DotA Hero Strategy Guide: Luna Moonfang, Moon Rider

Luna is one of the most powerful DPS heroes and a fearsome nuker at the same time. Her signature skill Moon Glaive is considered imbalanced by many players. Also, she cannot have some items with orb effects (Sange and Yasha, Mjollnir, etc.) or her spells and/or attacks may completely malfunction.

Primary : AGI
Range : 330
Movespeed : 320
Str : 15 + 1.75
Agi : 22 + 2.8
Int : 16 + 1.85
Damage : 43 - 49
Armor : 3.1 [ 15% Reduction ]
Hp Regen : 0.7
Mp Regen : 0.65
Attack Speed : 1.33 [+22% IAS]

Pros & Cons

Pros
-Range
-Very strong DPS
-Very strong ultimate
-Quite high Agi gain
-2nd highest ms in the game[320]

Cons
-Ulti gets weaker as the game continues as it is a NUKE.
-Low range
-Low base str and gain
-Quite low int and int gain for a nuker early
-A target for nukes
-Easily killed as she has no escape mechanism'

Skills

Lucent beam[C]

Luna concentrates on the moon's energy and channels it forcefully to the surface, damaging an enemy unit.

Level 1 - 75 damage.
Level 2 - 150 damage.
Level 3 - 225 damage.
Level 4 - 300 damage.

Cooldown: 6 seconds.

Level 1: 95 mana, 6 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 110 mana, 6 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 125 mana, 6 sec cooldown.
Level 4: 140 mana, 6 sec cooldown.

Notes :
A simple nuke with a mini-stun include.

Moon Glaive

Allows Luna to attack extra enemies with each Glaive attack. Each enemy struck beyond the first incurs a 35% damage loss, per unit.

Level 1 - Luna hits 2 enemies with every attack.
Level 2 - Luna hits 3 enemies with every attack.
Level 3 - Luna hits 4 enemies with every attack.
Level 4 - Luna hits 5 enemies with every attack.

Passive

Notes :
Very nice skill.It will not be added in early lvls due to you will push too much.

Lunar Blessing

Nearby ranged units gain the power of the moon.

Level 1 - Increases base ranged damage by 6%.
Level 2 - Increases base ranged damage by 13%.
Level 3 - Increases base ranged damage by 20%.
Level 4 - Increases base ranged damage by 27%.

Passive

Notes:

Both a bad and good skill.Early this does NOTHING.It adds only very little damage at low lvl B/C of your low agility.Only good when you get eaglehorn/to high lvl/butterfly.

Eclipse[E]

Calls to the moon's magic, summoning a concentrated burst of Lucent Beams to damage targets around Luna each dealing 300 damage.

Level 1 - Summons 4 Lucent Beams.
Level 2 - Summons 7 Lucent Beams.
Level 3 - Summons 10 Lucent Beams.

Cooldown: 140/120/100 seconds.

Level 1: 250 mana, 140 sec cooldown.
Level 2: 350 mana, 120 sec cooldown.
Level 3: 450 mana, 100 sec cooldown.

Notes :
This is what allow her to gank.Note that a unit can only be targeted four time[5 with Ag' scepter.]

Skills build

Lvl1.Lucent
Lvl2.Stats
Lvl3.Lucent
Lvl4.Stats
Lvl5.Lucent
Lvl6.Eclipse
Lvl7.Lucent
Lvl8.Glavies
Lvl9.Glavies
Lvl10.Glavies
Lvl11.Eclipse
Lvl12.Glavies
Lvl13.Stats
Lvl14.Stats
Lvl15.Stats
Lvl16.Eclipse
Lvl17.Lunar
Lvl18.Lunar
Lvl19.Lunar
Lvl20.Lunar
Lvl21.Stats
Lvl22.Stats
Lvl23.Stats
Lvl24.Stats
Lvl25.Stats

Skills build Justification

Q.Why Stats?
A.If you didn't know,Luna has 1 of the lowest base attack in the game,and has low HP.The extra mana can help in spamming Lucent.

Q.Why Lunar at lvl 17~20 instead of 22~25?
A.Lunar is a useless skill untill Luna has a agility item and with my item build,u would probably get Eagle/Butter at lvl 17~20 and stats at that lvls are useless even if u haven't get your damage item as at this lvls, lunar gives more damage and your HP is pretty average now.

Item build

Core item :
OR

Luxury item :

OR


DPS Item


Hp/survivability item


Item to avoid :

Orb item

Why ? :Orb effects with conflict with luna's moon glavies.

Triggered effects

Why ? :They will override luna's moonglavies.

Divine Rapier

------------------------------
Why ? :1.Too expensive
2.Its droppable
3.Its droppable
4.Its droppable

Dropping Divine rapier is game-breaking.As the other team might get it and sell it for 3k+ or their carrier will carry it[duh] and own your team.YOU.ARE.FRAGILE.AND.DIE.EASILY.

Item build Justification

Core items

Q.Hotd??
A.It will not override glavies and u can domiate creeps.Best creeps to dominate are stunners.Stun>whack whack > dead.

Q.Boots?
A...........................

Q.Butterfly
A.A good item for all agility hero.Improves your DPS greatly and comes with a 30% evasion.

Q.BKB?
A.Disables>luna.So this item will alow luna to create havok in team battles.

A lot of nubs think that BKB is not a good item, because it is a defensive, and it delays your butterfly+burzia+divine. However, look at it this way. Imagine that DOTA is an episode of Dragon Ball Z. You and the sentinel are Goku, and the Scourge is Vageta. As any dbz fan knows, the only thing that happens in an episode is 2 sentences of dialog to advance the plot, and then they shoot lasers at each other for the whole episode. They keep a steady stream of opposite colored lasers, and somewhere in the middle, they meet with a flashy explosion. Goku will pump more juice into his laser, and then the collision point will move towards Vageta. When it moves so far as to hit Vageta, he explodes and the frozen throne dies. Nubs think, omg i need to pump more pimpjuice into my laser, so screw the BKB, it costs too much. However, a pro knows that there are 2 ways to move the collision point. I can also weaken Vageta's laser by removing his advantages (we spike his drink with Oxycotton or a few Rufies). What is a Crystal Maiden without spells? A paperweight with tits. You have significantly improved your chances of winning, not by increasing your personal ownage, but by reducing the enemy's ownage. Sorry i had to use a convoluted analogy to get that point across.

Luxury items

Q.Satanic?
A.With satanic's active skill each of your bounce,you will lifesteal!!!Allows you to solo maybe 2 or 3 people with BKB.

Q.Radiance?
A.Luna has low range so the sparkles will hit maybe all of the enemy and +70 damage is good for her glavies.

Q.Bot or Treads?
A.Get bots for farming luna and treads for ganking luna.Late game ganking luna should have treads sold for bot.
Conclusion :
Treads for early
Bot for mid-late game.

Laning

Go sentinels bot if you're playing sentinels or scourge top if you're playing scourge as u can tower hug.Luna shouldn't be soloing B/C she has low range and is W.E.A.K.There is a Secret Shop 2 in those lanes as well,so that u won't need to go back to get Hotd.

Level 1~5
Skill : Lucent,Stats,Lucent,Stats,Lucent
Item : 2 Wraiths/2Bracers,*MOD
*U may not get it at these levels.

Main :

STAY ALIVE.Play passively if u have too.JUST STAY ALIVE.Luna is very weak in this levels and can get killed by a disable,then nuke,and 1~2 attacks.Dun try to kill unless you won't die while killing.Dying then Suicide is not accepted unless its first blood,but u should not do that even it is first blood as you will lose time to get that exp you will be needing.Luna is not one of those " lane as much as u can" hero.So if ur at a low HP and a lion or lina could just ulti you and kill you,go back dun risk it.

Against Nukers :

Get bracers if you can't stand their nukes/chain nukes.Why not ROR?No way!!!Ror to me is for melee and luna's ranged!Tango is much more better!!It heals more/sec anyway.And ROR is for High HP heros like axe..[i don't think an axe would get ror anyway most of them get roh for vanguard =/] .as they benefit more from ror as they have high hp and when they get to half hp,it should be around 400.So they have time to regen without fearing nukes.

Level 6~11
Skill : Eclipse,Lucent,Moon-----Moon
Item : HOTD,Boots of speed,BKB and quaterstaff*.
*U may not get it at these levels.

Main :

U finally get some HP and ur ulti.Now is time to GANK!Look for a int/agi hero farming alone.It may be good to have an ally with you.Go behind him and when his creeps are dead,Eclipse!Block his way while attacking if he didn't die.Also, don't attack while eclipse[ing] as the AOE is very small and when you attack the opponent can just get out of the AOE.Repeat when ulti cd's over.If you need help,grab a centaur or a furblog use them to stun while you attack.If you still need help in ganking,search for RUNES!These stuffs are ImBa.

Level 12~16
Skill : Moon,Stats---Eclipse
Item : Butterfly.

Main :
Farming time and ganking continues.Gank : see above levels.Farm : Now that u have glavies u can really farm FAST!Go to a non-enemy lane and farm there when an enermy come,use TP scrolls to go to another lane.This can annoy the hell out of enemys if they wan to gank you.In team battles, your damage output if not strong enough to do anything so just nuke nuke ulti and whack whack.

Level 17~25
Skill : Lunar----Stats
Item : Bot,and other luxury items.
*U may not get it before the game ends.

Main :

Pushes start.Ur a pushing machine.Ask your 3 ally to push one lane , 1 def, and u push the other lane.If they need u,ask your ally to tank creep so that their creeps die fast and your ulti can really hurt and force them to back having a successful push.PUSH PUSH PUSH TO VICTORY!Radiance now can really hurt enemy teams and if helps in pushing.Ur damage items pushes too.The heart will help u tank the creeps.ALWAYS BKB BEFORE activating satanic.

Tank the creeps : You charge to a enemy creep wave and get the damage while your creeps come.This way the creeps will not get damage and die!Thus,making the creep numbers grow bigger,so the raxs will drop in a push.

How to use her skills

Lucent Beam
-A basic nuke
-Use it to stop channeling spells.

Moon Glavies
-PASSIVE

Lunar Blessing
-PASSIVE

Eclipse
-Only use it when no creeps are around.

How to use the items

BOT
-Farming and pushing.
-Tele to a creep that is NOT being attacked.
-Escaping if your opponent has no stun and u know u can tank the damage till u tele..[broodmother...etc]

Satanic
-Use only when fighting a hero OR when your low-HP and need HP ASAP.

Butterfly
-Passive item...

Radiance
-Get close to all 5 opponent if possible in team battles...

Heart
-Passive item...

BKB
When your team's initiator blinks in,activate BKB and start whacking them.OR.When running away and you know you might get stunned/disabled/nuked,activate BKB.

Hotd
Go to the forest,find and centaur which can stun or a furblog which can stun.Next, go to whoever you want to gank send in your centaur to back stab him while you run to him.He should be scared and run back.Use your centaur/furblog to stun him while you whack him and use your centaur/furblog to block him.

Best Allies

Creep Clearer
EXAMPLES :

Juggernaut

Tormented Soul

Queen of Pain

Eartshaker

WHY :
These guys can clear creeps almost in an instant so that no creeps will interfere with Eclipse.

Worst Enemy

Escape mechanisms

EXAMPLES :

Anti-Mage

QOP

Blink dagger

Lothar edge

Phamtom lancer

Rexxar,Enigma

WHY :
When you Eclipse, they will just counter your ulti.

Global silence

EXAMPLES :

Silencer

WHY :
You can't use your ulti while ganking IF the silencer has 100% map aware.

Assasins

EXAMPLES :

Pudge


Bounty Hunter

WHY :
You are weak early - midgame and these guys usually start killing at lvl 7~16 but if they were assasinating you without creeps,that would be a difference thing with eclipse.

DO NOT GANK THIS GUY

Goblin techies


WHY :
NEVER EVER GANK THIS GUY WITHOUT an ally disabling or silencer him.You all knows what happens.

Disables that go though BKB.

EXAMPLES :

Bane's Fiend Grip

WHY :
You can't do a shit for 5 seconds and they would properly would be aiming you and your dead in less than 5 seconds.

Worst Items to face

Shiva's guard

WHY :
Shiva guard reduces your AS

Orchid Malevolence

WHY :
Orchid Malevolence will silence you preventing you to use your ulti.

Assault Curiass

WHY :
AC reduces your Armour[Thx noob-tsuki for correcting this mistake.]

Source: Dota-allstars.com. dota allstars wiki