Lyra. I will first cover the basics, and then move on to some advanced tactics every
Lyra should know. Before we start, I would like to make it clear that this is a guide on playing
Lyra Roam/Protector and not
Lyra lane. Lyra is a captain that can change the course of a teamfight. However, this is both positively, and negatively. A good
Lyra can save a doomed teamfight, while a bad one will end up being the cause of a doomed teamfight. Her flexibility causes her to be one of the most viable picks in 4.0, and if you’re like me, you’ll have a ton of fun playing her, while carrying your team to countless victories.
Principle Arcanum - This is one of the most powerful heroic perks in the game, however it is difficult to fully understand, manage, and use correctly. In essence, every time you basic attack anything you have the opportunity to follow up with a unique heavy attack. Simply staying still after using a basic attack will activate the heavy attack and its effects. The heavy attack will apply a temporary slow to the target, which is based off of
Lyra’s maximum health. Because of this, until you get your first few utility items, this slow will be almost unnoticeable. Once you pick up your first utility item, the slow will become much more significant, and will only get deadlier and deadlier as the game goes on. However this deadly ability comes at a cost, energy. Your abilities, including your heroic perk, consume quite a bit of energy, and can be a problem if you do not know how to properly manage your total energy. I will talk about energy management later on. Imperial Sigil - This ability takes up your A slot. It is an ability that is easy to understand, but difficult to use. Upon activation, you can select where to place a sigil. This sigil heals you and your teammates, damages enemies, provides a short burst of speed to teammates, and even provides vision. Let’s start with the direct effects. When you place down your sigil, it will immediately heal allied heroes, and damage enemy heroes over a period of time. The more allied/enemy heroes the sigil touches, the quicker the sigil’s lifetime will run out. The sigil’s lifespan can be monitored by a “health bar” that is seen above it. Once placed, you can choose to either immediately detonate it, or let its “health bar” run out. It is important to note that if you detonate the sigil, it will only heal 30% of its remaining lifespan. Thus, if you need to heal your teammates, it is recommended to let the sigil slowly heal him/her, as the total heal output will be much greater. Another effect of
Imperial Sigil is that once it detonates, it will provide a temporary speed boost. This is speed boost can be used in a variety of ways, such as, chasing down enemies, helping teammates run from enemies, helping teammates move to different objectives faster, etc. The final use of
Imperial Sigil is that it provides vision, to anything in its radius. This is a very situational effect, and one way I commonly use it is to provide vision while attacking Blackclaw or Ghostwing. Make sure to take overdrive on this ability as it gives you bonus range, which is immensely useful. Bright Bulwark - This is your B ability, and upon activation, you will spend a split second casting a walled zone around yourself. It is incredibly powerful when timed correctly, and positioned correctly. Any enemy hero that tries to enter are damaged, as well as receiving the following effects.
Gauntlet,
X-Retsu,
Path of the Ronin,
Yummy Catnip Frenzy, and
Prime Directive. This is an excellent ability to stop dive compositions, and can save teammates, as well as yourself, like no other captain can. In addition to this, the ability to slow enemies is very useful in teamfights, as it can help your teammates gain a better position. Paired with
Principle Arcanum’s slow, you can cause enemies to almost cease moving completely! I would absolutely recommend taking the overdrive of this ability, as it not only decreases the cooldown significantly, but also the duration of the slow. Another important thing to note, is that CC abilities can result in canceling
Bright Bulwark. This doesn’t happen often, but is something worth noting. Arcane Passage - This is
Lyra’s ultimate ability and is an ability that can win a teamfight, or lose one, in a blink of an eye. It takes a significant amount of time to learn how to use this ability properly, so don’t be discouraged if you mess up in your first few games. That being said, read on, and read carefully! Arcane Passage, you will teleport to the selected location, and place two portal on either end. This creates a two way portal that allows all allied and enemy heroes to travel to the other end. The portal has a lifetime of 8.5 seconds, before it will be destroyed. Once any hero, including Lyra uses the teleport, he/she must wait another 4.5 seconds before being able to use it again. Thus, if you use the teleport in the first 4 seconds of its lifetime, you will have the opportunity to use it once more. In addition to this, you can prevent enemy heroes from using one end of the teleport by placing down
Bright Bulwark. There are two ways you can use this. One, you can place
Bright Bulwark and then use
Arcane Passage, which will prevent enemy heroes from following you. This is useful when you’re trying to help you and your teammates escape. Secondly, you can also use your passage as an initiation for a teamfight. If you do this, use your passage, and then use your
Bright Bulwark as this will prevent enemies from both escaping, and have direct access to your backline carries. However, if you do not have direct communication with your teammates, I would not recommend using your passage as an initiation. If your teammates are even a split second late, disaster can follow, and you may lose the teamfight. Arcane Passage is by using it to get behind enemy lines, and preventing them from retreating. To this, the second I see my teammates obtaining the upper hand in a teamfight, I teleport behind enemy carries, and use my
Bright Bulwark. This not only slows them, but also prevents them from using any movement abilities that may be used as an escape. It is important to teleport behind enemies or else two consequences will follow. You will take excess damage and may end up dying, and, you will not be able to slow down enemies twice. Remember, when you cast
Bright Bulwark enemies that enter will be slowed, and when they try to leave, they will be slowed again. As a result, using
Bright Bulwark on top of enemies will only slow them once, when they try to exit. Lastly, when using
Arcane Passage in this method, make sure you aren’t leaving any of your backline carries to die. If you teleport behind enemies to slow them, an assassin may dive your carries and kill them. So make sure when you teleport, you check your team’s situation. FINALLY, there is another tactic that you can use before diving the backline that can help ensure the teamfight is successfully won. You can either place your
Imperial Sigil, or use your
War Treads to help your team dive the enemy. When using the
Imperial Sigil method, place it in front of your teammates, and then teleport behind enemy lines. Then, once you’ve teleported behind enemy lines, you can re-activate
Imperial Sigil and provide the speed boost. However, this is incredibly difficult as you will either need to communicate with your teammates effectively, or time everything perfectly. Hence, a simpler method is to use
War Treads a split second before teleporting behind enemy lines, as the 2 second, team-wide, speed boost will help your team get a better engage.
Protector Contract. There are certain situations where this will vary, but extremely rarely, and only in specific team compositions. Otherwise, always build
Protector Contract as your first item, as this is a beautiful item for
Lyra to start out with. For starters, not only does it give you the equivalent of two
Oakheart, for the same price, but it will also give you the opportunity to provide a 150 barrier to your teammates. The barrier is incredibly easy to activate as
Lyra, due to you being a ranged protector. In addition to this, you can build into a Rook’s Decree later on.
Crucible. This item provides an excellent amount of health, which results in more healing being output from your
Imperial Sigil. Next up, I would recommend the standard
Fountain of Renewal. However, there are certain situations where I would recommend getting
Fountain of Renewal before
Crucible. This is because of the 40 shield and armor
Fountain of Renewal gives. If you feel that the bonus armor would be more beneficial than extra health early game, pick
Fountain of Renewal. Otherwise, go with
Crucible, but keep in mind you are sacrificing a team wide
Reflex Block. Your third item should always be
Capacitor Plate, as this increases your mid to late game healing. Your final items should be picked from the following: (keep in mind better/more useful items will be at the top, while extremely situational items will be put towards the bottom)
War Treads Rook's Decree Slumbering Husk Clockwork Metal Jacket Atlas Pauldron Celestial Shroud Lyra, except for when a teamfight is over. If you start to reach this point, you may be unable to properly use your kit in a teamfight. In addition to this, if you are in a teamfight and you run out of energy, you will be fairly useless. To prevent this here are two tips that may prove helpful. Imperial Sigil unless your teammates are below 75% health, or you are at max energy. Principle Arcanum against enemy heroes. Don’t use it against minions, as this is not only a waste of energy as you do extremely small amounts of damage, but also because this is your laner’s job. Bright Bulwark - When first playing
Lyra, it may seem almost impossible to cancel abilities such as
Afterburn, but with practice, you will be able to predict and effectively cancel abilities these abilities. If you have time, try to have a friend practice with you. Tell your friend to go
Koshka, and repetitive use
Yummy Catnip Frenzy. The reason why you want to use
Koshka, is because her ultimate takes a bit of time to cast, and will give you a few extra moments to react. Once you can do this consistently, tell your friend to use
Kensei and use his ult, as this also has a fairly long cast time. And you get the idea, being able to block abilities with
Bright Bulwark is something that comes purely from practice and repetition. It’s perfectly fine if you are unable to do so in your first few games as
Lyra.
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