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45 comments
J10

    Ayeee lmao

    Derp's missing tax files
      This comment was deleted
      Derp's missing tax files

        Also, this comment keeps getting deleted 4hed. Viva le mango.

        Ultimate team player! :)
          This comment was deleted
          Fish
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            sosig
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              Juice
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                Towa
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                  ExSachi

                    I would be happy to pick AM every game if these things become the new cancers.

                    brain damage pig

                      What is happening to mangos?

                      GULAG

                        soon, i am gonna bash people in face for mentioning enchanted mango again

                        Skim

                          Sorry @Juice - accidentally deleted your comment along with the others.

                          here is his post for anyone wondering (and he brings up a good point):

                          Medusa has an enormous bug in 6.86 which I think gonna ruin her shot in pro game play. The Mystic Snake doesn't steal mana from illusions. This is huge for medusa as one of her main counters are illusion based carries. I Guess because Nobody cares about medusa on Reddit it doesn't get any attention/visibility on front page and probably not gonna get fixed soon. it's a shame...

                          Zhong Xina

                            >Invoker
                            >Nerfs
                            Done with that "conclusion".

                            Moggington

                              Hate playing with average Medusa/AM on team, 4v5 for 40 min

                              At least Spectre can help during early/mid

                              El muchacho de los ojos t...

                                You want to see old faceles void buffed?Yes, with backtrack!
                                link:https: //mega.nz/#!H9QzkIJT
                                pasword: !IJWCF0dfFy7ePwTev2rID2OyjVstf5LWwH98S-pMJPw
                                Pls read and send to icefrog@gmail.com

                                Juice

                                  Hi Skim, thanks for re adding the comment... I just wanted to add - Medusa's win rate on 5k+ mmr is still at the lower side with about 49% in the last month. While spectre's win rate on 5k+ mmr is still decent with about 54%.

                                  The Medic Guy

                                    This comment was deleted 2 hours ago

                                    qwildi

                                      Thanks , good info.

                                      HarrisLam

                                        @Mogginho if you guys don't support and provide space to the AM, he can't get BF up in like 22mins, or he gets it up before 20min mark but all towers are gone, of course he can't fight. Give enough space and a decent AM will get boots and BF in 15 mins, treads vlads in 18, manta in 25. So the problem always comes from whether you are willing to give AM all these or not. But then again, AM is never really a fighting hero so I'm not sure if you can even compare them like this. AM can start split pushing well with BF vlads, so that's before 20 mins. He just can't be joining actual 10-hero fights.

                                        mahesh :'(

                                          am can't kill spec i think

                                          elixir kundi

                                            15th

                                            Murranji

                                              The only problem with picking these heroes is that you will always always be dual laned against by an aggressive dual offlane. The exception to that is whenever the enemy pick those heroes in which case your offlane/rs will be ineffective at shutting them down or just feed which explains why you can never pick those heroes and win, yet they still get such high average win rates.

                                              pixelgoo

                                                Lol Spectre was always cancer OP hero and every good player knew it, wtf is this article about.

                                                Ug..

                                                  Medusa is my mmr booster hero :P

                                                  CRYING DIAMOND

                                                    I continue to encounter Specter every game, I think that this hero will be spammed so much

                                                    Namer

                                                      Medusa has a few advantages over Spectre, tho.

                                                      She can absolutely wipe a lane with good Mystic Snakes, which does sick damage early. Most heroes either fall in three categories: those who can nuke her down early and have plenty of mana (Lina or QoP, for instance) lose huge amounts of hp to Snake. Those who can nuke her down and are tanky enough to survive (Sven, Tiny) won't even have the mana to do anything given good Snake harass. And most other heroes lack the nuke potential to get through a mana shield. Alongside a laner with stun+nuke potential, she can get a kill pretty early.

                                                      Medusa is also tons better than Spectre in the early-mid game stage. Once she gets Stone Gaze at level 6 (don't level it again until you've fully levelled everything else), she can TP in to defend a tower the enemy is sieging and barring the most perfectly timed stun instantly open with Stone Gaze right out of the teleport, forcing the enemy to back off.

                                                      She lanes FAR better than Spectre, teamfights better and farms better. She can come online really early with a quick Maelstrom (altho I religiously build Linken's first, every time), farming jungle stacks with Snake and Split Shot.

                                                      J10

                                                        ^^ While all this is true Medusa has a major disadvantage at the fact that her ult is easy to dodge, Her snake isn't the most effective during teamfights, And her Mana Shield is easily countered by Mana burn or a simple Diffusal blade that is already picked up on a decent amount of heroes.
                                                        Spectre on the other hand has an ult like Zeus's but could be used for free map control when she is dominant over the enemy team and in team fights with her ult and Radiance all she has to do is be there and the odds of winning the team fight are improved greatly

                                                        Kvothe

                                                          @Namer The problem with Medusa is that she is very kiteable. Like it was mentioned, in higher skilled gameplay she has to be last picked or heavily supported by other picks. With huge increase in Invoker picks it is pretty difficult to play effectively, as the notorious EMP and general teamfight control for low mobility heroes. A bkb is an item that you generally don't like to pick up as a Medusa too.
                                                          Along with nerfs to Gyro in 6.86, MKB was nerfed to nerf damage but buff on mini-stun proc. This indirectly nerfs Medusa's split shot secondary damage targets.
                                                          I've had huge success on Medusa, and I'm an avid fan of maelstrom build.
                                                          I believe OD would be a mad matchup too, with the Int steal orb and Ulti draining mana, forcing BKB pick up at some point. Slark is a bad matchup too. A good Slark player will time the dark pact for the Stone gaze really well and continue to pummel you.
                                                          Her ulti is insanely good though. The problem with most people is that they don't use it at the right time and not 'baited' to use it too early. You have to use it when they've committed too much as it completely forces the enemy to attempt to disengage (bkb'd and all).

                                                          this or the apocalypse

                                                            @Namer sure, but the diffusal and mana burn spells are really really strong counters to her. On top of that midgame spectre with radiance cannot be matched by any other carry in terms of game impact.

                                                            JesusLovesYou

                                                              femmes fatales

                                                              Tommy

                                                                as a specter player I'm really happy to see her becoming stronger, as someone who knows how good a specter can be, I'm really scared for her to become popular

                                                                Go Back To Mordor, Orcs

                                                                  @Firefly yes, nerfs. That's right. He got nerfed pretty hard in the latest small patches, but got buffed in 6.86.

                                                                  Poi'ish

                                                                    Please don’t draw attention to spectre. She will get nerfed again… XD

                                                                    Also, I dislike rushing radiance against tanky teams. If against tanky and dangerous manfighters, like LS or Wk, the build should be diffusal + manta + Skadi (you may want to get skadi before manta, depends).

                                                                    The only hero I dislike playing against as Spectre is CK. Radiance is not effective against his tanky illusions, and his illusions counter desolate. So the only thing you can do is kite him until his ulti is down, then quickly clear his manta illusions with help from teammates.

                                                                    Edit: nice article BTW

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                                                                    mweh

                                                                      choi lai dotka

                                                                      Legendary NexO

                                                                        Currently the Enchanted Mango only has a 31.43% win rate. Together, we as a community, have the ability to fix this problem and end this horrific tragedy. Please help. It is our duty as gamers to give this item the respect it is due . KAPPA

                                                                        Namer

                                                                          Stone Gaze is actually best used as a counter-initiation. You time it to follow up immediately on their initiation, using Linken's to avoid a stun or silence. Since it's CD is low, you can also use it for escape if you time it well enough and TP out while they're facing away (good players will risk trying to stun you. In that case, cross your fingers).

                                                                          I usually play in a full party when I'm playing Medusa, so I usually have someone to force staff me into the middle of a teamfight (not that they often do). Medusa also comboes well with heroes like Axe and WW, who can force a direction to face on an enemy hero.

                                                                          And, yeah, Medusa's weakest phase is her midgame, which is when Spectre is strong. Both of them are strong late-game, and I'd pick Spectre against a lineup that has weaker laning, Medusa against a stronger lane.

                                                                          Her snake's a laning tool, not a teamfight tool. In teamfights, you just spam it whenever you get the chance.

                                                                          I haven't matched up with OD in 6.86 yet, I'd probably rotate lane if I did. OD and TA counter Medusa hard in-lane, as does anyone else who can easily dodge the Snake. OD always junked Medusa, tho. Sanity's Eclipse too stronk.

                                                                          Yeah, Medusa has her counters: mana-burners But Spectre's counter is "Don't let her farm" (easy if you keep hitting their jungle, and Spectre gets easily zoned out in lane, so her Radiance timing is screwed), while Medusa's is mana-burner heroes. What you pick depends on your lineup.

                                                                          Also even an underfarmed and skinny Medusa has a lot of lategame utility simply by virtue of Stone Gaze.

                                                                          (I play in 1k and 2k where nobody can counter me unless another lane feeds and AM/PL gets fat. So, take all I say with a little salt).

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                                                                          Keep Awake

                                                                            @GreenToa et al. You mango spammers gotta give it a break. Post your offtopic comments once and then stop. I've been sick of seeing you treating these blog posts like twitch chat.

                                                                            Yedan Derryg

                                                                              As Medusa being my main hero I have to say that I do not agree with the statement she has to AFK farm very long, well at least with the build I use (Maelstrom, Yasha, Skadi, Mjolmir, BF, Manta, MKB). She needs some time to farm until she gets her first big item (Skadi, Linkens, stuff like that) But after she does she is a really strong presence in the teamfight, even if only with her ult.
                                                                              While I do agree she suffers more that Spec in the midgame her farming is a lot easier, while Spec has a lot of issues with it.
                                                                              While yes Medusa does get countered hard by manaburn, if she can ult in the right moment, it matters not as you have most likely won the teamifight with the ult. And I also hear her snake is weak mid-lategame... I disagree, the snake is not supposed to do dmg mid-lategame but she steals a fifth of a team's mana meaning she fills herself up and deals some dmg. (Altough im in the 2k MMR skill bracket, so, ya know, don't take everything I say for true)

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                                                                              So It Goes

                                                                                This is a great read, thanks. I think you should have mentioned OD.

                                                                                Celine

                                                                                  While these 2 hard carries seems to be back faceless void has been thrown from a menacing threat to a crappy initiator

                                                                                  <(☻﹏☻)>

                                                                                    Hex on medusa is actually not bad against heroes like antimage. Rapier is overall best item hehe

                                                                                    Jānus

                                                                                      Nice article
                                                                                      But as for me there are some things you hadn't mentioned.
                                                                                      1) insane lane. Snake is kinda op even on 4k. U can spam it for free and each wave will be cleaned ezly. Moreover it results in a fast push of t1, which is nice for the whole team. Usually my opps just give up on getting farm and stay away from creeps, while i have freefarm by any means.
                                                                                      2) mael is the only build could be used. Getting maxed shield at 9 is essential as with aquilla dusa become extremely tanky and not likely a person midder wanna gank. And on lvl 9 mael compensates her inability to farm jungle. Snake with this mana steal percentage buff makes it really easy to replenish mama in jungle (both satyrs camps, golems, stacks)
                                                                                      3) manta is essential item giving both offensive and defensive stats. Avoiding silence and projectiles and more arrows to shot on every one you see? What can be better?
                                                                                      4) grading mael to m'jolnir is a great boost to her dps, it can be compared to mkb on gyro. More as=more shoots with active ulty, lightnings deal great dmg too on all slowed targets and shield makes her a not desirable aim.
                                                                                      Summing up all of these you may come to an obvious conclusion, that !if not counterpicked! dusa's mid-game is an easy ride and can be considered equal to spectre's.

                                                                                      Extvia

                                                                                        I dunno about everyone else but I hope this becomes the case. I personally hate high early aggression matches and prefer the more patient and paced games centered around hard carries farming up and then coming out from farming and melting people's faces for knowing when to finally hop in on the action. If this patch becomes a farm hard and win game meta, it will be a godsend.