Arena of Valor (AoV) - Liliana Hero Guide

A guide for Arena of Valor's Liliana, the Elegant. Liliana is a powerful mage who can blast enemies from afar before leaping forward with her fox form to finish off enemies up close.


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Arena of Valor Liliana

Overview

Strengths

  • Extremely Mobile (after level 4) – Liliana has two different mobility abilities, each rather low in cooldown. The use of both together allows Liliana to rush around the battlefield, dodging enemy fire while keeping targets in range.
  • Large Arsenal – Rather than the three abilities available to most heroes, Liliana has five due to her ultimate. In addition, Leap of the Fox unlocks a sixth whenever it strikes an enemy. This large suite of abilities gives Liliana more choices in fights than any other hero in the game.
  • High Burst Damage – Not only does Liliana have a large suite of abilities, they all deal high amounts of damage. Chaining them together allows Liliana to rip through enemies’ health. Reiki Shot alone has a large base damage and a whopping 2.0 AP scaling, enough to single-handedly destroy squishy targets.

Weaknesses

  • Extremely Weak to Crowd Control– Liliana’s ability to survive fights comes from her mobility. If stopped, she will be a very easy target for the enemy team.
  • Difficult – While Liliana draws a lot of strength from her large ability pool, it also makes her much harder to master. At any given time, two of her abilities will be unavailable without first using her ultimate. In addition, she switches between melee and ranged attacks depending on her form. A great deal of situational awareness is necessary to master the nine-tailed fox.

Hero Basic Strategy

Laning Strategy

  • Start the game cautiously. Your human form abilities can be a bit difficult to land while your opponent is behind their minion wave and you lack any of the mobility that you will benefit from later in game.
  • After gaining Unpredictable, start to ramp up your aggression. Rotate to other lanes to gank, starting your combo off from afar before sweeping in with Unpredictable to finish them off. Work with your jungler to keep the pressure high in lanes.
  • Transition into team fighting as the game moves forward. Enemies will be getting stronger and harder to burst down, so you will want to wait for team fights as to avoid getting caught or counter ganked.

Level Progression

  • Select Shining Light first for wave clear, but prioritize Blinding Light thereafter. While lower in damage than Shining Light, Blinding Light lowers in cooldown with each additional rank and changes into a movement ability and extreme nuke when in fox form.
  • Shining Light is very useful early game due to its higher base damage. In addition, it can strike enemies behind minions and gives Liliana’s normal attacks a damaging buff when it lands. Generally, you will be laning in the middle lane, so you won’t be getting the additional effects that Shining Light offers beyond its damage.
    • Players who prefer poking for extended periods rather than going for the kill in fox form can prioritize Shining Light for increased poke damage
  • Just like other heroes, Liliana should level her ultimate whenever possible. Its damage, buffs, and utility are far too good to pass up on.

Battle Strategy

  • Solo Fights:
    • If Starting in Human Form: Start the fight by quickly comboing Shining Light and Blinding Light for some early damage. Draw closer to the enemy and jump on them with Unpredictable to close the remaining distance. If the enemy is close to death, rush on them with Leap of the Fox and finish them off with Reiki Shot. If they still have a considerable amount of health, rough them up with Foxtrot and follow up with an enhanced normal attack before finishing them off with Leap of the Fox and Reiki Shot.
    • If Starting in Fox Form: Jump on the enemy with Leap of the Fox and immediately follow with Foxtrot. Continue your assault with an empowered normal attack before blasting away the enemy’s health with Reiki Shot. This can take some time to fire, so pursue the enemy afterward with Unpredictable. Now back in human form, finish off your prey with a quick chain of Blinding Light and Shining Light.
  • Team Fights:
    • If Starting in Human Form: Your method of attack can be much more varied in team fights than when bursting down solitary targets. Keep some distance from the enemy and hit as many as possible with your Blinding Light and Shining Light abilities. After hitting two with Blinding Light, use Unpredictable to rush past the front lines to attack the enemy damage dealers. Attack normally in between using your abilities, as this will give your human form abilities some time to cool down while also capitalizing on Blinding Light’s attack bonus. Alternatively, immediately using Foxtrot and an empowered normal attack after changing will allowing to quickly deal out the entirety of the empowered damage. Finish off your target by striking them with Leap of the Fox and a devastating Reiki Shot. As soon as Unpredictable is ready, switch back to human form and start the cycle again.
    • If Starting in Fox Form: Liliana can act as a decent brawler by staying in fox form but finds much more power by regularly switching between her two forms. Jump past the front lines towards squishy enemies with Leap of the Fox and start to damage them with Foxtrot and an empowered normal attack. Follow up with Reiki Shot to burst away a large portion of their health. Use Unpredictable to put some distance in between yourself and your target before finishing them off with Shining Light and Blinding Light. You are much more vulnerable in human form than in fox form, so if this does not kill your enemy try to retreat until you can use Unpredictable once more.
  • Escaping Fights: Unpredictable and Leap of the Fox are invaluable tools in getting away from enemies. Dash away from pursuers and over walls as you make your way to safety. Blinding Light can also be used to stun the pursuing enemies if there aren’t any minions between yourself and the chasing enemies.
    • The order of the abilities you want to use to optimally escape (or engage, for that matter) depends on which form you’re in. If in Human form, use Blinding light to stun, then Unpredictable and Leap of the Fox to double dash away. If in Fox form, use Leap of the Fox then Unpredictable, followed by Blinding Light if they’re still on your tail.
  • Moving Around the Battlefield: Liliana can move around the battlefield faster in fox form, but is more lethal when starting in human form. If possible, travel in fox form, leaving Leap of the Fox available if enemies may be nearby. Switch to human form a few seconds before a fight begins to get ready, or engage immediately in fox form if short on time.

Abilities

Arena of Valor Fox Form Fox FormPassive – Human Form grants ranged normal attack. Fox Form increases armor and magic defense by 20 (+5 per level) and movement speed by 30. Normal attacks in Fox Form deal (1.0 AD) (+0.2 AP)ˀ  magic damage.
  • Liliana’s human form abilities and fox form abilities have separate cooldowns, continuing to cool down when in the opposite form. Regularly alternate between the two forms so that you always have something ready for use.
Arena of Valor Shining Light Shining Light – Liliana focuses her magic and deals 500/560/620/680/740/800 (+0.7 AP) magic damage to enemies in the target area. If the ability hits 2 or more enemy heroes, then normal attacks are enhanced to deal additional magic damage equal to 5% (+1 for every 120 ability power) of the target’s maximum HP for the next 4 seconds.
Replaced by Foxtrot when in Fox Form.
  • The magic damage added to normal attacks carries over to fox form. Switching to fox form will prevent the extra damage from being wasted on Liliana’s puny human form attacks.
  • Shining Light has a higher base damage than Blinding Light, but scales worse. Choosing it early can thereby sometimes be a better choice than Blinding Light.
Foxtrot – Liliana attacks the target with her tails, dealing 300/360/420/480/540/600 (+0.5 AP) magic damage. Her next normal attack deals (0.5 AD) (+0.5 AP) magic damage magical damage 3 times. She also dashes forward.
Replaced by Shining Light in Human form.
  • Liliana’s empowered attack has a short dash effect similar to Arthur’s Righteous Charge. Use this to help close in on targets without using one of your dashes.
  • The initial instance of the ability does not have to successfully hit anything for Liliana to benefit from the empowered normal attack. Use this to speed up the destruction of towers.
  • The empowered attacks after Foxtrot benefit more from ability power than Liliana’s normal attacks in Fox form, so use it as often as possible.
Arena of Valor Blinding Light Blinding Light – Liliana fires a magic missile that explodes upon reaching an enemy target, dealing 300/330/360/390/420/450 (+0.75 AP) magic damage to nearby enemies and stunning them for 0.75 seconds.
Replaced by Leap of the Fox in Fox Form.
  • The stun from Blinding Light is a good way to set up Shining Light.
  • Be careful when aiming Blinding Light, as minions and monsters can intercept the projectile.
Arena of Valor Leap of the Fox Leap of the Fox – Liliana leaps in the target direction, dealing 300/330/360/390/420/450 (+0.65 AP) magic damage to enemies along the path. The ability becomes Reiki Shot and is immediately usable if an enemy hero is hit, firing Reiki Shots at the enemy hero and dealing 1000/1100/1200/1300/1400/1500 (+2 AP) magic damage to the target and nearby enemies.
Replaced by Blinding Light in Human Form.
  • Do not use Leap of the Fox too carelessly, as Reiki Shot is a very powerful tool that you won’t want unavailable in fights. Only use it as a disengage when planning to fully flea the fight.
Arena of Valor Reiki Shot Reiki Shot – Liliana fires Reiki Shots at an enemy hero, dealing 1000/1100/1200/1300/1400/1500 (+2.0) magic damage to the target and surrounding enemies.
  • Reiki Shot has a long wind up, so be careful when casting it. Getting stunned or killed mid-cast will prevent it from firing.
  • Reiki Shot moves rather slowly, so is best used on enemies who aren’t already fleeing.
  • You have several seconds to cast Reiki Shot when it is available, so feel free to use Foxtrot or attack normally if the timing isn’t yet right.
Arena of Valor Unpredictable Unpredictable – Liliana charges in the target direction and enters Fox Form, dealing 250/375/500 (+0.55 AP) magic damage to enemies along the path and slowing them by 30% for 2 seconds. Liliana cannot be targeted while charging, and gains 120 armor and magic defense as well as 80/200/320 ability power for 2.5 seconds after entering Fox Form.

Unpredictable (Fox Form): Liliana teleports to the target location and returns to Human form, leaving magic circles behind at both the origin and destination, and reducing the movement speed of enemies inside the circles by 30%. The circles explode after 1 second, dealing 250/375/500 (+0.55 AP) magic damage. Liliana cannot be targeted while teleporting, and gains 80/200/320 ability power for 2.5 seconds after entering Human Form.

  • As Liliana is untargetable when charging, she can charge into projectiles to avoid being damaged or affected by them.
  • You generally want to move towards your target when changing into fox form and away from your target when changing into human form.

How to Counter Liliana

  • Control, control, control. Heroes that rely on chaining abilities are destroyed by stuns and silences. Capture Liliana with a bit of crowd control and burst her down.
  • Stick with the team. Liliana is much harder to deal with alone than with teammates, so avoid split pushing or wandering around alone when she’s up.

Item Builds

Durable Assassin
Arena of Valor Orb of the MagiOrb of the Magi Arena of Valor Gilded GreavesGilded Greaves Arena of Valor BoomstickBoomstick
Arena of Valor Hecate's DiademHecate’s Diadem Arena of Valor Rhea's BlessingRhea’s Blessing Arena of Valor Holy of HoliesHoly of Holies
Durable Assassin
Arena of Valor Orb of the MagiOrb of the Magi Arena of Valor Gilded GreavesGilded Greaves Arena of Valor BoomstickBoomstick Arena of Valor Hecate's DiademHecate’s Diadem Arena of Valor Rhea's BlessingRhea’s Blessing Arena of Valor Holy of HoliesHoly of Holies

More Liliana Item Builds

Hero Arcana

  • Liliana can benefit greatly from a typical mage arcana set. Violate, Devour, and Hex all work together to help the mage amp up her abilities and push through enemy defenses.
  • Alternatively, taking Violate, Guerilla, and Flurry will give the nine tailed fox some added effectiveness in her fox form by way of some additional attack speed as well as a wonderful 10% movement speed increase.

Hero Counters

Arena of Valor Tank Tank

Liliana will need a rather heavy lead to be able to burst down tanks. Her best bet is her Reiki Shot as many tanks will lack the speed to outrun the high damage projectile. She can also use her mobility to dodge any crowd control that they might try to cast on her. Beware, though, as Liliana will be a quick kill when stunned.

Arena of Valor Warrior Warrior

Warriors will be easier targets to burst down than tanks given their lower durability. In addition, many will lack the hard control that is more common with tanks and it will thereby be easier to keep moving around. That said, they can still build themselves rather tanky so warriors shouldn’t be targeted before other, squishier targets.

Arena of Valor Assassin Assassin

Liliana can be vulnerable to any assassin able to get their combo off. Build tankier items like The Aegis or Holy of Holies if an assassin is getting out of control. Use your suite of movement abilities to distance yourself from any who jump on you and burst them down from a distance. Primarily glass cannons themselves, assassins won’t be able to stand up well to Liliana’s burst.

Arena of Valor Mage Mage

Pick off mages before they can hit you. Many mages hold control abilities which can stop Liliana in her tracks. Additionally, many will have the damage to burst Liliana down before she can contribute to a fight. Proceed with caution and don’t get caught.

Arena of Valor Marksman Marksman

Easy prey. Marksmen should be your first target in team fights. Taking their damage away from their team will make the fight much easier. A good marksman will often travel with their teammates, however, so be wary of getting counter ganked when attacking or lured into a trap.

Arena of Valor Support Support

Support heroes will be a big nuisance to Liliana, their control abilities a huge tool for shutting Liliana down. In addition, effective supports will stick close to teammates and thereby be hard to take down alone. Pick them off whenever you can, but focus on damage dealers first.

▼ Hero Class Guides
List of Item Builds
AoV WarriorWarrior AoV TankTank AoV AssassinAssassin
AoV MageMage AoV MarksmanMarksman AoV SupportSupport

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