r/DotA2•12 yr. ago

Hero Discussion of this Day: Queen of Pain, Akasha (20 December 2013)

Discussion

Akasha, the Queen of Pain

They say pain is all in the mind, but they're wrong: It's all in my hands.

The Queen of Pain excels at mobility, area of effect damage, and ambushing enemy heroes. Although she is fairly fragile, her Blink skill allows her to dodge in and out of combat freely, making her deadly on offense and nearly impossible to catch. When ambushing lone heroes, the Queen of Pain often uses Shadow Strike, which slows the target's movement speed and makes it difficult for them to escape. Scream of Pain is an area of effect offensive spell centered on the Queen of Pain. Blink, Shadow Strike, and Scream of Pain make a deadly combination, allowing the Queen of Pain to do a lot of damage quickly to any nearby target. Since she can slow and Blink to catch up to retreating enemies, escaping the Queen of Pain is nearly impossible. Her final spell, Sonic Wave, is a one of the most powerful area of effect spells in the game, and can be used to finish off injured heroes or soften up the enemy team in large battles. The Queen of Pain is a powerful and versatile spellcaster, and due to her high mobility and strong offensive spells she is a favorite of many more experienced players.

Lore

The Ecclesiast-King of Elze nursed a desire for pain — forbidden pain. In a less prominent political figure, such desires might be considered unwise, but in a monarch of his stature, to satisfy such thirsts would have threatened the virtue of the Divine Throne itself. Therefore he turned to his dungeon full of demonologists, promising freedom to whoever could summon a personal succubus of torment and bind it entirely to his service. The creature who arrived, Akasha by name, visited upon him such exquisite torments that he named her his Secret Queen, and he began to spend all his spare moments submitting to her clever torments—eventually abdicating all his responsibilities in his pursuit of the painful pleasures that only she could bring. Queen of Pain could bring him to the brink of death, but she was rune-bound to keep him alive. At last the King's neglect of state brought on an uprising. He was dragged from his chamber and hurled from the Tower of Invocations, and at the moment of death, Queen of Pain was let loose into the world, freed from servitude—freed to visit her sufferings on anyone she deigned to notice.

Roles: Nuker, Escape, Carry

Strength: 16 + 1.7

Agility: 18 + 2

Intelligence: 24 + 2.5

Damage: 49-57

Armour: 1.52

Movement Speed: 300

Attack Range: 550

Missile Speed: 1500

Base Attack Time: 1.7

Sight Range: 1800 (Day) / 800 (Night)

Turn Rate: 0.5

Spells

Shadow Strike

Hurls a poisoned dagger which deals large initial damage, and then deals damage over time. The poisoned unit has its movement speed slowed for 15 seconds. An instance of damage is dealt every 3 seconds

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	110	20	400	N/A	15.1	Strikes the enemy target with a dagger dealing 50 damage on impact and 30 damage each 3 seconds after, slowing the target by 20% movespeed
2	110	16	400	N/A	15.1	Strikes the enemy target with a dagger dealing 75 damage on impact and 40 damage each 3 seconds after, slowing the target by 30% movespeed
3	110	12	400	N/A	15.1	Strikes the enemy target with a dagger dealing 100 damage on impact and 50 damage each 3 seconds after, slowing the target by 40% movespeed
4	110	8	400	N/A	15.1	Strikes the enemy target with a dagger dealing 125 damage on impact and 60 damage each 3 seconds after, slowing the target by 50% movespeed

Magical damage
Damage over time is dealt to the affected units every 3 seconds during 15 seconds
Affected units slowly regain their original movement speed every second during the 15 seconds
Units afflicted by Shadow Strike can be denied by their allies when their HP drops below 25% of their maximum health
Deals a total of 200/275/350/425 damage

Akasha's envenomed dagger allows her to delight in the drawn out suffering of her victims.

Blink

Short distance teleportation that allows Queen of Pain to move in and out of combat.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	60	12	700	N/A	N/A	Teleports Akasha instantly to the targeted location
2	60	10	850	N/A	N/A	Teleports Akasha instantly to the targeted location
3	60	8	1000	N/A	N/A	Teleports Akasha instantly to the targeted location
4	60	6	1150	N/A	N/A	Teleports Akasha instantly to the targeted location

It appears that, unlike Blink Dagger, Queen of Pain's Blink remains operational to maximum range regardless of whether or not you attempted to cast beyond it
You can use Blink to dodge incoming projectiles
Blink has a 0.33 seconds teleportation delay
Blink has no minimum range in Dota 2

The Secret Queen lives up to her title, making her Pain impossible to escape.

Scream of Pain

The Queen of Pain lets loose a piercing scream around her, damaging nearby enemies.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	110	7	N/A	475	N/A	Screams, dealing 85 damage to all enemy within a radius around Akasha
2	120	7	N/A	475	N/A	Screams, dealing 165 damage to all enemy within a radius around Akasha
3	130	7	N/A	475	N/A	Screams, dealing 225 damage to all enemy within a radius around Akasha
4	140	7	N/A	475	N/A	Screams, dealing 300 damage to all enemy within a radius around Akasha

Magical Damage
Scream of Pain will hit invisible units
Has an instant cast time
Can hit units inside fog of war

The sultry voice of Akasha beckons her opponents while stealing their souls.

Sonic Wave

Ultimate

Creates a gigantic wave of sound in front of Queen of Pain, dealing heavy damage to all enemy units in its wake.

Level	Manacost	Cooldown	Casting Range	Area	Duration	Effects
1	250	135 (100*)	700	100 (Starting AoE) / 800 (Distance) / 300 (Final AoE)	N/A	Sends out a pulsating wave of sound which deals 350 damage to all enemies it hits
2	360	135 (70*)	700	100 (Starting AoE) / 800 (Distance) / 300 (Final AoE)	N/A	Sends out a pulsating wave of sound which deals 475 (530*) damage to all enemies it hits
3	500	135 (40*)	700	100 (Starting AoE) / 800 (Distance) / 300 (Final AoE)	N/A	Sends out a pulsating wave of sound which deals 600 (725*) damage to all enemies it hits

Magical damage
Sonic Wave can hit units up to 1200 units away

Her most exquisite of all of torments, Akasha's Sonic Wave puts her poor foes out of their misery.

Recent Changes from 6.79

Shadow Strike manacost rescaled from 80/100/120/140 to 110

Recent Changes from 6.78/6.78b/6.78c

None

Tips:

Sometimes it's better to save your blink as an escape mechanism rather than an initiation one, quickly analyse and assess the situation before blinking.

j0lian lists Akasha's pros and cons

A lane discussion thread by Hersch

The previous Queen of Pain discussion.

If you guys want a specific hero to be discussed next, please feel free to post or message me. Request list

Posts are every two days now, again.

Important Leshrac tip of last thread by Champelliot:

"Use the stop command (S by default) to feint your stuns. This is especially useful against heroes with strong escape mechanisms, which you can force them to waste with no penalty on your part. Always cancel a stun if you think it will miss, unless an AM blinks out at the last possible tick, there's very little excuse to miss a stun when you can cancel it so easily."

Posted Dec 20, 2013, 9:26 PM UTC

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