Saturday, November 7, 2009

[Hero] Moon Queen

From the Official Heroes of Newerth forum by CronoDroid

Hello HoNites, this is my guide to Moon Queen. She's Luna Moonfang from DotA and is largely the same aside from the fact that many items that previously didn't work on Luna now work on MQ. Aside from that, MQ is a fun pub hero but realistically is not the most viable hero in higher level games. I'll list why after the jump. However, she can solo mid fairly well, is a good ganker, and can carry decently in pubs provided you have farmed a lot. For now, here are her vital stats:



Pros:
+Fun
+Good farmer
+Good pusher
+Awesome ganker
+Very powerful ultimate that doesn't scale
+Fast
+You DON'T want to meet her alone

Cons:
-Very low HP
-Short range attack
-Highly item dependant (offset by great farming ability)
-Not the best carry
-Ultimate doesn't scale and easily countered by standing near creeps
-Doesn't dual lane well, highly reliant on solo'ing

We see here that MQ has too many negatives to be a competitive hero, for one, her survivability is crap (15 starting strength and low gain equals low HP) and while she can carry if you are decked out with items, there are simply other heroes who carry better. However, she can be an awesome pubstar and playing her is very fun. Picking up an invisibility rune and jumping some fool with your ult is highly satisfying.

As for other stat gains, her base Agi is okay and her gain is fairly good, meaning by the end of the game you should be hitting for around 200-300 with the right items. Combined with a few bounces and you are an awesome farmer, and awesome farm means awesome items.


SKILLS


Moon Beam

Mana Cost: 90/100/110/120
Cooldown: 6 seconds

Deals 75/150/225/300 Magic damage to target and stuns for 0.6 seconds.
800 Range.

This is your main skill. It's a nuke, and it has a fairly lengthy ministun which can be very useful in certain situations. While 0.6 seconds doesn't seem like much, it can stop someone long enough for you to escape spell range, for a teammate to get into spell range and of course it stops channeling (teleportation, etc).




Multi-Strike

Passive

Cooldown: None

Attack bounces up to 1/2/3/4 times to enemy units and buildings. Deals 35% less damage per bounce. Seeks closest unit within 500 range which haven't been hit yet.

A great farming skill, this makes your attack bounce up to four times, hitting five enemies at once. Some people like to get this skill at level 2 against melee heroes, but realistically you won't make use of this unless you feel like autoattacking creeps. It also seeks the closest target and does pitiful damage, so why bother when you can get stats? Later in the game, this skill lets you clear creep waves and neutral camps in seconds.


Lunar Glow

Passive

Cooldown:
None

350 range aura, does not affect stealthed units. Increases base damage by 6/13/20/27%.


Generic "steroid" skill which boosts you and your allies' damage. Personally I don't take this until after Multi-strike (usually) because a keen enemy will see the aura on your teammates and smell a gank coming. Since ganks make up the bulk of midgame, it's best to get this later. Besides, you'll be relying on your nukes to do damage until late game anyway.

This is also not an acceptable purchase at Level 2, buying it is like buying Arachna or Andromeda's damage aura. Awesome, I just gained like THREE damage and now I'm pushing the lane. DON'T DO IT.




Moon Finale

Random Targeting within 700 radius

Cooldown: 160 seconds

Casts 4/7/10 (4/8/12) Moon Beams on random targets in radius. Maximum of 4 (5) hits per target. See Moon Beam spell for more information.

Can be upgraded with Staff of the Master (bold shows the improved values)

The skill that makes Moon Queen both loved and hated. It can quickly turn a 2v1 gank into a double kill for you, or make your enemies go "...shite" if you pop it on them all by their lonesome. What it does is fire a bunch of Moon Beams in rapid succession on any enemies within range, creeps or heroes, therefore you do not want to use it when creeps are around or they will inevitably absorb damage intended for the enemy hero. Since without SOTM enemies can only ever be hit by four Beams at once, it is already fully potent at Level 7 so feel free to gank when you get this and Level 4 Moon Beam. If you have enough mana to fire it, you can feel safe wandering by yourself in the river and what-not (to collect runes, to gank the side lanes).


SKILL BUILD

1. Moon Beam
2. Stats
3. Moon Beam
4. Stats
5. Moon Beam
6. Moon Finale
7. Moon Beam (maxed)
8. Multi-strike
9.
Multi-strike
10. Multi-strike
11. Moon Finale
12.
Multi-strike
13.
Lunar Glow
14. Lunar Glow
15. Lunar Glow
16. Moon Finale (maxed)
17.
Lunar Glow
18-25. Stats

Moon Beam and stats are taken over your two passives because they push the lane, something you don't want when you're solo'ing middle. Standing in the river is much more dangerous than farming safely on your side with tower protection.

Multi-strike is useless for harassment and it pushes the lane, if you want to harass, use Moon Beam...that's why you have that skill. So don't get it early.

Like I mentioned above, MQ is one of the most fragile heroes in the game, stats give you health and attack damage so you can last hit more easily.

The ult is always taken at Level 6 because it is extremely deadly. Pretty much no other hero can survive the full four beams when you first get the ult which is handy if you're getting a rune and get jumped with no creeps around to absorb hits. When Moon Beam is maxed at level 7, you'll do the full damage regardless of the level of Moon Finale since you can only hit a hero with four beams (Staff of the Master notwithstanding, but rarely will you farm this in the course of a normal game). 1200 magical damage is a lot for any hero to take.

After you've gotten the first level of your ult, get Multi-Strike because you will need it to farm faster or go help gank the side lanes to give your teammates a break without displaying a tell-tale aura. If you can't gank, you will go jungling while your team plays defence until you've fattened up enough to carry. Lunar Glow is fairly useless until you've farmed enough to do serious damage so getting it after Lv2 ult is fine.

ITEM BUILD

Starting Items:
or
1x Runes of the Blight
1x Healing Potion
1x Mana Potion
2x Crushing Claws
1x Minor Totem

Notes: The ideal build that will differentiate you from the nubs. Do not buy Boots/Marchers. Don't buy Pretender Crowns. Crowns are extremely expensive at the start of the game and only give you +2 to all stats, whereas Minor Totems are much cheaper (essentially 27 gold because you'll often sell them back later) and give +1 to all stats.

Moon Queen has pretty much no HP, so two Crushing Claws and one Minor Totem (the beloved GG Branch) gives a respectable +7 to strength which translates to 133 HP (giving you a total of 568HP to start). While you can replace the Crushing Claws with Duck Boots (+3 Agility), Moon Queen is fragile and needs the extra HP. Yeah, the damage helps with last hitting but so does timing and patience. Your main damage dealer will be Moon Beam so the extra damage on your attack will be wasted for harassment. Stick with the Crushing Claws if you know what's good for you.

Runes are good health regen and keeps you topped up if you get harassed. Health potion is there to provide emergency burst healing to keep you in lane if the enemy takes off a large chunk of health for any reason, but if you need it, quaff it. Staying in lane is always better than running back and giving the enemy free XP and gold. The mana potion is to provide an extra Moon Beam or so, it gives you 100 mana over 30 seconds which means you stay out of enemy harass/nuke range for 30 seconds but within XP range. Note that both Health and Mana potions are beacons for harassment so make SURE you are out of enemy range before you quaff them.


OR

1x Bottle

Note: Bottle first is a bad idea. EXTREMELY bad. How does starting with 435 HP sound to you? However, Moon Queen is a pub hero, and if you're reading this guide, you're playing a pub. If your team is bad and refuses to buy a courier, plus you know that you're playing people equally bad, get a Bottle and rune whore like crazy. Use Moon Beam liberally to harass/last hit and go for the runes so you can keep using Moon Beams. If you're playing against Thunderbringer or Soulstealer, one Lv2 Blast of Lightning with Lv1 Lightning Rod or a Level 2 Demon Hand will leave you reeling, so stay out of range. Your nuke has a very long range, longer than pretty much every other nuke (including Blast of Lightning but not Demon Hand with its AOE) so make sure you are not in range of his nuke by using your Moon Beam as a judge.

In most cases, you'll be harassed out of lane by anyone competent, you'll fail to get last hits and denies because your damage is low and you'll end up sucking. So don't start with Bottle unless you are certain you're better than the enemy. But because you're reading a guide, you most likely won't be, but the option is there.

Item Progression till Mid Game:
Buy Bottle as soon as you farm 600 gold and have your courier deliver it to you. Use it to bottle runes and to provide burst healing and mana regen for Moon Beam/Finale use.

Essential for ganking and getting places fast, Marchers should be your next purchase.

Two Fortified Bracers gives you 228 HP alone with a bit of extra mana and damage. You build them from your Crushing Claws. The faster you can farm these, the better, because they will provide stat boosts until Mid Game. If for some reason you have Duck Boots, get Soulscream Rings (obviously, but you shouldn't have Duck Boots).


Homecoming Stones are ESSENTIAL. Do not skimp on them, ever. Always have at least one in your inventory AT ALL TIMES until you farm your Post Haste, which means buying two at pool so you can teleport to lane and still have one in an emergency. Also do not be afraid to use it to save your skin or to countergank/counterpush or even to gank enemies. Arach ults you? Don't fight her (unless you have your ult and even then, her Hardened Carapace will negate most of the damage), just teleport back to base. Blood Hunter ults you? Teleport back to base. Enemy mid is healing and top lane's enemies are weak? Go teleport there and help them get a double kill. Enemy is pushing bot? Tele in and stop them.

Having a TP will prevent countless deaths and get you many kills. Don't be a noob, buy the damn things.

Mid Game Items (15-40 minute mark):

Initiation/Escape/Protection:
OR OR

Assassin's Shroud/Portal Key/Shrunken Head

Rarely are all three or even two are needed. For pubs, you can get away with Assassin's Shroud because players rarely buy dust/wards/eye. It gives you increased move speed and damage which makes it sound good but it is expensive and easily countered. Still, you can invis, run up behind someone away from creeps and surprise them with your ult to pretty much gurantee a kill until much later in the game, or ult a gank and pop the cloak, running away while your ult continues to go off and maybe finishing them off if they are silly enough to chase you.

Portal Key gives you unparalleled positioning and is a more reliable escape option than Assassin's Shroud if the enemy have clued into buying wards/dust/eye. You can blink off the map (on the sides) and teleport back home, disjoint projectiles by blinking and blink off cliffs to escape. Remember you can blink anywhere, but with Shroud, the enemy knows you are limited by where you can walk. As for initiating ganks with your ult, you can blink in as soon as there are no creeps and make sure you hit with your ult rather than sitting around wondering if you've cloaked at the right time or not.

Finally, Shrunken Head is the ultimate in magical protection and almost ensures survival if used at the appropiate time. If you are facing many nukes and are constantly getting bushwhacked, Shruken Head gives damage, HP and magic immunity which means you can't be stunned, hexed, slowed, silenced and what-not unless you're facing a very specific group of heroes (ie heroes with disabling ultimates). If you want to ensure your ult goes off in a teamfight or gank, buy this and use it.

Movement:

Post Haste


Post Haste gives you +95 movespeed (making you walk 415 which is VERY fast for most heroes) and the ability to teleport to any allied building or creep, providing a very good way to farm lanes. With Portal Key, you can also blink off the map and use your boots to teleport back home safely without worrying about buying a Homecoming Stone. A very good item if a tad pricey. However with the farm you get from Post Haste, you should recoup the loss in a matter of minutes.

Some may choose to get Enhanced Marchers instead, but this is silly. You're a pusher and very good at killing creeps, so the ability to tele around and farm better items makes up for the loss in damage and attack speed Enhanced Marchers grants. You'll also save money in the long run depending on how much you need to teleport.

Farming/Pushing Item:

OR
Whispering Helm/Iron Shield

Whispering Helm is one of the better lifesteal items, this gives you damage AND armor along with 15% lifesteal, but lifesteal only procs on the first attack bounce (same as mana burn, shieldbreaker, etc). Many consider lifesteal an important attribute on carries. I think it's overrated, but it builds into a luxury item that makes MQ very tanky. Plus it makes farming a cinch and allows you to tackle the Ancient camps (Dragons/Predasaurs).

Iron Shield is a new item that gives MQ damage and protects against creeps. With this you can essentially tank creeps forever so you can keep jungling. Honestly however, I prefer Whispering Helm. Lifesteal both allows you to farm and to fight enemy heroes better while Iron Shield offers no protection from late-game DPS heroes. Additionally, Whispering Helm upgrades into Symbol of Rage, while Iron Shield is a dead-end. The one good thing about Iron Shield is its ability to be built in-lane (at the Outpost), but since you're solo'ing mid, that's kinda pointless, ain't it?


Carry Item:
OR OR

Nullfire Blade/Geometer's Bane/Wingbow

Nullfire Blade is one of the best items in the game. It gives you mana burn, increased agility/intelligence, a good amount of DPS and most of all, purges. There are a great variety of buffs and debuffs in this game, from Electrician to Jereziah to Pestilence and Arachna (and especially Jereziah). The ability to purge these various buffs and debuffs, as well as slow enemies to a crawl is invaluable. And guess what? You know that big scary fire demon Malphas that Hellbringer has the habit of summoning on top of your team? Yeah, you can purge him. *Hellbringer cries*

I say that for every charge you use of this, it should result directly in one kill for you or one kill the enemy didn't get. Plus you can now upgrade it when it is out of charges you give you a fresh set of eight, ready to go killin' with again. This should be what you aim for almost every game because you become a ganker par excellence with it.

Geometer's Bane is a fairly decent carry item that bolsters your DPS. It gives you +10 Str/Int and +30 Agi along with a movespeed and attack speed increase and the ability to remove all debuffs from you and create two images which do a surprising amount of damage. VERY handy in getting away from enemies, and you can destroy a creep wave in seconds with your images (not to mention increasing your DPS against enemy heroes). The movespeed bonus is a nice addition that makes you an extremely speedy beast. Outrun your gank!

Wingbow is the cookie cutter Agi Carry item that gives lots of damage, attack speed and evasion making you into a DPS machine. However it costs...well, a lot, so if you can afford it (you've been farming well, ganking well, haven't died much or at all), get it. Start with the least cost effective item in the game, 3300 gold (the cost of a Nullfire Blade) +25 Agility Dancing Blade. After that, you can build the rest of it much more easily by teleporting to creep clashes and farming them.

A fully decked out build should have all three of these because they're all good items. If you can afford it all, congrats, the game has gone on far too long or you're playing EM. But nevertheless, get all of these before any "luxury" items (honestly having both Wingbow and Geometer's Bane is a luxury in and of itself).


End Game/Luxury Items (45+ minutes):

Symbol of Rage makes you a tank and gives you the capability to rumble with almost anyone.

Staff of the Master. Don't become reliant on your ult because by the end of the game, it does pitiful damage but can still hurt a team somewhat. This item gives you a fair bit of health and mana but farming it is wasteful compared to something like Nullfire Blade. However if you're playing Easy Mode or are just stomping the opposition and find yourself with ~4000 gold lying around at the 20-30 minute mark, by all means get it.

GAMEPLAY

Choose Your Destiny

Given the choice between taking a side lane or solo mid, you should almost always opt for solo mid. Moon Queen needs gold and XP which mid lane provides. Other heroes who are not item dependant but can be found solo'ing mid (Zeus/Thunderbringer or Lina/Pyromancer) can do well on side lanes. You, however, do not. Your skills really have no synergy with anyone's early game and you NEED the farm and XP.

Mid lane is also usually the safest lane, there are only really two spots to gank from (river ramps) and the river is normally warded so you can see 'em coming. But since this is a pub guide, I will assume that your team doesn't ward. Even then, the tower on mid lane is close which provides you protection from ganks and such.

Solo'ing also gives you quick XP, so you can have your ult when the side lanes are a level or two behind you (provided you have last hit and denied well). Laning middle also gives you control of the runes which allow you to gank more easily or spam Moon Beams with a Bottle.


Initial Stage (0:00-2:00)

When the game starts, head to mid to check out the rune spawns with teammates close behind. In higher level games, there is often a contest to see who gets the first rune and possibly first blood. With your movement speed, you should be able to run and grab it if both teams are sitting on the ledge in the river. If the enemy is sitting ON the rune spawn, you might trying ganking. Needless to say, you DO NOT want to die here, or ever, but dying early because you were too aggressive with the runes or not seeing the enemy pick up an invisibility rune and gank you is critical. In fact it will cripple your game against the opposing solo-mid, so make sure:

1. You see the rune and grab it if possible (easy in most pubs where nobody checks the rune).

2. If you can't grab the rune, make sure you know what it is and who grabbed it so your team can avoid a bloodlust.


Laning (0-10 minutes)

Last hit and deny as per normal. Moon Queen has fairly low base damage and low range but an adequate animation, but you will have to get close to the creeps if you want to kill them. Harassing is equally difficult with your low range compared to other solo mids, so be careful not to take too much damage doing so. If you need to, use Moon Beam to last hit, or nuke the enemy to run up and get a window to last hit.

While it may seem like a waste, sometimes you have to do everything you can to get money so you can farm a Bottle and have your courier deliver it. Once you get your Bottle, rune collecting ensures you should have enough mana to harass the enemy enough to keep him/her away from the creeps so you can have your way with them.

Remember to ALWAYS go for the runes. If the enemy can bottle them or collect them, it opens up the possibility of a side lane getting ganked or you getting constantly nuked. So make sure you try to at least deny him from grabbing the rune if you can't grab it yourself. When you get a Winged Courier, you can use it to grab the runes if you can't and deny your enemy their benefits.

Ganking Time (10-15 minutes)

By now, you will have reached Level Six and gotten your ult. Now if you have harassed your enemy out of the lane (he has to heal) or he's missing for some reason or another, you can go ganking if your team requires it.

It is much more profitable to stay in lane and farm if your side lanes are doing fine or owning the enemy, but if your side lanes need help, you gotta go gank. One bad lane can destroy a team, if a lane gets pushed, it means the enemy can roam and disrupt YOUR farming.

Now the best way to gank is to grab a rune and use it to get the jump on the enemy. Invisibility or Haste works best for this. Using your ult is easy, so as you're heading towards the enemy:

1. If they're in the short lane (Hellbourne Bottom/Legion Top) tell your team to initiate on your target and force them back towards you, whereupon you use your ult and come away with a clean kill.

2. If they're in the long lane (Hellbourne Top/Legion Bottom), tell your team to either let the lane push or force the enemy back to their tower, you can jump out and ult them.

Make SURE there are no creeps around to tank your ult, this includes neutral creeps if you try to gank the jungle.

Alternatively, if you manage to pick up an invis rune, you can solo-gank your opposing mid hero by walking behind them (on their side of the river), waiting for the creeps to push and then unleashing on their surprised ass. This can be a massive boon to your farming efforts and if you can pull it off, do it.

Jungling Time (15-whenyou'refarmed minutes)

You've been forced out of your lane because your tower got pushed and perhaps you died a little. The enemies are also smart and have avoided any major ganks thus far. You will now grab Whispering Helm or Iron Shield and go jungling.

Now jungling isn't just autoattacking creeps. Well actually it kinda is, but being able to pull creeps is an advantageous strategy to employ. Pulling creeps gives you extra gold and XP you would otherwise waste. Usually a teammate, if they're good, would pull creeps for you every minute while you're solo'ing mid. But you're in a pub and most people don't even know what pulling creeps is. In this case, either you manually go pull creeps everytime your lane enemy goes missing or you grab Whispering Helm and use a creep to do it for you.

So if your tower is pushed but you have some gold saved up, grab the Helm and go dominate a powerful hard level creep (Minotaur, Catman Champion, Vulture Lord or Skeleton King). You will use this creep to pull the Ancient camp while you farm the easier camps. Hotkey the creep and send him to the Ancient Camp (the big red dot that's close to the Secret Shop with Dragons or Predasaurs). At around 53 seconds of every minute, send the creep into the camp to draw aggro (the enemies start chasing the creep) and run away with the Ancients both the controlled creep and the Ancients are well out of the camp. Eventually the Ancients will return but a new set of Ancients will have spawned, so you have two stacks in one camp. This is XP and gold you would otherwise not be able to grab (because they're too hard for you to fight at your current level).

Meanwhile, you're doing the same thing in the regular jungle. Pulling creeps at 53 seconds and killing them, and alternating between farming neutrals and farming a lane depending on whether or not the enemy creeps have pushed onto your side of the map.

Proceed with this until you have farmed to a point where you are farmed enough to carry. However, don't be afraid to participate in ganks when the opportunity arises. If you're in the jungle, the enemy you laned against also has free reign to go jungling or gank the other lanes. Don't AFK farm if your team desperately needs you in a teamfight either. A Moon Finale can be the difference between a would-be genocide and a heroic victory for your team. But again, farming is the key so don't jump into anything you can't win when you could be farming for the eventual game finish.

Pushing and Team Fight Time (20-40 minutes)

By this time, one of two things could have happened.

A. You've ganked well and haven't died yet, farming a storm and ready to end the game.

B. You've been outlaned, outganked and the enemy have pushed your towers.

If A, you should have Post Haste, Whispering Helm, your protective item (Portal Key/Shrunken Head/Assassin's Shroud) and your carry item (Nullfire/Geometer's/Wingbow) and can solo push a lane. You do so while your team pushes another lane to distract the enemy. If your team can handle team fights 4v5, then let them, otherwise make sure they play it cool and don't run into anything they can't win. The enemy team will either deal with you, or deal with your other teammates. While this may sound suicidal (and sometimes it is), often it can be the fastest way of winning the game and highly effective against an un-coordinated team.

With your protective items, you should have no trouble getting out of strife, either blink off the map and teleport to another lane/back home, activate Shrunken Head and run/teleport or use Assassin's Shroud and run.

There will be a time where you must fight team battles and Moon Queen does well in these. Whereas other heroes like Behemoth want creeps around to do maximum damage, you want nothing but your team and their team clashing and thus a creep clearer like Behemoth actually synergizes well with you. Your role in a team fight is to nuke their initiator and get your ult off. Nothing less. You MUST get your ult off because it will quickly decide the battle in your favour. At level 16, ten Moon Beams is still incredibly deadly, and thus you will be targeted first (as both the carry and the nuker). If you manage to survive or the enemy is stunned, autoattack your way to victory.

In short, get your ult off and then carry your team with physical damage.


If B, your best bet is to delay the game as long as possible so you can farm up and become beastly. As your first mid tower is dead, you will alternate between farming the lane when the creeps push on your side, farming your jungle when you don't have creeps to farm, and ganking their carries everytime your ult is up. You want to play it safe, so make sure you don't get into team fights by disrupting the enemy. Gank them while they are farming or pick them off if you ever see an enemy alone. You want to make the enemy fight you outnumbered and on YOUR turf allowing you to win small but crucial fights until you are on par with the enemy.

Generally, Moon Queen is a decent carry and can beat a fair number of other carries in a fight, probably any ranged carry and certainly any int hero. As such, farming for as long as possible as you build your best items is ideal.

However, there will be times where the enemy has better carries than you do and still beat you early game. In this case, you have to force a team fight and win or at least break even in order to stop the enemy farming. This means pushing their base, aiming for the barracks. The enemy will have no choice to stop farming and defend and this is where the outcome is critical. If you lose, they have gained gold and XP and can continue farming. If you win, you get a set of barracks and force the enemy to allocate resources to defend, allowing you some breathing room to either push another lane or go farm a bit.

This is where Moon Queen shines. One good ult that quickly turns a 5v5 into a 5v3 can be game changing, and is the reason you are targeted first in a fight. So it is your JOB to get that ult off and into the faces of the enemy heroes. Do this and your team might have a chance to reverse the odds and win. Fail, and you lose. If you are down at this point AND lose a team fight, you are pretty much done.

Notes: Like I mentioned above, sometimes you have to change tack and try different strategies. With your Multi-strike you are a very good pusher because you can wipe a creep wave in seconds. With your speed, you can move around the map quickly to assist teammates should the need arise. And with Post Haste, you can push two lanes at once and really put the pressure on the enemy team. Sometimes if your team can get the enemy in a protacted fight and allow you to solo rax a lane, it can turn the tide of a game.

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

Tough Lane Enemies


Soulstealer is one of the best solo mids and can out harass and out lane you with three cheap nukes, a powerful and long ranged autoattack and unsurpassed last hitting ability. But like you, he is a squishy so hit him right back with Moon Beams. Unfortunately, his 700 range nuke with a 275 AOE will outrange you by a considerable distance so be careful not to get hit with a Level 4 Demon Hand. Two of 'em in a row as you move to last hit is deadly. But they are hard to aim, so juke.




Thunderbringer has the best nuke in the game and it will very quickly leave you with no health and out of last hit range. However, like with Soulstealer, your nuke has the better range and while it doesn't do nearly as much damage, you can sit back and nuke while grabbing runes with your superior move speed. You should never lose a rune to TB or he will destroy you with Blast of Lightning. As for autoattacks, yours is better and is of similar range, but get too close and you will get a Blast to the face.





Pyromancer has a long ranged AOE nuke, a fairly decent stun and of course his muchly feared ultimate which will kill you in short order. He has a better animation than you and longer range, so to deal with him, nuke him and run up for last hits, remembering to juke his stun. If he gets you with that, it's a Wave/Blazing Strike combo to follow and you're dead. Luckily his stun is hard to hit and you do move fast. Now rune fights are tricky with him, because if you get too close he will Blazing Strike you, but if you pop your ult too far from him, he will just dodge it and come back to own you. His range is 600. Your range is 700 (ult). Just keep it in mind.



Blood Hunter is nearly unstoppable mid with a solo hero. His silence ensures he can last hit without fear of a nuke, and your nukes aren't strong enough to force him out the lane. He can regen faster than you can nuke him. You can harass him but don't let him get to you because he does significantly more damage, and a Rupture (his ult) will be the end of your lunariffic existence. Your best bet is to ask for a lane swap, allowing you to solo vs two enemies while you bring in a dual lane to shut him down.



Hellbringer is very difficult. His DoT is very powerful and will have you going through your Runes in no time. He is almost unkillable with Life Void and can regen any damage you put on him. One of the best solo'ers in the game, his one weakness is lack of mana to use his skills, and that means you harass him hard and grab as many denies as you can while letting him taste your Moon Beam at every opportunity. You make him waste mana.



Arachna is not too bad, but her Hardened Carapace is very annoying. She can out harass you and protect herself from nukage seeing as her webshot doesn't become super potent until she's Level 5 (assuming she went Web/Carapace/Web/Stats/Web) and she isn't highly mana reliant. If she moves up to harass you with webshot and tries to orbwalk you, nuke her one and run back during the stun.
Be careful of running for runes against her. If she Spider Stings you, she can orbwalk you to death in the river if your ult is on cooldown, but otherwise, you are the one hero that she should be afraid of, not the other way around. She has no way of stopping your ult, but Carapace does significantly reduce its damage. In any case, you will be carrying a Homecoming Stone on you at all times to ensure your survival.



Succubus has the ult that will scare you. While her mana pool is low and thus limiting her lifesteal nuke, she can out rune you with liberal use of Mesmerize and her ult. Remember that your nukes out range her Mez and her ult, so if in doubt, nuke and ult her at close range. Your Moon Finale actually continues even if she manages to Hold you, and yours will kill her before hers kills you. So get it off!




Defiler has one of the best AOE Nukes in the game, a large AOE silence and a very, very deadly ultimate. You should be able to deal with her if you avoid getting hit by her nuke and nuking her in return. Grabbing runes against her is no problem, again, your ult will kill her faster than her ult will kill you (only barely though). The trick is to be constantly moving away from her while she is chasing you so her spirits are not being focused. Then keep her in range and activate your ult. She'll be dead and you may be nicked up but generally okay. JUST NEVER STAND STILL AGAINST HER! The ult still does a crippling amount of damage and a few seconds of focus fire and you're a goner. Defiler is also an incomparable pusher. She can decimate your creep wave and kill your tower with her ult, her creeps being there to protect her. This can be very difficult to stop so make sure you have friends helping you against her. If you can juke and get behind her to fire your ult, it can stop her push in a most assured fashion.

Hard Counters



Ophelia will have an army of creeps surrounding her at all times, in team fights, in pushes and in ganks. This renders your ult completely useless against her because her creeps will tank the beams. Don't pick Moon Queen if Ophelia is on the other team, and be ready for an Opehlia counterpick if you pick MQ first. In this case, you're gonna have to rely on your team to help against her, leaving you to sit back and nuke her with normal Moon Beam. Like Defiler, she is a very good pusher, one that you can't stop alone.



Predator has a magic immunity skill that will shrug off your ultimate and make him laugh, before he eats you of course. Avoid like the plague, but if you can get a teammate to make him use his Stone Hide, feel free to ult him afterwards for a quick kill. But if you find him in the woods, he'll jump you and take you down quickly, maybe even quickly enough to keep you from using your ult. But it's teamfights where he'll shine, as a carry you want to focus him but his magic immunity skill will protect him, leaving him to carve up your team.




War Beast, like Ophelia, will have Hellhounds protecting him from your ult, and he will take you down in a 1v1 provided you're equally farmed.



Swiftblade's ult makes him invunerable for its duration, and his Blade Frenzy gives him magic immunity. Needless to say, you're boned if you meet him in the river or jungle. He can combo with Frenzy/Ult or Ult/Frenzy, either way you're not getting your ult off or even a nuke before he kills you.



Tempest will usually have Elementals protecting him, but he can't summon them out of nowhere so he isn't your biggest counter say if you meet him in the river. However, he makes in-lane ganking next to impossible because of the Elementals and of course in the Jungle he is invincible to your ult (neutrals, elementals). You will also not be able to stop his push alone.



Wild Soul has his bear, Booboo, which will tank a lot of the Moon Beam damage. It will be almost impossible to kill him because his bear is extremely tank and can be summoned to him in an emergency.

Allies and Good Team Mates



All of the above can clear creepwaves in seconds, and thus pave the way for your ult, as well as offer synergy in teamfights/ganks.

Behemoth's ult will clear a creepwave and slice your enemies' HP up so you can finish with a Moon Finale. A great 1-2 combo that offers the "WTF" factor that make pubs fun.

Jeraziah has Cleave/Heal allowing you to finish up with Multi-strike. He can Charm you so you can get your ult off and protect you with his ult so you can DPS the enemy to pieces. And what's better than standing in the middle of the enemy team, ulting, autoattacking AND getting healed which means AOE true damage for the enemy? Nothing.

Torturer can clear a creepwave with his two nukes and his ult, and his stun is awesome if he can land it. Plus his ult offers AOE damage to complement your ult in a teamfight.

Demented Shaman's heal is one of the best pushing tools in the game and will both top up your creep wave and wipe theirs. He can protect you in teamfights and slow enemies so you can finish them in ganks.

Defiler is another great pusher and can clear creepwaves very quickly with her nuke and ult, and her silence works wonders in a teamfight. With Moon Finale and Unholy Expulsion, the enemies will be creamed.

Pyromancer has two nukes which will damage a creepwave enough for you to finish in a few attacks, and his stun is useful in ganks. He can critically damage an opponent (a caster) in a teamfight with his nuke allowing you to either Moon Beam that fool or limit the amount of Moon Finale an enemy can soak up.

Team Mates Which Offer no Synergy and Make for Poor Overall Team Composition



Soulstealer generally needs to solo mid, he is a carry and needs the farm and XP as much as you do. You don't want two solo mids on one team when neither of them do well in a dual lane. If someone picks Soulstealer, don't pick MQ. And if you pick MQ and someone picks Soulstealer, they're trying to piss you off. In that case, the choice of who solos mid should be the person with the most skill, but MQ is a better ganker than SS and thus benefits more from rune control and increased XP. His ult is more useful in team fights, but yours is better for ganking.




Thunderbringer/Zeus is not a very good dual laner like you and SS, and he is one of the best solo mids due to his spammable nuke which will destroy pretty much any squishy enemy who lanes against him. His ability to keep enemies low levelled due to frequent fountain visits is unparalleled, and his ganking ability is great, not as good as MQ's but still excellent for the burst damage and surprise factor. While he doesn't need items, he is better at solo'ing mid than MQ which should persuade you not to pick her if Zeus is already on the team.


And thus concludes my first guide. Hopefully you have learnt a lot about playing Moon Queen and playing well in general. Maybe you even learnt a bit about synergies and advanced/ballsy tactics. I'm aiming to add some pictures later, but for now, this guide is 90% done and should teach you how to play a great pubstar Moon Queen. Annoy your enemies! Help your friends! Anything is possible.

Remember, questions, comments, tips, criticisms, bashing and even flaming is acceptable and encouraged, even if you're dumb and don't know crap (I will humour you nevertheless). I hope you enjoyed the guide.



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