.

For Side Lane Solo: Side lanes will almost surely be occupied by two heroes. And many times you may encounter hero combos like Lina-Sven or Witch Doctor-Vengeful Spirit etc. The trick to facing these lanes is to tower hug and leach exp till you are level 5. After that you can spam your snake and dominate the lane. As for farming, you might not get the great start that you might have got as in a mid solo, but with Medusa's awesome farming potential you can catch up pretty fast!

The most important skill that you will use in early game is to farm and harass is the Mystic Snake. So, we thought of dedicating a small section on how to use it effectively. Here it goes..

Well, as you all can see the snake can be effectively used from level 3 (of Snake) onwards. It is very effective vs a dual lane where you can have almost all your mana back you used in casting the spell. Even in single lane it can harass pretty much doing 332 or 276If the enemy hero is melee he is likely to be hit in the 2nd or 3rd jump rather than the 4th or 5th jump if he is range damage and steal 48 mana from the opponent for a loss of onl 72 mana. Level 4 is even better! A quick look at the tables tells you how powerful this skill can be.

Level 3: As soon as the creep wave collide go and hit the ranged creep (the one at the back). Then, keep hitting a creep that is not being attacked by your ranged creep. Wait till one of the melee creepThe one your creeps are attacking, it will lose more health than the one you are attacking reaches orange healthIf you are using it at max range" or red healthUsing at point blank range. Now make sure that the enemy is inside 500 AoE of the ranged creep and let go the snake. You have got at least 3 creeps in the wave! It's that easy. Example of AoE is provided in the pic below.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800x399.

Level 4: Same as the level 3 but you can skip the 1st step of hitting the enemy ranged creep a shot.

Positioning is always crucial if you want to hit the enemy hero with the snake. It's better to let the snake go from beyond the full view of the enemy hero eg. from behind trees or from uphill in the mid lane. Even at point blank rangeSnake travels less thus less reaction time for enemy to react
Also it may be noted that once the snake has picked a target, it cannot be dodged by skills such as Leap.

Ganks and pushing characterize this phase of the game. Try to keep the opponent tower in your lane standing as long as possible though the lane will be pushed because of your Mystic Snake. Farming at this stage of the game requires you to have a very good map awareness or your teammates to place wards at important locations. Try to farm in lanes in which creeps are very near your towers. Don't hesitate to go for neutrals if no lane seems safe. Above all, try not to die; at any cost and get your core items as quickly as possible. With some decent damage under your belt, the split shot becomes a tool to get all the creeps in any lane.

Do not try to gank. You WILL fail miserably at it. We would also recommend you to stay away from the team pushes. You get less creeps and also less experience. Nonetheless, you can expect some ganks to come your way. Two opponent ganks will be pretty easy to escape from. Your ultimate is probably the most useful skill during this phase of the game along with mana shield. To know more about Stone Gaze browse the spoiler below!

Stone Gaze is mostly used to escape from ganks. The best way to use this is after enemy has used up their stuns and disables (with mana shield it should not be that difficult to tank). Using the ultimate can also be done offensively- if you know that an ally is coming to help and you can tank till then the last moment and use gaze to slow the enemy when you ally has arrived at the scene. The aoe of your ultimate skill is huge and the picture gives will give you an approximation.

IMPORTANT:Stone Gaze also affects the "turn rate" of the enemy hero. It helps a lot both defensively and offensively.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800x418.

Well, by now you would have done all the hard work. Now would be the time to relax, enjoy and right click! You must have concentrated to take each and every creep carefully for 25-30 min and now its your time to relish as you cut through opponents like a hot knife cutting through butter. Many people seem to think that Medusa is all about uber late game right click power but we beg to differ. Your role is to farm your core as fast as possible and finish the game when you have the advantage. Turtle it too much and the opponent carry can very well get scary as well. At this stage, the split shot is the most used skill and below we have a mini guide for you to read about it.

This skill, at least mathematically increases your dps substantially. With Split Shot Medusa is like cluster bombs and without it she is like a bunker buster. The fact that for getting creeps cluster bombs are better is no rocket science, but in team battles there can be issues. Imagine you want to gank a hero- some support like rashta will be disabling and you are to provide the dps. Will you use split shot then? Anyone with common sense won't. Or, consider there is a lane full of creeps and only two heroes- still we would recommend no split shots.

In team battles this thing gets more complicated. Many times it so happens that one or two hero in the opposing team will become very powerful and its necessary to finish them off while they are pinned down with disables. Again, you should switch to your bunker buster mode. In cases like a team battle in the forests or against a team with a not-so-scary-carry its probably better to keep split shot on all the time.

Note that by Split Shot, at each instance we mean level 4 Split Shot. Always try to max it out asap. It's virtually of no use below level 4 as the dps per unit is drastically low.

We recommend that you use Split Shot in teamfights only after getting some strong dps items, a.k.a a Butterfly; and not with just Linkens. You may ask why but let us tell you that it's just our experience that speaks. It's always better to kill 2 heroes than to leave 5 heroes with 30% HP with your whole team dead.

IMPORTANT:Toggling split shot can give you a psudo spell block like potm's leap and manta.

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Here are two replays which are awesome depictions of Medusa's role in the game. You'll see how she can virtually change the entire game single handedly. If you have any more such replays feel free to suggest or mail us (e-mail ids provided below).

(Links to gosugamers.net)
GosuGamers DotA | Replay: LGD.sGty vs EHOME

Map: 6.67c
Warcraft Patch: 1.24e
Tournament: WCG Asian Championship
Medusa: LGD.ZSMJ.sGty
Gosu Rating: 9.1

GosuGamers DotA | Replay: LGD.sGty vs Nv.GiGa.cn

Map: 6.67c
Warcraft Patch: 1.24e
Tournament: G-League Final
Medusa: LGD.ZSMJ.sGty
Gosu Rating: 8.6

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Guide by Sibasish "Andre" Dey and Anindya "StarBrea[K]eR~" Bangabash.

Special thanks to

IceFrog Lycan The_Juggernaut FunnyWarfare Kenshiro xtzy

for lot of help, valuable suggestions and reviewing the guide.
Also others in playdota who encouraged us with comments, compliments and suggestion. And Andre's geeky friends from IIT Kharagpur.

Guess the guide is finally finished but don't think this is over. We are still open to any and every useful suggestion/advice. So feel free to let us know what's in your mind!

Suggestions, mistake notification (syntax as well as logical), improvements and questions can be either posted as a comment to this guide or mailed to
sibu.soren@gmail.com - Andre
anindya0306@gmail.com - StarBrea[K]eR~

Strategy, Item builds and gameplay questions can be mailed to any of the above as well.

EHP calculations and questions regarding the any graphs in this guide is to be mailed to Andre only (StarBrea[K]eR~ is an alchemist. Knows nothing regarding mechanics. :P)