Lion in Dota 2: Complete Support Guide

Lion is one of the best supports in Dota 2. His abilities remain relevant throughout the entire game, with a strong mix of two disables, a crippling debuff/damage spell, and a scaling ultimate. However, like many other intelligence-based heroes, Lion requires proper itemization and smart ability management to truly come into its own. Our Lion Dota 2 guide is here to help you with just that. Master this sorcerer’s powers, and you’ll make your opponents ragequit!

Who Is Lion in Dota 2?

According to Dotabuff, Dota 2 Lion is the second most popular hero in the game. Let’s quickly review his background, primary roles in the current meta, and unique features.

Lore Overview

Once a powerful Demon Witch sorcerer opposing the forces of evil, Lion had a fall from grace arc and became the very thing he swore to destroy. He’s also descended into Hell and, with his bare hands, ripped apart the demon that caused his downfall. Pretty metal, huh? In any case, Lion managed to return to the mortal plane as this weird monster-thing, and just to add some insult to injury, stole one of the slain demon’s hands for his own. He now spends his days sulking amidst the ruins of his homeland and taking away the mana of anyone who tries to approach him. Poor guy.

Hero Type & Primary Role

Lion is a ranged Intelligence-based support hero. He’s usually played in the fourth or fifth position, so his primary roles are:

1. Hard Support: Due to potent abilities and good initial stats, Lion has a low farm priority, while his stuns and hex make him an ideal hero for protecting the Safe Lane Carry. He can even buff his lane buddy, since his Mana Drain doubles up as a decent augment spell.
2. Soft Support: If Lion can get some good farm, you can boost his roaming and ganking potential with items and go wild.

Key Gameplay Identity

Playing against Lion feels annoying, since the hero can constantly harass his opponents by stunning them and draining their mana. Moreover, each kill made with Finger of Death increases the spell’s damage, turning the Demon Witch into a killing machine.

Lion’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Before we proceed to the main part of our Lion Support guide, here’s a tl:dr of the hero’s key strengths and weaknesses.

Lion Abilities Overview

Now, let’s do a short Lion abilities Dota 2 overview. Here’s what we’re dealing with today.

Ability Icon	Ability Name	When to use	Cooldown	Mana Cost
	Earth Spike	Perfect for crowd control as it allows you to stun and damage several enemies in a line, potentially countering their initiation and interrupting spell channeling.	14 / 13 / 12 / 11	90 / 110 / 130 / 150
	Hex	Instantly disable an enemy to attack them, save your ally, interrupt a channeled spell, or prevent an opponent from escaping. Also, you get to turn them into a frog. Duh.	24 / 20 / 16 / 12	125 / 150 / 175 / 200
	Mana Drain	This ability replenishes your mana by stealing it from enemy spellcasters and reducing their move speed. Can also be cast on allies with a reversed effect, granting them mana and MS.	15 / 12 / 9 / 6	0
	Finger of Death	Lion’s ultimate helps him secure kills and eliminate dangerous targets in teamfights.	130 / 85 / 40	200 / 400 / 600

Players can upgrade the Finger of Death by purchasing Aghanim’s Scepter/Blessing. It increases the spell’s damage, reduces its cooldown, and, most importantly, allows the ability to hit several targets at once. It’s a great pick in general, doubly so when playing against low HP heroes with poor magic resistance.

Purchasing Aghanim’s Shard improves the Mana Drain ability. It increases the break distance (i.e. how far they’ll need to get from you to end the spell) and makes the ability affect up to 2 additional enemies. While channeling Mana Drain, Lion will be Debuff Immune and get 60% magic resistance. Opt for this upgrade if you face several mana-dependent enemies.

Innate Ability, Facets, and Talents

When trying to come up with the best Lion Dota 2 support build, we should definitely consider his innate ability, facets, and talents. Let’s start with Lion’s innate ability, To Hell and Back. It provides the hero with a 20% debuff duration and spell amplifications for 90 seconds after respawning, making him especially dangerous after buybacks. Besides its obvious utility, the ability is a clear flavor win.

While one of the Lion’s Facets looks clearly superior to the other, both can be pretty useful if you know what you’re doing.

Finally, let’s talk about the talents. Of course, your choice should always depend on the in-game situation, but when in doubt, you can stick to the most popular talent build:

How to Play Lion (Support Role)

Want to learn how to play Lion in Dota 2 like a pro? You’d better be ready to train your support game. Despite his decent damage potential, Lion shines at supporting his teammates, and you should keep this in mind when thinking about your game strategy.

Laning Stage Strategy

Your positioning may vary depending on your role in the team. However, Lion usually starts the game on the Hard Lane, where his core task is to prevent the enemy carry from farming by harassing him with Earth Spike and Mana Drain. Also, it’s a good idea to focus on the following objectives:

1. Stacking creeps for your Carry.
2. Luring your own lane creeps into a nearby neutral creep camp (so-called “pulling").
3. Warding, so you can spot the enemy Midlaner trying to gank your lane.

Mid Game Priorities

At the 15th minute of the match, you should get ready for an active phase. If you’re winning your lane, it might be a good idea to help your teammates or initiate the first teamfights. Purchase the Smoke of Deceit to smoke gank and hit your opponents when they least expect it.

Also, don’t hesitate to use Finger of Death, as it can significantly reduce the enemy's health, making it easier for your teammates to secure kills. You’ll get a bonus damage stack even if you’re not the one to last-hit the enemy hero.

Late Game Gameplay

In the Late Game, you still must actively participate in teamfights, disabling priority targets such as enemy Carry or Supports. You must also keep placing wards on the enemy side of the map to provide your team with vision. Also, avoid going anywhere alone, as you’ll likely be an easy target if caught.

Best Skill Build for Lion

Your inventory should depend on your position and the enemy team comp. If you’re not sure what to do, opt for the basic Lion skill build:

	1				5		7	8
				4									13	14		16
		2	3						9	10
						6						12						18
											11				15

Alternatively, you can max Hex instead of Earth Spike to get better single-target control, interrupt high-damage spells, and save your allies. Also, the best build for Lion in Dota 2 certainly includes upgrading the Mana Drain ability at least twice.

Best Item Build for Lion

Now, let’s quickly review the basic Lion item build for each stage of the game. As always, keep in mind that the optimal build may very well differ depending on the situation.

Starting Items

As a support, Lion should start the game with utility items to help his team win the inevitable bounty runes teamfight and stay safe in his lane:

Item Name	Iron Branch x2	Tango	Magic Stick	Sentry Ward	Blood Grenade
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Early Game Items

Don’t count on purchasing valuable items during the Early Game since you’re unlikely to have enough gold to spare. Nonetheless, you can still purchase the following artifacts:

Item Name	Tranquil Boots	Magic Wand	Wind Lace	Infused Raindrops
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Core Items

Besides getting the most out of your spells, your core items should help you overcome the hero’s weaknesses, namely his low mobility and lack of escape tools. So, we strongly recommend purchasing:

Item Name	Blink Dagger	Aether Lens	Aghanim’s Shard	Force Staff
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Situational Items

There is always some room for variation in the Lion support build. For example, you can purchase Linken’s Sphere to avoid targeted spells or Glimmer Cape to surprise enemies if you know their Supports didn’t place enough Sentries. Other situationally useful items are:

Item Name	Phylactery	Wind Waker	Lotus Orb	Black King Bar
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Luxury Items

Finally, when you enter the Late Game, you can focus more on farming, since you’ll be strong enough to kill entire packs of lane creeps in no time. Getting more gold allows you to purchase advanced items, including:

Item Name	Ethereal Blade	Aghanim's Scepter	Octarine Core	Aeon Disk
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Best Neutral Items for Lion

Also, a perfect Dota 2 Lion build must include efficient neutral items. The table below shows the best option for each tier:

Item Name	Kobold Cup	Essence Ring	Whisper of the Dead	Outworld Staff	Minotaur Horn
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Item Tier	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5

The best neutral attributes for Lion are Quickened, Greedy, and Boundless.

Best Counters and Synergies for Lion

Finally, let’s talk about the main counters and synergies that you’ll have to keep in mind when playing the hero. We should also review his main item counters while we’re at it.

Heroes That Counter Lion

Lion is weak against the heroes with strong magic resistance, silence abilities, and long stuns. Here are the top 5 counter picks for him in the current meta:

Hero Name	Razor	Beastmaster	Pangolier	Rubick	Gyrocopter
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Items That Counter Lion

Even if there are no direct counters in the enemy team, don’t let your guard down, since your opponents can purchase one of the following items to make your job significantly harder:

Item Name	Lotus Orb	Black King Bar	Pipe of Insight	Eternal Shroud	Glimmer Cape
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Best Allies & Synergies

Lion is a great support overall, but some heroes can get the most out of his skillset. In the current meta, the top 5 buddies for Lion include:

Hero Name	Batrider	Visage	Templar Assassin	Phantom Lancer	Nature’s Prophet
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Conclusion

It’s time to return from Hell and show the entire community the true power of the Demon Witch. Keep in mind the Lion Dota 2 tips we’ve discussed, and your opponents will shudder upon hearing the sound of a Mana Drain activation. Good luck!