Medusa

Medusa

The Dire

14 + 1.65 20 + 2.5 19 + 1.85

Level 1 16 25 Hit Points 416 910 1537 Mana 247 624 1079 Damage 44-50 83-89 124-130 Armor 1.8 7.26 13 Attacks / Second 0.7 0.93 1.17

Movement Speed 290 Turn Rate 0.5 Sight Range 1800/800 Attack Range 600 Missile Speed 1200 Attack Duration 0.5+0.6 Cast Duration 0.4+0.5 Base Attack Time 1.7

Medusa the Gorgon is a ranged agility Hero. Highly item-dependent, she acts as a carry who can potentially strike down entire teams at once while protected by tank-like survivability. Split Shot allows her attacks to hit multiple targets, greatly increasing the potency of damage-granting items. Mystic Snake grants Medusa some presence in the lane and skirmishes, and its mana stealing refunds part of the cost to boot, making it an excellent farming and harrassing tool. Mana Shield protects her from the opening damage of teamfights, and if supplemented with items makes killing Medusa a fatally time-consuming process. Stone Gaze acts as a fantastic defensive mechanism against ganks and initiations alike, with crippling effects on all who dare face the Gorgon.

Bio

Medusa, the Gorgon Play "The only real beauty is power." Role: Carry Lore: Beauty is power. This thought comforted Medusa--the youngest and loveliest of three beautiful Gorgon sisters, born to a sea goddess--because she alone of the sisters was mortal. It comforted her, that is, until the day masked assailants invaded the Gorgon realm and tore the two immortal sisters from their home, unmoved by their beauty or by their tears. One of the invaders seized Medusa as well, but then cast her aside with a disgusted look: 'This one has the mortal stink upon her. We have no use for that which dies.' Humiliated, enraged, Medusa fled to the temple of her mother and cast herself before the goddess, crying, 'You denied me eternal life--therefore I beg you, give me power! Power, so I can dedicate what life I have to rescuing my sisters and avenging this injustice!' After long thought, the goddess granted her daughter's request, allowing Medusa to trade her legendary beauty for a face and form of terrifying strength. Never for a moment has Medusa regretted her choice. She understands that power is the only beauty worth possessing--for only power can change the world. Voice: Jen Taylor (Responses)

Abilities

Split Shot Q T Ability Affects Toggle Enemies Medusa magically splits her shot into five arrows. These arrows deal a lower percent of her normal damage. The extra targets will not receive other attack effects (such as critical strike) and Unique Attack Modifiers. Radius: 700 Single arrow damage: 50%/60%/70%/80% Will only propagate to illusions if toggled on when they are created. All who encounter the cursed Gorgon will feel her rage.

Notes: Secondary targets will be the four closest visible enemy units excluding the primary target. If illusions of Medusa are created while Split Shot is active, they will also have this ability. Has a 0.1 seconds transformation time. Can theoretically increase raw damage (damage not caused by Unique Attack Modifiers, etc) output by 150%/200%/250%/300%.

Mystic Snake W C Ability Affects Damage Target Unit Enemies Magical A mystic snake made of energy jumps from target to target dealing damage and stealing some mana. After it reaches its last target, it jumps back to Medusa to replenish her with mana. The snake deals more damage and steals more mana per jump. Range: 800 Jump radius: 475 Base damage: 80/120/160/200 Base mana stolen: 20/30/40/50 Number of jumps: 3/4/5/6 Damage/mana increase per jump: 25% 11 140/150/160/170 Starts cooldown but ability is in no way blocked. The Gorgon's curse is her greatest strength.

Notes: Mana steal is only incremented by 25% if the affected unit has mana. 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. If the snake hits all jumps and all targets have remaining mana, Medusa will steal 50/62/75/82/95/112 mana, totaling to 476 mana. If the snake hits all jumps, Mystic Snake will deal 200/250/300/350/400/450 damage, totaling to 1,950 damage. The snake cannot be disjointed by blinking or going invisible. It will not jump, however, to units out of sight. Mana steal will occur on illusions too.

Mana Shield E E Ability Affects Toggle Self Creates a shield that absorbs 50% of the incoming damage by using Medusa's mana. Damage absorbed per point of mana: 0.75/1.25/1.75/2.25 While Medusa was not gifted with eternal life upon birth, her curse bestowed her with impressive defensive powers.

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

Stone Gaze R G Ability Affects No Target Enemies Any enemy units looking at Medusa will have their movement and attack speed slowed. If 2 seconds of total time is accumulated looking at Medusa while Stone Gaze is active, that unit will turn to stone. Petrified units are stunned, have 100% magic resistance, and take bonus physical damage. If the petrified unit is an illusion, it is immediately killed. Radius: 1000 Duration: 6 Stone Duration: 3 Attack speed slow: 50% Movement speed slow: 50% Turn rate slow: 50% Bonus Physical Damage: 30%/40%/50% 90 200 The beauty of Medusa is legendary.

Notes: Affects any units that have line of sight with Medusa at any period for 6 seconds after cast.

Recommended items

Explanation: Ring of Protection is vital until Medusa has skilled Mana Shield as she has the lowest base HP in the entire game. It can be turned into a Ring of Basilius or Ring of Aquila if so desired. Phase Boots give movement speed and damage boost, but Power Treads are a stronger DPS option due to the bonus attack speed as well as providing additional stats. Linken's Sphere provides spell block, decent stats for the cost. An extension from an early perseverance, it increases Medusa's durability as well as giving some right-click power. Manta Style is a more offensive option as the high Agility bonus directly increases Medusa's DPS. Mirror Image's illusions can also inherit her Split Shot if it is toggled on beforehand, which can deal great damage in team fights if left alive. Butterfly's evasion also applies to illusions and synergizes with Mana Shield (which ignores armor from other durability options) while providing strong DPS to work with Split Shot. Though highly expensive, Eye of Skadi exemplifies Medusa's power as a carry-tank hybrid. The healthpool increase is substantial, but higher mana also benefits survivability through Mana Shield. Combined with Frost Attack's kiting and chasing potential, fighting Medusa becomes a prolonged battle she is likely to win. Although situational, Medusa's good survivability plus the Split Shot skill makes her an excellent Divine Rapier carrier though care has to be taken having this item. Unmentioned Items: Magic Wand is another good early game item that gives some stats that Medusa needs in early stages plus the burst heal charges is helpful in critical conditions. Boots of Travel give Medusa the Teleport ability which she needs for farming, counter-pushing and defending the base with ease. Together with Yasha's bonus, Medusa's movespeed will be fast enough to escape ganks. Satanic is an excellent item in combo with the Divine Rapier and other damage-increasing items in terms of standing very long in team fights due to lifesteal. If Medusa's health drops in critical level and when there is no mana to sustain Mana Shield, activating Satanic can give you full health in seconds buying more time to stand in skirmishes. Whenever you have enemies with evasion, Monkey King Bar can be very helpful as it provides Mini-Bash, decent damage output and the ability not to miss on attacks which also applies to illusions and the secondary targets of Split Shot.

Tips

• Mystic Snake should be maxed first as it is Medusa's only nuke and primary farming tool.
  • Try to aim Mystic Snakes to bounce off enemy creeps before hitting heroes to maximize their effects.
  • On a standard lane creep wave of 3 melees and 1 ranged, a level 4 Mystic Snake that bounces on the melees first will instantly kill the ranged creep on contact.
  • As more creeps are added to the waves, a few attacks with Split Shot active should be used before casting Mystic Snake to ensure lasthits.
• Split Shot and Mana Shield are both highly item-dependant abilities. Consider spending pre-level 6 points in Attribute Bonus for a small but more tangible boost in power.
• By activating Split Shot before you use Manta Style or Illusion rune, the illusions will gain the Split Shot ability which is a very good boost in terms of increasing your DPS.
• Be wary about leaving Mana Shield active in the early game without a high manapool or some mana regen items. Heavy damage may leave you unable to cast Stone Gaze, which can turn the tides of a gank or teamfight when used correctly.
• When pushing, activate Split Shot when attacking towers to whittle down an incoming creep wave.
• Items built from Ultimate Orb and Perseverance are good for Medusa, such as Linken's Sphere and Manta Style. The bonus stats and regen make Medusa very tanky with Mana Shield active.
• You should always have a Town Portal Scroll in order to escape incoming ganks and as well as for defending your base. It is especially useful for countering engagements and tower dives, as Stone Gaze severely punishes teams who commit to a fight.

Update History

June 14, 2013 Patch

• Fixed Mystic Snake not jumping to magic immune units.
• Fixed an intermittent crash on some particle effects like Stone Gaze.

June 05, 2013 Patch

• Stone Gaze effect improvements.
• Fixed Stone Gaze sometimes lasting too long.

March 21, 2013 Patch

• Fixed attack acquisition range on Disruptor, Keeper of the Light, Wisp, Visage and Medusa.

February 14, 2013 Patch

• Enabled Medusa in Captain's Mode for Latest Version (will be enabled in Tournament Version the following week).

February 07, 2013 Patch

• Fixed Split Shot hitting Nightmared units.
• Fixed Mana Shield not blocking damage from Death Ward, Plague Ward, Mass Serpent Wards and Wildwing's Tornado.

January 24, 2013 Patch

• Fixed Mana Shield happening after Stout/ Vanguard damage block rather than before.

January 17, 2013 Patch

• Mystic Snake now returns to restore you when it is blocked by Linken's Sphere.

January 10, 2013 Patch

• Added Medusa!

Balance changelog

6.78

• Stone Gaze Reworked:

Any unit facing Medusa will have its attack, movement and turn rate reduced by 50% until the end of the spell. If you accumulate 2 seconds time (in total) facing Medusa, you will turn to stone.

Stoned units are disabled, have 100% magic resistance and take extra damage from physical attacks.

View Angle Spread: 85

Gaze Duration: 6 seconds

Stone Duration: 3 seconds

Bonus Physical Damage: 30/40/50%

AoE: 1000

Cooldown: 90

Manacost: 200

Note: Kills illusions instead of petrifying them.

• Removed from Captain's Mode.

6.77

• Stone Gaze cooldown reduced from 140/110/80 to 140/100/60.

6.75

• Mana Shield absorption rate increased from 0.75/1.25/1.5/2 to 0.75/1.25/1.75/2.25.
• Mystic Snake damage bonus per jump increased from 20% to 25%.
• Split Shot damage per arrow increased from 45/55/65/75% to 50/60/70/80%.

6.74

• Split Shot now shoots 5 arrows instead of 4.

6.73

• Toggle cooldown on Mana Shield removed.
• Stone Gaze rebalanced:
  • No longer changes the scale of the purge per level (was negligible), now recovers at a medium rate always
  • Instead of checking to stone units over the first 0.6 seconds, it checks over the full 5 seconds.
  • Units affected by the Stone Gaze cannot get reaffected during the application period
  • Illusion & Summoned unit damage from 600/800/1000 to 500/1000/1500
  • Manacost from 100/50/0 to 200/100/0
  • Cooldown from 100 to 140/110/80

6.68

• Movement speed decreased from 300 to 290.
• Strength gain decreased from 1.85 to 1.65.

6.67

• Intelligence per level reduced from 2.25 to 1.85.

6.66

• Stone Gaze cooldown increased from 35 to 100 seconds.

6.61

• Lowered Stone Gaze cooldown (70 to 35 seconds).
• Minor improvements to Mystic Snake speed , cast range and cooldown.
• Improved Mystic Snake's damage from 60/100/140/180 to 80/120/160/200.

6.60

• Replaced Chain Lightning with a new ability Mystic Snake.
• Replaced Purge with a new ability Stone Gaze.

Replaced Abilities

Stone Gaze (Old) R G Ability Affects Damage No Target Enemies Magical Any enemy units staring at the Gorgon will slowly turn to stone, removing status buffs and slowing all speed properties. Deals damage to summoned units and illusions. Radius: 800 Duration: 5 Attack speed slow: 100% Movement speed slow: Slows movement Damage to illusions and summoned units: 500/1000/1500 140/100/60 200/100/0 Only broken by magic immunity gained after the debuff is placed. The beauty of Medusa is legendary.

Gallery

• 

  Splash artwork

• 

  Leaked concept artwork

• 

  Early alpha model, based on the leaked concept art

See Also

• Medusa responses