Lion stats, abilities and strategy [7.41a]
Steals enemy mana to fuel his own abilities
Lion gives enemies little chance to retaliate. Stunning targets with a damaging row of spikes, or temporarily transforming them into a harmless critter, even if his powerful spells aren't enough, he and his allies should still have all the time they need to slay their foes.
Win Rate 49.3%
Pick Rate 26.7%
Attributes
516 +52.8/lvl
303 +42.0/lvl
18 +2.4/lvl
15 +1.7/lvl
19 +3.5/lvl
Stats
Damage:
48 - 54 + 3.5/level (163 - 169 at level 30)
Range:
600
Armor:
2.5 + 0.3/level (13.1 at level 30)
Movement:
290
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Facets
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
Lion gains 20% debuff duration after killing or assisting in a Hero kill while that Hero is dead.
Lion gains 20% spell amplification for 90s after respawning or resurrecting or until he gets a kill or assist.
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +15% To Hell And Back Debuff/Spell Amp
Patch 7.41
- Ability reworked
- Killing or assisting in a Hero kill provides Lion with 20% debuff duration while that hero is dead. Whenever Lion respawns or resurrects, he gains 20% spell amplification for 90s or until he gets a kill or an assist
Earth Spike
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
DEBUFF: Yes
Rock spikes burst from the earth along a straight path. Enemy units are hurled into the air, then are stunned and take damage when they fall.
The spikes move at 2800 units per second.
Does not trigger spell block or spell reflect.
DAMAGE: 105 / 170 / 235 / 300
STUN DURATION: 1.3 / 1.6 / 1.9 / 2.2
14 / 13 / 12 / 11
90 / 110 / 130 / 150
650
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +600 Earth Spike cast range/travel distance
LEVEL 20 TALENT: Earth Spike affects a 30 degree cone
The Demon Witch exercises his demonic covenant, opening a fissure from hell.
Hex
AFFECTS: Unit
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Strong Dispels Only
DEBUFF: Yes
Transforms an enemy unit into a harmless beast, with all special abilities disabled.
Instantly destroys illusions.
The target will have a base movement speed of 120, but buffs granting maximum movement speed won't be disabled.
DURATION: 2 / 2.4 / 2.8 / 3.2
24 / 20 / 16 / 12
110 / 140 / 170 / 200
575 / 600 / 625 / 650
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +250 AoE Hex
LEVEL 15 TALENT: -2.5s Hex Cooldown
Lion is compelled to share his transfiguration, twisting the essence of those who oppose him.
Mana Drain
AFFECTS: Unit
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DEBUFF: Yes
CHANNELED - Channels magical energy, taking mana and slowing enemies over time. If the enemy has no mana remaining, the slow is increased by 15%.
Can target allies to give them mana and movement speed at a 50% rate.
Prevents heroes from going invisible.
CHANNEL TIME: 5
MANA PER SECOND: 20 / 40 / 60 / 120
BREAK DISTANCE: 1100
MOVEMENT SLOW/BONUS: 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%
15 / 12 / 9 / 6
850
Aghanim's Shard
Causes Mana Drain to affect up to 2 additional enemies and increases break distance. Lion becomes Debuff Immune with 60% magic resistance while channeling.
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +10% Mana Drain Slow
Lesser magi are nothing more than a source of magical restoration for the Demon Witch.
Finger of Death
AFFECTS: Unit and area
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Rips at an enemy unit, trying to turn it inside-out, dealing massive damage to the target.
After using Finger of Death, Lion's hand becomes empowered, allowing him to use a cleaving melee attack with 250 range with bonus movement speed.
Finger of Death gains permanent bonus damage for it and the fist for each enemy Hero it or the fist kills.
The melee attack may be disabled by setting the ability to Alt Cast.
Finger of Death has a 0.25 delay before the damage is applied after the spell is cast, allowing certain abilities to avoid the damage.
Finger of Death only gains damage if the enemy hero dies within 3 seconds of being affected by Finger of Death.
DAMAGE: 600 / 725 / 850
DAMAGE PER KILL: 30
MELEE DURATION: 20
MELEE BONUS MOVE SPEED: 30
MELEE BONUS DAMAGE: 20 / 30 / 40
CLEAVE DAMAGE: 25%
CLEAVE STARTING WIDTH: 150
CLEAVE ENDING WIDTH: 350
CLEAVE DISTANCE: 650
110 / 70 / 30
200 / 400 / 600
900
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +20 Finger of Death Damage Per Kill
Patch 7.41
- Cooldown decreased from 120/80/40s to 110/70/30s
- Damage per kill decreased from 40 to 30
- Now has empowered melee attacks after the cast by default
- After using Finger of Death, Lion's hand becomes empowered, turning him into a melee hero with 250 attack range and 30 bonus movement speed. These melee attacks have 25% cleave and deal 20/30/40 bonus damage which increases with each Finger of Death kill. Enemy heroes that die within 3s after getting hit with these melee attacks (or from them) also provide bonus per kill damage. Melee form duration: 20s
- Ability can be toggled with right-click to disable the melee form
- Cleave area is a cone with 150 width that increases up to 350 at 650 distance
- Aghanim's Scepter now also increases melee cleave from 25% to 50% and duration from 20s to 30s
- Aghanim's Scepter no longer decreases cooldown
Lion's disfigured hand is also the source of his greatest power, capable of flooding victims with malefic force.
Talents
+600 Earth Spike cast range/travel distance
+ 1.8%
+250 AoE Hex
Earth Spike affects a 30 degree cone
+20 Finger of Death Damage Per Kill
+ 2.6%
+15% To Hell And Back Debuff/Spell Amp
+ 0.8%
-2.5s Hex Cooldown
+20 Movement Speed
+ 1.7%
+10% Mana Drain Slow
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Strategy
Use Earth Spike strategically so that you can get extra right-clicks in, deny a creep or secure the ranged creep.
You can skill Hex on level 2 to score a kill.
Hex and Mana Drain destroy basic illusions instantly.
Make a move whenever you have Finger of Death available.
When Finger of Death is on cooldown, use the time to farm your 
Blink Dagger.
Initiate on enemies with your long lasting disables, so your allies can follow-up for a kill.
Fight around good vision, so you can land multi-hero Earth Spikes.
Aghanim's Shard is good at countering illusion-based heroes.
Keep an eye on the mana pool of allies around you and top them up with Mana Drain if they are low on mana.
With the Essence Eater facet, position yourself to get an uninterrupted Mana Drain as a follow up on Earth Spike to harass enemy heroes from a distance.
Counter Strategy
Use fog of war to cancel Lion's Mana Drain
Opt for anti-magic damage items against Lion
Be aware of Lion's level 6 Finger of Death. 
Infused Raindrops might help you to survive the burst
Lotus Orb is an effective item against Lion as all of his spells are targetable
Look to target Lion in team fights as he provides a lot of control and magic damage against your cores and is also a very squishy hero
Be careful of Lion's Blink Dagger timing, you can usually track it , should probably be around 15-20minute mark depends on how good of a game he has.