Luna Moonfang is a stalwart and devout follower of the Moon Goddess, Elune. She fights alongside the Sentinel in the never-ending battle to cleanse the land of the unholy Scourge. Through her valiant efforts, she has been granted small portions of Elune's mystical power. Luna uses this gift to cut a swath through her enemies. It has been said that Luna is able to call down the very light of the moon, and is always surrounded by a glowing aura, as though in moonlight herself. Luna is a shining beacon for the Sentinel, an ever vigilant protector.
Strength 15+1.75
Agility 22+2.8
Intelligence 16+1.85
You can find Luna in this tavern:
Agility 22+2.8
Intelligence 16+1.85
You can find Luna in this tavern:
Detailed stats can be viewed here.
Hero Introduction
Luna Moonfang may look and feel soft and tender, but she can deal great amounts of damage to both single and multiple foes. Her Lucent Beams inflict ample damage from high range early on, and her ultimate Eclipse fires multiple beams rapidly at random targets around her, making quick work of isolated opponents. Her glaive attacks passively bounce from one target to the next, allowing her to deal damage to a number of units, and can become extremely powerful if enough damage is acquired. She passively empowers herself and nearby allies with a Lucent Blessing, which amplifies damage. The Moonrider needs to be kept down, and to bring her down one must approach with caution, precision or backup.
She's a dominant carry in competitive games before 6.60. Eclipse and Moon Glaives are nerfed now, but she is still a powerful hero in terms of dps dealing. The Moon Rider has Agility as her primary, somewhat okay Intelligence growth and a weak Strength. That pretty much tells that she is a dps hero that uses spells in combat, and need items to be effective late game. She mainly deals dps with spells early game, and heavy dps late game when combined with her physical attacks.
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Lucent Beam Luna concentrates on the moon's energy and channels it forcefully to the surface, damaging an enemy unit. Stuns for a short duration. Notes * Damage type: magical * Posseses a mini-stun, allowing it to effectively interrupt the target. |
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Moon Glaive Allows Luna to attack extra enemies with each Glaive attack. Each enemy struck beyond the first incurs a 35% damage loss, per unit. Notes * Luna's Attack does not function if she tries to attack a unit with any of the following: Maelstrom , Mjollnir , Sange , Sange & Yasha and Stygian Desolator. * Moon Glaives take precedence over the following: Feedback (Diffusal Blade) and Cold Attack (Eye of Skadi). |
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Lunar Blessing Nearby ranged units gain the power of the moon, dealing bonus damage with their attacks. Notes * Aura bonuses consider only unit base damage + primary attribute increases (not raw damage items). |
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Eclipse Calls on the moon's magic, summoning a multiple Lucent Beams to damage targets around Luna. Damage is based on the level of Lucent Beam. Can be improved by Aghanim's Scepter. Notes * Damage type: magical * Targeting range: 700 AOE * Can be improved by Aghanim's Scepter. * Beams deal damage based on the level of Lucent Beam (Eclipse will not deal damage if you did not learn Lucent Beam). * Beams are released between intervals of 0.6 seconds. * Beams will stop if Luna is killed. * Unlike individual Lucent Beam casts, Eclipse Lucent Beams do not ministun. * Will not hit invisible units. |
Quote:
| "Unlike most carries, however, she has two skills that allow her to control a lane, gank, and even defend herself against ganks. She's a carry hero who has skills to help her when she's at her most vulnerable: earlygame. You're not a hinderance in a lane, because you can actually help control it with a Lucent Beam here and there. If someone attempts to gank you, Eclipse can very well turn the tides on them. Luna has the best of both worlds; the potential to carry lategame, with some caster potential early to offset the carry niche's usual weakness." - Killer Draco |
1 Stats
2 Lucent Beam
3 Stats
4 Lucent Beam
5 Lucent Beam
6 Eclipse
7 Lucent Beam
8-10 Moon Glaive
11 Eclipse
12 Moon Glaive
13-15 Lunar Blessing/Stats
16 Eclipse
17 Lunar Blessing
18-20 Stats/Lunar Blessing
21-25 Stats
Skill Build Justification
Startup
If nobody buys a chicken, get one. It will serve you well because you should always try to stay within grasp of gold and exp, and you are always one step ahead of the enemy who doesn't have one. Grab 2 branches, and spend the remaining gold on tangoes + clarities. Stats and health regen are basic needs while clarities will provide the necessary mana regen for you to use Lucent Beams. Share the chicken, and ask for a contribution to upgrade the chicken.
Why HotD?
For 1850 gold, Helm of the Dominator gives Luna a usable orb, which is lifesteal. Lifesteal helps to boost her field staying power so she doesn't need to go back to fountain. Going back to fountain means loss of precious time to farm for exp and gold. HotD also has the active skill Dominate which lets you to dominate a creep under your control. This can be used to Dominate a neutral creep to tank for you and it can also be used to assist you in creep stacking. In the buildup, you should always buy Helm of Iron Will before Mask of Death, because helm gives you +3hp regen and +5 armor, which is always better than 10% lifesteal where you don't attack often, as you mostly aim for last hits. As a bonus, HotD also provides 20 damage, which is always a good thing.
Why Power Treads?
Boots of Travel is good if you get easy games and lots of farm, otherwise just stick to Scroll for teleports or changing farming lanes because 2200 gold is not a small amount.
As of 6.63, Phase Boots now gives +30 IAS as well, but losing the armor bonus. Seriously speaking, Power Treads is still better. Why? This is because Luna doesn't need the active ability Phase. She has one of the highest base ms of 320, and with the new Treads it's already 390. It's also 500 cheaper now, so you can get the stat bonuses earlier, either for survival, for Lucent spam or just for the +13 AGI. +13 AGI already gives +13 attack and +13 IAS for Luna. Phase Boots is not worth it for the +17 IAS more compared to the flexibility of Power Treads.Toggling from Str/Agi/Int will work for Luna in terms of surviving/attacking/casting.
Why BKB?
Killing Luna in the shortest time possible is the only way to get rid of Eclipse, and the only way to do this is by using nukes. BKB's precious few seconds of magic immunity will let Luna unleash a total Eclipse without interference. You can already enjoy the HP boost as early as when you get its buildup part, Ogre Axe. BKB also further boosts her damage by 24. In lower level games where there are less co-ordinated fights, you can actually skip BKB and go straight for a Manta Style. The farming ability that Manta Style gives will skyrocket your gold compared to your enemies.
Scroll of Town Portal
Luna needs it, so remember to carry one at all times, it's cheap, it's worth it, and you'll never know when you'll need it.
Bracers
Bracers provide cheap Str and some stats. Get them if you have trouble surviving, or Wraith Bands for some stats and early dps. If you can rush a Belt of Giant Strength and Ogre Axe though, you can skip them as you wish.
Yasha
You get extensions if the game doesn't seem to be ending even after you've gotten your core items. If the game is difficult and farming is tough, you may consider getting Yasha. It boosts Luna's dps and gives a 10% increase in movespeed, which makes her have 418 ms, when equipped with Power Treads together. Speed helps to get her in position for a good Eclipse, and contributes in both chasing and escaping.
Manta Style
Manta Style is a cheap and good choice if you managed to get some kills and decent farm. It's a powerful item against single targeted spells since it gives you images to confuse enemies. The stats it gives are all very useful for Luna, boosts her dps and survivability at the same time. Its active skill Mirror Image further boosts her dps with illusions, which are excellent in pushes and combats. It can also be used to dispel some negative buffs off you. The best thing however, is that Moon Glaive works with illusions, which means more bouncing glaives, more dps to multiple enemies! Just remember that casting Eclipse/BKB with your illusions around will give away your identity, although in most cases enemies won't have enough time to retaliate against your combo.
Examples of total DPS boosting (rounded numbers)
Max Moon Glaive only
Base damage + stats = 100 damage
Total including Moon Glaive = 252 damage
Max Lunar Blessing only
Base damage + stats = 100 damage
Total including Lunar Blessing = 127 damage
Max Moon Glaive + Max Lunar Blessing only
Base damage + stats = 100 damage
Total including Moon Glaive = 252 damage
Total including Lunar Blessing = 320 damage
Max Moon Glaive + Max Lunar Blessing + Manta Style's Images
Base damage + stats = 100 damage
Total including Moon Glaive = 252 damage
Total including Lunar Blessing = 320 damage
Total including Manta Style = 531 damage
The Butterfly
With the farming ability that Manta Style is able to give you, you should have no problem getting The Butterfly if the game drags on. The Butterfly increases your dps tremendously as well as boosting your effective HP. Since it boosts your AGI, it reaps more bonus from what Lunar Blessing and Moon Glaive can give. It further strengthens your role as a carry by being a multi-unit dps monster in a team fight. In an impending team fight, you should always time your entry. Luna doesn't have any escape mechanism so if you're going into the fray, make sure it counts and timed wisely, because once the enemies see you, they will focus fire on you to eliminate your dps threat. Try to anticipate combo spellcasters like ES or Enigma and let them exhaust their combos before going in, or else use BKB.
Satanic
Satanic is another extension that you may consider getting if you need more HP. Other than boosting your passive Lifesteal, its active skill that boosts your Lifesteal to 150% is no joke. If you're not disabled, it's practically a free heal for you as you're fighting. Your Manta images also benefit from the HP boosts since it's based off STR.
Situational
If you solo mid, you can get Bottle to help you rune-whore and have adequate Lucent spamming. If you're playing side lane however bottle is not that useful for Luna because unlike Morphling/Mirana, she has no efficient ganking/escaping mechanism, thus she won't roam the map much, more so the river as she needs to be in her lane/jungle to farm constantly. Stick to consumables otherwise.
Some players like to incorporate Lothar or Dagger as their core, and although it has its uses, it's purely situational. Both items provide an initiation and escape mechanism, which serves to assist Luna in positioning/chasing with Eclipse and to provide an escape in sticky situations. While these builds are outright effective in low level games where map awareness is almost inexistent, Lothar / Dagger will not contribute much in higher level of play where wards are aplenty and enemies will not linger in situations that provide opportunities for a missing Luna. Getting any of this item will delay BKB, which enables Luna to fight in team battles as she's usually a focused target due to her dps potential. Dagger does not serve well in escaping in midst of battle and Lothar can be countered by wards/dust/skills. BKB on the other hand, almost guarantees an uninterrupted Eclipse while giving her the needed health and damage boost passively.
Aghanim's Scepter boosts Moon Rider's ultimate, as well as giving good stat bonuses, it may be purchased if you're farming well and the game progresses in your team's favor. Otherwise, getting the extensions such as Satanic/Butterfly are much more beneficial since they give constant passive bonuses that increases Moon Rider's dps and survival significantly.
Quote:
| "Aghanim would be nice but her aghanim ultimate was nerfed and now no longer gives shorter cd. Caster Luna is still sub par in the end considering all the nerfs her ultimate had taken like no more ministun, lowered dps, and aghanim no longer granting shorter cd. If you want to play a caster I think there are much better alternatives than Luna." - AzureD |
Heart of Tarrasque is a purely survival item in Luna's case that bolsters your health and hp regen by a good amount. It's a famous item to increase survival and tanking capability but it doesn't come cheap either. If you have Manta/Satanic and Butterfly, you shouldn't need it. If you want some sort of extra protection against spell damage, a cheap Planewalker's Cloak should work, if not Hood of Defiance or Khadgar's Pipe of Insight, all of which are much cheaper than a HoT.
Since Diffusal Blade's separation from Manta Style, it is no longer a core item for Luna. As the feedback orb is overridden by Hotd's lifesteal on ranged heroes and Moon Glaive itself, the cost of the item will include something you can't benefit from. Situationally though, you can be asked to carry a Diffusal if nobody else suits for it in special cases (i.e. against Warlock, Omniknight, Sven). It does provide a good slow and Agi boost, which benefits Luna.
Rejected
Non-stat items such as Radiance, Burize or MKB are sub par items due to the fact that Luna benefits more from items that boosts stats, especially Agility due to her Lunar Blessing ability. They aren't cheap either so the gold should be spent on Butterfly, Manta Style and Satanic.
Eye of Skadi, although gives great stat bonuses and a somewhat workable Frost Attack buff placer, it simply takes too long to be farmed and is not really practical to be aimed for unless you're playing low level games.
Maelstrom , Mjollnir , Sange , Sange & Yasha and Stygian Desolator are all items that causes Luna's attack to malfunction, hence you should not buy them.
Level 1 - 5
With your startup items, head to the long lane (bottom for Sentinel, top for Scourge). If you know the lane opponent isn't going to be aggressive, you can opt for a solo. Otherwise, a babysitter like Warlock or a nuker like Slayer can give you a good early laning phase. Remember to block creeps with Luna to bring creep clashes nearer to your tower, as she has a quite large collision size. Despite your stat bonuses, Luna is still a soft hero, thus be wary of enemies' movement at all times. Prioritize last hitting over denying, and you may also use your ranged attack and high base ms to your advantage when harassing melee heroes. Use Lucent Beams wisely and remember you can always save it to use only when you can no longer hit your enemy with physical attacks, because it has 800 casting range.
Notice the cast range of Lucent Beam. Use it to suppress your lane opponent.
To learn more about lane control, click here.
To learn more about soloing, click here.
To learn more about blocking, click here.
Level 6 - 10
When you've got your Eclipse, you are much more threatening. Enemies will tend to stay away from being caught isolated, so use that psychology to your advantage, playing mind games with them. You can pretend you're going to use that Eclipse just to scare them away so you can farm comfortably. If opportunities present itself, you can also kill with Eclipse, as most enemies at this level cannot stand the total damage of Eclipse + Lucent Beam. Pick your enemies well and study the map for missing heroes so you don't fall into an obvious trap. You should have already stacked some creeps and obtained HotD by now, so it's time to put your Moon Glaives to good use. Farm the neutrals with it, using a Dominated creep to tank. Dominated creep choice is pretty much situational, but for a recommendation, take the Centaur. It has high hp and armor to take damage, as well as Chaos damage to boot. It can stun for 2 seconds when you need it to escape an ambush or to setup a gank, and it has the aura that increases your attack speed. This is also the phase where ganks happen a lot, so be extra watchful for missing enemies in the minimap and know when to retreat to safety. Not dying is always better than getting one or two creep kills. Keep in mind that smart enemies will not let a Luna farm, especially creep stacking.
Luna ambushing a retreating Admiral with Eclipse from behind enemy lines, and killed Admiral.
To learn more about jungling and creep stacking, click here.
Level 11 - 15
Continue with the creep stacking and farming whenever possible, and occasionally help out team mates in the lanes nearest to you. If situation calls for it, you may need to defend or counter gank around towers when you have your Eclipse ready. Otherwise try to judge whether it's better for you to continue farming or joining battles with just Lucent Beam up your sleeves. A favorable situation to join a battle is when your team's disablers are ready and you can support with a Stun/Slow from a Dominated creep such as Centaur/Furbolg. In some games, pushes and defenses can happen as early as this phase. Luna's early dps capabilities enable you to participate and contribute. If your team is doing well, you can continue to finish your core and even possibly farm up an extension earlier than enemies can. This is the optimal time when you can start killing Ancient creeps. Ancient creeps are the toughest creeps excluding Roshan, but Luna with a Dominated tank, HotD, Power Treads and Moon Glaive are capable to take on stacks (remember to stack them!) of Ancient creeps, which is a feat that very few heroes can do. This gives her and her team an upper hand in farming.
Assisting ganks and team battles with Eclipse.
Quote:
| "the biggest advantage luna offered to her team was her supplemental farming via stacked ancients (something other heroes couldn't do solo, or at least not as soon as she could) which in turn bolsters the available farm to your entire team." - Xenterex |
By now, the tide of the game should be obvious. If you're farming well, get a good extension and join your team in pushes and battles. Battles off lanes have better advantage with no enemy creeps around. Do not let enemies to catch you off guard, but try to catch them off guard with BKB-Eclipse combo. A well executed Eclipse guarantees 2 deaths of soft heroes (Int/Agi heroes). Remember to pick your enemies. Don't forget you have Lucent Beams too, use it as mana permits, just remember how much you need for BKB or Manta Style. With some kills and pushes, carrying your team to a win is within your grasp.
Luna farming with Manta Style. Notice the multiple Moon Glaives. You can use your illusions to hold/push a lane.
If the game is not in your favor however, farm wisely and defend as needed. Try your best to spot an opportunity where you can deal the most damage to the enemy team, and hopefully your team mates can follow up. Losing and winning is part of the game and if you've done what good Luna can do, you know you've done your best. Practice more with Luna and your team, carry your team and execute more feats!
Notice that even though Luna's team lost the game, Luna had the highest farm. She's a carry with strong innate farming ability.
GosuGamers DotA | Replay: MiSeRy vs Kwom
IGG vs Ins, LB semi finals 1
Team MYM vs Team Avid #1
Final: RuSh3D vs Ks.int #1
Final: RuSh3D vs Ks.int #2
Team SK Vs Team tR
Note: Replays are pre 6.59 era, if you would like to contribute latest competitive versions of Luna, please pm me. Thanks.
* In-game quotes of the Moon Rider:
* Luna means 'moon' in Latin.
* The 'ride' of the Moon Rider is not really a moon, but a panther. Moon Rider is the title given to her since the earliest versions of DotA. She is one of the earliest DotA heroes among the likes of Dwarven Sniper, Silencer, Sand King, Rogue Knight, Slayer, Crystal Maiden, etc.
* Although Lucent Beam's animation looks like the Warcraft base ability Starfall, it's actually based on Storm Bolt (credits to Maxderdachs). Eclipse is the multiple version of it, only without the mini-stun that Lucent Beam has.
* Moon Rider's model is based off Huntress of the Night Elf race in Warcraft's lore. Huntresses serve under the command of Maiev Shadowsong as part of the 'Watchers', a specialized group tasked to keep Illidan Stormrage imprisoned. The huntresses can also upgrade their glaives to bounce during attacks.
* Credits to tsxworld of Deviant for the cover picture.
* Credits to Chammer of dota-allstars.com for links to replays.
* Credits to Killer Draco, AzureD and Xenterex for their comments on Luna.
* Credits to Maxderdachs for the correction of Lucent Beam's base ability fun fact.
* Credits to DesOo for the correction of Diffusal Blade's explanation.
* Credits to jacksp for providing the link to a 6.62 replay of MSI Loda's Luna.
* 26/8/09 - Added screenshots and changes.
* 18/9/09 - Updated for DotA Allstars 6.63.
* 29/9/09 - SPOTLIGHTED! Credits to everyone involved!
* 30/9/09 - Minor updates. Credits to gwho, Pnoize and komodobanaan.