Dota 2: How to Build Lina

In my last article I spoke about Crystal Maiden and, this time, the star will be Lina, her older sister and natural opposite.

Lina, just like Crystal, was born with a powerful natural element, so powerful that it became problematic. She was sent to live with her aunt in the Misrule Desert, where she learned to master her fire powers. Lina can hurl flames at her opponents, create an explosive fire pillar, and launch a beam of hot energy so powerful that it can incinerate any enemy.

Facets and Skills

Lina has two facets, Thermal Runaway and Slow Burn. Thermal Runaway overloads Lina when using her ultimate, granting bonuses to attack and movement speed. Slow Burn grants extra damage per second to all of Lina's abilities.

Her innate ability, Combustion, causes enemies who receive a certain amount of damage from Lina to overheat, damaging other nearby opponents.

Dragon Slave

Lina launches a wave of fire at her enemies, damaging and burning them. This ability can be used to catch fleeing opponents, clear waves of creeps, and helps a lot with farming.

Light Strike Array

Conjures a column of fire that stuns and damages enemies within its area of ​​effect. This ability is perfect for initiating combat and can even change the course of a battle if used at the right moment.

Fiery Soul

Grants bonus attack and movement speed for each unit affected by an ability cast by Lina. The more you use her skills, the faster Lina becomes, maximizing her attack and damage output.

Laguna Blade

Launches a beam of energy at a single target, dealing massive damage. On most enemies with low health, this ult will be lethal and in some situations, with the right build, it can even guarantee a one-hit-kill.

Aghanim

Scepter grants a new ability called Flame Cloak, which grants Lina wings of fire and allows her to move freely, without obstructions, also granting bonuses to magical damage and magical resistance. Lina's Shard improves Fiery Soul, granting bonus magic damage based on the number of Fiery Soul charges.

For this build, I will consider Lina positioned as mid (which is also a carry in the game). In this position, Lina has an advantage against some heroes, in addition to being able to farm more freely.

At first, you will need to focus on acquiring Bottle, which is the best sustain item in this position, benefiting even more from runes and guaranteeing greater lane presence. Falcon Blade also helps in this regard, in addition to granting more damage.

Maelstrom and Black King Bar are essential items for this hero, especially BKB, which keeps you protected during combat. Maelstrom can later be upgraded to Gleipnir, which is another item that will help you control combat and initiate them more easily, as well as preventing opponents from escaping.

Orchid Malevolence and Bloodthorn are very useful items against enemies with dangerous skills or high control capacity (these are the first ones you should eliminate), and also grants several attribute bonuses which are perfect for Lina.

Silver Edge and Boots of Travel will allow you to move more freely around the map and execute ambushes efficiently. The boots can be kept in the backpack, being really only necessary when using teleportation, and Silver Edge becomes even more useful as it’s capable of breaking passive abilities and dealing extra damage.

In the late game you can choose between a build more focused on magical damage or follow the physical damage direction with classic items such as Daedalus, Satanic and Desolator. The magic build can use Yasha and Kaya (which guarantee an excellent bonus status) and Bloodstone to abuse your spells even more.

Some defensive item may become necessary most of the time. Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, Aeon Disk or Linken’s Sphere can pair up perfectly with BKB in more extreme situations. Eye of Skadi is a suitable option if you need to make Lina more physically resilient and efficient. Nullifier is another way to deal with supports, dealing a lot of damage in addition to nullifying all the enemy's items.

Refresher Orb in the late game can also be interesting, as it allows you to use all of your abilities a second time in the same fight.

In the mid, you will start the game focusing on farming and reaching level 6 before your enemy. Dragon Slave is important here as the first skill pick to control the lane, advancing when necessary and guaranteeing the farm, while punishing your opponents. Keep an eye on the timing of the runes and control them as much as possible.

Always be careful to enter fights safely, casting your spells in the best way possible (Light Strike Array first, but being careful to time them well with your teammates’ abilities).

Lina is one of the easiest heroes to play and one of the best in the carry position currently. Her versatility in abilities allows her to also be played as a support when necessary, since Lina’s impact progresses throughout the game and her skills allow her to farm with ease if she splits the lane.

I conclude another article here. Leave your questions, suggestions, criticisms and/or compliments in the comments.

Thanks for reading and see you next time.