EliteForce: 2008

Mirana has always been heres my guide for mirana below one of the more fun and special heroes to play. Due to her abilities and her gameplay. Mirana is among few other heroes a character who needs practice and timing before she can be mastered thus making her harder to play than most other heroes but it's also makes available to spend much more time and games on to learn. Heres my guide for PoTM.. I hope you people like it :)

I recommend you to play Mirana if you:

* Want to play a hero who takes more practice than most else but also gives more profit in the end
* Love the feeling of being the best player on your team knowing that you can time and execute everything perfectly.
* Want to make your enemies stomp and shout in anger and savagery.
* Want to play a hero who will dominate in the early game, middle game and the late game too.

I do not recommend you to play Mirana if you:
* Don't have the patience to learn to master Mirana and her capability.
* Are most comfortable with heroes who don't need much practice nor timing to control.If this sounds interesting, please continue reading.

Now let's have a closer look on Mirana's pros/cons, stats and abilities.

Pros
* Dominant throughout the entire game.
* High nukes and excellent lane and ganking capabilities.
* Has an escape mechanism that also gives you a good buff.
* Has a global spell that often turns out to be really effective and helpful.

Cons
* Has low health.
* Takes much practice to master intentionally.

1. Stats

Description

A matriarch and high priestess of Elune's blessed order, Mirana Nightshade serves as a light in darkness for the front line of the Sentinel ranks, raining arrows and falling stars alike upon the shambling undead masses of the Undead Scourge, while her very presence is said to be so holy that it melts away the fatigue of nearby allies, giving them greater haste on the battlefield. In times of need however, she can fade herself and others around her into the safety of invisibility, making her a potent supporter matched by few.

Strength - 17 + 1,85
Agility - 20 + 2,75
Intelligence - 17 + 1,65

Attack range of 600.
Movement speed of 300.

Level 1 information:
- Health: 473
- Mana: 221
- Damage: 38-49
- Armor: 1,8
- Attack Speed: 1,42 sec.

Level 25 information (without any worn items):
- Health: 1689
- Mana: 988
- Damage: 104-115 +20
- Armor: 11,2 +2,8
- Attack Speed: 0,83 sec.

Abilities:

StarFall

Calls down a wave of meteors to damage each nearby enemy. If enemy is farther than 600 range, it has a 60% chance to still hit him. One random enemy unit within 200 aoe will get hit again for half the damage.

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

Cooldown: 12 seconds.
Mana cost: 100/120/140/160.

Comment: An excellent damage tool as well as farming and pushing ability. This spell will mostly not be used to farm in the beginning, but later it's doing a great deal capping you a lot of creep kills and it also pushes really good. Throughout the game, but especially early on, Starfall is a great damage device. If you can get up on a lone hero (e.g. in the forest), hitting one twice with this is imbalanced.

Useful information: The random enemy unit within 200 aoe includes corpses, so if you cast it around a lot of dead people, hoping that Starfall will hit someone a second time can be rather naive.

Elune's Arrow

Fires an arrow to a location with deadly precision, dealing large damage and stunning the first unit it strikes. Stun duration increases based on how far the target is, ranging from 0.5 to 5 seconds.

Level 1 - Deals 90 damage.
Level 2 - Deals 180 damage.
Level 3 - Deals 270 damage.
Level 4 - Deals 360 damage.

Cooldown: 25 seconds.
Mana cost: 100.

Comment: This skill is where it gets complicated to play Mirana. Basically you click on the ground and an arrow launches, just like throwing a shockwave. The arrow flies for a great distance and stuns and damages the first target it collides with. This mean you might hit a wrong target or not hit anything at all. This is definatly not like throwing a Storm Bolt. On the other hand, it has a great damage and a crazy stun. If you hit someone on almost max distance, they will be stunned for 5 seconds from one single nuke. This skill, when mastered, is absolutely crazy and it's your main gate to all your kills, ganks and kills setups. Without mastering Elune's Arrow, Mirana is not a very fun nor good hero to play.

Useful information: The arrow flies 2600 range which is more than enough to hit distant targets. The stun duration is, as described, 0,5-5 seconds. The duration increases with 0,5 second by each 150 range the arrow travels and at a 1500 range (just about 60% of the full distance) it stuns for the maximum 5 seconds. This means that you don't have to hit your target from a maximum distance in order to stun it the longest. A mediocre arrow shot can also reach its full duration. It's not easy to use and sometimes it might seem even easier to hit a target farther away than a hitting target being very close.

Leap

Mirana's wild Frostsaber leaps forward into battle, empowering allies with a ferocious roar upon landing. Movement and Attack Speed bonus lasts 10 seconds.

Level 1 - 400 range. 4% speed increase.
Level 2 - 450 range. 8% speed increase.
Level 3 - 500 range. 12% speed increase.
Level 4 - 550 range. 16% speed increase.

Cooldown: 40/35/30/20 seconds.
Mana cost: 40/35/30/20.

Comment: Leap - Mirana's very reliable escape mechanism. Besides of it working just like a blink (with a slightly shorter range and a little longer cooldown) it gives you an excellent movement and attack speed buff. Not only to yourself but also your teammates around you. This means it can be used as an excellent escape device, it can be used for chasing and for buffing up your opponents in i.e. a team combat.

Useful information: The Leap is an activated-when-clicked ability, which it has no target. When you click it, Mirana leaps forward in her current facing angle. So if you want to leap somewhere, try to face that angle and then leap. Misleaping is common but can be quite dangerous.

Moonlight Shadow (Ultimate)

Turns Nightshade and all allied heroes invisible. If Invisiblity is broken, it gets restored after the fade time during the shadow duration.

Level 1 - Lasts 7 seconds. 2.5 second fade time.
Level 2 - Lasts 9 seconds. 2 second fade time.
Level 3 - Lasts 11 seconds. 1.5 second fade time.

Cooldown: 160 seconds.
Mana cost: 200/250/300.

Comment: A global invisibility for you and your allies. It's maybe not the strongest invisibility due to its duration and fade time (the time before you turn completely invisible), but it can be quite handy in many different situations. Set-ups, initiations, ganks, positioning, scouting and whatsoever. Most common is using it to escape though or avoiding getting initiated by strong aoe stun enemies (Tidehunter, Magnataur, Puck, Axe etc.).

Useful information: If it didn't appear clearly enough from the description, an hero will turn invisible again should he break it, if the duration of Moonlight Shadow is still active. The fade time is also important to remember because the enemies will still see you for 2.5/2/1.5 seconds after you've used the ability and/or have broken it. It's not an instant invisibility like Wind Walk or Vendetta for instance.

2. Skill order

Level 1 - Elune's Arrow
Level 2 - Leap
Level 3 - Starfall
Level 4 - Starfall
Level 5 - Starfall
Level 6 - Elune's Arrow
Level 7 - Starfall
Level 8 - Elune's Arrow
Level 9 - Elune's Arrow
Level 10 - Leap
Level 11 - Moonlight Shadow
Level 12 - Moonlight Shadow
Level 13 - Leap
Level 14 - Leap
Level 15-24 - Stats
Level 25 - Moonlight Shadow

Skills explanation

Elune's Arrow and Starfall are your main killing devices throughout most of the game thus skilling them is very important. Starfall will be taken over Elune's Arrow because the arrow's stun is the same at all levels. The 15-60 damage difference between the two abilities is not something extremely important and Starfall is much more reliable. Leaping in and using Starfall will in most cases guarantee a much higher damage output than missing your arrow and not getting to Starfall your target(s) at all. Atlast, Starfall is an aoe ability so it will help you more against a double lane or even a triple lane.. Leap is taken at level two though because its use is far away from negligible. Moonlight is skilled at level 11 and 12 where you have a level two Leap which makes it better than level 1. The reason why you want it to be atleast at level two is because level one is fine but it's not strong enough in the long run. However, Moonlight Shadow can be neat on some few occassions and you never know when you really have to use it. Having it as a backup (or for other purposes) ability is good. However, the last level is not really needed compared to Stats. The spell's duration is not very long and you're not supposed to use it and run around invisible for years like the Wind Walk ability, so extending its duration as well as its mana cost is not as smart as levelling Stats for more survivability which Mirana lacks a bit.

3. How to play

Early game

When you've picked the Priestess, buy 3 Slippers of Agility, a pair of Ancient Tangoes of Essifation and a Clarity Potion then head of to a lane. As Mirana is a strong solo hero, a solo lane would be prefered, but a double lane isn't too bad either especially not if you lane with a disabler. Now, as all other heroes, start last hitting and denying. Try to harass your enemy(ies) by hitting them a few times on occasions. From level 3 you should start to look for an opening in your enemy's defense. If you see a good moment for an arrow, fire it off and try to kill him. A tip is to wait for your creeps to kill his creeps. In the moment they push, launch your arrow and stun him. Finish him off with Leap and Starfall. If you're good, lucky and/or fast you'll eventually claim the First Blood rather quick. If you're laneing with a disabler, try to let him throw his stun first so you're making almost sure that your arrow will hit. This requires a bit timing though and you need to communicate with your mate to succesfully do this.
Try to keep farming untill you're around level 6-7. Buy your Boots of Speed and a Bottle and start to look for opportunities to gank other lanes. Don't waste to much time roaming around in the river. Return to your original lane and if you see a good ganking lane, try to head off unnoticed and gank. When you've done so you ought to return to your lane again. Don't lose too much gold and experience trying to gank without succeeding. Eventually just kill your lane opponent(s) instead. Keep a constant flow between farming and ganking without roaming too much. Don't farm all your game away. Mirana's capability is too high to just stand passively and farm. But you also need items later so don't spend 5 minutes in the woods waiting for someone to arrive and kill. It may take a few games practice to get a good grip of when to farm and when to gank and also how to do it. Eventually you'll get the idea rather fast.

Middle game

Middle game will basically be the same as the early game to you. Like before, try to keep a constant flow between farming and ganking. Follow your team mates' gameplay and try to follow them in ganks. If there are any big fights going on, try to stay in the background throwing your Starfall and saving your Elune's Arrow. If you see a low healthed hero escaping, try to get to the flank and shoot him. Else, try to farm empty lane or run around killing enemies. If you're doing well you can still kill most enemies alone.

Late game

Actually, the late game will be pretty much the same drive as the early game. Follow your team mates in ganks and heavy pushes. Still try to stay in the background in fights dishing out damage. Help pushing and clearing creep waves with Starfall so you only need to worry about the heroes. Again, try to save your arrow for when someone low trys to escape. If you're against a strong initiation team (Warlock, Tidehunter, Magnataur, Earthshaker, Puck etc.) try to stay even further back than normal and the moment before the two fronts smash together (you need to learn to calculate this by practice too) activate Moonlight Shadow. Hopefully this'll make your enemies waste their aoe stuns and whatsoever and keep you and your allies safe in the invisibility form avoiding to get raped. Else just stand in the back and again just focus fire your enemies hoping to kill somebody. If the showdown turns out to your favour, you can Leap and aim for fleeing enemies. If you have your Eye of Skadi, escaping won't be easy anyway.

Mastering Elune's Arrow

Shooting Elune's Arrow is not like throwing a Storm Bolt. You have to aim and time it. The very first lesson is the most basic and important one:

1. Do not click directly on the target when you shoot your arrow. Always aim and time it and click on the ground.

Clicking on the target itself makes the arrow's trajectory odd and you will almost never hit it like this. Instead, time the arrow, think ahead of your enemy and guess where he's going to run. When you think you've got a clear shot and a correct estimation, shoot and (hopefully) hit. This technique is going to take a lot of practice but once you master it you can damage and stun your opponents over cliffs, hills, corners and whatsoever for a crapload amount of damage and stun them for nearly 5 seconds.

4. Various tips when taking your aim:

* Be patient. Waiting with shooting your arrow will many times be the best method. Most smart enemies will try to dodge your shot by running in curves, but they will lose track to you. After realizing you "won't" launch it at them they will mostly start running in a direct line to get away from your auto-attack shots. At this time launch your arrow and hit it. By shooting it too fast you're just wasting it and it will be too predictable. Always be a step ahead of your enemies and wait untill the right moment.
* Sometimes, close-up shots are actually very difficult. If you let the enemies run a bit away before shooting you will have a much higher chance to hit because the degrees they can avoid it has been lowered significantly. The stun will also last much longer. Instead of stunning them for 0,5 seconds they will not be disabled for about 2 seconds if you do it perfectly. Again, patience is a keyword for timing it perfectly.
* It can't be said enough. Have patience and wait untill the right moment before shooting your arrow. Give it a few seconds to predict where the enemy is moving. If you see two ways near him, wait for him to choose either one of them and then launch the arrow in his direction. Patience, patience, patience. Don't hessitate it.

Various tips for the remaining spells

* Moonlight Shadow is good in many situations. Use it to save cornered allies. Use it to position your team just before a team fight. Use it to avoid being initiated and killed in a team fight. Use it to scout (e.g. Roshan). Use it to cover channeling allies like Crystal Maiden and her Freezing Field or Witch Doctor and his Death Ward. There are lots of other possibilities, just use your imagination. Just remember that you have it, that it is a team invisibility and that it is global.
* Don't forget that your Moonlight Shadow has a fade time for which period you can still be seen. It lowers by level but it is rather long from the beginning so the invisibility process is slow.
* As mentioned earlier, Leap is activated when clicked and not when targetted. You're leaping towards the direction you're facing and you and nearby allies gain the speed buff upon landing.
* Use cliffs, hills, corners, shadow and trees to your advantage when leaping after enemies, away from enemies or just taking a shortcut. Watch out that you don't get stuck by miscalculating the Leap direction and distance though.
* The general ganking pattern for Mirana is shooting your arrow, leaping in next to your target and use Starfall. Arrow -> Leap -> Starfall. You will eventually learn to follow this pattern in like 95 % of your ganks by time.
* When you Starfall someone, especially during early/middle game ganks, placing yourself right next to your target is the best idea. If you're almost sticked together to your target when you cast Starfall there's a big chance (depending on the units around you) that it will hit him twice thus, obviously, increasing the spell's effect. However, you might want to take the situation into consideration before you act so. Towers and multiple enemies can obviously be a huge threat so use your head and judge if it's smart to place yourself right next to the target or if it's better to distance yourself from your target and use Starfall in order to stay safe.
* Don't use Starfall to farm during the early game. It's a waste of mana, it's just pushing the lane and you need it for ganking and sudden situation

5. Heroes to watch out for

Lina and Lion

First of all they have a stun but luckily you have your Leap to dodge this, however, this might not always be possible. Anyway, what makes them most dangerous are their ultimates. Mirana has very low health and dieing from 1-2 spells pretty much nullifies your leaping option. It doesn't leave you with much chance to escape.

Silencers and Krobelus

Silence is often hard to dodge and it makes you unable to leap away. This leaves you a easy and fragile target to disablers, nukers and whatsoever. This includes the Silencer, Death Prophet, Drow Ranger, Puck, Doom Bringer, Stealth Assassin, Night Stalker and Orchid Malevolence.

6. Mirana's best friends

Ogre Magi and Magnataur

Or in other words described as Bloodlust and Empower. You're an excellent late game damage dealer. Bloodlust increases your attack speed significantly whilst Empower increases your direct damage.