Queen of Pain is a rather flimsy hero who can spiral out of control. Her skill set makes her a potent mid-laner and a very effective picker. She has a Blink spell for mobility and survival and a ton of burst magical damage. Her spells let her to farm quickly because they let her to Blink between lanes and camps, destroy creep-waves, and neutralize down with Scream of Pain.
She can continue to be viable as a semi-carry even against farmed position ones because to her strong right-click well into the end game. Though the hero is mechanically really simple, each player’s skill and comprehension of the game will determine how well they can control the game.
Queen of Pain Item Build
Starting Items
- Tango (Shared)
- Iron Branch
- Null Talisman
- Faerie Fire
Early Game Items
- Bottle
- Power Treads
- Magic Wand
- Infused Raindrop
Mid Game Items
- Veil of Discord
- Eul’s Scepter of Divinity
- Orchid Malevolance
Late Game Items
- Black King Bar
- Mjollnir
- Shiva’s Guard
- Bloodthorn
- Scythe of Vyse
- Assault Cuirass
- Moon Shard
- Refresher Orb
- Octarine Core
Situational Items
- Linken’s Sphere
- Monkey King Bar
- Gem of True Sight
- Eye of Skadi
- Dagon
- Nullifier
- Kaya
Complete Queen of Pain Spell Guide
Shadow Strike
An enemy that Queen of Pain throws a dagger at suffers damage over time and slows down in progressively smaller amounts for the period. One can upgrade Shadow Strike with the level 25 talent. Usually, Shadow Strike is learned first since it enables you to harass your lane opponent and trade hits to your advantage by making it more difficult for the opponent to retreat. Since the cooldown is lowered with level, it is also typically trained twice during the laning phase to enable more frequent use. Its damage dealing improves at level 2 and it can be completely sustained on the opponent. The slow’s effectiveness is likewise increased by 50% over the level 1 slow by a second level of Shadow Strike.
How to Use It:
When fighting a melee hero or having creep advantage, Shadow Strike should be applied frequently to the opponent laner. The spell will need you to approach closer, but if you do so just as their creepwave is about to end, the opponent won’t be able to exploit your position. This is so because the creeps will soon die and put pressure on them if they attempt to trade hits with you. Scream of Pain is even a tool for increasing creep pressure. They can’t exchange hits with you and will have to back. They will also take greater damage from the slow because you can right-click them as they are backing away.
Using this spell in lane requires you to be careful with your placement since you could end up absorbing more damage than it does.
Mid-game, you should use it to initiate onto an adversary since the slow will let you right-click them while they try to flee. During the mid- and late-game, it can also be used to turn off Blink Daggers for fifteen seconds. If you can cast this on heroes who possess initiation spells like Enigma or Earthshaker, it works quite well.
Blink
The target close place is quickly teleported to by Queen of Pain. Second, because of the shorter cooldown, you should max Blink, which makes it easy for QoP to enter and exit combats. Blink enables QoP to flee risky situations, chase opponents, and farm more quickly. Despite the six-second cooldown, use it carefully. When you plan to gank an opponent, unless they have already noticed you and are responding to your presence, you typically don’t need to Blink immediately next to them. Save it instead, in case you need to utilize it to guarantee the kill or get away.
Scream of Pain
With a scream, Queen of Pain injures every foe in close proximity. As it enables QoP to regulate the creep equilibrium and boosts both her farming and killing potential, Scream of Pain should be maxed first. You can snipe low adversaries who are either invisible or juking in the trees because Scream of Pain hits invisible units and those in the fog of war.
Use Scream of Pain at higher levels after right-clicking every creep in the creepwave down to around half HP just before the rune appears. You will find it easy to obtain the rune this way, particularly if you use Blink to get there quicker. In the mid- and late-game, you should utilize Scream of Pain right away after blinking adjacent to an adversary. As the spell is cast instantaneously, landing it will be lot easier.
Sonic Wave
The Queen of Pain screams of pain in the intended direction, far more horrific. Reduces cooldown and enhances damage with Aghanim’s Scepter. You can snipe it because it does pure damage that penetrates spell immunity, including that of the Animal Courier. Up until you purchase an Aghanim’s Scepter, Sonic Wave has a quite lengthy cooldown. It can be utilized to obtain solo-kills early on in the game that you would not have otherwise obtained. You should save it for mid- and late-game damage to high-priority characters or to numerous heroes at once. Use Sonic Wave significantly more freely when you have an Aghanim’s Scepter, even to farm creepwaves. Though it consumes a lot of mana relative to your mana-pool at all levels, keep that in mind when farming with it.
Related: WOW Classic Hunter Leveling Guide: Take the fastest leveling class ever!
Top Pain Queen Talents
Level 10: +25 Strength or +25 Damage
Generally speaking, the Strength will be a superior choice in Dota 2 competitions if you have to endure silences or disables long enough to blink away. It can mean the difference between life and death in the early and middle game and will grant you an extra 200 HP to do so. Otherwise, the additional damage will speed up your farming and boost the damage of your right-click in ganks and battles.
LEVEL 15: +40 attack speed or 12% cooling down reduction
You will be able to utilize every spell and item far sooner thanks to the cooldown reduction. This is particularly apparent when you have an Aghanim’s Scepter or other long-cooldown items, such BKB, as it will let you utilize them far sooner. If you have chosen things more geared at semi-carrying through physical damage, the increased attack speed might be a preferable option. You can usually farm a little bit faster with the attack speed as well.
Level 20: 650 Aoe Shadow Strike or 30% Spell Lifesteal
Lifesteal is nearly always going to be more beneficial. This is because even if the lifesteal is weaker on non-hero units, your two nuking spells will heal a huge amount if they land on several creeps and/or heroes. In team-fights, it will greatly increase your survivability and make you far more formidable, particularly if you are being quickly knocked down low on HP.
The reason the AoE Shadow Strike is frequently useless is that the opponent line-up will just try to avoid stacking up near to one another once they realize you have chosen this skill. As it kills creeps and illusions so slowly, it isn’t even useful when farming them; instead, it works best when foes are nearby. When they are, they are merely marginally hampered and injured, which may be easily removed with any simple dispel. Having said that, it may be quite successful against a lineup heavy in melee heroes or readily kiteable characters.
Level 25: 20 S Spell Block or Scream of Pain 1.5 S Fear
When faced with lineups heavy on single-targeters, the Spell Block can be quite effective. By now you should have a BKB or a Linken’s to help you handle these, and these can frequently be sufficient. If you discover that you still gain from it, though, it might be a wonderful addition. Almost always, the fear is a really powerful skill decision. Its short 1.5-second duration is sufficient to divert melee heroes from attacking you and to halt channeled abilities. All things considered, this is a really potent talent that seriously disrupts the other team. Even if the opponent team has a number of single-target abilities, it can be the situation that the dread will benefit you more than the spell block.
Almost commonly played in the mid lane, Queen of Pain requires as much last-hitting strength as possible to win the lane. She will have greater damage and stats with a Null Talisman and a few Iron Branches; a Faerie Fire is also useful. Two Shared Tangos will be plenty for QoP’s little regen needs. If, once you have the initial bounty rune, you will probably need the extra regen against your opponent, you can have a Healing Salve couriered to you.
Early Game Items
Bottle
As it will let her utilize her spells more freely, QoP can benefit much from a Bottle. Queen of Pain usually needs a lot of mana to control the creep wave and to spam Shadow Strike on the opponent. If necessary, use her blink to swiftly obtain the rune and outsmart the opponent mid laner. Her capacity to store runes in a bottle will also make it very simple for her to obtain kills because she can use them to gank a lane or take out the mid laner.
Power Treads
Since Power Treads boost her damage output and provide a tonne of stats, they are the Boots of Choice on QoP. Restoring HP or mana with a shift of the main attribute on your treads works particularly well because you will get more when you switch back. Should more HP be required, treads can also be employed.
The Enchantment Wand
Magic Wand does well on QoP since she frequently ganks and scores a lot of kills. QoP can use a few additional spells—including Blink at least once more—with a fully charged Magic Wand. This may be quite important during ganks and team battles.
Infused Raindrop
She is somewhat squishy early on, so Infused Raindrops will help tank QoP up against magical damage. Help will also come from the increased mana regeneration. Generally speaking, these are only required against heroes who have potent nukes that can cause QoP issues.
Mid Game Items
Veil of Discord
Veil of Discord gives Qop some excellent overall stats and increases the damage of nearly all of her spells—Sonic Wave being the sole exception. On QoP, it’s a solid pick, particularly if you have a lot of magically damaging allies.
Eul’s Scepter of Divinity
QoP gains a great deal of movement speed, mana regeneration, and some intellect with Eul’s Scepter. Most significantly, though, it confers on QoP the defensive prowess of Cyclone. Cyclone lasts about half as long as Blink cools off. This implies that you can use Eul’s to buy yourself enough time to blink away again if you blink profusely. It will also break any quiets and can be used offensively if your team is short on stuns or if someone tries to TP back to base. Most games require an Eul, but you can skip it if it won’t really benefit you.
Orchid Malevolance
Because it greatly increases her damage, intellect, and mana regeneration, orchid malevolence is sometimes regarded as a basic item on QoP. She becomes a far superior ganker as well because it allows her to apply damage amp and quiet an opponent. Late in the game, it can also be constructed into a Bloodthorn. Though it should be purchased against heroes that are difficult to lockdown, orchid isn’t necessary every game because you may spend the gold on other things you might need more.
Related: How to Refund Valorant Skins Step-By-Step Guide?
LATE GAME ITEMS
Black King Bar
Late game, Queen of Pain starts to make more sense as a right-clicker. She is therefore more prone to receive priority for nukes, disables, and stuns. To handle this in the mid-to-late game, you will probably require a BKB, particularly when up against some of the top Dota 2 players.
Mjollnir
Queen of Pain becomes significantly more adept at cultivating and creeping out. She can push more quickly, harvest neutrals more quickly, and in team battles, especially against illusion heroes, do more damage. When used on an allying front-liner, the protective shield works far better because she is usually not the target of much physical damage during battles.
Shiva’s Guard
When you are up against lineups with numerous physical damage sources, Shiva’s Guard works the best. Your squad and you will tank from the armor and attack speed slow aura. Magical damage complements other skills and equipment that QoP typically obtains, such cooldown reduction and spell lifesteal.
Bloodthorn
Natural progression from Orchid Malevolence is Bloodthorn. Though the true-strike it offers may make it more effective and justify its purchase if you can make at least some use of the stillness from Orchid, it’s usually not necessary if the silence isn’t needed. Upgrade your orchid to a bloodthorn if you require true-strike. Since QoP typically has a somewhat fast attack speed as well, the total crit damage is considerably more potent.
Scythe of Vyse
A Scythe of Vyse increases QoP’s mana regeneration and intelligence, which increases damage. Many times, against heroes who are difficult to lockdown or farmed carry, the extra disable is required. It also greatly raises the possibility of single kills for QoP.
Assault Cuirass
QoP will become a better right-clicker with Assault Cuirass because it speeds up her attacks and weakens the armor of opponents. It works best when late in the game you need to both become more of a semi-carry and boost your team’s and your own physical damage resistance.
Moon Shard
You may purchase a Moon Shard for yourself or a carry if you have plenty of gold in the late game and have purchased all you need. If you own a Mjollnir/Maelstrom or a Bloodthorn, Moon Shard works very well because these weapons will provide extra damage through the lightning proc and the crit damage, respectively.
Refresher Orb
You can instantly use every spell and item again using a Refresher Orb. As BKB and Aghanim’s upgraded ultimate have extremely long cooldowns, this works really well. It can also be retained in your backpack as a seventh item during cooldown and utilized only after you’ve popped Sonic Wave and BKB the first time during a battle.
Octarine Core
Thanks to Sonic Wave and Scream of Pain, Octarine Core will let you spell a lot of lifesteal, particularly when combined with the level 25 lifesteal skill. Further reducing the downtime on all of your spells and equipment is the cooldown reduction skill, which complements it rather nicely. An Octarine Core is particularly useful if you own an Aghanim’s Scepter since the shorter cooldown will let you lifesteal even more.
Situational Items
Linken’s Sphere
QoP gains a tonne of stats, HP/mana regeneration, and thirty more damage from Linken’s Sphere. Above all, it enables her to block a single-target spell once every thirteen seconds. She will be need to lockdown lineups with powerful single-target spells because of this. Buying a BKB or maybe both could be preferable against lineups that include several single-target spells.
Monkey King Bar
You might need MKB to move into a powerful late game semi-carry. Its accuracy could be quite important when up against evasive heroes. If the opponent team has many means of evasion, the enemy has multiple ways to break the quiet, or you don’t require the stillness it offers, it’s better than a Bloodthorn.
Related: IS Counter-Strike Crossplay? Check Our CS2 Cross-Platform Guide!
Gem of True Sight
If you are up against many invisibility heroes on QoP, a Gem can be an excellent pickup. Normally, QoP’s squishy nature would make her an unsuitable Gem carrier, but her Blink power enables her to live in extreme circumstances. In addition, a Gem enables her to kill more invisibility heroes than she could normally.
Eye of Skadi
As there are more effectful and better-suited QoP item options, Eye of Skadi is being used less and less. When fighting against lineups heavy in physical damage, its slow and extra durability can be beneficial.
Dagon
If you’ve controlled the early going, a Dagon can help you hold onto your lead and, consequently, the game. Particularly strong lineups in the late game and squishy heroes are suitable targets for a Dagon. Early on and during the game, Dagon offers you greater killing potential, and if you score a lot of kills, the opponent will find it more difficult to recover.
Nullifier
When up against heroes who need on things like BKB to survive, a nullifier can be rather effective. It’s highly situational because, save from the damage they deal, the numbers don’t really help you.
Kaya
A Kaya can make sense as a pickup if you plan to build heavily caster-oriented with items like Shiva’s Guard, Veil, or Dagon or if you are up against a lot of mana-drain skills. You will benefit from some useful spell amplification and longer mana pool preservation.
Interesting Queen of Pain Match-Ups
Bloodseeker
It is possible to Blink without suffering damage if Bloodseeker Ruptures you. The physics of the ultimate prevent damage if you blink away at maximum range and then walk even a little. If you are unlucky and timing it within a tick measurement of Rupture, you may still sustain damage, although it is improbable. You will also stand a lot higher chance of surviving. To become accustomed to the mechanics, try doing this against a bot. Picking up an Eul’s or a Linken’s Sphere could also be beneficial to increase your survival.
Puck
Puck handles QoP rather well. Try to bait it out by canceling the animation since he may easily avoid your Shadow Strike by employing Phase Shift. As Puck can also avoid your other spells, attempt to do the same with Sonic Wave. As Scream of Pain is instantaneous, aim to employ it when Puck is unlikely to Phase Shift. Puck may grab you with a powerful ultimate ability and also silence you, stopping you from blinking away.
Silences and Roots
Heros with roots and silences can stop QoP from chasing an opponent or blinking away to safety. When pursuing opposing heroes with disables or stuns, proceed with extreme caution as they might be able to prevent you from fleeing if you dive too far and kill you with backup.