How to Play Legion Commander in Dota 2 [Ultimate Guide]

Legion Commander is one of the most popular Dota 2 heroes you’ll see in the lower MMR brackets. She’s Dota’s definition of an independent woman – she can sustain herself and also scale very well into the game. If you’re looking to carry games on your own, I’ll teach you how to play Legion Commander in this guide. 

Legion Commander Overview

Legion Commander is primarily played in the Dota 2 offlane role, as she checks most boxes required. She’s a strong laner who loves to brawl, and also has initiating tools of her own.

Her iconic ultimate ability is Duel, allowing her to force an enemy into a fight to the death. Winning a Duel grants Legion Commander permanent bonus damage, which is what helps her infinitely scale into the game.

She’s typically played differently from your traditional offlaners. Instead of stacking aura items for the team, Legion Commander prefers playing for herself, buying items to help her secure these Duel victories. So, she is usually played as more of a semi-carry rather than a utility buyer. 

How to REALLY Use Legion Commander’s Abilities

Legion Commander isn’t too difficult of a hero once you get the hang of her abilities. Let’s go over each one and how you can use them to their full potential. 

Overwhelming Odds (Q)

Overwhelming Odds is Legion Commander’s nuke ability. She calls down spears from the sky that land in a circle around her, dealing damage to all enemy units nearby and granting her bonus attack speed.

The most important detail here is that the damage increases for every unit hit within the radius. This includes creeps and heroes, with heroes increasing the damage at a higher rate. So, if you cast this on top of Broodmother as well as all her Spiderlings, you’re going to deal a crap ton of damage. 

Overwhelming Odds serves as a great ability for trading against enemy heroes in the Dota 2 early game. You’re dealing damage to them while also getting bonus attack speed to deal more damage. It can also be used as a farming tool, though it’s not the most efficient option due to Legion Commander’s limited mana pool. 

Press the Attack (W)

Press the Attack is a point-target buff that can be cast on Legion Commander herself or on allied heroes. It grants the target bonus movement speed and health regen for five seconds, which is pretty neat.

However, there’s more. What really makes it strong is that Press the Attack also applies a strong dispel and cleanse. This means that if your teammate is stunned or is suffering other debuffs, you can use Press the Attack to bail them out. It even works against ultimate abilities like Batrider’s Flaming Lasso, Bane’s Fiend’s Grip, and Magnus’ Reverse Polarity – you name it. 

You can use Press the Attack on yourself to stay healthy, but the real highlight is how impactful it can be for saving teammates in clutch moments. 

Moment of Courage (E)

Legion Commander’s third ability is Moment of Courage, which is a passive spell. When she gets attacked a number of times, she will automatically issue a counter-attack to her target. She deals damage and also grants herself a high amount of bonus lifesteal on the hit. 

This is what makes Legion Commander one of the best man-fighting heroes in the game. It’s similar to Axe’s Counter Helix, in the sense that you actually want enemies to hit you because it makes you stronger. 

Moment of Courage also works on creeps, which is why Legion Commander does a great job in sustaining herself while farming in the jungle. 

Duel (R)

And finally, we arrive at her ultimate ability – Duel. Duel is hands-down one of the most unique abilities in the game. Legion Commander casts her ultimate on an enemy hero, forcing them into a fight to the death against her.

In the Duel duration, Legion Commander and her enemy are locked in place and forced to attack each other. Neither can use items, and the enemy cannot use abilities. However, Legion Commander is free to cast spells during Duel.

The Duel doesn’t end until either one of the heroes dies, or the duration runs out. If either hero dies, the winner will get permanent bonus damage for the rest of the game. That being said, the main goal for Legion Commander players is to win as many Duels as possible to stack that juicy permanent damage, and to lose as few as possible so that the enemy heroes don’t get buffed.

Duel ties her kit together really well. You force enemies to attack you, encouraging Moment of Courage procs, and your other abilities give you tools such as healing and attack speed to help win these battles. 

Though Legion Commander is favored to win Duels on paper, it’s important to remember that teammates can interfere. Heroes outside the Duel can use spells, stuns, or items on either hero, so it’s vital to assess the situation before you go in. This is generally why Legion Commander prefers looking for solo pickoffs where the enemy team can’t help the Duel target. 

Legion Commander’s Aghanim’s Shard and Scepter Upgrades

Like every other hero in the game, Legion Commander is also equipped with Aghanim’s Shard and Scepter upgrades. Let’s quickly go over them and see if they’re actually worth picking up.

Aghanim’s Shard Upgrade: Upgraded Overwhelming Odds

Aghanim’s Shard makes Overwhelming Odds have a larger radius. On top of the radius, it also gives Legion Commander a damage barrier based on how much damage the spell did. So, the more units in the effect, the more damage, and the bigger the damage barrier. Overall, it’s not the best Aghanim’s Shard in Dota 2, but it’s pretty solid.

Aghanim’s Scepter Upgrade: Upgraded Press the Attack

Legion Commander’s Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade turns Press the Attack into an area of effect spell, meaning she can cast it on multiple allies. It always affects Legion Commander herself when used, even if she isn’t in the radius. The Scepter upgrade also automatically triggers Press the Attack when she wins a Duel. 

Overall, it’s a pretty meh upgrade. AoE Press the Attack means she can dispel multiple allies, but it might not be worth 4,200 gold. 

Best Legion Commander Ability Build

The ability build on Legion Commander is almost the same in every game. Here’s how you should level up your abilities.

The first spell to max out is definitely Overwhelming Odds. This spell makes Legion Commander a constant threat in the lane, giving her kill potential and the ability to stand her ground and fight. Next on the list is Moment of Courage, as it helps her deal more damage to enemy heroes and creeps. This helps her farm more efficiently and hit her item timings. 

Press the Attack is a very useful ability, but you don’t necessarily need to max it out first. It will be the last spell to work on.

Best Item Build for Legion Commander

Now, let’s talk about her item builds. As I touched on earlier, Legion Commander usually buys items that focus on herself, giving her the edge to win Duels and farm that permanent damage. Here’s what you will typically buy on Legion Commander:

Early Game Items

Legion Commander is one of the stronger laners in the game. She can trade efficiently thanks to Moment of Courage and bully her lane, which is why I highly recommend investing in stat-based items. 

When playing her, you typically want these three in your inventory:

• Bracer
• Magic Wand
• Phase Boots

Phase Boots makes you a constant threat in the lane. The bonus movement speed lets you poke at the enemy Dota 2 carry, while the added damage and armor helps you fight. 

Core Items

Legion Commander’s core items are almost always the same every game. You almost always want these two items:

• Blade Mail: Since Legion Commander forces enemies to attack her in Duel, Blade Mail is perfect for that classic “why you hitting yourself?” playstyle. It gives her that much-needed extra damage during Duel and is also a decent farming tool. 
• Blink Dagger: Duel can only be cast in melee range, so Blink Dagger is required to close the gap. It lets you surprise enemies with an instant Blink + Duel combo, giving them zero time to react.

Most Legion Commanders will buy Blade Mail first, because they lack early game damage to kill enemies in the duration of a Duel. However, if you’re paired with heroes who can dish out followup damage during Duel, like Invoker with Sun Strike or Skywrath Mage with Mystic Flare, you can go for Blink Dagger first. 

Progression Items

Once you’ve gotten the combination of Blink Dagger and Blade Mail, these are the two most common items to get next:

• Black King Bar: You only have up to five seconds in a Duel, so you need to make sure every second counts. You don’t want to get stunned or disarmed in the middle of a Duel, which is why the Dota 2 Black King Bar is usually necessary. It ensures you don’t get interrupted or die in the middle of a Duel. 
• Assault Cuirass: This item gives everything Legion Commander wants. On top of the bonus attack speed, Legion Commander also gets bonus armor, and, at the same time, reduces the enemy’s armor. It’s just a very solid item on this hero and one you buy in 9 out of 10 games. 

Luxury Items

Once we step into luxury items territory, you have multiple options to choose from. Here are some common ones you’ll see:

• Silver Edge: On top of Blink Dagger, Silver Edge can also help Legion Commander sneak around the map and catch enemies with surprise Duels.
• Monkey King Bar: If you’re playing against heroes with evasion or Butterfly, Monkey King Bar is a good choice to make sure Legion Commander can take these enemies down on her own.
• Daedalus: More damage never hurts. If you feel like you’re lacking damage to finish enemies off in one Duel duration, Daedalus could be what you’re missing.

Aside from these items, you can also get things like Linken’s Sphere, Bloodthorn, Nullifier, Aghanim’s Scepter, or Disperser.

How to Play Legion Commander by Phase

Legion Commander’s playstyle is pretty straightforward. You can follow the same game plan almost every game. Below, I’ll give you an idea of how you can play Legion Commander in every phase. 

Early Game: Try Dominating Your Lane

Unless you’re laning against heroes like Ursa or Troll Warlord, Legion Commander is generally a pretty strong laner. Look to trade hits with the enemy carry whenever possible, knowing you can lifesteal with Moment of Courage. Make sure you’re buying items like Bracer and Magic Wand to keep yourself healthy in lane.

If you’re having a hard time, there’s no shame in heading to the jungle. Legion Commander is quite efficient at clearing out neutral camps in the early game, giving you a way to get back in the game. 

Mid Game: Start Building Up Duel Damage

The mid game usually starts when you have Blink Dagger and Blade Mail online. This is your powerspike, and when you can start looking for reliable kills. Take a moment to look at the enemy lineup and assess which heroes you can solo kill with what you have.

When you’re farming jungle camps, make sure you’re farming close to the lanes. The idea is to prey on enemy heroes who show up to farm the wave. Try looking for as many isolated targets as possible and start raking in that Duel damage.

If you can’t kill enemy heroes on your own, you can smoke up with a teammate or two and form a kill squad.

It’s very important to keep up the pace with these Duels, as Legion Commander is a very slow farmer compared to most other heroes. She relies on getting hero kills, not creep kills. If you don’t get any action for a while, your hero falls off a cliff. 

Late Game: Carry the Game from the Offlane

Once you have more items and Level 3 Duel, you can now farm 30 Duel damage for each victory. Just keep looking for pickoffs on isolated targets. Legion Commander actually enjoys going for 1v1s rather than full-blown teamfights.

However, you’re eventually going to have to join fights. Make sure you’re picking good targets to use Duel on. The best targets are usually enemy cores, like the carry or mid-laner. But, if the enemy team has saving supports like Shadow Demon or Oracle that can mess with your Duel, you might have to switch target priorities and get rid of those supports instead. 

Once you’ve built up around 300 or more Duel damage, you pretty much have a built-in, permanent Divine Rapier under your belt. You can take objectives quickly and become more and more favored to win future Duels.