Medusa has
Why I think Medusa is strong:
If you consider her mana bar her hp bar, she reduces damage by 72% (1 – 1/3.6; provided Medusa has mana). In perspective: Bristleback reduces damage by 40% (from the back).
Side notes: Medusa mana shield can not be broken with Silver Edge, but does not return damage when attacked like BB, Spectre.
(numbers below are @ level 30 with no items from full hp to death)
Number of dagon 5 hits from CM level 30
Medusa | 10 |
---|---|
Spectre | 6 |
AM | 7 |
Bristleback (back) | 9 |
Bristeback (front) | 6 |
Number of rapier hits from CM level 30
Medusa | 16 |
---|---|
Spectre | 13 |
AM | 9 |
Bristleback (back) | 17 |
Bristleback (front) | 11 |
Number of rapier + deso hits from CM level 30
Medusa | 14 |
---|---|
Spectre | 10 |
AM | 8 |
Bristleback (back) | 13 |
Bristleback (front) | 9 |
Time to death from Necrophos passive (level 30, 2 HoTs and Aghs)
Medusa | 2m54s |
---|---|
Spectre | 41s |
AM | 1m06s |
Bristleback (back) | 43s |
Bristleback (front) | 43s |
Medusa's mechanics seem extremely strong vs. some heroes/strategies while being extremely weak vs. others (not exhaustive).
Strong
- vs. Necrophos: Medusa has low max. hp and is mostly (close to) full hp, so Necrophos' passive and ult are not as effective as against other (tanky) heroes
- vs. pure damage: most heroes cannot reduce pure damage, some exceptions are Spectre, Bristleback. Some item solutions: more raw HP, blademail, evasion, BKB. Medusa has the best reducing capability taking only 2% of the pure damage with HP + 28% of the damage with mana (1/3.6)
- vs. damage amp strategies: Medusa's mana pool takes the raw damage amount, so it is not amplified by e.g. minus armor (deso, solar crest, Slardar, TA, Weaver, etc.). Only the 2% damage affecting HP is amplified. Conversely, reducing damage (e.g. Pipe, armor) is not effective on Medusa until you have no mana left.
Weak
- vs. mana burn/steal
- vs. Axe: Axe can dunk Medusa from full hp (if she has no hp items)
Itemization
I am not set on the items yet. Some thoughts:
Good
- Blademail/radiance: usually good on tanky heroes, damage reflection works the same on medusa as other heroes. (Radiance disassemble into rapier + butterfly)
- Bloodstone: activate for large mana regen from spell damage
- Octarine; lot of mana and mana regen and more uptime on snake and ult
- Hex: lot of mana and mana regen, strong disable
- Butterfly: attack speed, attack damage, evasion; good offensive and defensive
- Mjolnir active: reflect damage when being attacked. mana regen in combination with Bloodstone
- Phylactery: mana, hp, slow, mana regen. CD almost the same as snake (6s vs. 7s)
- Mask of madness: active negative armor doesn't affect medusa as much as others
Bad
- Damage reduction: armor, pipe, etc. is not effective
- Attack modifiers before level 25 talent (split shot uses modifiers)
- Eternal shroud: mana regen component only works when you have no mana anymore
Of course, being able to take damage is only one part. Nevertheless Medusa seems good at it.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/189vl2e/why_does_medusa_have_low_pick_and_win_rate_she/