- Tittle: Warriors of the Night, assemble!
- Author: Tanlatos
Pros
- Can own early, mid and late game
- Excellent escape mechanisms
- Ultimate is helpful for the whole team
- Excellent ganker early-mid game
- Can play the role of a support or a semi-carry hero late game.
Cons
- Requires a lot of practice to master Elune's Arrow.
- Somewhat fragile.
- Somewhat item dependent late game.
Mirana: Semi-carry or support?
An important decision to make at mid-game is if you're going to play a support or a semi-ganker PotM. In my opinion, the semi-carrier is a better use for Mirana, but sometimes, it's worth it to go Support. So, what do you need to check to make this decision? Basically you need to look your allies, especially in pubs, where everyone -random or simply pick without caring for what the team has. Sometimes you will find yourself with a extremely late-game team. Your team already has a Troll and a Mortred so in this case go for support. Sometimes the opposite will happen: there are no carriers, Mirana then is supposed to carry late game.
Skills
Starfall
Calls down a wave of meteors to damage each nearby enemy. One random enemy unit within 175 aoe will get hit again for 75% of the damage.
- 1. Mana 100 / Mana 12 / 75 damage per wave
- 2. Mana 120 / Mana 12 / 150 damage per wave
- 3. Mana 140 / Mana 12 / 225 damage per wave
- 4. Mana 160 / Mana 12 / 300 damage per wave
- Damage type: magical
- One random enemy unit in a 175 AoE around her has a chance to get hit again by Starfall and take 75% of the said damage.
- This skill is not blocked by Linken's Sphere.
Elune's Arrow
Fires an arrow to a location with deadly precision, dealing large damage and stunning the first unit it strikes. Stun duration increases based on how far the target is, ranging from 0.5 to 5 seconds. Has 3000 range.
- 1. Mana 100 / Cooldown 17 / Duration 0.5 - 5 seconds / Deals 90 - 190 damage
- 2. Mana 100 / Cooldown 17 / Duration 0.5 - 5 seconds / Deals 180 - 280 damage
- 3. Mana 100 / Cooldown 17 / Duration 0.5 - 5 seconds / Deals 270 - 370 damage
- 4. Mana 100 / Cooldown 17 / Duration 0.5 - 5 seconds / Deals 360 - 460 damage
- Damage type: magical
- For every 150 distance the arrow travels, the stun duration upon impact increases by 0.5 seconds and the damage increases by 10.
- The stun duration and damage are determined by the distance between where Mirana fired the arrow and where the arrow hits its target.
- Maximum stun duration and damage occur at 1500 range, and minimum occur at 150 range.
- The -stats (-st) command can be used to know the accuracy of your arrows (heroes hits / arrows fired)
Leap
Mirana's wild Frostsaber leaps forward into battle, empowering allies with a ferocious roar upon landing. Speed bonus lasts 10 seconds.
- 1. Mana 40 / Cooldown 30 / Duration 10 seconds / 630 distance, 4% IAS and MS increase
- 2. Mana 35 / Cooldown 26 / Duration 10 seconds / 690 distance, 8% IAS and MS increase
- 3. Mana 30 / Cooldown 22 / Duration 10 seconds / 780 distance, 12% IAS and MS increase
- 4. Mana 20 / Cooldown 18 / Duration 10 seconds / 840 distance, 16% IAS and MS increase
- Leap uses a 0.01 second Wind Walk to dodge any projectiles currently in route to Mirana, so if the enemy has true sight of Mirana she won't be able to dodge projectiles using Leap.
Moonlight Shadow
Turns Nightshade and all allied heroes invisible. If Invisibility is broken, it gets restored after the fade time during the shadow duration.
- 1. Mana 75 / Cooldown 160 / Duration 15 seconds / 2.5 seconds fade time
- 2. Mana 75 / Cooldown 140 / Duration 15 seconds / 2 seconds fade time
- 3. Mana 75 / Cooldown 120 / Duration 15 seconds / 1.5 seconds fade time
- Units affected will not auto attack enemies.
- Magic immune allies will be affected.
Skill Build
- 1 - Elune's Arrow 1 / Leap 1
- 2 - Leap 1 / Elune's Arrow 1
- 3 - Starfall 1
- 4 - Starfall 2
- 5 - Starfall 3
- 6 - Elune's Arrow 2
- 7 - Starfall 4
- 8 - Elune's Arrow 3
- 9 - Elune's Arrow 4
- 10 - Moonlight Shadow 1
- 11 - Moonlight Shadow 2
- 12 - Leap 2
- 13 - Leap 3
- 14 - Leap 4
- 15 - Stats
- 16 - Moonlight Shadow 3
- 17 - 25 Stats
- Elune’s Arrow and Leap for the first two levels. The choice of which one to go for first is entirely yours. You should get Elune’s Arrow if you think your team will try an early gank or Leap if you’re trying to escape an early gank attempt. I usually go with Elune’s Arrow but hey, it’s your choice.
- Next you want to maximize Starfall. The reason why you want to maximize Starfall before Elune’s Arrow, is because Starfall is a much more reliable skill then Elune’s Arrow. You can’t really miss Starfall. Besides Elune’s Arrow’s stun stays the same at all levels, so level 1 is fine for you.
- At level 9 you should've maxed out both Starfall and Elune’s Arrow, because, as the game goes on, the less effective your nuke's damage is.
- Next two points at your ultimate, you don't want your ultimate earlier because you won't really have the mana required to use it, since you'll be ganking all the time.
- Following then max out Leap. If you feel you need it, you can trade Leap for Stats, although I really think Leap is superior.
- Same thing for your ultimate, if you feel you need the extra stats go ahead and take them instead of Moonlight Shadow.
Item Build
Start with
if no one buys chicken
- Slippers can be upgraded later on, branches for cheap stats, Magic Stick for burst healing. If no one buys a courier, you can buy one yourself, in my opinion it's worth it.
Core Build
or 
/ 
- Bottle for the hp and mana regen you will need for all your ganking, wand for the cheap stats and the burst healing, Diffusal because it greatly increases Mirana's ganking potential, Wraith if you feel you need that extra - HP, Mana and damage improvement. And for the boots, I'd say travel if you're playing more like a supporter late-game and treads for a semi-carry. If the game goes on for too long Treads could also de traded for Travel.
Extensions
Semi-Carry
Manta Style is a great item for Mirana, it synergizes very well with your stun and diffusal's purge: three Mirana's smacking a stunned/purged opponent. Yasha comes in nice small pieces, which can be assembled without great difficulty. Ultimate Orb on the other hand need a somewhat solid 2100 gold.
The Butterfly is a good item in any Agi DPS hero, Mirana is no exception. Other then the damage and attack speed, it also provides a nice 30% evasion, which will give you more survivability. The downside is that Eaglehorn is a really expensive item.
Cuirass is a great item if you need survivability and some DPS. It will provide you with damage, attack speed and armor. Best of all, it also helps your allies and penalizes your enemies. Downside is that it's really expensive. Get it when you feel your team will benefit the most of it and when you need more survivability.
and 
Pure damage items, they should be considered when you feel you can't survive long enough in battle. Between the two of them I like MKB better, especially against heroes with evasion (Mortred, Butterfly carriers).
Tarrasque gives you lots of HP. Personally, I don't like this item a lot for Mirana. But, if you're getting smacked by your opponents even after getting other survivability items, go ahead and grab it.
Malevolence is also a viable choice for a semi-carrier. It increases your damage output and solves all your mana problems, and has the nice Soul Burn skill. Personally not my favorite for the semi-carry Mirana, because it doesn't provide with any HP and there are better damage items. But if you think your mana just isn't enough, or the disablers aren't doing their job correctly go ahead.
Support
Guinsoo is an excellent support item. 3.5 seconds of pure smacking can make all difference. This item is so powerful that in some leagues having more then one or two in a team is prohibited by the rules. Besides, it solves all your mana problems. Malevolence is similar Guinsoo, but inferior. But if your getting pwned all the time, I suggest you go for this one, because it's composed in nice, cheap pieces.
Shivas gives you a great AoE nuke, and a passive attack speed slowing aura, and it still gives you some armor. 
Pipe is one of the best support items in the game. This item is so powerful that it's being completely BANNED on some leagues. Get it when your team needs to block some spell damage.
Alternative Orbs
and later 
Maelstrom and Mjolnir provide a good DPS addition and a nice AoE damage for team battles, besides it help farming a lot. Note that Maelstrom and Mjolnir are particularly effective against illusions, so it's a viable choice against hardcore late-game illusion based heroes like Phantom Lancer and Terrorblade.
Desolator gives you huge amounts of damage. Period. Get this if you feel your team needs the Corruption orb and that you're playing a semi-carry Mirana.
Skadi gives a nice boost to your attributes, and a really cool orb effect, which will make escaping a lot harder for your enemies. Can be combined with Mjolnir, since Skadi is only a buff placer for ranged heroes.
S&Y gives you damage, HP and a Greater Maim... I'd say it's a good Orb but not really the best one on Mirana... And besides the movement speed bonus doesn't stack with the one on Manta.
Survivability Items
Linkens is a pretty good item on Mirana, giving you HP and mana plus HP regen and mana regen, and the awesome skill of blocking most single targeted nukes. Get this if you're getting chain-stunned and just can't Leap out of the situation.
BKB is a must if you're aiming for semi-carrying. Providing you 10/9/8/7/6/5 seconds of magic immunity while you dash damage is pretty damn good.
How to play
Early Game
The game begins and you picked/randomed PotM. First thing is choosing your lane. Mirana is a pretty good solo hero, but if there are any better heroes for the job (Tinker, Shadow fiend), you should leave the solo lane for them. Try harassing your enemies with normal attacks on the first few levels. At level three you are already able of killing someone. If the opportunity appears throw and arrow, and try killing them. The best time to do this is when your creeps just ended killing their creeps. If you're laned with a disabler wait for him to stun first, so you have 100% chance of hitting with your arrow. This, of course, will require some communication. Try last-hitting and denying until level 6-7. Until then you should have at least your Wand and Boots or Bottle. Your choice, I usually go with Bottle first, since you have leap you can keep up to your enemies but hey, your choice. At this point you should look for good ganking opportunities without wasting too much time without farming. Mirana is somewhat item-dependent late-game so try roaming as shortly as possible. But don't just stay AFK-farming either, as the game goes one your 2 damage skills lose their effectiveness.
Middle Game
Almost the same as Early Game, try keep a balance between farming and ganking. If you see some allies are getting ganked don't hesitate on using Moonlight Shadow. Somewhere in this stage you should complete or almost complete your core. At this point, you can use use Starfall from times to times to farm and push.
Late Game
At this point of the game you should simply accompany your team in pushes or team battles. Use Moonlight Shadow for positioning or fleeing. Try keeping some distance and not getting to much attention. If your team is winning and you see some fleeing enemies, feel free to leap in and snatch a kill. Spam Starfall to farm and push, but in a much intensive way then in middle game. Especially if you went for a support build and now have lots of mana and mana regen.
How to gank
Ganking with PotM isn't as easy and simple as ganking with a, say, Vengeful Spirit. There are basically two ways to gank with Mirana:
1 - The Elune's Arrow initiation way: basically you will hide and wait for a good opportunity for Elune's Arrow. When it appears, use Elune's Arrow at a 1500 range, Leap near your target and cast Starfall at a 200 AoE range with no creeps/corpses near. If there is a disabler in the lane, this can split in two ways: the disabler stuns/slows first and then you throw the arrow, or, you throw the arrow, and just your enemy is not stunned anymore, the disabler stuns/slows. The first one is pretty safe, because you will greatly increase your chance of hitting the arrow right. But, the second one deals more damage, for two reasons: 1) you will probably waste 1 second of stun from your ally. 2) You will also waste some damage. For example, say your friend Sven stunned Huskar for 2 seconds. If you throw your arrow now, it will get at Huskar in about 1.5 seconds, 0.5 seconds wasted, besides, you still will have to run and leap to your enemy, so you won't deal any damage at all during Sven's stun, only at your own. This may not seem a lot, but sometimes it's the difference between getting the kill and running back pissed at yourself. Now, Huskar is at his lane, when he suddenly gets stunned for 5 seconds. Sven and Mirana start beating him, the stun is over, but now Sven throws his stun, that way, Mirana smacks Huskar for both her's and Sven's stuns. So, which one to go for? If your enemy is quite beefy I'd say the second one, but in most time of the cases the first one can do the job. Sometimes only the first one will work, when your allies have only short-ranged stuns (like Dragon Knight).
2 - The walking in/leaping in initiation way: this method is specially effective against blinkers. Basically, you walk in/ leap in from behind, use Starfall and start beating him up, when he blink, you use Elune's Arrow and then leap in / walk in (the opposite of what you did before). This method is great against blinkers, because if you try the first method, you probably won't catch up to them when they blink away. Make sure the creeps aren't coming, or else they will block your Arrow. Another advantage for this method, is that you might be able to cast Starfall twice, since it only has a 12 seconds cooldown. If you have allies you want them to disable your enemy at the same moment you walk / leap in.
Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com