Crystal Maiden

Crystal Maiden
	18 + 2.2 16 + 1.6 14 + 3.3
Movement speed	275
Attack speed	115
Turn rate	0.5
Vision range	1800/800
Attack range	600
Projectile speed	900
Attack animation	0.45+0
Base attack time	1.7
Collision size	24
Legs	2
Gib type	Ice

Hero

Strategy

Counters

Rylai the Crystal Maiden is a ranged intelligence hero who uses the power of frost and ice to disable and dispatch her foes. A slow and fragile support, Crystal Maiden's strength lies in her battery of strong nukes, disables and slows. Crystal Nova is an area-of-effect nuke that slows enemies' attack and movement speeds, while Frostbite immobilizes an enemy in a block of ice, dealing moderate damage per second. Coordinating these spells with a laning partner's own abilities will bring many an enemy to their knees. Her passive Arcane Aura also improves the mana regeneration for heroes in Rylai's team, multiplying their spellcasting in the early game. Later on, she has the potential to lay waste to her enemies in teamfights if she is can channel her deadly ultimate Freezing Field uninterrupted. Her global mana aura, strong disables and nukes, and a lack of item dependence make Crystal Maiden a reliable and, with judicious use of her ultimate, a devastating support caster.

Bio[edit]

Rylai, the Crystal Maiden

▶️ "When Hell freezes over, I'll start calling it Heaven."

Lore:

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:

Gin Hammond (Responses)

Abilities[edit]

Crystal Nova

▶️

Ability
Target Area

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

A burst of damaging frost slows enemy movement and attack rate in the targeted area.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 700 (

800)

Effect Radius: 425

Damage: 130/170/210/260 (

430/470/510/560)

Move Speed Slow: 20%/30%/40%/50%

Attack Speed Slow: 20/30/40/50

Slow Duration: 4.5

11/10/9/8

130/145/160/175

Slow persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

Crystal Nova: Dispellable with any dispel.

The air temperature around Rylai drops rapidly, chilling all around her to the core.

Notes:

Provides 900 radius ground vision at the target area for 6 seconds.

The nova first applies the damage, then the debuff.

Plays a sound effect during the cast time which is audible to everyone.

Frostbite

▶️

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Encases an enemy unit in ice, prohibiting movement and attack, while dealing damage over time. Lasts 10 seconds on creeps level 6 or lower.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 550 (

650)

Damage per Second: 100

Hero Duration: 1.5/2/2.5/3 (

3/3.5/4/4.5)

Creep Duration: 10 (

11.5)

9/8/7/6

140/145/150/155

Root and disarm persist and attempts to damage if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

Frostbite: Dispellable with any dispel.

Rylai channels winds from the Blueheart Glacier, imprisoning attackers in thick blocks of ice.

Notes:

Despite the visual effects, Frostbite applies its effects immediately and cannot be disjointed.

Roots and disarms the target, preventing it from moving, attacking and casting certain mobility spells.
- Provides True Sight over the target.

Deals 50 damage in 0.5 second intervals, starting immediately, resulting in 3/4/5/6 ( 6/7/8/9) damage instances against heroes, or 20 ( 23) damage instances against creeps.

Can deal up to 150/200/250/300 ( 300/350/400/450) damage to heroes, or 1000 ( 1150) damage to creeps (before reductions).

Treats illusions, creep-heroes and Roshan as heroes.

Arcane Aura

Ability
Aura

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: 1/1.5/2/2.5

Self Mana Regen Bonus: 2.5/4.5/6.5/8.5

Mana Loss Reduction: 0% (

14%)

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Modifiers

Brilliance Aura Effect: Undispellable.

Cold temperatures promote the essence of magic, causing Rylai's presence to allow spell usage in abundance.

Notes:

The aura's buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

Can regenerate up to 60/90/120/150 mana in one minute for allies.

Can regenerate up to 150/270/390/510 mana in one minute for Crystal Maiden.

The level 15 talent adds mana loss reduction to the aura. Stacks additively with other sources of mana loss reduction.

Freezing Field

▶️

Ability
No Target / Channeled

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Surrounds Crystal Maiden with random icy explosions that slow enemies and deal massive damage. Grants bonus armor while channeling. Lasts 10 seconds.

Cast Animation: +

Max Channel Time: 10

Slow Radius: 835

Explosion Spawn Radius Min: 195

Explosion Spawn Radius Max: 785

Explosion Damage Radius: 300

Self Armor Bonus: 20

Damage: 105/170/250 (

165/230/310)

Move Speed Slow: 30%

Attack Speed Slow: 60

Slow Duration: 1

Frostbite Timer: 0 (

2.5)

110/100/90

200/400/600

Applies Frostbite to any unit that has been standing in the Freezing Field for over 2.5 seconds.

Slow persists if debuff was placed before spell immunity and when not dispelled.

Modifiers

Freezing Field: Undispellable.

Freezing Field Slow: Dispellable with any dispel.

Freezing Field Tracker: Undispellable.

Once the place of her exile, Icewrack has become an anchor for Rylai's frigid onslaught.

Notes:

The slow is applied to all enemies within the radius in 0.1 second intervals, regardless of the ice explosions.

Every 0.1 seconds 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 (max spawn radius + 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 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 ( 16500/23000/31000) damage (before reductions).

The radius is always centered on Crystal Maiden's and follows her even when she gets moved (e.g. Force Staff).

Despite the visual effects, the damage is dealt as the falling ice shards are spawned, not upon them reaching the ground.

Aghanim's Scepter adds an aura to Freezing Field, which tracks enemies within the area.
- If an enemy unit is affected by the tracker modifier for 2.5 seconds, it gets Frostbite applied based on its current level.
- A unit can only be frostbitten once per cast of Freezing Field. Even if they re-enter the area, they do not get hit a second time.
- If a unit is already frostbitten by a manual cast, it can still be frostbitten again by Freezing Field, refreshing the duration.
- The tracker resets whenever it gets reapplied on a unit. This means a unit must be affected by it for 2.5 seconds continuously in order to get frostbitten.
- The tracker modifier is placed on enemies even when not upgraded yet, tracking the duration enemies spend within the area normally.
- This means when getting upgraded while channeling, enemies which have been in the area for more than 2.5 seconds instantly get Frostbite applied on them.
- The tracker does not affect invulnerable or hidden units.
- The tracker modifier lingers for 0.1 seconds.

Talents[edit]

Hero Talents
+300 Crystal Nova Damage	25	+1.5s Frostbite Duration
+60 Freezing Field Damage	20	+250 Attack Speed
+150 Gold/Min	15	+14% Manacost/Manaloss Reduction Aura
+100 Cast Range	10	+250 Health

Notes:

The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.

Gold granted from the talent is unreliable gold.

Recommended items[edit]

Starting items:

Tango provides Crystal Maiden with health regeneration to stay in lane and support her teammates without being harassed away and being forced to return to base
Healing Salve also restores health to Crystal Maiden or her allies.
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.
Animal Courier ferries items to allies.
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 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 HP and mana instantly, which can allow her to do more in fights.
Boots of Speed are a crucial early purchase on Crystal Maiden due to her extremely low base movement speed. Increasing her mobility allows Crystal Maiden to get within range to cast her disables on her foes, or outrun pursuing enemies.
Wind Lace also gives movement speed boost for cheap, and builds into various items.
Town Portal Scroll should be carried on Crystal Maiden as her disables can turn ganks around.

Mid game:

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 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 is also a boon, allowing her to roam, gank and flee more effectively.
Drum of Endurance gives Crystal Maiden attributes to tank up. The extra movement speed allows her to position for casting spells.
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.

Late game:

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.
Blink Dagger augments Crystal Maiden'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.
Force Staff is a good cheap support item to build on Crystal Maiden if saving up for a Blink Dagger is unfeasible. It provides Crystal Maiden with repositioning abilities, and increases the size of her mana pool to allow her to cast her disables more easily.
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 Crystal Maiden's health pool.

Situational items:

Aghanim's Scepter can give Crystal Maiden a large amount of lockdown ability with 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.
Ghost Scepter gives survivability against attacking carries by granting Crystal Maiden 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 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 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.
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 is a cheap utility item that gives Crystal Maiden many benefits. Besides attributes, 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 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. The increased cast range allows Crystal Maiden to cast Frostbite and Crystal Nova from longer ranges to catch enemies with her disables

Gameplay[edit]


Roles:	Support Disabler Nuker Jungler
Complexity:	★☆☆
Playstyle:	Wherever Rylai went, the cold went with her. Fields and orchards withered in her wake, leaving her parents no choice but to pack her off to Icewrack, a realm in the frigid north. Under the tutelage of a hermit wizard, Rylai learned to imprison her enemies with Frostbite, holding them in place as she freezes the ground with Crystal Nova. Magic flourishes under her Arcane Aura, stimulating mana regeneration in all her companions. In the heat of battle, Rylai keeps a cool head. Channeling her elemental talents, the Crystal Maiden summons enormous shards of ice from the skies, obliterating all foes foolish enough to remain in her Freezing Field.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio[edit]

Responses

Sounds

History[edit]

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment[edit]

Trivia[edit]

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 used to be named Brilliance Aura.
In early versions of DotA, Crystal Maiden and Lich used to share the same 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 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, and also an allusion to Frost's poem "Fire and Ice". Crystal Maiden is the ice, and her sister Lina is fire. An excerpt: "Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice ... know enough of hate, to say that for destruction ice is also great, and would suffice.