Formerly, we observed the Sand King. Today’s hero is Luna. Luna currently holds a respectable position as a safe-lane core, boasting strong win rates in a variety of matchups. According to Dotabuff, Luna performs particularly well in the mid- to high-tier ranks, where her ability to snowball with early-game farm transitions into a lethal late-game presence. Her pick rate is steady, indicating that she's a staple carry for many players, especially in ranked play.
Description
In-Game Role, Itemization, and Builds
Luna's playstyle is defined by her ability to clear waves and farm jungle camps at an accelerated pace, thanks to her signature Moon Glaives. Luna thrives as a ranged agility carry when she can get her core items quickly and participate in mid- to late-game teamfights. However, mastering Luna requires a deep understanding of her strengths at various stages of the game, along with an optimal path to build and synergy with teammates.
Early Game: Luna is often played as a safe-lane core. Her early game revolves around maximizing her farm, ensuring she can hit key item timings faster than the enemy carry. Luna's Lucent Beam provides strong harassment in the lane, as it has a low cooldown and serious damage at early levels. This ability allows her to secure last hits and zone out enemy offlaners, giving her a slight edge during the laning phase. She typically pairs with supports who can hold the lane and protect her from aggressive offlaners—heroes like Bane or Treant Protector are ideal, as they provide sustain or disable.
For items, starting with a Wraith Band and Tango allows Luna to trade effectively and sustain in the lane. Rushing Power Treads and Mask of Madness helps her clear jungle stacks, making her one of the fastest farming heroes in Dota 2. Power Treads also boosts her attack speed and attributes, giving her more mana and health for sustainability.
Mid-Game: Luna reaches her first power spike with Manta Style. This item provides stats, movement speed, and illusions that synergize with her Moon Glaives. It's common to follow up with Black King Bar (BKB) for survivability in fights, as it prevents her from being disabled by enemy spells. This core build—Mask of Madness, Manta Style, and BKB—turns Luna into a formidable force, allowing her to participate in skirmishes and secure Roshan with her team.
In mid-game, Luna should aim to apply pressure by pushing towers and taking objectives. Her Lunar Blessing offers bonus damage to herself and nearby teammates, making her an excellent candidate to lead pushes. Players should prioritize map control, transitioning between farming jungle camps and showing up for fights when Eclipse is off cooldown.
Late Game: In the late game, Luna is a high-damage AoE carry capable of shredding through entire teams. With Moon Glaives bouncing between enemies, her effective damage output scales immensely with the right items. Butterfly is a prime choice for evasion and attack speed, while Satanic provides lifesteal and a burst of survivability during engagements. If the enemy has strong physical damage dealers, Eye of Skadi is a great addition for its health, mana, and slow effects. A full inventory could look like Manta Style, Black King Bar, Butterfly, Satanic, Eye of Skadi, and Daedalus, making Luna nearly unstoppable.
Alternative Builds and Playstyles:
Luna's build is flexible depending on the matchups and what your team needs:
- Magic Damage Burst Build: By prioritizing Lucent Beam and purchasing Aghanim's Scepter, Luna can transform into a potent nuker. This build is ideal if your team has multiple physical damage dealers and lacks magic burst.
- Glass Cannon Build: Rush Dragon Lance and Hurricane Pike early on for extra range, which enables safe positioning during fights. Transition into damage items like Daedalus and Monkey King Bar to amplify her single-target damage.
Luna's skill build typically focuses on maxing Lucent Beam first for lane presence and Moon Glaives second to accelerate her farm. Lunar Blessing is usually left at one point early on, as its value comes more from the bonus vision and damage later in the game. Players often opt to take talents that complement her farm speed and damage output, such as +80 Lucent Beam Damage at level 15 and +0.4s Lucent Beam Ministun at level 20.
Itemization and Game Phases
Early Game Items: Wraith Band, Power Treads, Mask of Madness. Mask of Madness synergizes with Luna's high base damage, increasing her farm speed and enabling early aggression.
Mid-Game Items: Manta Style, Black King Bar, Dragon Lance. Manta Style increases Luna's presence in fights by producing illusions that spread her Moon Glaives damage, while Black King Bar protects her from control spells.
Late Game Items: Butterfly, Satanic, Eye of Skadi. Butterfly provides evasion and attack speed, making her hard to kill, while Satanic gives her a lifesteal option to stay alive during teamfights.
Situational Items: Monkey King Bar (for evasion-piercing), Linken's Sphere (for single-target spell protection), Aghanim's Scepter (for stronger Eclipse), and Hurricane Pike (for positioning).
Luna excels in games where she can get a free farm, rapidly transitioning her into a mid-game powerhouse. Her Moon Glaives make her an efficient farmer, while Eclipse can easily turn skirmishes in her favor. However, Luna is not without her drawbacks.
Lore
Raised by the moon goddess Selemene, Luna is a fearsome warrior who channels her fury through beams of pure lunar energy. Once a feared bandit queen, she found redemption in serving the Nightsilver Woods and wielded her radiant abilities to purge her enemies. Her bond with Selemene manifests in her abilities, as she draws strength from the moon itself, making her a formidable opponent in the field of battle.
Latest Updates
Luna received a few targeted nerfs in the recent Dota 2 patch 7.37d, impacting her primary abilities and overall effectiveness in the game. The changes focus on tuning down her burst potential and balancing her power in the mid- and late-game.
Lucent Beam Adjustments: The damage per beam of Lucent Beam has been decreased slightly at all levels, now dealing 75/150/225/300 damage (down from 80/160/240/320). Additionally, the bonus damage when hitting illusions has been removed. This change reduces her efficiency against illusion-based heroes and makes her less effective in dealing with illusion spams.
Eclipse Rework: Eclipse no longer benefits from the bonus damage per Lucent Beam hit on illusions, making it less powerful when used against heroes like Phantom Lancer and Naga Siren. This rework affects Luna's mid-game fights, as her ultimate is now less effective in high-intensity skirmishes.
Moon Glaives Adjustments: Moon Glaives have been adjusted to make Luna's farming speed and AoE damage slightly more manageable. The maximum bounce number of Moon Glaives has been reduced by 1, making her less potent in tightly packed teamfights.
General Attribute Nerfs: Luna, along with other dominant heroes like Windranger and Lone Druid, received slight base attribute reductions and damage adjustments to lower their overall effectiveness in the competitive scene.
These changes make Luna slightly weaker in terms of burst damage and farming efficiency, though she still retains her core role as a strong AoE carry. These tweaks aim to balance her snowball potential and prevent her from dominating mid-game team fights with excessive burst damage.
Benefits
Exceptional Farming Speed: With Moon Glaives, Luna farms jungle camps and lanes rapidly, enabling her to amass a gold lead.
High Burst Damage: Eclipse can decimate squishy supports and weaker carries.
Strong Teamfight Presence: Her AoE damage and ability to hit multiple enemies make her a threat in clustered engagements.
Flexible Builds: Luna can opt for various item paths depending on the game's demands, whether it's focusing on survivability or pure damage.
Downsides
Susceptibility to Magic and Physical Burst: Luna's low base health and lack of natural escape mechanisms make her an easy target for heroes like Puck or Batrider.
Reliance on Farm: Luna needs a strong early game to hit her item timings; otherwise, she risks being outscaled by other carries.
Positional Dependency: Because her abilities require her to be in the thick of the fight, poor positioning can quickly lead to her downfall.
Abilities
Hints and Tips to Master
Master the Farming Pattern: Always use Moon Glaives to hit multiple camps at once, and stack jungle camps if possible to optimize farm.
Play Around Nighttime: Luna's Lunar Blessing gives her extra night vision, making her strong during nighttime. Use this to initiate surprise ganks or secure map control.
Positioning During Eclipse: Use Eclipse in teamfights when the enemy is clustered. Consider using a Shadow Blade or Blink Dagger to get in the optimal position.
Recommended Allies
Magnus
Magnus is an ideal partner for Luna due to his Reverse Polarity, which groups enemies together, enabling Luna to maximize her Eclipse and Moon Glaives damage. Additionally, Empower boosts Luna's physical damage, making her farm faster and hit harder during engagements.
Crystal Maiden
Crystal Maiden's Arcane Aura grants Luna extra mana regeneration, allowing her to spam Lucent Beam more frequently. Frostbite and Crystal Nova also provide the crowd control necessary to keep enemies in place while Luna unleashes her abilities.
Tidehunter
Tidehunter's Ravage is a perfect initiation tool that keeps enemies stunned long enough for Luna to position herself and deal massive AoE damage. Additionally, Anchor Smash reduces enemy attack damage, which can help Luna survive longer in fights.
Vengeful Spirit
Vengeful Spirit's Wave of Terror reduces enemy armor, allowing Luna's Moon Glaives to shred through opponents even faster. Nether Swap can also save Luna from dangerous situations or help her reposition to deal maximum damage.
Omniknight
Omniknight's Guardian Angel makes Luna immune to physical damage, which is crucial during teamfights where Luna might otherwise get focused down. Purification also provides a burst heal, and Heavenly Grace grants status resistance, making it difficult for enemies to lock Luna down.
Counters
Batrider
Batrider's Flaming Lasso can drag Luna out of position, preventing her from effectively using Eclipse. His Firefly also deals damage over time, making it difficult for Luna to sustain through lifesteal.
Spectre
Spectre can dive onto Luna during fights using Haunt, making it hard for her to stay safe. Her passive, Desolate, punishes Luna's low HP and lack of escape abilities.
Templar Assassin
Templar Assassin's Meld burst and Refraction shield makes her a difficult target for Luna to bring down. TA's high physical burst can quickly kill Luna before she can react or lifesteal effectively.
Pugna
Pugna's Nether Ward punishes Luna's frequent spellcasting, and Decrepify can render Luna unable to attack. Additionally, Life Drain can outheal Luna's damage, especially when she's not able to focus him down quickly.
Zeus
Zeus has a high magic burst and global reach with Thundergod's Wrath, which can kill or reveal Luna's position, making it difficult for her to hide or initiate with Eclipse.