Hello and welcome to my second ever Heroesfire build / guide, and my first standard build! This guide is a bit long winded, as i like to know the why as well as the what and the when. I suggest if you don't want to read through the guide use the build and come back if you have particular questions and refer to the appropriate sections.

I've recently added 3 more builds to consider! One goes with missiles instead of orbs and the other is super defensive (in case of bad match-ups), finally i added a build that takes archon for pushing structures in the late game (if needed).


Most Importantly, Li-Ming has a very high skill ceiling; the better you are at noticing opportunities to use your orb and properly spacing it the more effective you'll be. She conversely loses out on alot of damage if for instance your orb isn't spaced properly or your missiles don't all hit the same target. This is a cliche "double-edged" sword, you'll do drastically higher damage as you become better with her, and drastically less when you start learning her.

There are two builds I like for Li-Ming, one that is all about poke and doing maximum orb damage and another that focuses more on overall utility and turns teleport into a damaging chasing ability. Both these builds rely on orb poke damage before you commit to a kill. Keep in mind that both builds do well with teleport defensive talents in place of traditional orb picks

Firstly, Li-Ming is a ranged Assassin and is designed to be a poking/glass cannon character. Keep this in mind as your going to be one of the first targets in nearly every fight. Your goal should be to get as many Arcane Orbs and Magic Missiles into the enemy team as possible while still remaining in the back line with teleport up for emergencies. Use your ultimate disintegrate to finish off targets, push damage on objectives and even to clear waves (it has an insanely short cool down and a appropriately spaced arcane orb does more burst). You're essentially a long range Jania with reliable escape. You don't have slows but during the endgame your teleport will have a respectable range, will reset on damage and can also grant you a shield if you choose to talent it, this will go a long way towards your survivability in late game team fights.

If you decide to go the teleport build, things change slighty. You still want to fight at range but don't lose damage in close quarters. Your teleport can now be used as a finisher as it does damage due to calamity. Your primary range damage dealer is still arcane orb because of the sometimes unpredictability of missiles. You're going to be in closer proximity in general, so taking the teleport shield is much more appealing in this spec.



Even baseline Li-Ming needs to be properly spaced to use her abilities to their maximum effectiveness. This build rewards perfect play with tons of additional damage. Map awareness is crucial, knowing were the enemies are even when they are in the FOW (Fog of War) is important. You can often throw your arcane orb towards ganking heroes through fog to surprise them, force them away, or even turn the gank back on them.



Guide updated on 2/6/2016 at roughly 5:30 PST: Added a few more talent choices per tier and added 3 more builds!, also cleaned up some older descriptions to better reflect these updates.

Guide updated on 2/3/2016 at 11:09 PM PST: Reworked the Intro section to emphasize spacing and map awareness, reworked some talent descriptions for clarity. Added some general game play tips at the bottom. Check back in the next few days for a gameplay video.

Guide updated on 2/2/2016 at 5:31 PST: Added a teleport build that I've been experimenting with as an alternative to relying on orb for all your damage. Also did a massive overhaul to the wording of most talent choices.

Astral Presence

This is my absolute go to for the first tier, this offers an insane 100% mana regen when below 50% mana and has amazing synergy with the rest of the build. This allows you to freely poke all game long without having to base.

Power Hungry

Another Solid choice that rivals Astral Presence in the early game but greatly falls off in objective centered fights and any late game ganks and team fights. It's worth noting that the globes also give you some ability power, but it isn't worth losing the mana regen uptime on Presence.

Aether Walker

This is an amazing talent choice if the other team has a bunch of all in heroes (Zeratul, Greymane, Illidan). The Goal here if you take this talent is to teleport out of harms way before you get jumped. Almost an auto pick if the other team has a Zeratul.

Triumvirate

This ability is pretty difficult to get used to but a very solid choice for this tier as it essentially removes the cool down of Arcane Orb when it explodes at max range. Probably best in this tier strictly because of its synergy with Astral Presence and Arcane Orbit.

Ess of Johan

This is also another really good choice as it turns your arcane orb into grab, which lets you hit your orb arcane missiles combo much easier, definitely a must have if you don't like the spacing requirements on some of the other talents. Great as a engage, can also help teammates escape. Solid Choice.

Charged Blast

Great pick if the other team has lots of melee based heroes as it'll mean that more targets are in range for arcane missiles in general and conversely for the increased auto attack damage. Loses value versus ranged heroes as you have to be in relative close range to get the full effect.

Zei's Vengeance

The Orb choice for this build. This will increase your poking potential immensely and absolutely chunks the back line squishes in the late game. From my minimal testing it also seems to have an interesting synergy with Triumvirate as the increased 25% range from this talent seems to proc it, (meaning if the orb lands at any point in the 25% increased range, it'll proc). Amazing Talent.

Calamity

This is the go to choice if you don't like duality of +25% at range and -25% up close, or if the other team has a lot of melee heroes. It turns your teleport into a damaging ability that is great as a finisher/lane clear. Has great synergy for lane clearing with Aether Walker.

Disintegrate

Best by far simply due to its utility, It also does amazing damage to boot. As stated in the general game play section use this to clear lanes, destroy structures, deny objectives. Its short cooldown means it'll always be up when you need it. Insane combo potential if it gets you kills in team fights as it'll reset all your other abilities.

Illusionist

Level 13 is where we start building our escape kit and marks the beginning of a safer and more aggressive Li-Ming. This will make your teleport move you an additional 50% further and reset the cool-down of it if you take 15% of your life in damage. This makes it safer to aggressively teleport 1v1 as damage will let you just as easily retreat. It also has amazing applications if your being damaged as you escape, as you can essentially do two teleports if you're being damaged as you're escaping. Keep in mind that the 50% distance does and will let you teleport through terrain (you still have to be pretty close).

Arcane Orbit

This will finish up your Arcane Orb talents and make it hit like a truck if you hit at max range. This talent has amazing synergy with Triumvirate as mentioned previously as the extra 25% range procs it more reliably. Remember to adjust yourself for its increased range and move through the fight to get it were you want it to land.

Diamond Skin

Essentially you take Diamond Skin if your being focused heavily and need the extra shielding. It can also be considered in games that don't have a healer, as you can use teleport aggressively to soak some damage, reset the cool down, teleport out and is probably the go to if you find yourself frequently in close proximity to your enemies. Almost an auto pick versus Zeratul/Illidan/Greymane or Nova.

Tal Rasha's Elements

Gives you a 20% buff to each of your spells as long as you rotate them, This includes your ultimate and teleport! Very easy to game this talent to insure your ultimates and orbs are doing maximum damage and greatly increases the damage your capable of throwing out in a fight.

Temporal Flux

Gives your disintegrate a massive slow which is great for picking off stragglers or just insuring that targets can't run during team fights.

Archon: Pure Power

Lets you use Disintegrate at will, an amazing choice for pushing objectives. Definitely an auto-pick come 20 if enemy towers aren't as pushed as you'd like. Keep in mind you are quite vulnerable in this form and an easy target for a gank.

This is where you are arguably at your weakest state. Your level 1 talent choice means you can afford to poke often and keep the other heroes in your lane on the defensive. Focus on gaining tower advantage but don't get greedy at this level, as your very weak to ganks. Also at this level your teleport isn't a true escape and is only really good for avoiding skill shot type abilities (Ironically amazing for dodging other Li-Ming's orbs). If you go with Ess at 4 use it in conjunction with your missiles to force other heroes out of the lane and make solid progress on enemy towers. If Successful at pushing enemy heroes out of lane, rotate into other lanes and fire orbs from the bushes for massive damage. if You pick Zei's at 7, make sure to take full advantage of the additional damage to win early team fights and punish your lane. Don't be afraid to fire off less then optimal orbs if you take Ess of Johan, especially if you're ganking, as the grab might be the difference between getting in an extra auto attacking and securing an early kill and watching the hero escape with a fraction of health.

TLDR (Early Game): Don't over commit, put your enemy laner on the defensive, rotate and gank lanes at range if you are winning your lane

Li-Ming doesn't really change much in play style all that dramatically as she levels throughout the game. You still want to poke from bushes and fire your orbs were you suspect the other team to be. At level 13 you'll make your teleport into a more reliable escape which will allow you to handle threats better. You'll still have trouble with characters like Greymane or Zeratul though so be careful. At 16, you'll pick up Arcane Orbit, which will give it 25% more range, this will have amazing effect on fleeing targets and allow you to reach out and touch people during team fights.

At 20, you pick your ultimate based on your team needs but generally go with Tal Rasha's Elements. At this level your arcane orb will hit upwards of 1.3k at max range. You will be focused alot all game long, but here most often. Often times you can get targets to commit to you, feel free to kite these heroes around to even the odds a bit. You can often times pull these fellas away from their healers and have your team collapse on them, to satisfying effect.

TLDR (Late Game): Your surviability goes up immensely in this level bracket with the teleport upgrade. Your arcane orb gains more damage and range so adjust for it. If you're getting focused you have teleport on a short cooldown to kite heroes for long periods of time, use this to your advantage.

Plan on adding a game play video here in the next few days to show some real applications of effective spacing and the devastating results it can have on the opposing team