Dota 2: How to lane against Templar Assassin

Introduction

Dota 2 is a game that has a couple of stages - laning stage/early game, mid game, and late game. Even though all of them are important, unless you have a good laning stage, chances are that you will also fail the rest. That's because the first couple of minutes are very important if you wish to make it easier later on. Having a good start can help you towards getting that precious item or level that you desperately need to be effective.

However, sometimes laning can be a huge issue, especially against some heroes. One of those heroes is Templar Assassin, one of the best mid laners in Dota 2. Whether you like her or not, she is capable of demolishing the vast majority of mid laners with little to no effort. 

Having said that, here are a couple of tips that you need to know when you're laning against her.

Always bait the Refraction

While this is definitely easier said than done, one of the most important things that you need to do is to avoid getting hit by Refraction. As you know, this spell gives a lot of damage and also protects TA from receiving damage for a few instances. The easiest way of manoeuvering through this is to try and attack her, after which you just move back towards your tower. If you do that while you're next to creeps, you will get the AGGRO, which means that your creeps will start hitting her and going through the Refraction charges easily.

Dodge Psi Blades

This is perhaps the most important tip here. Whatever you do, never allow TA to bully you out of the lane with its Psi Blades. Sure, dodging them is not easy because it requires you to move all the time. However, if that's the price you have to pay to stay alive than so be it.

Be careful when she hits level 6

Lastly, you need to be very careful whenever Lanaya hits level 6. Despite the fact that her ult doesn't really do that much damage, the slow is more than enough to kill you, especially if she has Meld as well. A good idea will be to get a Sentry Ward mid, so that you can avoid getting killed.