Do you want to learn how to play Monkey King in Dota 2?
One of the most iconic heroes in Dota, Monkey King, is extremely popular without being one of the original heroes. His exceptional abilities and survivability make him an excellent Carry. Moreover, his vast potential for late-game scaling makes him a carry that few can counter. This is why it is vital to learn how to play Monkey King in Dota 2.
Apart from having an immense damage output that can wreck entire teams, he also has other worthy attributes. For one, Monkey King is elusive and can bamboozle enemies with his enhanced movement. In addition to this, his ability to move recklessly expands to trees as well. These positions allow him to scout enemy heroes effortlessly.
Besides being an insane dueling hero who can bring down most heroes in engagements, he also has team-fighting capabilities. His abilities also greatly impact large areas, making it easy for him to split battlefields. Another one of these attributes is his excellent attack range. This is a key reason to learn how to play Monkey King in Dota 2.
Due to his versatility and adaptability to most games, he can easily pair well with many allied heroes. Some of the heroes in this category are Mars, Magnus, Puck, Oracle, and Treant Protector. As for heroes with who he works well against, Drow Ranger, Faceless Void, and Alchemist are on the list. These heroes have no direct defenses against Monkey King.
Monkey King’s Abilities
His first ability, Boundless Strike, allows him to enlarge his staff and knock it down onto the ground. Doing so stuns and damages enemies in a single file of 1100 units. Apart from being in a line, it also affects enemies within 150 units of where he strikes his staff. The spell has a considerable cooldown of 22 seconds and consumes 100 mana per cast.
Tree Dance is the ability responsible for providing Monkey King with insane vision over the map. With this move, Monkey King leaps onto a tree and stands atop it. While he is on the tree, he gets bonus vision range. With a short cooldown, he can leap to another tree from the top of the one he is on. This allows him to move around effortlessly.
The second part of Tree Dance is Primal Spring. Using Primal Spring, Monkey King channels and leaps down from the tree that he is on top of. After channeling for a max of 1.6 seconds, he can deal 350 damage in a radius of 375 units. Enemies who Monkey King hits in this radius also experience a max movement speed low of 80% for four seconds.
Jingu Mastery is the ability responsible for making Monkey King so devastating in-game. Apart from just providing extra damage for his attacks, he also gets bonus Lifesteal that helps him sustain himself. To activate his stacks of Jingu Mastery, he needs to hit an enemy hero 4 times within 10 seconds. Lastly, the buff lasts for four hits or 35 seconds.
Next up is Mischief, an ability that allows Monkey King to transform himself into something around him. This can be anything from a tree, to a rune or a courier. Transforming using Mischief gives him damage immunity for 0.2 seconds.
How to Utilize his Abilities
The damage of Boundless Strike depends heavily on Monkey King’s own damage; thus, one needs to increase attack damage. Moreover, it is vital to layer one’s Jingu Mastery with Boundless Strike. This not only provides excess damage to his critical but also gives him an effective lifesteal. One can also use it to Farm effortlessly.
Tree Dance is a very versatile ability in what it allows Monkey King to achieve on the battlefield. Apart from just having a vision of what his enemies are doing, it allows him to initiate fights easily. Being in the trees at the right moment can allow him to spot enemy moves and weaknesses. It also helps him escape from dubious or unfortunate situations.
What many fail to realize about Primal Spring is that one can end the channeling for Primal Spring early. This helps Monkey King move from one point to another extremely fast. Not only does this lead to easier initiations, but it also helps him move around the map. Primal Spring does solid AoE damage and thus, can be of use as a tool to use while Farming.
To maximize the impact one has with their Jingu Mastery, he should rush to get hits on enemies first. This allows him to be confident in fighting on the front lines and know how much he can extend. Another thing worth noting is that this ability is beyond potent in the Laning Stage. This is because of its unbelievable attack damage bonuses.
Though players might underrate the usage of Mischief, it is actually an incredibly useful ability. Firstly, it helps Monkey King sneak past enemies as a courier. One can also utilize it to set traps for enemies. However, the most important use for this ability is to defend himself against projectiles that enemies might launch.
Monkey King’s Ultimate Ability
His ultimate ability, Wukong’s Command, is quite special and can be the key to annihilating enemies. This spell grants Monkey King the power to create a ring of soldiers that spread around him. Able to move inside this ring, Monkey King also gains bonus armor of up to 24 units. These soldiers attack any enemies that step inside the ring.
Spread out over a large radius of over 1000 units, these soldiers attack enemies over a big area. The ability lasts for 13 seconds. However, it does end if Monkey King steps out of the Ring. Soldiers in these rings damage only heroes and have Monkey King’s damage for their own. They have the potential to decimate entire enemies.
The best use for this ability is to split the enemy fighting field, helping one’s own team kill heroes. Moreover, one can also use it when they step up the high ground to push towers. This ability is truly a key reason to learn how to play Monkey King in Dota 2.
Item Build
For his items, as a very aggressive Core hero, he needs to build heavy damage items from the start. Initially, he can look to build the Echo Sabre or even the Maelstorm if he needs help in Farming. Later, he can focus on more damage items like the Desolator. After this, he can pursue an Abyssal Blade or Eye of Skadi for tankiness, and potential disables.
Laning Stage and Gameplay
Monkey King is usually quite aggressive in the Lane and can easily punish any heroes that step up to harass him. Each time an enemy steps up, he can stack Jingu Mastery on enemies, and bully them. Furthermore, he can abuse enemies with his long attack range. This helps him Lasthit easily and ensure he can Farm effectively in the Lane.
Monkey King can truly be a menace if one learns to use his properly. In the right hands, there are almost no counters to him, and he can easily annihilate enemy teams. Learning to utilize his abilities properly is the key to mastering him. This article contains all the knowledge one needs on how to play Monkey King in Dota 2.
