CronoDroid
10-04-2009, 10:19 PM
Hello HoNites, this is my guide to Moon Queen. She's Luna Moonfang from DotA and is largely the same aside from the fact that many items that previously didn't work on Luna now work on MQ. Aside from that, MQ is a fun pub hero but realistically is not the most viable hero in higher level games. I'll list why after the jump. However, she can solo mid fairly well, is a good ganker, and can carry decently in pubs provided you have farmed a lot. For now, here are her vital stats:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/CronoDroid/MoonKween.png
Pros:
+Fun
+Good farmer
+Good pusher
+Awesome ganker
+Very powerful ultimate that doesn't scale
+Fast
+You DON'T want to meet her alone
Cons:
-Very low HP
-Short range attack
-Highly item dependant if you need to carry (offset by great farming ability)
-Unfortunately not a very good carry
-Ultimate doesn't scale and easily countered by standing near creeps
-Doesn't dual lane well, highly reliant on solo'ing
We see here that MQ has too many negatives to be a competitive hero, for one, her survivability is crap (15 starting strength and low gain equals low HP) and while she can carry if you are decked out with items, there are simply other heroes who carry better and have an ult that works whether or not there are creeps in the area. However, she can be an awesome pubstar and playing her is very fun. Picking up an invisibility rune and jumping some fool with your ult is highly satisfying.
As for other stat gains, her base Agi is okay and her gain is fairly good, meaning by the end of the game you should be hitting for around 200-300 with the right items. Combined with a few bounces and you are an awesome farmer.
SKILLS
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/e/ee/Moonqueenskill1.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill1.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill1.gif)
Moon Beam
Mana Cost: 90/100/110/120
Cooldown: 6 seconds
Deals 75/150/225/300 Magic damage to target and stuns for 0.6 seconds.
800 Range.
This is your main skill. It's a nuke, and it has a fairly lengthy ministun which can be very useful in certain situations. While 0.6 seconds doesn't seem like much, it can stop someone long enough for you to escape spell range, for a teammate to get into spell range and of course it stops channeling (teleportation, etc).
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/b/b4/Moonqueenskill2.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill2.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill2.gif)
Multi-Strike
Passive
Cooldown: None
Attack bounces up to 1/2/3/4 times to enemy units and buildings. Deals 35% less damage per bounce. Seeks closest unit within 500 range which haven't been hit yet.
A great farming skill, this makes your attack bounce up to four times, hitting five enemies at once. Some people like to get this skill at level 2 against melee heroes, but realistically you won't make use of this unless you feel like autoattacking creeps. It also seeks the closest target and does pitiful damage, so why bother when you can get stats? Later in the game, this skill lets you clear creep waves and neutral camps in seconds.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/71/Moonqueenskill3.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill3.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill3.gif)
Lunar Glow
Passive
Cooldown:
None
350 range aura, does not affect stealthed units. Increases base damage by 6/13/20/27%.
Generic "steroid" skill which boosts you and your allies' damage. Personally I don't take this until after Multi-strike (usually) because a keen enemy will see the aura on your teammates and smell a gank coming. Since ganks make up the bulk of midgame, it's best to get this later. Besides, you'll be relying on your nukes to do damage until late game anyway.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/32/Moonqueenskill4.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill4.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill4.gif)
Moon Finale
Random Targeting within 700 radius
Cooldown: 160 seconds
Casts 4/7/10 (4/8/12) Moon Beams on random targets in radius. Maximum of 4 (5) hits per target. See Moon Beam spell for more information.
Can be upgraded with Staff of the Master (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Staff_of_the_Master) (bold shows the improved values)
The skill that makes Moon Queen both loved and hated. It can quickly turn a 2v1 gank into a double kill for you, or make your enemies go "...shite" if you pop it on them all by their lonesome. What it does is fire a bunch of Moon Beams in rapid succession on any enemies within range, creeps or heroes, therefore you do not want to use it when creeps are around or they will inevitably absorb damage intended for the enemy hero. Since without SOTM enemies can only ever be hit by four Beams at once, it is already fully potent at Level 7 so feel free to gank when you get this and Level 4 Moon Beam. If you have enough mana to fire it, you can feel safe wandering by yourself in the river and what-not (to collect runes, to gank the side lanes).
SKILL BUILD
1. Moon Beam
2. Stats
3. Moon Beam
4. Stats
5. Moon Beam
6. Moon Finale
7. Moon Beam (maxed)
8. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
9. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
10. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
11. Moon Finale
12. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
13. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
14.Multistrike/Lunar Glow
15. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
16. Moon Finale (maxed)
17. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
18-25. Stats
Moon Beam and stats are taken over your two passives because they push the lane, something you don't want when you're solo'ing middle. Standing in the river is much more dangerous than farming safely on your side with tower protection.
Like I mentioned above, MQ is one of the most fragile heroes in the game, stats give you health and attack damage so you can last hit more easily.
The ult is always taken at Level 6 because it is extremely deadly. Pretty much no other hero can survive the full four beams when you first get the ult which is handy if you're getting a rune and get jumped with no creeps around to absorb hits. When Moon Beam is maxed at level 7, you'll do the full damage regardless of the level of Moon Finale since you can only hit a hero with four beams (Staff of the Master notwithstanding, but rarely will you farm this in the course of a normal game). 1200 magical damage is a lot.
After you've gotten the first level of your ult, it's up to you whether to get Multi-Stike or Lunar Glow. If things have gone well and you are happily solo'ing mid while your teammates hold down the side lanes, get Lunar Glow because it doesn't push the lane as much as Multi-Strike. Continue farming the lane.
However, if things have gone badly, ie you've been ganked once or twice, the enemies have pushed your tower, the other lanes are reeling, get Multi-Strike because you will need it to farm neutral creeps faster or go help gank the side lanes to give your teammates a break. If you can't gank, you will go jungling while your team plays defence until you've fattened up enough to carry or gotten your ganking items.
ITEM BUILD
Starting Items:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/0/09/Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif/60px-Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Runes_of_the_Blight)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/4/4c/Health_Potionitem.gif/60px-Health_Potionitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Healing_Potion)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/e/e5/Mana_Potionitem.gif/60px-Mana_Potionitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Mana_Potion)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/2/2d/Crushing_Clawsitem.gif/60px-Crushing_Clawsitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Crushing_Claws)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/2/2d/Crushing_Clawsitem.gif/60px-Crushing_Clawsitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Crushing_Claws)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/b/bb/Minor_Totemitem.gif/60px-Minor_Totemitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Minor_Totem) or http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/66/Bottleitem.gif/60px-Bottleitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Bottle)
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion
1x Mana Potion
2x Crushing Claws
1x Minor Totem
Notes: The ideal build that will differentiate you from the nubs. Do not buy Boots/Marchers. Don't buy Pretender Crowns. Crowns are extremely expensive at the start of the game and only give you +2 to all stats, whereas Minor Totems are much cheaper (essentially 27 gold because you'll often sell them back later) and give +1 to all stats.
Moon Queen has pretty much no HP, so two Crushing Claws and one Minor Totem (the beloved GG Branch) gives a respectable +7 to strength which translates to 133 HP (giving you 568 to start).
Runes are good health regen and keeps you topped up if you get harassed. Health potion is there to provide emergency burst healing to keep you in lane if the enemy takes off a large chunk of health for any reason, but if you need it, quaff it. You're not here to save money. The mana potion is to provide an extra Moon Beam or so, it gives you 100 mana over 30 seconds which means you stay out of enemy harass/nuke range for 30 seconds but within XP range. Note that both Health and Mana potions are beacons for harassment so make SURE you are out of enemy range before you quaff them.
OR
1x Bottle
Note: Bottle first is a bad idea. EXTREMELY bad. How does starting with 435 HP sound to you? However, Moon Queen is a pub hero, and if you're reading this guide, you're playing a pub. If your team is bad and refuses to buy a courier, plus you know that you're playing people equally bad, get a Bottle and rune whore like crazy. Use Moon Beam liberally to harass/last hit and go for the runes so you can keep using Moon Beams. If you're playing against Thunderbringer, one Lv2 Blast of Lightning with Lv1 Lightning Rod will leave you reeling, so stay out of range. Your nuke has a very long range, longer than pretty much every other nuke (including Blast of Lightning) so make sure you are not in range of his nuke by using your Moon Beam as a judge. However in most cases, you'll be harassed out of lane by anyone competent, you'll fail to get last hits and denies because your damage is low and you'll end up sucking. So don't start with Bottle unless you are certain you're better than the enemy. But because you're reading a guide, you most likely won't be, but the option is there.
Item Progression till Mid Game:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/66/Bottleitem.gif/60px-Bottleitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Bottle) Buy Bottle as soon as you farm 600 gold and have your courier deliver it to you. Use it to bottle runes and to provide burst healing and mana regen for Moon Beam/Finale use.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/7d/Marchersitem.gif/60px-Marchersitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Marchers) Essential for ganking and getting places fast, Marchers should be your next purchase.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/67/Fortified_Braceletitem.gif/60px-Fortified_Braceletitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Fortified_Bracelet)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/67/Fortified_Braceletitem.gif/60px-Fortified_Braceletitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Fortified_Bracelet) Two Fortified Bracers gives you 228 HP alone with a bit of extra mana and damage. You build them from your Crushing Claws. The faster you can farm these, the better, because they will provide stat boosts until Mid Game.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/8/8d/Homecoming_Stoneitem.gif/60px-Homecoming_Stoneitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Homecoming_Stone) Homecoming Stones are ESSENTIAL. Do not skimp on them, ever. Always have at least one in your inventory AT ALL TIMES until you farm your Post Haste, which means buying two at pool so you can teleport to lane and still have one in an emergency. Also do not be afraid to use it to save your skin or to countergank/counterpush or even to gank enemies. Arach ults you? Don't fight her (unless you have your ult and even then, her Hardened Carapace will negate most of the damage), just TP back to base. Blood Hunter ults you? TP back to base. Enemy mid is healing and top lane's enemies are weak? Go TP there and help them get a double kill.
Mid Game Items (15-40 minute mark):
Initiation/Escape/Protection:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/2/2a/Assassin%27s_Shrouditem.gif/60px-Assassin%27s_Shrouditem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Assassin%27s_Shroud) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/6e/Portal_Keyitem.gif/60px-Portal_Keyitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Portal_Key) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/a/a4/Shrunken_Headitem.gif/60px-Shrunken_Headitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Shrunken_Head)
Assassin's Shroud/Portal Key/Shrunken Head
Rarely are all three or even two are needed. For pubs, you can get away with Assassin's Shroud because players rarely buy dust/wards/eye. It gives you increased move speed and damage which makes it sound good but it is expensive and easily countered. Still, you can invis, run up behind someone away from creeps and surprise them with your ult to pretty much gurantee a kill until much later in the game, or ult a gank and pop the cloak, running away while your ult continues to go off and maybe finishing them off if they are silly enough to chase you.
Portal Key gives you unparalleled positioning and is a more reliable escape option than Assassin's Shroud if the enemy have clued into buying wards/dust/eye. You can blink off the map (on the sides) and teleport back home, disjoint projectiles by blinking and blink off cliffs to escape. Remember you can blink anywhere, but with Shroud, the enemy knows you are limited by where you can walk. As for initiating ganks with your ult, you can blink in as soon as there are no creeps and make sure you hit with your ult rather than sitting around wondering if you've cloaked at the right time or not.
Finally, Shrunken Head is the ultimate in magical protection and almost ensures survival if used at the appropiate time. If you are facing many nukes and are constantly getting bushwhacked, Shruken Head gives damage, HP and magic immunity which means you can't be stunned, hexed, slowed, silenced and what-not unless you're facing a very specific group of heroes. If you want to ensure your ult goes off in a teamfight or gank, buy this and use it.
Movement:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/a/a8/Post_Hasteitem.gif/60px-Post_Hasteitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Post_Haste)
Post Haste
Post Haste gives you +95 movespeed (making you walk 415 which is VERY fast for most heroes) and the ability to teleport to any building and any creep, providing a very good way to farm. With Portal Key, you can also blink off the map and use your boots to teleport back home safely without worrying about buying a Homecoming Stone. A very good item if a tad pricey. However with the farm you get from Post Haste, you should recoup the loss in a matter of minutes.
Carry Item:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/c/c5/Nullfire_Bladeitem.gif/60px-Nullfire_Bladeitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Nullfire_Blade) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/4/4e/Geometer%27s_Baneitem.gif/60px-Geometer%27s_Baneitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Geometer%27s_Bane)ORhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/4/44/Wingbowitem.gif/60px-Wingbowitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Wingbow)
Nullfire Blade/Geometer's Bane/Wingbow
Nullfire Blade is one of the best items in the game. It gives you mana burn, increased agility/intelligence and most of all, purges. There are a great variety of buffs and debuffs in this game, from Electrician to Jereziah to Pestilence and Arachna (and especially Jereziah). The ability to purge these various buffs and debuffs, as well as slow enemies to a crawl is invaluable. I say that for every charge you use of this, it should result directly in one kill or one kill the enemy didn't get. Plus you can now upgrade it when it is out of charges you give you a fresh set of eight, ready to go killin' with again. This should be what you aim for almost every game because you become a ganker par excellence with it.
Geometer's Bane is a fairly decent carry item. It gives you +10 Str/Int and +30 Agi along with a movespeed and attack speed increase and the ability to remove all debuffs from you and create two images which do a surprising amount of damage. VERY handy in getting away from enemies, and you can destroy a creep wave in seconds with your images (not to mention increasing your DPS against enemy heroes).
Wingbow is the cookie cutter Agi Carry item that gives lots of damage, attack speed and evasion making you into a DPS machine. However it costs...well, a lot, so if you can afford it (you've been farming well, ganking well, haven't died much or at all), get it, starting with the least cost effective item in the game, +25 Agility Dancing Blade. After that, you can build the rest of it much more easily by teleporting to creep clashes and farming them.
A fully decked out build should have all three of these because they're all good items. If you can afford it all, congrats, the game has gone on far too long or you're playing EM. But nevertheless, get all of these before any "luxury" items (but having both Wingbow and Geometer's Bane is a luxury in and of itself).
Farming/Pushing Item:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/5/58/Whispering_Helmitem.gif/60px-Whispering_Helmitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Whispering_Helm) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/f/f2/Iron_Shielditem.gif/60px-Iron_Shielditem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Iron_Shield)
Whispering Helm/Iron Shield
Whispering Helm is one of the better lifesteal items, this gives you damage AND armor along with 15% lifesteal, but lifesteal only procs on the first attack bounce (same as mana burn, shieldbreaker, etc). Many consider lifesteal an important attribute on carries. I think it's overrated, but it builds into a luxury item that makes MQ very tanky. Plus it makes farming a cinch.
Iron Shield is a new item that gives MQ damage and protects against creeps. With this you can essentially tank creeps forever so you can keep jungling. Honestly however, I prefer Whispering Helm. Lifesteal both allows you to farm and to fight enemy heroes better while Iron Shield offers meagre protection at best.
End Game/Luxury Items (45+ minutes):
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/1/10/Symbol_of_Rageitem.gif/60px-Symbol_of_Rageitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Symbol_of_Rage) Symbol of Rage makes you a tank and gives you the capability to rumble with almost anyone.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/8/88/Staff_of_the_Masteritem.gif/60px-Staff_of_the_Masteritem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Staff_of_the_Master)Staff of the Master. Don't become reliant on your ult because by the end of the game, it does pitiful damage but can still hurt a team somewhat. This item gives you a fair bit of health and mana but farming it is wasteful compared to something like Nullfire Blade. However if you're playing Easy Mode or are just stomping the opposition and find yourself with ~4000 gold lying around at the 20-30 minute mark, by all means get it.
GAMEPLAY
Choose Your Destiny
Given the choice between taking a side lane or solo mid, you should almost always opt for solo mid. Moon Queen needs gold and XP which mid lane provides. Other heroes who are not item dependant but can be found solo'ing mid (Zeus/Thunderbringer or Lina/Pyromancer) can do well on side lanes. You, however, do not. Your skills really have no synergy with anyone's early game and you NEED the farm and XP.
Mid lane is also usually the safest lane, there are only really two spots to gank from (river ramps) and the river is normally warded so you can see 'em coming. But since this is a pub guide, I will assume that your team doesn't ward. Even then, the tower on mid lane is close which provides you protection from ganks and such.
Solo'ing also gives you quick XP, so you can have your ult when the side lanes are a level or two behind you (provided you have last hit and denied well). Laning middle also gives you control of the runes which allow you to gank more easily or spam Moon Beams with a Bottle.
Initial Stage (0:00-2:00)
When the game starts, head to mid to check out the rune spawns with teammates close behind. In higher level games, there is often a contest to see who gets the first rune and possibly first blood. With your movement speed, you should be able to run and grab it if both teams are sitting on the ledge in the river. If the enemy is sitting ON the rune spawn, you might trying ganking. Needless to say, you DO NOT want to die here, or ever, but dying early because you were too aggressive with the runes or not seeing the enemy pick up an invisibility rune and gank you is critical. In fact it will cripple your game against the opposing solo-mid, so make sure:
1. You see the rune and grab it if possible (easy in most pubs where nobody checks the rune).
2. If you can't grab the rune, make sure you know what it is and who grabbed it so your team can avoid a bloodlust.
Laning (0-10 minutes)
Last hit and deny as per normal. Moon Queen has fairly low base damage and low range but an adequate animation, but you will have to get close to the creeps if you want to kill them. Harassing is equally difficult with your low range compared to other solo mids, so be careful not to take too much damage doing so. If you need to, use Moon Beam to last hit, or nuke the enemy to run up and get a window to last hit.
While it may seem like a waste, sometimes you have to do everything you can to get money so you can farm a Bottle and have your courier deliver it. Once you get your Bottle, rune collecting ensures you should have enough mana to harass the enemy enough to keep him/her away from the creeps so you can have your way with them.
Remember to ALWAYS go for the runes. If the enemy can bottle them or collect them, it opens up the possibility of a side lane getting ganked or you getting constantly nuked. So make sure you try to at least deny him from grabbing the rune if you can't grab it yourself. When you get a Winged Courier, you can use it to grab the runes if you can't and deny your enemy their benefits.
Ganking Time (10-15 minutes)
By now, you will have reached Level Six and gotten your ult. Now if you have harassed your enemy out of the lane (he has to heal) or he's missing for some reason or another, you can go ganking if your team requires it.
It is much more profitable to stay in lane and farm if your side lanes are doing fine or owning the enemy, but if your side lanes need help, you gotta go gank. One bad lane can destroy a team, if a lane gets pushed, it means the enemy can roam and disrupt YOUR farming.
Now the best way to gank is to grab a rune and use it to get the jump on the enemy. Invisibility or Haste works best for this. Using your ult is easy, so as you're heading towards the enemy:
1. If they're in the short lane (Hellbourne Bottom/Legion Top) tell your team to initiate on your target and force them back towards you, whereupon you use your ult and come away with a clean kill.
2. If they're in the long lane (Hellbourne Top/Legion Bottom), tell your team to either let the lane push or force the enemy back to their tower, you can jump out and ult them.
Make SURE there are no creeps around to tank your ult, this includes neutral creeps if you try to gank the jungle.
Alternatively, if you manage to pick up an invis rune, you can solo-gank your opposing mid hero by walking behind them (on their side of the river), waiting for the creeps to push and then unleashing on their surprised ass. This can be a massive boon to your farming efforts and if you can pull it off, do it.
Pushing and Team Fight Time (20-40 minutes)
By this time, one of two things could have happened.
A. You've ganked well and haven't died yet, farming a storm and ready to end the game.
B. You've been outlaned, outganked and the enemy have pushed your towers.
If A, you should have Post Haste, Whispering Helm, your protective item (Portal Key/Shrunken Head/Assassin's Shroud) and your carry item (Nullfire/Geometer's/Wingbow) and can solo push a lane. You do so while your team pushes another lane to distract the enemy. If your team can handle team fights 4v5, then let them, otherwise make sure they play it cool and don't run into anything they can't win. The enemy team will either deal with you, or deal with your other teammates. While this may sound suicidal (and sometimes it is), often it can be the fastest way of winning the game and highly effective against an un-coordinated team.
With your protective items, you should have no trouble getting out of strife, either blink off the map and teleport to another lane/back home, activate Shrunken Head and run/teleport or use Assassin's Shroud and run.
There will be a time where you must fight team battles and Moon Queen does well in these. Whereas other heroes like Behemoth want creeps around to do maximum damage, you want nothing but your team and their team clashing and thus a creep clearer like Behemoth actually synergizes well with you. Your role in a team fight is to nuke their initiator and get your ult off. Nothing less. You MUST get your ult off because it will quickly decide the battle in your favour. At level 16, ten Moon Beams is still incredibly deadly, and thus you will be targeted first (as both the carry and the nuker). If you manage to survive or the enemy is stunned, autoattack your way to victory.
In short, get your ult off and then carry your team with physical damage.
If B, your best bet is to delay the game as long as possible so you can farm up and become beastly. As your first mid tower is dead, you will alternate between farming the lane when the creeps push on your side, farming your jungle when you don't have creeps to farm, and ganking their carries everytime your ult is up. You want to play it safe, so make sure you don't get into team fights by disrupting the enemy. Gank them while they are farming or pick them off if you ever see an enemy alone. You want to make the enemy fight you outnumbered and on YOUR turf allowing you to win small but crucial fights until you are on par with the enemy.
Generally, Moon Queen is a decent carry and can beat a fair number of other carries in a fight, probably any ranged carry and certainly any int hero. As such, farming for as long as possible as you build your best items is ideal.
However, there will be times where the enemy has better carries than you do and still beat you early game. In this case, you have to force a team fight and win or at least break even in order to stop the enemy farming. This means pushing their base, aiming for the barracks. The enemy will have no choice to stop farming and defend and this is where the outcome is critical. If you lose, they have gained gold and XP and can continue farming. If you win, you get a set of barracks and force the enemy to allocate resources to defend, allowing you some breathing room to either push another lane or go farm a bit.
This is where Moon Queen shines. One good ult that quickly turns a 5v5 into a 5v3 can be game changing, and is the reason you are targeted first in a fight. So it is your JOB to get that ult off and into the faces of the enemy heroes. Do this and your team might have a chance to reverse the odds and win. Fail, and you lose. If you are down at this point AND lose a team fight, you are pretty much done.
Notes: Like I mentioned above, sometimes you have to change tack and try different strategies. With your Multi-strike you are a very good pusher because you can wipe a creep wave in seconds. With your speed, you can move around the map quickly to assist teammates should the need arise. And with Post Haste, you can push two lanes at once and really put the pressure on the enemy team. Sometimes if your team can get the enemy in a protacted fight and allow you to solo rax a lane, it can turn the tide of a game.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f71/CronoDroid/MoonKween.png
Pros:
+Fun
+Good farmer
+Good pusher
+Awesome ganker
+Very powerful ultimate that doesn't scale
+Fast
+You DON'T want to meet her alone
Cons:
-Very low HP
-Short range attack
-Highly item dependant if you need to carry (offset by great farming ability)
-Unfortunately not a very good carry
-Ultimate doesn't scale and easily countered by standing near creeps
-Doesn't dual lane well, highly reliant on solo'ing
We see here that MQ has too many negatives to be a competitive hero, for one, her survivability is crap (15 starting strength and low gain equals low HP) and while she can carry if you are decked out with items, there are simply other heroes who carry better and have an ult that works whether or not there are creeps in the area. However, she can be an awesome pubstar and playing her is very fun. Picking up an invisibility rune and jumping some fool with your ult is highly satisfying.
As for other stat gains, her base Agi is okay and her gain is fairly good, meaning by the end of the game you should be hitting for around 200-300 with the right items. Combined with a few bounces and you are an awesome farmer.
SKILLS
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/e/ee/Moonqueenskill1.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill1.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill1.gif)
Moon Beam
Mana Cost: 90/100/110/120
Cooldown: 6 seconds
Deals 75/150/225/300 Magic damage to target and stuns for 0.6 seconds.
800 Range.
This is your main skill. It's a nuke, and it has a fairly lengthy ministun which can be very useful in certain situations. While 0.6 seconds doesn't seem like much, it can stop someone long enough for you to escape spell range, for a teammate to get into spell range and of course it stops channeling (teleportation, etc).
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/b/b4/Moonqueenskill2.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill2.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill2.gif)
Multi-Strike
Passive
Cooldown: None
Attack bounces up to 1/2/3/4 times to enemy units and buildings. Deals 35% less damage per bounce. Seeks closest unit within 500 range which haven't been hit yet.
A great farming skill, this makes your attack bounce up to four times, hitting five enemies at once. Some people like to get this skill at level 2 against melee heroes, but realistically you won't make use of this unless you feel like autoattacking creeps. It also seeks the closest target and does pitiful damage, so why bother when you can get stats? Later in the game, this skill lets you clear creep waves and neutral camps in seconds.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/71/Moonqueenskill3.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill3.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill3.gif)
Lunar Glow
Passive
Cooldown:
None
350 range aura, does not affect stealthed units. Increases base damage by 6/13/20/27%.
Generic "steroid" skill which boosts you and your allies' damage. Personally I don't take this until after Multi-strike (usually) because a keen enemy will see the aura on your teammates and smell a gank coming. Since ganks make up the bulk of midgame, it's best to get this later. Besides, you'll be relying on your nukes to do damage until late game anyway.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/3/32/Moonqueenskill4.gif/64px-Moonqueenskill4.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/File:Moonqueenskill4.gif)
Moon Finale
Random Targeting within 700 radius
Cooldown: 160 seconds
Casts 4/7/10 (4/8/12) Moon Beams on random targets in radius. Maximum of 4 (5) hits per target. See Moon Beam spell for more information.
Can be upgraded with Staff of the Master (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Staff_of_the_Master) (bold shows the improved values)
The skill that makes Moon Queen both loved and hated. It can quickly turn a 2v1 gank into a double kill for you, or make your enemies go "...shite" if you pop it on them all by their lonesome. What it does is fire a bunch of Moon Beams in rapid succession on any enemies within range, creeps or heroes, therefore you do not want to use it when creeps are around or they will inevitably absorb damage intended for the enemy hero. Since without SOTM enemies can only ever be hit by four Beams at once, it is already fully potent at Level 7 so feel free to gank when you get this and Level 4 Moon Beam. If you have enough mana to fire it, you can feel safe wandering by yourself in the river and what-not (to collect runes, to gank the side lanes).
SKILL BUILD
1. Moon Beam
2. Stats
3. Moon Beam
4. Stats
5. Moon Beam
6. Moon Finale
7. Moon Beam (maxed)
8. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
9. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
10. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
11. Moon Finale
12. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
13. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
14.Multistrike/Lunar Glow
15. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
16. Moon Finale (maxed)
17. Multistrike/Lunar Glow
18-25. Stats
Moon Beam and stats are taken over your two passives because they push the lane, something you don't want when you're solo'ing middle. Standing in the river is much more dangerous than farming safely on your side with tower protection.
Like I mentioned above, MQ is one of the most fragile heroes in the game, stats give you health and attack damage so you can last hit more easily.
The ult is always taken at Level 6 because it is extremely deadly. Pretty much no other hero can survive the full four beams when you first get the ult which is handy if you're getting a rune and get jumped with no creeps around to absorb hits. When Moon Beam is maxed at level 7, you'll do the full damage regardless of the level of Moon Finale since you can only hit a hero with four beams (Staff of the Master notwithstanding, but rarely will you farm this in the course of a normal game). 1200 magical damage is a lot.
After you've gotten the first level of your ult, it's up to you whether to get Multi-Stike or Lunar Glow. If things have gone well and you are happily solo'ing mid while your teammates hold down the side lanes, get Lunar Glow because it doesn't push the lane as much as Multi-Strike. Continue farming the lane.
However, if things have gone badly, ie you've been ganked once or twice, the enemies have pushed your tower, the other lanes are reeling, get Multi-Strike because you will need it to farm neutral creeps faster or go help gank the side lanes to give your teammates a break. If you can't gank, you will go jungling while your team plays defence until you've fattened up enough to carry or gotten your ganking items.
ITEM BUILD
Starting Items:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/0/09/Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif/60px-Runes_of_the_Blightitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Runes_of_the_Blight)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/4/4c/Health_Potionitem.gif/60px-Health_Potionitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Healing_Potion)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/e/e5/Mana_Potionitem.gif/60px-Mana_Potionitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Mana_Potion)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/2/2d/Crushing_Clawsitem.gif/60px-Crushing_Clawsitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Crushing_Claws)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/2/2d/Crushing_Clawsitem.gif/60px-Crushing_Clawsitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Crushing_Claws)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/b/bb/Minor_Totemitem.gif/60px-Minor_Totemitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Minor_Totem) or http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/66/Bottleitem.gif/60px-Bottleitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Bottle)
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion
1x Mana Potion
2x Crushing Claws
1x Minor Totem
Notes: The ideal build that will differentiate you from the nubs. Do not buy Boots/Marchers. Don't buy Pretender Crowns. Crowns are extremely expensive at the start of the game and only give you +2 to all stats, whereas Minor Totems are much cheaper (essentially 27 gold because you'll often sell them back later) and give +1 to all stats.
Moon Queen has pretty much no HP, so two Crushing Claws and one Minor Totem (the beloved GG Branch) gives a respectable +7 to strength which translates to 133 HP (giving you 568 to start).
Runes are good health regen and keeps you topped up if you get harassed. Health potion is there to provide emergency burst healing to keep you in lane if the enemy takes off a large chunk of health for any reason, but if you need it, quaff it. You're not here to save money. The mana potion is to provide an extra Moon Beam or so, it gives you 100 mana over 30 seconds which means you stay out of enemy harass/nuke range for 30 seconds but within XP range. Note that both Health and Mana potions are beacons for harassment so make SURE you are out of enemy range before you quaff them.
OR
1x Bottle
Note: Bottle first is a bad idea. EXTREMELY bad. How does starting with 435 HP sound to you? However, Moon Queen is a pub hero, and if you're reading this guide, you're playing a pub. If your team is bad and refuses to buy a courier, plus you know that you're playing people equally bad, get a Bottle and rune whore like crazy. Use Moon Beam liberally to harass/last hit and go for the runes so you can keep using Moon Beams. If you're playing against Thunderbringer, one Lv2 Blast of Lightning with Lv1 Lightning Rod will leave you reeling, so stay out of range. Your nuke has a very long range, longer than pretty much every other nuke (including Blast of Lightning) so make sure you are not in range of his nuke by using your Moon Beam as a judge. However in most cases, you'll be harassed out of lane by anyone competent, you'll fail to get last hits and denies because your damage is low and you'll end up sucking. So don't start with Bottle unless you are certain you're better than the enemy. But because you're reading a guide, you most likely won't be, but the option is there.
Item Progression till Mid Game:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/66/Bottleitem.gif/60px-Bottleitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Bottle) Buy Bottle as soon as you farm 600 gold and have your courier deliver it to you. Use it to bottle runes and to provide burst healing and mana regen for Moon Beam/Finale use.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/7/7d/Marchersitem.gif/60px-Marchersitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Marchers) Essential for ganking and getting places fast, Marchers should be your next purchase.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/67/Fortified_Braceletitem.gif/60px-Fortified_Braceletitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Fortified_Bracelet)http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/67/Fortified_Braceletitem.gif/60px-Fortified_Braceletitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Fortified_Bracelet) Two Fortified Bracers gives you 228 HP alone with a bit of extra mana and damage. You build them from your Crushing Claws. The faster you can farm these, the better, because they will provide stat boosts until Mid Game.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/8/8d/Homecoming_Stoneitem.gif/60px-Homecoming_Stoneitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Homecoming_Stone) Homecoming Stones are ESSENTIAL. Do not skimp on them, ever. Always have at least one in your inventory AT ALL TIMES until you farm your Post Haste, which means buying two at pool so you can teleport to lane and still have one in an emergency. Also do not be afraid to use it to save your skin or to countergank/counterpush or even to gank enemies. Arach ults you? Don't fight her (unless you have your ult and even then, her Hardened Carapace will negate most of the damage), just TP back to base. Blood Hunter ults you? TP back to base. Enemy mid is healing and top lane's enemies are weak? Go TP there and help them get a double kill.
Mid Game Items (15-40 minute mark):
Initiation/Escape/Protection:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/2/2a/Assassin%27s_Shrouditem.gif/60px-Assassin%27s_Shrouditem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Assassin%27s_Shroud) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/6/6e/Portal_Keyitem.gif/60px-Portal_Keyitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Portal_Key) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/a/a4/Shrunken_Headitem.gif/60px-Shrunken_Headitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Shrunken_Head)
Assassin's Shroud/Portal Key/Shrunken Head
Rarely are all three or even two are needed. For pubs, you can get away with Assassin's Shroud because players rarely buy dust/wards/eye. It gives you increased move speed and damage which makes it sound good but it is expensive and easily countered. Still, you can invis, run up behind someone away from creeps and surprise them with your ult to pretty much gurantee a kill until much later in the game, or ult a gank and pop the cloak, running away while your ult continues to go off and maybe finishing them off if they are silly enough to chase you.
Portal Key gives you unparalleled positioning and is a more reliable escape option than Assassin's Shroud if the enemy have clued into buying wards/dust/eye. You can blink off the map (on the sides) and teleport back home, disjoint projectiles by blinking and blink off cliffs to escape. Remember you can blink anywhere, but with Shroud, the enemy knows you are limited by where you can walk. As for initiating ganks with your ult, you can blink in as soon as there are no creeps and make sure you hit with your ult rather than sitting around wondering if you've cloaked at the right time or not.
Finally, Shrunken Head is the ultimate in magical protection and almost ensures survival if used at the appropiate time. If you are facing many nukes and are constantly getting bushwhacked, Shruken Head gives damage, HP and magic immunity which means you can't be stunned, hexed, slowed, silenced and what-not unless you're facing a very specific group of heroes. If you want to ensure your ult goes off in a teamfight or gank, buy this and use it.
Movement:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/a/a8/Post_Hasteitem.gif/60px-Post_Hasteitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Post_Haste)
Post Haste
Post Haste gives you +95 movespeed (making you walk 415 which is VERY fast for most heroes) and the ability to teleport to any building and any creep, providing a very good way to farm. With Portal Key, you can also blink off the map and use your boots to teleport back home safely without worrying about buying a Homecoming Stone. A very good item if a tad pricey. However with the farm you get from Post Haste, you should recoup the loss in a matter of minutes.
Carry Item:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/c/c5/Nullfire_Bladeitem.gif/60px-Nullfire_Bladeitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Nullfire_Blade) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/4/4e/Geometer%27s_Baneitem.gif/60px-Geometer%27s_Baneitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Geometer%27s_Bane)ORhttp://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/4/44/Wingbowitem.gif/60px-Wingbowitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Wingbow)
Nullfire Blade/Geometer's Bane/Wingbow
Nullfire Blade is one of the best items in the game. It gives you mana burn, increased agility/intelligence and most of all, purges. There are a great variety of buffs and debuffs in this game, from Electrician to Jereziah to Pestilence and Arachna (and especially Jereziah). The ability to purge these various buffs and debuffs, as well as slow enemies to a crawl is invaluable. I say that for every charge you use of this, it should result directly in one kill or one kill the enemy didn't get. Plus you can now upgrade it when it is out of charges you give you a fresh set of eight, ready to go killin' with again. This should be what you aim for almost every game because you become a ganker par excellence with it.
Geometer's Bane is a fairly decent carry item. It gives you +10 Str/Int and +30 Agi along with a movespeed and attack speed increase and the ability to remove all debuffs from you and create two images which do a surprising amount of damage. VERY handy in getting away from enemies, and you can destroy a creep wave in seconds with your images (not to mention increasing your DPS against enemy heroes).
Wingbow is the cookie cutter Agi Carry item that gives lots of damage, attack speed and evasion making you into a DPS machine. However it costs...well, a lot, so if you can afford it (you've been farming well, ganking well, haven't died much or at all), get it, starting with the least cost effective item in the game, +25 Agility Dancing Blade. After that, you can build the rest of it much more easily by teleporting to creep clashes and farming them.
A fully decked out build should have all three of these because they're all good items. If you can afford it all, congrats, the game has gone on far too long or you're playing EM. But nevertheless, get all of these before any "luxury" items (but having both Wingbow and Geometer's Bane is a luxury in and of itself).
Farming/Pushing Item:
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/5/58/Whispering_Helmitem.gif/60px-Whispering_Helmitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Whispering_Helm) OR http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/f/f2/Iron_Shielditem.gif/60px-Iron_Shielditem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Iron_Shield)
Whispering Helm/Iron Shield
Whispering Helm is one of the better lifesteal items, this gives you damage AND armor along with 15% lifesteal, but lifesteal only procs on the first attack bounce (same as mana burn, shieldbreaker, etc). Many consider lifesteal an important attribute on carries. I think it's overrated, but it builds into a luxury item that makes MQ very tanky. Plus it makes farming a cinch.
Iron Shield is a new item that gives MQ damage and protects against creeps. With this you can essentially tank creeps forever so you can keep jungling. Honestly however, I prefer Whispering Helm. Lifesteal both allows you to farm and to fight enemy heroes better while Iron Shield offers meagre protection at best.
End Game/Luxury Items (45+ minutes):
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/1/10/Symbol_of_Rageitem.gif/60px-Symbol_of_Rageitem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Symbol_of_Rage) Symbol of Rage makes you a tank and gives you the capability to rumble with almost anyone.
http://honwiki.net/w/images/thumb/8/88/Staff_of_the_Masteritem.gif/60px-Staff_of_the_Masteritem.gif (http://honwiki.net/wiki/Staff_of_the_Master)Staff of the Master. Don't become reliant on your ult because by the end of the game, it does pitiful damage but can still hurt a team somewhat. This item gives you a fair bit of health and mana but farming it is wasteful compared to something like Nullfire Blade. However if you're playing Easy Mode or are just stomping the opposition and find yourself with ~4000 gold lying around at the 20-30 minute mark, by all means get it.
GAMEPLAY
Choose Your Destiny
Given the choice between taking a side lane or solo mid, you should almost always opt for solo mid. Moon Queen needs gold and XP which mid lane provides. Other heroes who are not item dependant but can be found solo'ing mid (Zeus/Thunderbringer or Lina/Pyromancer) can do well on side lanes. You, however, do not. Your skills really have no synergy with anyone's early game and you NEED the farm and XP.
Mid lane is also usually the safest lane, there are only really two spots to gank from (river ramps) and the river is normally warded so you can see 'em coming. But since this is a pub guide, I will assume that your team doesn't ward. Even then, the tower on mid lane is close which provides you protection from ganks and such.
Solo'ing also gives you quick XP, so you can have your ult when the side lanes are a level or two behind you (provided you have last hit and denied well). Laning middle also gives you control of the runes which allow you to gank more easily or spam Moon Beams with a Bottle.
Initial Stage (0:00-2:00)
When the game starts, head to mid to check out the rune spawns with teammates close behind. In higher level games, there is often a contest to see who gets the first rune and possibly first blood. With your movement speed, you should be able to run and grab it if both teams are sitting on the ledge in the river. If the enemy is sitting ON the rune spawn, you might trying ganking. Needless to say, you DO NOT want to die here, or ever, but dying early because you were too aggressive with the runes or not seeing the enemy pick up an invisibility rune and gank you is critical. In fact it will cripple your game against the opposing solo-mid, so make sure:
1. You see the rune and grab it if possible (easy in most pubs where nobody checks the rune).
2. If you can't grab the rune, make sure you know what it is and who grabbed it so your team can avoid a bloodlust.
Laning (0-10 minutes)
Last hit and deny as per normal. Moon Queen has fairly low base damage and low range but an adequate animation, but you will have to get close to the creeps if you want to kill them. Harassing is equally difficult with your low range compared to other solo mids, so be careful not to take too much damage doing so. If you need to, use Moon Beam to last hit, or nuke the enemy to run up and get a window to last hit.
While it may seem like a waste, sometimes you have to do everything you can to get money so you can farm a Bottle and have your courier deliver it. Once you get your Bottle, rune collecting ensures you should have enough mana to harass the enemy enough to keep him/her away from the creeps so you can have your way with them.
Remember to ALWAYS go for the runes. If the enemy can bottle them or collect them, it opens up the possibility of a side lane getting ganked or you getting constantly nuked. So make sure you try to at least deny him from grabbing the rune if you can't grab it yourself. When you get a Winged Courier, you can use it to grab the runes if you can't and deny your enemy their benefits.
Ganking Time (10-15 minutes)
By now, you will have reached Level Six and gotten your ult. Now if you have harassed your enemy out of the lane (he has to heal) or he's missing for some reason or another, you can go ganking if your team requires it.
It is much more profitable to stay in lane and farm if your side lanes are doing fine or owning the enemy, but if your side lanes need help, you gotta go gank. One bad lane can destroy a team, if a lane gets pushed, it means the enemy can roam and disrupt YOUR farming.
Now the best way to gank is to grab a rune and use it to get the jump on the enemy. Invisibility or Haste works best for this. Using your ult is easy, so as you're heading towards the enemy:
1. If they're in the short lane (Hellbourne Bottom/Legion Top) tell your team to initiate on your target and force them back towards you, whereupon you use your ult and come away with a clean kill.
2. If they're in the long lane (Hellbourne Top/Legion Bottom), tell your team to either let the lane push or force the enemy back to their tower, you can jump out and ult them.
Make SURE there are no creeps around to tank your ult, this includes neutral creeps if you try to gank the jungle.
Alternatively, if you manage to pick up an invis rune, you can solo-gank your opposing mid hero by walking behind them (on their side of the river), waiting for the creeps to push and then unleashing on their surprised ass. This can be a massive boon to your farming efforts and if you can pull it off, do it.
Pushing and Team Fight Time (20-40 minutes)
By this time, one of two things could have happened.
A. You've ganked well and haven't died yet, farming a storm and ready to end the game.
B. You've been outlaned, outganked and the enemy have pushed your towers.
If A, you should have Post Haste, Whispering Helm, your protective item (Portal Key/Shrunken Head/Assassin's Shroud) and your carry item (Nullfire/Geometer's/Wingbow) and can solo push a lane. You do so while your team pushes another lane to distract the enemy. If your team can handle team fights 4v5, then let them, otherwise make sure they play it cool and don't run into anything they can't win. The enemy team will either deal with you, or deal with your other teammates. While this may sound suicidal (and sometimes it is), often it can be the fastest way of winning the game and highly effective against an un-coordinated team.
With your protective items, you should have no trouble getting out of strife, either blink off the map and teleport to another lane/back home, activate Shrunken Head and run/teleport or use Assassin's Shroud and run.
There will be a time where you must fight team battles and Moon Queen does well in these. Whereas other heroes like Behemoth want creeps around to do maximum damage, you want nothing but your team and their team clashing and thus a creep clearer like Behemoth actually synergizes well with you. Your role in a team fight is to nuke their initiator and get your ult off. Nothing less. You MUST get your ult off because it will quickly decide the battle in your favour. At level 16, ten Moon Beams is still incredibly deadly, and thus you will be targeted first (as both the carry and the nuker). If you manage to survive or the enemy is stunned, autoattack your way to victory.
In short, get your ult off and then carry your team with physical damage.
If B, your best bet is to delay the game as long as possible so you can farm up and become beastly. As your first mid tower is dead, you will alternate between farming the lane when the creeps push on your side, farming your jungle when you don't have creeps to farm, and ganking their carries everytime your ult is up. You want to play it safe, so make sure you don't get into team fights by disrupting the enemy. Gank them while they are farming or pick them off if you ever see an enemy alone. You want to make the enemy fight you outnumbered and on YOUR turf allowing you to win small but crucial fights until you are on par with the enemy.
Generally, Moon Queen is a decent carry and can beat a fair number of other carries in a fight, probably any ranged carry and certainly any int hero. As such, farming for as long as possible as you build your best items is ideal.
However, there will be times where the enemy has better carries than you do and still beat you early game. In this case, you have to force a team fight and win or at least break even in order to stop the enemy farming. This means pushing their base, aiming for the barracks. The enemy will have no choice to stop farming and defend and this is where the outcome is critical. If you lose, they have gained gold and XP and can continue farming. If you win, you get a set of barracks and force the enemy to allocate resources to defend, allowing you some breathing room to either push another lane or go farm a bit.
This is where Moon Queen shines. One good ult that quickly turns a 5v5 into a 5v3 can be game changing, and is the reason you are targeted first in a fight. So it is your JOB to get that ult off and into the faces of the enemy heroes. Do this and your team might have a chance to reverse the odds and win. Fail, and you lose. If you are down at this point AND lose a team fight, you are pretty much done.
Notes: Like I mentioned above, sometimes you have to change tack and try different strategies. With your Multi-strike you are a very good pusher because you can wipe a creep wave in seconds. With your speed, you can move around the map quickly to assist teammates should the need arise. And with Post Haste, you can push two lanes at once and really put the pressure on the enemy team. Sometimes if your team can get the enemy in a protacted fight and allow you to solo rax a lane, it can turn the tide of a game.