Dota 2 boasts over 120 heroes, each with distinct traits and playstyles that make them unique. Some heroes excel in team fights, others specialize in farming and pushing waves, and a few can do both.
One such hero is Luna. Although she was out of the spotlight for a while, the recent TI13 breathed new life into her, placing her firmly back in the meta. She became one of the most contested core heroes during The International 2024.
At first glance, Luna may seem like an easy hero to play, but her success heavily depends on perfecting her item timings. This article will explore Luna’s optimal itemization and playstyle in Dota 2.
During the group stages of TI13, Luna was a top pick for many teams for the safe lane. There are several reasons for this, the most prominent being that Luna currently outscales nearly every other hero in Dota 2.
Thanks to her recent rework, Luna enjoys a strong laning phase against most meta heroes. In the past, players had to choose between focusing on farming or winning the lane.
However, with Lunar Blessing now as an innate ability, Luna gains a significant advantage in the lane. This allows her to scale both Moon Glaives and Lucent Beam simultaneously.
Lucent Beam gives the ability to take an early point in her ultimate, Eclipse. With Eclipse available, Luna can respond to early-game skirmishes, providing a major benefit to her team.
This also allows Luna to gain the upper hand in surprise ganks effortlessly. In winning matches, because of these recent changes, Luna can snowball seamlessly to victory.
There is something to note – both of Luna's facets are extremely powerful. Moonstorm grants Luna bonus attack damage when Lucent Beams or Eclipse beams strike enemies.
On the other hand, Moonshield is also a reliable facet. It gives Luna damage reduction while Lunar Orbit is active. That said, in Dota 2, the offence often outweighs the defence, making Moonstorm the more popular choice.
Luna is currently one of the strongest heroes in this patch (despite her nerfs), but there are some things that players should know about her. Due to how strong she is currently, Luna can even be considered as a first pick in pubs.
There’s an important factor players should note before choosing Luna: she is not a flexible pick. Luna is best played as a safe lane, and trying to run her in mid or offlane roles simply won't work.
This is because Luna can only reach her full potential when she hits her item timings and the best way to do this takes space. Offlaners and midlaners are usually the ones that provide space.
During the laning stage, Luna's Lucent Beam can be used to harass her opponent. Additionally, with the Moonstorm facet, she can have an exceptional laning stage.
This ability can also be used to secure the much-valued range creep. It also makes her last hitting easier because of the additional damage she gains from her harassment.
Players usually invest some points in Lucent Beam, and when they reach level 6, they would save a point. This is because the laning phase typically ends when a safelaner reaches around level 6, and midlaner rotations become common at higher ranks.
However, with Eclipse, Luna can make her opponents think twice before they attempt to gank her. Moreover, with Eclipse in her arsenal, she can easily get a solo kill under the right circumstances. This makes her a huge threat on the map when she gets her ultimate.
That being said, Luna is still prone to getting killed if someone can close the distance and gets on top of her. After using Eclipse, she becomes her weakest until it's off cooldown or she has three or four core items, making it the ideal time to gank her.
Like every other hero in Dota 2, Luna has different viable playstyles. She can dominate her lane early, which helps her team snowball to victory in winning matches.
However, Luna's true impact often shines through in losing games. In these situations, her Moon Glaives allow her to efficiently push out waves, helping to relieve pressure on her team. This forces opponents to respond, allowing Luna to create space for herself.
If they fail to address the push, she can easily take down their base, as her Moon Glaives bounce between buildings once the tier 3 tower falls.
Even if the opponents respond to her split-pushing, the damage will likely already be done, as Luna had evaded them, soaked up her farm and moved onto another lane to do the same. The best way to counter this is to ambush her before she begins pressuring the map.
Before playing Luna, there's one thing players will need to know: she relies heavily on farming. She's a threat on the map, as long as she has space.
Players often buy two Slippers of Agility, a Circlet and three Iron Branches for their starting items. If Luna is against a spell-heavy lane, players can opt for the Magic Wand and three Iron Branches.
These starting items allow Luna to sustain herself during the laning stage.
During the laning stage, Power Treads are a must-have on Luna. It gives her bonus movement speed and additional agility.
Thanks to Moon Glaives, Luna is a farming machine amongst range safelane heroes. Thus, players often opt for a Mask Of Madness after getting Power Treads as it boosts their farming efficiency by a margin.
When Luna acquires the Mask Of Madness, she has two itemization options. If the game requires Luna to rely heavily on her positioning, she can get a Dragon Lance, which allows her to hit from the backlines.
This item can be upgraded to a Hurricane Pike, enabling her to push herself out of harm's way.
After Dragon Lance, Luna players love to pick up a Manta Style. The item is extremely compatible with Luna as it allows her to push out waves with illusions. As a result, this can cause pressure on the map without putting herself in danger.
This also significantly boosts Luna's farming efficiency. After Manta, players generally upgrade their Dragon Lance to Hurricane Pike. After that, they get a Black King Bar, Khanda or a Daedalus depending on the match.
BKB allows Luna to join her team during skirmishes. It also makes her unable to lock down. It is an extremely reliable choice if Luna is facing against heroes with heavy spell damage.
Khanda fits into a hybrid/late-game itemisation. It boosts Luna's both magic and physical damage. However, Khanda is often picked up by players because of two of Luna's talents.
Her level 20 talent allows Luna to have two free Moon Glaives attacks when she uses Lucent Beam. When this is paired with Khanda, Luna can easily take 3/4 health of her opponents with her Lucent Beam.
Moreover, Luna's level 25 talent allows her Lucent Beam to hit an additional target. When this is paired with Khanda and her Level 20 talent, squishy cores and backline supports get melted with one use of Lucent Beam.
Daedalus is picked up under the same philosophy, but it just boosts Luna's physical damage tremendously.
After getting Khanda or Daedalus, players usually build a Butterfly or Satanic on Luna. Both items allow Luna to man up but under different conditions.
Butterfly is chosen when there's a heavy physical damage lineup against Luna. It allows Luna to evade attacks while giving her bonus agility and attack damage.
Players choose Satanic when Luna has to survive against all threats – magical and physical. The item allows Luna to life steal significantly. It also boosts Luna's hp and provides additional damage.
Situational items like Blink Dagger, Silver Edge and Eye of Skadi are also great choices for Luna. In losing matches, she can also pick up a Divine Rapier to turn the tide in favour of her team.
Though Luna is a late-game beast, she can still be countered. Heroes that can get close to her without endangering their team are the best counters against her. These include Pudge, Slark, Phantom Lancer and Medusa.
Ancient Apparition is a good pseudo-counter against her despite his fragileness. His ultimate, Ice Blast, can nullify any healing Luna can have in the late game such as from Satanic.
In the laning stage, he can spam Chilling Touch, forcing Luna to get away from the wave. If Luna decides to man up he can use Cold Feet to make Luna reconsider her choice.
At the time of the writing, Luna has a 52.0% win rate and she's the fourth popular pick as a safelaner
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