Damage
53-59
97-103
129-135
Lanaya, the Templar Assassin[edit]
Lanaya, the Templar Assassin, came to her calling by a path of curious inquiry. Possessed of a scientific bent, she spent her early years engaged in meticulous study of nature's laws—peering into grimoires of magic and alchemy, recreating experiments from charred fragments of the Violet Archives, and memorizing observations of the Keen recordkeepers. Already quiet and secretive by nature, the difficulty of acquiring these objects further reinforced her skills of stealth. Had she been less retiring, she might have become notorious among the guilds as a thief-scholar. Instead her investigations led her into far more obscure corners.
As she devoted her furtive talents to unlocking the secrets of the universe, she instead unlocked a secret door that exists in nature itself: the entryway to the most Hidden Temple. The intelligences that waited beyond that portal, proved to be expecting her, and whatever mysteries they revealed in the moment of their discovery was nothing compared to the answers they held out to Lanaya should she continue in their service. She swore to protect the mysteries, but more to the point, in service to the Hidden Temple she satisfies her endless craving for understanding. In the eyes of each foe she expunges, a bit more of the mystery is revealed.
Peppering the battlefield with slowing traps, Templar Assassin hides invisibly, ready to ambush her prey. Once she springs her attack, she shreds enemies with piercing psionic blades, and deflects counterattacks with her refracting shield.
Abilities[edit]
Templar Assassin becomes highly elusive, avoiding damage while gaining a bonus to her damage. These effects are separate, and have a limited number of instances.
| Instances | 3/4/5/6
11/12/13/14 |
|---|
| Bonus Damage | 25/50/75/ 100 |
|---|
Manipulating her psionic veil, Lanaya bends nature's law to her will.
Notes
- The visual effect is visible to enemies.
- The damage block only triggers if the damage after reductions is greater than 5.
- Blocks the damage from mana burn abilities, but does not block the mana loss.
- Attacking a friendly unit will not consume damage charges.
- Will not provide bonus damage when attacking allied units
Templar Assassin conceals herself, gaining invisibility while remaining still. On the next attacked enemy unit, Lanaya will reduce its armor and deal bonus damage to it.
| Bonus Damage | 80/120/160/200 |
|---|
| Armor Reduction | 5/6/7/8
11 |
|---|
| The armor reduction can be dispelled. |
|---|
Lanaya is as elusive as her covenant with the Hidden Temple.
Notes
- The bonus damage and armor reduction are only applied if Meld is broken by attacking a unit.
- When breaking Meld with an attack, Templar Assassin stays invisible until the Meld strike hits.
- Although the hit is displayed with a critical strike indicator, it is not a crit and behaves as its own separate instance of damage.
- Templar Assassin can proc critical strike at the same time as Meld strike. Meld damage is not added to the critical hit and is dealt separately.
- The initial attack also benefits from the armor reduction.
- Bonus Damage is not increased by Spell Amplification.
- Meld debuff now stacks
Templar Assassin's psi blades slice through the attacked unit, splitting and damaging enemy units directly behind it, while gaining bonus attack range. For each unit it damages, the spill damage is reduced by a percentage.
| Bonus Attack Range | 80/130/180/230
200/250/300/350 |
|---|
| Spill Range | 360/435/510/585
540/615/690/765 |
|---|
| Disabled by break. |
|---|
| Illusions gain this ability. |
|---|
Her blades pierce the skin as much as the mind, furthering her understanding of the mystery that is reality.
Notes
- Attacks against illusions will not deal any spill damage, regardless of visual effects.
- Spill damage activates on denies.
- Spill damage can hit invisible units.
- Spill range and direction is determined from the target's position when the projectile hits.
- Spill damage is equal to the amount of damage the initial target takes. E.g., if the initial target takes no damage due to a spell like
False Promise, the spill damage is also reduced to 0.
Templar Assassin places mystical traps that invisibly monitor enemy movement. When sprung at her command, they exert a slowing influence in the area. Deals damage when fully charged.
| Damage | 250/300/350
360/410/460 |
|---|
| Minimum Movement Speed Slow | 30% |
|---|
| Maximum Movement Speed Slow | 60% |
|---|
| Minimum Silence Duration | 1.5 |
|---|
| Causes Psionic Traps to silence enemies for up to 2.5 seconds based on how long the trap has been charged. Minimum 0.5 duration. |
|---|
| Does not pierce Spell Immunity. |
|---|
| Dispellable. |
|---|
Calling upon the reach of the Hidden Temple, none escape the eye of the Templar.
Notes
- Maximum slow is reached 4 seconds after being placed.
- Slow gain is acquired in smaller instances of 0.75% every 0.1 seconds.
- When detonated, the current slow value is applied and does not continue to increase.
- Damage is dealt in 5 instances once per second, starting 1 second after trap is sprung.
- Does not block neutral creep camps from spawning.
Springs the nearest trap.
Aghanim's Scepter Ability[edit]
Templar Assassin teleports to any Psionic Trap after channeling. Does not break meld. Detonates the Psionic Trap on arrival.
| This spell is granted directly by the scepter. |
|---|
| Cannot be cast while rooted. |
|---|
Notes
- Detonates the Psionic Trap on arrival.
Talent Tree[edit]
Summon Abilities[edit]
Psionic Trap[edit]
Springs the trap, slowing nearby enemies.
Summon Stats[edit]
General Strategy[edit]
Overview
Templar Assassin is one of the strongest solo mid heroes in the game known for her ability to snowball out of control and being able to destroy enemies in seconds. Refraction allows her to avoid damage from the enemy while dishing out heavy damage of her own. In lane, this is used to secure last hits (and in turn, harass with Psi Blades) as well as nullify enemy harass. Later on in the game, it is mainly used for bonus damage as her enemies will likely have easy ways to remove defensive charges. Meld is what allows her to assassinate targets in the mid-game. Removing 8 armor and dealing 200 physical bonus damage lets her kill low-armor targets in 2-3 hits with Refraction up. Meld can also be used as an escape, although skilled opponents are likely to carry detection such as Dust or a Gem to reveal her. The instant invisibility can also be used to disjoint enemy projectiles, such as Shadow Strike, Viper Strike, Laguna Blade, and more. Psi blades extends Lanaya's range, and also allows her attacks to spill onto enemies directly behind her target. This what allows TA to be a lane dominator, as she can effectively harass enemies every time she goes for a last-hit or deny. Later on in the game, Psi Blades allow TA to flash farm creep waves and jungle stacks. Lastly, Psionic Trap grants Lanaya and her team a huge amount of map control and vision. Traps can be placed in high-traffic areas of the map to scout enemy movements. They also give TA insane chasing power, slowing enemies for 50% over 5 seconds.
TA is almost always played solo mid where she can gain solo exp and farm. Psi Blades is great for farming and allows her to easily take jungle and ancient stacks to accrue a net-worth advantage, and explode into the midgame with a large advantage in levels and items. TA should aim to snowball in the midgame, and end before the 40 minute mark. She does not scale as well as most safelane carries and begins to fall off when enemies are able to farm up some armor items and survive her burst.
Early Game
As a Carry, Templar Assassin is mostly reliant upon levels in the early to mid-game as the bonus damage from Refraction and range from Psi Blades scale fairly well. The same can be said about the armor reduction granted by Meld. However, as the game progresses into the late game, Templar Assassin will require damage dealing items such as Butterfly (which pairs well with Refraction because attacks can be evaded and thus not reduce an instance) and Daedalus for its raw damage output and critical hit chance which also stacks with Meld and Refraction. The ability to chase and position traps with the use of a Blink Dagger becomes imperative. Not only this but the invisibility granted by Meld is nullified by the fact that players often purchase a Gem of True Sight for the purpose of de-warding as well as detecting invisible heroes.
Templar Assassin is generally played in the Solo Mid role. Therefore, buying a single set of Tangoes and some Iron Branches is enough to sustain her. The money saved is then used to purchase a quick bottle. If you are playing Templar Assassin in an offlane, you will probably need to buy a Healing Salve and a Ring of Protection to build into a quick Ring of Basilius.
Like most Solo Mid heroes, TA should purchase an early Bottle. The bottle coupled with some rune control or bottle crowing, should provide enough health and mana to sustain her. Boots of Speed should be purchased next to improve her rune control and ganking ability.
Mid Game
Templar Assassin is overall a very squishy hero and any hard disables (Hex, Scythe of Vyse) will shut her down with good focus fire. As such, engaging with Refraction up at all times becomes a quintessential staple of playing this hero. Not only for the bonus damage but for the limited invulnerability it grants. Do not think that Templar Assassin cannot be out-carried by the likes of Anti-Mage and Spectre. The attack speed of these heroes coupled with Manta Style can easily melt away at Refraction and leave Templar Assassin incredibly fragile. Phantom Lancer also provides an excellent counter (due to the shear number of illusions that can be created and thus remove instances of Refraction) to Templar Assassin if he can match her farming.
Generally, Templar Assassin is strongest in the Mid-Game where a quick Blink Dagger combined with her Traps and burst damage allow her to pick off underfarmed heroes and position her Psi Blades to maximize splash during team fights. This style of play is best exemplified by South East Asian teams and best demonstrated by the players Mushi, Ferrari 430, and Wagamama.
As a low range hero who benefits dramatically from positioning, Phase Boots are generally purchased over Power Treads. Because Refraction has only a limited number of instances, she benefits less from the attack speed boost from power treads and more from the burst damage of phase boots. To allow TA to better position her splash damage from Psi Blades and pick off heroes that are out of position, a Blink Dagger is also an essential item. Refraction also gives her excellent durability so a Magic Wand is usually sufficient for the mid game.
Late Game
The most popular extension item on TA is the Black King Bar. Because of her high burst damage and short range, TA is a popular target for disables. Together with its ability to preserve Refraction charges against heroes like Venomancer, this makes an item like a Black King Bar core in many games. An alternative to this is the Linken's Sphere, which is advocated by players such as Wagamama. Other popular items on TA include the Desolator because of its synergy with Meld and the pure damage of Psi Blades as well as the Daedalus. It is useful to note that critical damage stacks with both meld and refraction. This allows a single lucky crit to splash onto and damage an entire team.
Version History[edit]
Notable Players[edit]
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
References[edit]
Carry 
Escape
Psi Blades spill range multiplier reduced from 2 to 1.5
Level 10 talent +100 Psi Blades Range replaced with +110 Psionic Trap Damage
Meld cooldown reduced from 15/12/9/6 to 11/9/7/5
Psi Blades attack range bonus rescaled from 60/120/180/240 to 80/130/180/230
Added Talent Tree
