Luna Moonfang, the Moon Rider Guide

[KingLiche]

(V.01 - Increased font size and it is way too small for viewing.)

Luna Moonfang the Moon Rider (6.x)
By KingLiche

"I shall not fail."

Yep, a guide by me. This guide shows the true power of Luna Moonfang as a farmer and multi-killer. It takes advantage of the 5 bounces of Moon Glaive and also the multihitting ultimate, Eclipse. Well, read and enjoy! READ THE BOTTOM AFTER YOU'RE DONE.

Table of Contents
I. Stats [st101]
II. Skills [sk101]
III. Skill Analysis [ska101]
IV. Skill Build [sb101]
V. Item Build [ib101]
VI. Item Analysis [ia101]
VII. Items NOT to get! [in101]
VIII. How to kill a hero. [hk101]
IX. Best Allies [ba101]
X. Worst Enemies [we101]
XI. Special Thanks [spt101]
For easier navigation, press Ctrl + F and type in one of the words in brackets to skip to a section.

I. Stats [st101]
Luna Moonfang - The Moon Rider
Range: 300
Move Speed: 320
Primary: AGI
Str: 15 + 1.75
Agi: 22 + 2.8
Int: 16 + 1.85
Damage: 33 - 39
HP: 435
Mana: 208
HP Regen: 0.7
Mana Regen: 0.65
Attack Speed: 1.33 (+ 22% IAS)
Armor: 4.1
Impressive intelligence and agility build, decent strength build. Armor is high for a Level 1 hero, but as you can see, health is sub-par. Well, just make sure you don't get too close to a ranged/melee hero!

II. Skills [sk101]
Here are her skills, impressive skills that I may add! (Numbers in parentheses is the actual damage dealt, incorporating natural spell resistance.)

Lucent Beam (C)
Luna concentrates on the moon's energy and channels it forcefully to the surface, damaging an enemy unit.
Level 1 - 75 (56.25) damage.
Level 2 - 150 (112.5) damage.
Level 3 - 225 (168.75) damage.
Level 4 - 300 (225) damage.
Mana Cost: 95/ 110/ 125/ 140
Cooldown: 7
Moon Glaive
Allows Luna to attack extra enemies with each Glaive attack. Each enemy struck beyond the first incurs a 40% damage loss, per unit.
Level 1 - Luna hits 2 enemies with every attack.
Level 2 - Luna hits 3 enemies with every attack.
Level 3 - Luna hits 4 enemies with every attack.
Level 4 - Luna hits 5 enemies with every attack.
Lunar Blessing
Nearby ranged units gain the power of the moon.
Level 1 - Increases base ranged damage by 6%.
Level 2 - Increases base ranged damage by 13%.
Level 3 - Increases base ranged damage by 20%.
Level 4 - Increases base ranged damage by 27%.
Eclipse (E)
Calls to the moon's magic, summoning a concentrated burst of Lucent Beams to damage targets within 450 AoE around Luna.
If Luna dies while casting Eclipse, Lucent Beams will still be produced at the area where she dies.
Level 1 - Summons 4 Lucent Beams.
Level 2 - Summons 7 Lucent Beams.
Level 3 - Summons 10 Lucent Beams.
Mana Cost: 250/350/450
Cooldown: 140/120/100
Deals 1200 (900) damage, 1500 (1200) damage with Scepter.

III. Skill Analysis [ska101]
As you can see, Luna has only one nuke other than her ultimate. You can also see the very short cooldown for Lucent Beam, but being an agility hero, she can't keep spamming Lucent Beam unless it's level 1 or 2, and even then she can only use it twice or thrice before running out of mana. That's why you only use Lucent Beam once, at level 1, and only use it to harass/kill heroes.
Moon Glaive is gonna be your farming mechanism, seeing as you can hit every creep in a wave AND a hero, also making it a nice harassment...if you can call 4-5 damage harassment -.-
Lunar's Blessing is not exactly helpful early game, that's why it is the last thing learned after level 2 Eclipse.
Eclipse, of course, is going to be your main killing machine...until you get Manta Style...but even then, you'll rely on Eclipse as your damage dealer for heroes.
Time for the skill build!

IV. Skill Build [sb101]
1. Moon Glaive (Easier to creep with at Level 1 and to harass with.)
2. Lucent Beam (The moment you learn it, cast it on a hero, THATS IT.)
3. Moon Glaive (Self-explanatory.)
4. Lucent Beam (To power it up...? And for Eclipse.
5. Lucent Beam (See above.)
6. Eclipse (When you learn it, don't use it yet. Wait until you have Level 4 Lucent Beam.)
7. Lucent Beam (Self-explanatory, you can now use it.)
8. Moon Glaive (Farming farm farm!)
9. Moon Glaive (See above.)
10. Lunar's Blessing (More damage for farming capabilities/hero killing.)
11. Eclipse (Self-explanatory.)
12-15. Lunar's Blessing (Self-explanatory.)
16. Eclipse (Self-explanatory.)
17-25. Stats (Allows images to deal more damage, gives you more health/mana/armor, damn it its self-explanatory!)
The analysis for the skill build is right next to the level and so forth...on to the item build!

V. Item Build [ib101]
In words, here it goes. If I write an arrow, that means later on it will be upgraded.
Final build should look like this:
OR
2700 5500 5950 5500 6200 2150 5500
Total item cost: 27300 OR 28000 (if you get Scepter)

VI. Item Analysis [ia101]
I would actually get Power Treads first, THEN sell it later on and get Boots of Travel. Boots of Travel allows for multilane pushing and a great boost in movement speed. Coupled with Luna's 320 movement speed, (2nd highest movement speed in game, tied with a couple other heroes), it produces a nice synergy.
Now, here where it gets interesting. Some noobs, I KNOW SOMEONE IS GONNA SAY IT, will say "but you won't be able to attack!". Wrong. Feedback doesn't go on Luna (if you learn Moon Glaives), but you will still be able to attack, unlike Frost (Skadi) or Corruption (Desolator). And the item itself, it boosts your mana by a median amount, and improves your agility by 10 - something needed for images. It also allows you to use Mirror Image, which lets you bounce 15 (FIFTEEN) TIMES! GG TOWER/RAX! It also allows you to dispel all buffs on you (such as Entangle, Blind, etc.) hence the lack of Black King Bar. It is also gonna be your main hero killing item. It basically lets you deal:
(100 + 60 + 24 + 9.6 + 3.84 + 1.5) + .4(100 + 60 + 24 + 9.6 + 3.84 + 1.5) + .4(100 + 60 + 24 + 9.6 + 3.84 + 1.5) = 198.94 + 79.576(2) = 358.092% MORE DAMAGE.
The Butterfly makes your images deal more damage and attack more faster, as pure damage items and pure IAS items don't work on images. It also gives you the much wanted 25% evasion.
Linken's Sphere blocks a spell, and gives you +15 per stat, increasing your images and yourself overall chances for survival. It also gives them more attack speed and damage. Don't forget the main purpose: every 60 seconds you block one spell! It add's a bigger chance for your survivability!
OR
Aghanim's Scepter, it improves your ultimate's damage by 300 (225) and allows you to hit the same hero 5 times, and adds 2 more overall Beams to the beam count. I prefer Linken's Sphere.
Blink Dagger, saved my ass countless times and allows you to set up a perfect Eclipse!
Heart of Tarrasque, you deal enough damage and have 2 images, but there's that one fault: without Heart, you'd probably have 1.5-1.9k health - Lina's ultimate with Scepter deals 1.25k damage! To fix that, Heart of Tarrasque! That's instantly approx. +800 health and gives a nice regeneration boost.
By the way, get these items IN ORDER, for example, do NOT get Aghanim's Scepter first, or Butterfly without Manta.

VII. Items NOT to get! [in101]
etc.
All the orbs above DO NOT WORK WITH LUNA. SHE WILL NOT ATTACK! SCREWING YOU OVER IMMENSELY. Damage items are also useless because images do not get damage bonuses from damage items! Aka, if you have 6 rapiers, your images will still act as though you don't have damage bonuses. Bash/Critical/Monkey King Bar stops whatever bounce you're on, e.g. if you attack once, and you critical on your second bounce, YOU WILL NOT BOUNCE AGAIN! And also, the bounce will deal less damage because of Moon Glaives and image's damage reduction. E.g. if you normally hit a 500 critical, you will probly hit a 10 critical on your last bounce, Lol. Lothar's Edge is useless, 3800 gold for an item that has long cooldown and high mana cost and lasts 10 seconds, while 2150 gold for an item that has short cooldown and low mana cost and is much more handy. Refresher Orb...it's not exactly bad for Luna, it's just that YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU REFRESH/ECLIPSE AGAIN AFTER, AFTER, AFTER YOUR CURRENT ECLIPSE HAS ENDED.

VIII. How to kill a hero [hk101]
Either face him head on if you have creeps with you, use Manta Style and Eclipse. BE CAREFUL, if he starts moving, use Blink to get near him again. Also, try to trap him with your creeps and images so he can't move. Spam Lucent Beam during the fight to retain it's usefulness.

IX. Best Allies [ba101]
Bane Elemental, Crystal Maiden, Earthshaker, Enigma, Magnataur, Prophet, Treant Protector, Naga Siren (Not in images due to image max.)
All these heroes have something in common; a stun lasting 2.5 seconds more or a disable lasting 3 seconds or more! In Bane's case, 5 seconds of holding still...easy time for killing with Luna Images. Earthshaker allows the hero to be stuck in a place with a well aimed Fissure. Magnus...instantly all heroes are near him GROUPED TOGETHER, and a 4 second stun. Ownage. Naga has a long ass net, another time to kill with Luna Images. Same with Furion and the other heroes.

X. Worst Enemies [we101]

Tiny has 2 AoE spells that can instantly kill all your images and take a BIG chunk of your life. Phantom Lancer out images your images and can deal quite a bit of damage. Techies...no comment (instantly destroys your images with Goblin Land Mines, 6 second stun...) Axe...HE GETS TO BE OUTNUMBERED! Rexxar has 2 EXTREMELY powerful AoE nukes/stuns. Harbinger's ultimate rapes Luna and can instantly kill all your images...also, his autocast deals +400 damage (+1200 [...]) to images. Yep, +1200 against Images. No comment.

XI. Special Thanks [spt101]
Yondaime - being a good friend and hosting games for me ^^
MODRambo - being in our former clan and again hosting games for me
EggYolk[HaSu] - also a good friend, can be a big arrogant ******* at times but still is an extremely good DotA player...one of the best I've seen yet my Luna owns his heroes -.-
AllYorBase - aka Scorpion err for just occasionally being on...
And of course, GzP for being the best damn forum in the world!
This has been my guide, good luck with it (you won't need it; ownage is enough). Longest damn/indepth guide I've wrote yet.

I'll add some replays later on to help those having trouble.

-KingLiche
Please add some reputation if you like this guide, it would really be appreciated and would motivate me to write a guide to Ogre Magi/Rexxar/Harbinger. Thanks in advance.
If you wanna contact me, I'm on U.S. East and my IGN is zerO.Liche. Whisper me/add me to friends list.

[poco_loco]

nice guide with the info and stuff and btw,
WTF kind of thread is this, are you trying to copy a premium guide from the original forums site...

you even have the same for easier navigation thingy

you're suppose to put it beside the table of contents not below

[Scorpion]

huh are you sure? ive used burriza mkb and refresher orb on her no problem, in a game i was ez i even got my luna friend refresher to dominate it once and for all...yeah manta is a good item on her sure, ive seen people get domiator and satanic im not sure what that's about i dident play luna that much to mess with her orb effects.

You're also saying to get a blink dagger, blink dagger is the most useless item to get on her, since she's agility lothar's edge is a must for ganking and running away, thus there is no need for heart or any other items like that.

dont buy boots with starter money, get wraith bands or buy a ring of bas and start spamming your lvl 1 beam, dont get glaiviers that fast, alternate though them, then get your ultimate and start going hunting.

for the enamies you are right tho, dont forget NW, i was soloing and luna was in my lane alone, not only did i mana burn her till she had none, also her ultimate was waster about 3 times because i can go invisible, she takes so much damage from my spells nw is like the perfect counter for her.

so you're saying the first luna item should be BoT, where's the starting items? id like to see you get BoT against me without dying a few times :P.
overall good guide, moastly up to you, there are many more good items on luna.

[KingLiche]

@poco_loco
No, it is an original guide. Go look on the dota-allstar forums and check if you want to...low-life...and I write my guides my own way...
Yeah, I'm gonna update the Item Build, you suppose to get Power Treads, THEN Manta and the rest of the items and sell your treads and get BoT.
I already wrote why Lothar's is one of the most useless items in the game, if you buy it for the damage/IAS bonus...3.8k for +31 damage. With 3.8k I would gladly get myself an Eaglehorn...Blink Dagger has much less cooldown and more manueverability. Since Lothar's has longer cooldown, if you spam it you might not be able to escape, also because of the high mana cost you might not be able to cast it to run away.
Sure, damage items are great on Luna, but tell me this: you're fighting a Crystal Maiden and you just got Frostbitten. You can tell what's gonna happen next. That's where Manta comes in with the ability to save your ass! The moment you get Frostbitten, use Mirror Image (it dispels buffs, remember?) to escape and Lucent Beam to stop the casting of whatever spell she's doing (Lucent has a .001 stun) and own her!
Remember though...15 bounces per attack will pretty much shut down what ever pathetic push an enemy has done, and you can EASILY take down a tower with Manta Style.
Yeah, for the starting items I get:

=P Just kidding, here:

Later, once I have enough money I get this ^^^^ (By the way, those items on the right are on my chicken >.<)
By the way, the reason I don't add Refresher is that it works weirdly with Eclipse:
If you refresh/eclipse again WHILE THE OWL IS OVER YOUR HEAD WHILE ECLIPSING, nothing will happen. However if you wait until the owl is gone and refresh/eclipse, then it's ok. Hence the reason for Blink Dagger (if you get Refreshers)
1. Eclipse
2. Run close until Owl disappears.
3. Blink and press hotkey for Eclipse (E me thinks)
4. Run close and kill =D
And if you don't mind Scorpion +rep me -.-"

[saint]

burize works well with her..VERY well..you should not hestitate to get burize or MKB..this could change the game..even though your enemies might be gathering large wave of creeps,you'll easily get rid of them,and you welcome them.Big money income..with this,you can push at the maximum rate for luna..

here is a replay of my luna,its 5.84c though. ^_^ it was quite laggy,farming was bad.By the way,heart of tarasque isnt necessarily..Black King Bar would be better or plate/chain mails.You can seriously own with black king bar because of your high damage output with burize and also your bouncing glaves.Double or triple kill will be more efficient with black king bar.

Manta and Boots of travel are the pusher kind of build,but it suits tinker more.Since tinker has the 3rd skill,march of goblins or something,he can kill a wave in 3 seconds.If you want luna to have a better pushing capability,burize or mkb is important.

[KingLiche]

Uhhh...Buriza/Monkey King Bar stops your bounces, therefore destroying Luna's sense of farming. Heart of Tarrasque, I see, is necessary. You already have a buff dispel (Manta) and a per 60 second spell block (Linkens). If you buy Buriza/Monkey King Bar for damage, your chances for a triple kill are greatly reduced, and a Radiance would be much better (bigger AoE of Radiance due to images) or a Butterfly .... it would benefit the images and give you armor/evasion, necessary for any agility/strength hero.

[saint]

well,from my opinion,burize/mkb is definitely a good item for luna moonfang.No argument about it,I have owned with it.I have never lost when I had burize with her.However,this was only in 5.84c.lol.I know alot of 6.32B though.How manta works in 5.84c and version 6 is different,right?I prefer the one in version 6 though.However,I'll try this build out.I think its a good one since you wrote it. ^_^

[KingLiche]

^^ rep me if you think its good <.<
I just tried Buriza on Luna. It's not as great as you said it was saint. I was 1 bounce away from a triple kill, but guess what. The first attack on the hero WAS A CRITICAL AND DIDNT BOUNCE! Because of that, I lost a triple kill! I was so pissed >< Monkey King Bar is even worse, 30% chance to stop your attack!

Edit: Thanks for rep, some bums made it -1 -.-"
NEXT UP, Destroyer (6.3x, no .84c saint =/) and *cough* CLINKZ LOL

[ilovekiwi]

i rep you for it. i usually get this type of build when i use luna anyways... i just didn't know other uses this type of build too ><.

[KingLiche]

>.< I don't see many Luna's get Manta in pubs these days. Those noobs get Lothars and Aghanim's...then once I notice they don't have Eclipse I own them with a Bounty Hunter w/ Track LOL