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Template:Tabs Crystal Maiden

Crystal Maiden
Unknown Hero icon
Strength attribute symbol
Agility attribute symbol
Intelligence attribute symbol
16 + 1.7
16 + 1.6
16 + 2.9
Level 0 1 15 25 30
Health 120 472 978 1616 1858
+0.25 +1.85 +4.23 +7.13 +8.18
Mana 75 267 747 1239 1443
+0 +0.8 +2.83 +4.88 +5.71
Armor -1 1.67 5.4 10.07 11.73
Magic Resist 25% Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "%".% Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "%".% Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "%".% Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "%".%
Damage Block -
Damage

19
25

35
41

75
81

116
122

133
139

Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.68/s 0.81/s 0.98/s 1.04/s
Attack Range Ranged 600 (800)
Attack Speed 100 (1.7s BAT)
Attack Animation 0.55 + 0
Projectile Speed
Move Speed 280 (Nighttime 310)
Turn Rate Takes 0.209s to turn 180°. 0.5
Collision Size 24
Bound Radius 24
Vision Range (G) 1800 (Nighttime 800)
Gib Type Default
Internal Not Provided

Rylai the Crystal Maiden is a ranged intelligence Hero who uses the power of frost and ice to disable her foes.

Renowned as a well-balanced hard support, Crystal Maiden possesses strong nukes and disables that allow her to apply strong slows to enemies. Crystal Nova is a powerful area-of-effect nuke that slows both attack and movement speeds of enemies within an area for several seconds, while Frostbite encases an enemy in a block of ice for several seconds, immobilizing them and dealing moderate damage per second. Combining these two abilities together along with a laning partner's own spells is often enough to bring an enemy hero to their knees. Her Arcane Aura passive will also regenerate mana for Rylai and her allies, greatly boosting their ability to cast spells in the early game. Although her strong early game presence can be countered by her extreme frailty and poor mobility, she can still inflict a heavy amount of damage in teamfights later on if she is able to channel her deadly ultimate, Freezing Field. Her global mana aura, strong disabling and nuking prowess, simple spell layout, and almost complete lack of item dependence make Crystal Maiden a reliable support caster that can be a strong asset to any team, and judicious use of her ultimate allows her to lay waste to her enemies when used properly. With protection from her team and appropriate item selection, she can be the only support any team needs.

Bio

Crystal Maiden minimap iconRylai, the Crystal Maiden
▶️ "When Hell freezes over, I'll start calling it Heaven."
Born in a temperate realm, raised with her fiery older sister Lina, Rylai the Crystal Maiden soon found that her innate elemental affinity to ice created trouble for all those around her. Wellsprings and mountain rivers froze in moments if she stopped to rest nearby; ripening crops were bitten by frost, and fruiting orchards turned to mazes of ice and came crashing down, spoiled. When their exasperated parents packed Lina off to the equator, Rylai found herself banished to the cold northern realm of Icewrack, where she was taken in by an Ice Wizard who had carved himself a hermitage at the crown of the Blueheart Glacier. After long study, the wizard pronounced her ready for solitary practice and left her to take his place, descending into the glacier to hibernate for a thousand years. Her mastery of the Frozen Arts has only deepened since that time, and now her skills are unmatched.
Voice:
[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Abilities

Crystal Nova
Crystal Nova icon
Ability
N/A
Affects
Enemies
Damage
Magical
A burst of damaging frost slows enemy movement and attack rate in the targeted area.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.6
Cast Range: 700
Effect Radius: 425
Damage: 100/150/200/250
Move Speed Slow: 20%/30%/40%/50%
Attack Speed Slow: 20/30/40/50
Slow Duration: 4.5
Cooldown symbol
 12/11/10/9
Mana symbol
 100/120/140/160
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
Crystal Nova
The air temperature around Rylai drops rapidly, chilling all around her to the core.

  • Provides 900 radius ground vision at the target area for 6 seconds.
  • Plays a sound effect during the cast time which is audible to everyone.


Frostbite
Blocked by Linken's Sphere. Does not pierce spell immunity. WE
Frostbite icon
Ability
N/A
Affects
Enemies
Damage
Magical
Encases an enemy unit in ice, prohibiting movement and attack, while dealing 50 damage every half-second. Lasts 10 seconds on creeps level 6 or lower.
Cast Animation: 0.3+0.6
Cast Range: 525
Damage per Second: 100
Hero Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3
Creep Duration: 10
Cooldown symbol
 9/8/7/6
Mana symbol
 115/125/140/150
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
Frostbite
Stunned
Rylai channels winds from the Blueheart Glacier, imprisoning attackers in thick blocks of ice.

  • Despite the visual effects, Frostbite applies its effects immediately and cannot be disjointed.
  • Frostbite stuns the target upon cast for 0.1 seconds.
  • Frostbite roots and disarms the target, preventing it from moving and attacking.
  • Frostbite reveals invisible units for its duration.
  • Frostbite deals 50 damage in 0.5 second intervals, starting immediately, resulting in 3/4/5/6 (20 against creeps) damage intervals.


Arcane Aura
Can be used by illusions. Disabled by Break. Pierces spell immunity. ER
Arcane Aura icon
Ability
N/A
Affects
Allies
Gives additional mana regeneration to all friendly units on the map. This bonus is increased for Crystal Maiden.
Radius: Global
Allies Mana Regen Bonus: 1/1.5/2/3
Self Mana Regen Bonus: 2/3/4/8
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
Brilliance Aura Effect
Undispellable
Cold temperatures promote the essence of magic, causing Rylai's presence to allow spell usage in abundance.

  • The aura's buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
  • Restores in the form of regeneration, so it regenerates 0.1/0.15/0.2/0.3 mana in 0.1 second intervals.
    • Regenerates 0.2/0.3/0.4/0.8 mana in 0.1 second intervals for Crystal Maiden, which makes 2/3/4/8 mana per second.
  • Stacks with all other sources of flat mana regeneration.
  • The flat mana regen bonus is not considered by percentage mana regeneration increases.
  • Regenerates up to 60/90/120/180 (120/180/240/480 on self) mana in one minute.


Freezing Field
Freezing Field icon
Ability
N/A
Affects
Enemies
Damage
Magical
Surrounds Crystal Maiden with random icy explosions that slow enemies and deal massive damage. Lasts 10 seconds.
Max Channel Time: 10
Slow Radius: 835
Explosion Spawn Radius: 195-785
Explosion Damage Radius: 300
Damage: 105/170/250 (With Aghanim's Scepter 170/250/310)
Move Speed Slow: 30% (With Aghanim's Scepter 50%)
Attack Speed Slow: 30 (With Aghanim's Scepter 50)
Slow Duration: 1
Cooldown symbol
 90
Mana symbol
 200/400/600
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Increases damage and slow.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
Freezing Field
Undispellable
Freezing Field Slow
Once the place of her exile, Icewrack has become an anchor for Rylai's frigid onslaught.

  • The slow is applied to all enemies within the radius in 0.1 second intervals, regardless of the ice explosions.
  • Every 0.1 second an explosion occurs, for a total of 100 explosions.
  • Each ice explosion can spawn within a random distance of 195 to 785 away from Crystal Maiden.
  • The explosion spawn radius is divided into four 90° segments (0°–90°, 90°–180°, 180°–270°, 270°–360°).
  • The first explosion occurs within the north-east segment of the circle, following explosions proceed counterclockwise.
  • Can damage units up to 1085 range away (785 spawn radius + 300 explosion radius).
  • The average damage is roughly constant up to a radius of 485, falling off after that.
    • It is slightly less than 50% at a radius of 785. The very center does slightly (5%) more damage.
  • Deals about 2000/3300/4800 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 3300/4800/6000) damage to enemies within 485 range over the full duration, ±1.9 explosions.
  • If all explosion could hit a single target, it would deal up to 10500/17000/25000 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 17000/25000/31000) damage (before reductions).
  • The radius is always centered on Crystal Maiden's and follows her even when she gets moved (e.g. Force Staff icon Force Staff).
  • Despite the visual effects, the damage is dealt as the falling ice shards are spawned, not upon them reaching the ground.


Recommended items

Starting items:

  • One each of Tango icon Tango and Healing Salve icon Healing Salve provides Crystal Maiden with enough basic regen to remain in-lane and support her teammates without being harassed away and being forced to return to base.
  • Clarity icon Clarity is a useful purchase due to Crystal Maiden's low base intelligence preventing her from casting too many spells in the laning stage. The additional mana replenishment can allow her to bring both of her disables to bear on an enemy, greatly increasing the odds of a kill during a gank.
  • Gauntlets of Strength icon Gauntlets of Strength can give Crystal Maiden more HP, which can help extend her survivability.
  • Buying the Animal Courier icon Animal Courier at game start is expected of support heroes due to their item independence.
  • Observer Ward icon Observer Wards should be purchased regularly and placed at key areas around the map. As a support, giving your team map vision is critical to victory.

Early game:

  • Magic Stick icon Magic Stick is useful for giving Crystal Maiden burst regen, particularly due to her small HP and mana pools. In a pinch, the burst mana regen of a full-charge Magic Stick can allow her to cast Frostbite icon Frostbite or Crystal Nova icon Crystal Nova in an emergency.
  • Boots of Speed icon Boots of Speed are a crucial early purchase on Crystal Maiden due to her extremely low base movement speed. Increasing her mobility allows Rylai to get within range to cast her disables on her foes, or outrun pursuing enemies.
  • Bracer icon Bracer can be upgraded from Gauntlets of Strength to provide a good mix of attributes, the strength bonus being especially useful to improve Crystal Maiden's survivability.
  • Town Portal Scroll icon Town Portal Scroll is mandatory for all heroes, but should be carried in surplus on Crystal Maiden as her disables can drastically turn ganks around.
  • Flying Courier icon Flying Courier is important to purchase as early as possible if gold permits, in order to facilitate delivery of items to teammates around the map.

Core items:

  • Magic Wand icon Magic Wand is very useful on Crystal Maiden as it is a cheap way to give her stats and more survivability, key requirements for hard support heroes. The increased charge storage also allows her to restore up to 255 HP and mana instantly, which can allow her to do more in fights.
  • Tranquil Boots icon Tranquil Boots are the cheapest upgradable boots available, and allow Crystal Maiden to remain out in the field for extended periods of time. As Arcane Aura icon Arcane Aura restores her mana pool while Tranquil Boots's passive heals her, Crystal Maiden can stay out in the field indefinitely and never need to return to base. The increased movement speed and extra armor are also a boon, allowing her to roam, gank and flee more effectively.
  • Force Staff icon Force Staff is a good cheap support item to build on Crystal Maiden if saving up for a Blink Dagger is unfeasible. It provides Rylai with repositioning abilities, and increases the size of her mana pool to allow her to cast her disables more easily.
  • Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger augments Rylai's mobility, allowing her to instantly jump within range for locking down enemy heroes with her disables. The improved mobility also allows her to move around the map more easily to support her teammates, or escape pursuing enemies.
  • Drum of Endurance icon Drum of Endurance gives Crystal Maiden stats across the board and can be upgraded from an already-purchased Bracer. The extra movement speed can also increase her movement speed, allowing her to position herself for casting spells more easily.
  • Sentry Ward icon Sentry Wards should be regularly purchased in order to destroy enemy Observer Wards, as well as to counter invisible enemy heroes.

Situational items:

  • Black King Bar icon Black King Bar is an expensive luxury item that should be considered only if given farm priority and all other support duties have been met. It prevents interruptions to her ultimate, as well as increasing the size of Rylai's health pool.
  • Aghanim's Scepter icon Aghanim's Scepter can give Crystal Maiden a large amount of lockdown ability with Freezing Field icon Freezing Field, as well as give her stats across the board, particularly her health and mana pool, giving her both extra survivability to cast the ultimate and the mana to do so at higher levels. If your team can prevent Freezing Field from being interrupted, it can be a strong luxury item to invest in once you have the mobility to deploy it reliably.
  • Eul's Scepter of Divinity icon Eul's Scepter of Divinity grants Crystal Maiden additional movement speed, allowing her to be more mobile, and grants her a larger mana pool and mana regeneration. The active can be cast on yourself to make yourself temporarily invulnerable while also removing debuffs, or as an additional disable against enemies.
  • Ghost Scepter icon Ghost Scepter gives survivability against auto-attacking carries by granting Rylai a brief period of invulnerability to physical damage, as well as some additional stats. The active is also useful for shielding her from attack damage during Freezing Field, preventing enemies from ending the channel by attacking her.
  • Scythe of Vyse icon Scythe of Vyse is a very expensive support item, however, it gives a very reliable ranged hard-disable, a larger mana pool and some more HP, and a powerful mana regeneration boost.
  • Shiva's Guard icon Shiva's Guard gives Crystal Maiden a strong area slow which synergizes with Crystal Nova and Freezing Field. The armor bonus also makes her much more resistant to physical damage, making it harder to focus her down.
  • Glimmer Cape icon Glimmer Cape can be a useful item to purchase if you intend on making use of Freezing Field regularly, and is otherwise a good support item. Casting the active on yourself prior to jumping in with your ultimate can give you a little extra time to channel it, allowing you to deal more damage. In other situations, it can give you or an ally the ability to stealthily initiate on targets you have vision on, or can be used as an escape or survivability tool by granting someone on your team invisibility and greatly increased magic resistance.
  • Null Talisman icon Null Talisman is a useful alternative to Bracer when purchased as a stat booster. It provides a useful amount of bonus intelligence, bolstering Rylai's meager base mana pool and allowing her to cast her spells more readily as needed. It can build into a Veil of Discord later in order to provide utility to her team.
  • Urn of Shadows icon Urn of Shadows is a good utility item to build over Bracer as a roaming Crystal Maiden, as it can add to her damage nukes or be used to recover health after ganks. The additional strength gives her HP, while the mana regeneration works alongside Arcane Aura to keep her mana topped up.
  • Veil of Discord icon Veil of Discord is a cheap utility item that gives Rylai many benefits. Besides the all-around stats, the additional armor helps her survive against physical damage, the greatly increased intelligence improves the size of her mana pool, and the magic resistance reduction against enemies allows her to do more damage with her magic nukes, especially Freezing Field.
  • Aether Lens icon Aether Lens is a strong caster item that greatly improves Crystal Maiden's disabling capabilities. The item provides additional mana, improving the utility of Arcane Aura and facilitating casting spells from her small mana pool, and the HP regen works alongside Tranquil Boots in keeping her health topped up. The increased cast range allows Rylai to cast Frostbite and Crystal Nova from longer ranges to catch enemies with her disables, while the spell damage amp increases the lethality of her nukes.
  • Mekansm icon Mekansm is a situational purchase that can improve Crystal Maiden's ability to support her team. It improves her overall stats while providing extra armor, and the active allows her to heal her teammates and herself in teamfights, improving overall team survivability.

Gameplay

Audio

History

Equipment

Trivia

  • Rylai is one of the oldest heroes from the original DotA in Reign of Chaos DotA. Her title used to be Frost Maiden.
  • Rylai's name in Warcraft DotA was Rylai Crestfall. Her surname was removed in the transition to Dota 2 for the implementation of her sibling rivalry with Lina.
  • Crystal Maiden's Arcane Aura icon Arcane Aura used to be named Brilliance Aura.
  • In early versions of DotA, Crystal Maiden and Lich minimap icon Lich used to share the same Frost Blast icon Frost Blast ability (although they were both named Frost Nova). However, in later updates, Crystal Maiden's Frost Nova was changed to Crystal Nova, turning it into a free-cast area-of-effect ability, while Lich kept the original effects.
  • In Warcraft DotA, Crystal Maiden's Frostbite icon Frostbite can freeze the enemy's Fountain and the duration was counted as creep.
  • League of Legends features an item called Rylai's Crystal Scepter, a homage to the Crystal Maiden from the original DotA.
  • In World of Warcraft an alliance NPC is named Rylai Crestfall, a homage to the original Crystal Maiden from Warcraft III's DotA.
  • Crystal Maiden's leveling-up response ▶️ "Is it cold in here or is it just me?" is a reference to the action movie Demolition Man.[1]
  • Crystal Maiden's respawning line ▶️ "You only live ice..." is a reference to the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice based on the novel of the same name.
  • Crystal Maiden's line ▶️ "It's all fun and games until someone's frozen solid." is a reference to a novel written by Christopher Brookmyre entitled All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye.
  • Crystal Maiden's rare response ▶️ "Can you guess my... favorite poet?" is a reference to Robert Frost due to his last name.

Gallery

References

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