Lion

When to Pick Lion?

Tips & common mistakes

• The Earth Spike into Hex combo is completely backwards from how most players execute it at average MMR. The correct order is Hex FIRST — turning the enemy into a frog removes their ability to activate BKB, use Blink Dagger, or cast any escape spell — and THEN Earth Spike to extend the lockdown duration. If you Earth Spike first, the enemy has a full second to activate every defensive item they own before the hex lands. If you Hex first, they can activate nothing during the duration, and your Earth Spike lands on a completely helpless target.
• Mana Drain is not just a harassment tool in the laning phase — it is a teamfight utility ability that completely shuts down intelligence-dependent heroes in extended fights. Channeling Mana Drain on the enemy Leshrac or Invoker during a teamfight drains them out of their ability to spam spells in under five seconds, and a Leshrac who cannot cast Diabolic Edict or Pulse Nova because Lion drained his entire mana pool is a Leshrac dealing zero damage while your team dismantles his teammates one by one.
• Finger of Death does not require a setup combo to be valuable—it is a global execution tool, and most Lion players only use it as the finisher in a full combo when the enemy is already stunned. The real power of Finger of Death is using it reactively on a hero who just used their escape ability and is now at low HP on the other side of the map with no way to get away—cast it from wherever you are standing and collect the kill without ever walking near the target.
• Earth Spike has a travel time before it erupts from the ground — you need to cast it slightly ahead of a moving target, not directly on their current position. Most missed Earth Spikes at average MMR are not bad aim—they are failing to account for this travel time by casting directly at the hero's feet rather than two steps ahead of where they are running. Lead the target, always.
• Stop using Finger of Death as your opener in a gank. You have the most important ability on the entire hero as your cooldown for KILLING heroes—not for initiating. Open with Hex into Earth Spike; confirm the kill with Finger of Death as the execute, and then you have a dead hero AND your most impactful cooldown is still available for the next fight in a few seconds. A Finger of Death used to open a gank on a hero at full HP is a Finger of Death that fails to kill and sits on cooldown while the enemy walks away at 30% HP feeling relieved.
• Lion's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade creates a chained Finger of Death that bounces to multiple targets—in the current meta of grouped teamfight Dota, where multiple heroes are always standing near each other, a chain Finger hitting three heroes in a single cast is one of the highest-value Aghanim's upgrades available on any support hero. Rush it if the game is going long and you have the gold, because the upgrade turns Finger of Death from a single-target execute into a teamfight nuke that hits everyone standing near the primary target simultaneously.
• You are extremely squishy, and you have below-average movement speed. Your ability to impact fights drops to zero the moment you are dead—position yourself behind your carry at all times, always have a mental escape plan before you walk into aggressive positions, and never use To Hell and Back as a panic button when it is already too late. Use it proactively when you see a gap closer targeting you before it arrives, not after you are already stunned and waiting for the animation to finish while the enemy right-clicks you to death.