Gameplay
| Playstyle | |
|---|---|
| Queen of Pain is a fearsome mid laner who has impressive mobility through Blink, along with several spells that deal significant damage. Despite her sizeable amounts of damage, she is very fragile and weak to disables, and must be played smartly in order to succeed. | |
| Pros | Cons |
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Generic
Queen of Pain has little room for different build orders. You will have to measure according to the enemy team's composition how many points in Shadow Strike you will need in the early game (usually one) and if you absolutely need extra points in Blink (usually no). Otherwise max out Scream of Pain as it's your all-purpose nuke and farming tool, take points in Sonic Wave whenever you can, max out blink in second to move around more efficiently....
Most QoPs will go in the mid lane, with a Null Talisman or a Magic Wand and a couple of Tango, and proceed to farm a Bottle. Blink will help you secure runes and go back to lane quicker. Power Treads are usually your boots of choice, they will help you get the most out of your bottle through tread-switching.
From there, it's usually Orchid Malevolence or Aghanim's Scepter as your first major item, the first one for ganks on single targets while the latter is more for repeated teamfights and, to a lesser extent, farming.
QoP is a decent right-clicker thanks to her above-average 1.5 base attack time; and benefits from damage enough to justify any damage item like Desolator, Monkey King Bar or Mjollnir, but you can also focus on spell damage and utility with Scythe of Vyse, Shiva's Guard or Linken's Sphere. Overall, there are very few items you should never build on QoP, Blink Dagger being perhaps the most obvious.
QoP's skill build has little variation, whatever lane she's played in. Instead, you will have to figure out how you want/need to itemize her.
Magical Damage
When focusing on spells, Aghanim's Scepter should probably be your first major item. Unless you're extremely far ahead, odds are a follow-up Orchid Malevolence will have little effect as by then, most heroes might have a tool or an item to deal with it. Scythe of Vyse on the other hand requires more coordination from the enemy. But if you're dying too quickly in fights, a Linken's Sphere might be more suitable to help you survive, or a Shiva's Guard for extra armor and burst.
Eul's Scepter of Divinity can dispel silence, or it can buy you enough time to get a blink off. But it can also serve as a set-up for their disable, use it with care.
Finally, Octarine Core should be considered at one point as it brings Blink's cd down to 4.5 seconds and upgraded Sonic Wave down to 30 among others.
Physical Damage
Orchid Malevolence gives a fair amount of right-click and helps you snowball if you can get it quick enough. It also upgrades into a terrifying Bloodthorn. But unless you're facing tons of evasion, it probably should be upgraded after you get another big item or two.
Assault Cuirass provides plenty of armor and right-click, it's a safe choice if your team doesn't have one already. So is Eye of Skadi for similar reasons. Don't forget Black King Bar can help you survive, and it especially can help you get a defensive Blink out.
But if they have nothing to stop your trusty Blink, you can go all out and focus 100% on damage with an early Desolator and a Maelstrom, later upgraded into Mjollnir. Why not get a Moon Shard or a Daedalus while you're at it?
Ability Builds
| Generic Queen of Pain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 25 | |||||
 |  |  | | |  | | | |  | | | | | | |  | | | | |||||
Talents
| Hero Talents | ||
|---|---|---|
| +250 Sonic Wave Damage | 25 | -2s Blink Cooldown |
| -45s Sonic Wave Cooldown | 20 | +100 Scream of Pain Damage |
| +30 Attack Speed | 15 | -0.7s Shadow Strike Damage Interval |
| +10 Shadow Strike Heal Per Tick | 10 | +20 Damage |
- Grants bonus attack damage.
- Does not benefit illusions and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
Tips & Tactics
General
- Queen of Pain is fairly straightforward to play as none of her damaging abilities require careful positioning or specific timings or combinations. Instead, like Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain starts to shine through proper Blink usage and good itemization, allowing her to farm with great efficiency and be a threat all over the map. Blink also allows her to jump in and out of fights for some potentially cheeky plays at low hp.
- Her generic combo would be to blink in on a target and immediately use Scream of Pain as it has no cast time, slow him down with a Shadow Strike to help land your Sonic Wave. Follow with right clicks and an extra blink + scream to finish him off.... But you will usually have a couple of items you will need to add to the equation.
- QoP is superb at chasing her prey, but is very delicate and is often in more danger from enemy towers than enemy heroes. Gearing for HP regeneration may be advisable, as in a critical situation you can Blink to an inaccessible place and wait to recuperate. Bottle will also help with this.
- If being chased (a common situation for QoP), an often-useful tactic is to blink behind the enemies pursuing you. They will typically assume you blinked ahead and continue on in that direction, allowing for an escape.
- A more cautious strategy is to run in without using Blink, saving it for a potential escape. This may be necessary against high-damage enemy heroes, as QoP is very frail and in encounters should try to avoid being attacked at all.
- In a late-game encounter, QoP is best used by hiding until such time as the enemies' more powerful spells are on cooldown, allowing her to Blink in and inflict huge damage on multiple enemies owing to her AoE capabilities without putting her at risk of being killed by powerful spells.
- Similarly to Lina, QoP has very high burst damage capabilities, but is delicate and not suited to long encounters because of her spells' high mana costs. This can be remedied with items such as Bloodstone and Linken's Sphere, as well as Aghanim's Scepter to reduce Sonic Wave's cooldown.
- Be aware that Rupture will be calculated against the distance traversed should you Blink shorter than the max distance. You can avoid the damage by blinking max distance (1300 units) and moving immediately in that direction.
Abilities
Shadow Strike
- Shadow Strike has a very long duration, with the slow effect lasting for 15 seconds. Coupled with its incredible short cooldown, Queen of Pain is capable of keeping an enemy slowed indefinitely or slowing multiple heroes in quick succession.
- The slow effect diminishes with every passing second. Against heroes with high movement speed, you may want to keep using the ability to refresh the slow effect.
- The bulk of Shadow Strike's damage is dealt over time in intervals of 3 seconds. Heroes with high health regeneration and/or magic resistance can easily to shrug off the damage during its course.
- Enemy heroes that are under the effects of Shadow Strike and are below 25% health are capable of being denied by their allies, and as such, it is not a reliable spell in securing a kill.
- Shadow Strike has a short cast range, making it difficult to land on opposing ranged heroes without incurring damage herself. Consider the risk and mana consumption when engaging them.
- Against a melee opponent, it is a very powerful harassing skill. it may be worthwhile to maximise this skill if the opponent's lineup consist of entirely melee heroes.
- Due to the long cast animation, as well as the slow traveling speed of the projectile, opponents with quick fingers can disjoint the ability.
Blink
- Blink is able to disjoint projectiles and spells.
- Queen of Pain will always face in the direction that she is Blinking towards. Keen opponents will be able to use that knowledge to their advantage and predict where she may land.
- Though Blink has a short cooldown of 6 seconds, a reckless cast can leave Queen of Pain in a dire situation.
Scream of Pain
- Despite the visual projectile, Scream of Pain cannot be disjointed.
- Scream of Pain will hit invisible units and units in the Fog of War.
- Scream of Pain and Shadow Strike with AoE talent provide enough damage to clear one creep wave.
Sonic Wave
- Sonic Wave deals pure damage and bypasses spell immunity.
- Sonic Wave can affect Animal Courier.
Items
Starting items:
- Null Talisman gives Queen of Pain a decent early game attributes boost.
- Faerie Fire helps Queen of Pain score last hits and gives a chance to survive a gank.
- Iron Branch improves Queen of Pain's early attributes, and can be built into a Magic Wand later on, or eaten with Tango.
- Healing Salve can patch Queen of Pain up after a gank or heavy trading with her opponent.
- Clarity helps Queen of Pain to continue harassing her opponent with Shadow Strike.
Early game:
- Magic Wand gives Queen of Pain much needed burst regen which can be used in emergency situations.
- Bottle provides Queen of Pain with reliable health and mana regeneration. Blink grants her almost incontestable rune control allowing her to easily replenish Bottle charges.
- Infused Raindrop helps Queen of Pain resist harassment and gankers, while providing much needed mana regeneration.
Mid game:
- Power Treads provide Queen of Pain attack damage and attribute switch, allowing her to be more durable and gain more value from Bottle and shrines.
- Orchid Malevolence gives Queen of Pain a silence to prevent the hero she blinks on from fighting back, as well as plenty of mana regeneration and damage increase.
- Linken's Sphere's Spell Shield helps Queen of Pain to survive long enough to blink to safety, while providing all-around attributes and regen.
- Black King Bar protects against most disables and nukes, allowing Queen of Pain to blink into fight with no fear.
Late game:
- Shiva's Guard increases armor, as well as mana pool. The Arctic Blast active double-downs on Queen of Pain's ability to slowdown and nuke enemies.
- Mjollnir's Chain Lightning and Static Charge paired with Spell Lifesteal talent can tremendously boost Queen of Pain's survivability in teamfights.
- Bloodthorn is a natural late game upgrade from Orchid Malevolence. It can be purchased earlier to help Queen of Pain and her team deal with evasion.
- Assault Cuirass is an alternative armor piece that helps Queen of Pain's team take objectives such as towers and Roshan.
Situational items:
- Veil of Discord grants Queen of Pain good early-mid game armor and health regen, at the same time greatly increasing her team's magic damage. But don't forget that Sonic Wave will not benefit from it.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity can dispel silence, or it can buy Queen of Pain enough time to get a blink off, while providing cheap mana regen.
- Aghanim's Scepter highly reduces Sonic Wave's cooldown time, ensuring it is always available when it is needed. It also provides marginal increase in Sonic Wave's damage.
- Scythe of Vyse gives good attributes, increasing Queen of Pain's survivability while also giving her the mana she needs to cast her costly spells. Hex is also one of the strongest hard-disables in the game that can completely turn teamfights around.
