Medusa is an agility hero that can be played as safe lane carry, having multiple characteristics which make her perfectly suited for it. However, as of Dota 2 Update 7.33, Medusa received a massive rework on her skill, such that there’s a completely new playstyle for her.
Notably, she has absolute zero base strength and gain in exchange for higher Intelligence gain and a passive ability that offers durability by her mana pool.
She can hit up to 4 targets with her basic attacks, using her Split Shot ability.
She can damage up to 6 opponents and steal their mana using her Mystic Snake ability.
Her Mana Shield is now a passive skill, where she can use her mana to block 98% of incoming damage in Patch 7.33.
When purchasing Aghanim’s Shard, she gains a new passive skill, Cold Blooded, which triggers a Mystic Snake onto her opponents when she is targeted with a single-target spell.
As her ultimate, she can force enemies to look away from her and stop attacking for 5/5.5/6 seconds, using her Stone Gaze ability.
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What Items to build on Medusa
Although having zero strength gain might seem disadvantageous, her new skill set enables her to prioritize on right-click damage and Intelligence stats. Mana Shield is surprisingly durable as a by-product of having vast mana pool.
Formerly, Medusa depends on good itemization to have significant impact in the late game, making her a tough carry to play. With the recent changes, all Medusa players have a relatively standard item build, so to speak.
Here are some of the most important items you should consider buying when playing this carry to climb the Dota 2 leaderboard :
Magic Wand: this is a sustainable laning item on any hero.
Power Treads: offers decent stats whilst movement speed all heroes need. Additionally, it can be a power move to toggle Treads according to the situation, such as more mana with Intelligence or higher damage with Agility.
Hurricane Pike: Building from Dragon Lance, it offers further attack range for Medusa to deal damage around her. It also serves as a mobility item to either distance yourself from the enemy or initiate on the enemy team with your ultimate.
Manta Style: allows you to defensively remove most debuffs and confuse your enemies. It also gives a nice boost in raw stats on top of her Medusa’s illusions benefiting from Mana Shield themselves.
Eye of Skadi: gives you even more stats and an attack modifier that slows your enemies’ attack and movement speed.
BKB: Besides the stats, BKB lets Medusa dispel most negative debuffs while offering resistance against various damages types.
Linken’s Sphere: While mostly situational, Linken is viable when you do not want your opponent to use devastating single-target spell on you. Additionally, it provides mana and health regen.
Aghanim’s Scepter: Applies a new effect on Mystic Snake to stun enemies for 1 second when hit.
Divine Rapier: in super late game scenarios, especially when having to defend your base, this item can be the perfect choice on this hero.
Read Also: Juggernaut Dota 2 Guide
Medusa Abilities Explained
Split Shot
Allows you to attack 3 bonus targets, dealing 55%/65%/75%/85% of your main attack’s damage on each of them. The search radius for the additional targets is 750 units.
Mystic Snake
Throws an energy snake at a target. The snake then jumps to nearby targets, returning to Medusa and replenishing her mana after it hits the last one. The snake deals 85/130/175/220 magical damage. Enemies who are petrified by Stone Gaze take pure damage instead. The damage increases by 35% per bounce.
The snake can hit up to 3/4/5/6 targets. Each target loses 16%/18%/20%/22% of their maximum mana.
This ability can be upgraded by purchasing an Aghanim’s Scepter. This item makes it stone targets for 1 second plus 0.2 seconds per bounce.
Mana Shield
As of Patch 7.33, it absorbs 98% of all incoming damage at the cost of your mana instead of your health. The damage absorbed per unit of mana is 2/2.5/3/3.5/4. Additionally, it also provides bonus mana of 200/225/250/275/300 mana.
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Stone Gaze
Turns to stone all units that look at you for more than 2 seconds (during its entire duration). It also slows their movement and attack speed by 35%/35 while they are doing this. Stoned units are completely disabled for 2.4 seconds, become spell immune but take 50% more damage from attacks.
The duration of this ability is 5/5.5/6 seconds, where she gains damage amplification of 25%/45%/55% and 50% movement speed bonus. Petrified illusions are instantly killed, which is a mechanic some of the best Dota 2 players will put to great use.
What Talents to take on Medusa
+5% Stone Gaze Bonus Physical Damage / +15% Mystic Snake Turn and Movement Speed Slow – The second option is worth significantly more as Mystic Snake is your spamming skill to steal mana and deal damage to your opponents.
-3s Mystic Snake Cooldown / +10% Split Shot Damage Penalty – The second talent scales better as it lets Medusa deal more physical damage from her Split Shots.
+2s Stone Gaze duration / +2 Mystic Snake Bounce – Both talents are useful in different scenarios. The former skill comes in handy if you need longer control in fights, while the latter is even better for stealing more mana to sustain Medusa’s mana pool.
Split Shot uses modifiers / +1.3 Mana Shield Damage per Mana – Leverage on the recommended attack modifier items, such as Eye of Skadi when you select the first talent for Level 25. It resolves the flaw of Medusa’s Split Shot, being less damaging due to its lowered damage and lack of modifier.
The Correct Skill build
When playing Medusa, you should start with a point in Mystic Snake followed by Split Shot until you maxed them out. At level 7 your skill build should be 3-4-0-0. Afterwards you get Stone Gaze and the rest on Mana Shield, taking the recommended talents whenever available.
The ideal scenario is that Medusa won’t be fighting any time soon, so there’s no necessity for a shield nor Stone Gaze. On the contrary, Medusa needs to farm efficiently, which is possible with Split Shot and high-damage Mystic Snake to clear out the stacked neutral camps.
When to pick the hero
Medusa is a hot pick as of Patch 7.33b with a 77.27% win rate across 22 official matches in ESL One Berlin Major 2023. She is just as frequently banned up to 42 games throughout the major due to her durable nature and late game potential.
It’s a great game to pick Medusa when your team has mana suppliers, such as Keeper of the Light. But it’s not limited to supports with attack damage buffs for Medusa to leverage on. While she is extremely tanky and can win against most carries, she needs tremendous support and mobility from her ally to capitalize on her potential.
Medusa can work well with and against most hero compositions in Dota 2 esports. Just avoid picking her against heroes that can easily burn her mana, such as Anti-Mage or Doom, which nullifies most of her active skills to regain mana.
A good farm wins the game
Medusa is a very durable carry with great farming and fighting capabilities. Her main weakness is the fact that she is entirely item dependent, hence why you should prioritize Split Shot and Mystic Snake for farming. Furthermore, request your teammates to stack the jungle camps, especially the Ancient Camp.
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