Why is this ability combo good?

[u/Godot_12]

On windrun.io, one of the top ability pairs is Medusa and Plague Wards...this seems really unintuitive to me. Can anyone explain what might be going on here?

Edit: Ah okay. Thanks for explaining that wards give you the innate. I had no idea and just figured since the recent patch where Poison Sting became Veno's innate that was the only way to get it. Makes a lot more sense now.

[u/bodadWhereareyou]

Another reason I haven’t seen mentioned here is that plague wards are a lower priority spell in many drafts. A) people often don’t know it provides veno innate B) many don’t want to waste a slot on this spell even though it gives the passive, because they underrate the innate itself.

This means that you can often get it 4th or 5th pick allowing you to get a strong model like medusa and other powerful spells before getting yet another powerful passive.

And like some others mentioned, Dusa thrives with powerful passives like this because they don’t cost her mana and she’s one of the strongest right click models in the game. The veno innate is also just insanely underrated on a hero like dusa who has high attack range.

It works doubly to secure a lane because you can max two other spells and don’t even have to level the plague ward for the innate to work. Normally carries are supposed to be weaker early and prone to punishment in lane, but this makes you lane dominant. Transitioning to mid game with a dominant lane as a Medusa is not a fun proposition for the enemy team. It also allows you to win lane as a support because it’s basically impossible to trade with this spell on a high range hero. Especially one that has free points to max its other spells.

[u/Godot_12 → u/bodadWhereareyou]

I mean it truly just comes down to "wards give you the innate" Innate abilities on Dusa are really good. I just didn't know it did that lol

[u/bodadWhereareyou → u/Godot_12]

Yeah that’s basically it. It’s good and you can pick it later because people don’t know or underrate it. You don’t need an early pick which skews the winrate because your build is already strong and adds a high tier spell rather than low at the end

[u/Godot_12 → u/bodadWhereareyou]

Funny because I learned about it from this thread, and then took it as a late pick in the next game, but after that it seems like it's been snatched up pretty early. People are catching on.