
Legion Commander Dota 2 Guide – Duel anyone without fear in 7.19
Legion Commander is a core strength hero who excels at surviving engagements and turning them in around in her favour. She is very mobile with high movement speed and a Blink Dagger and possesses a powerful initiation and lockdown spell in the form of Duel. Her skills make her very strong in the mid game, and the stacking damage from Duel gives her potential to be a potent late game carry.
Her item build isn’t very flexible because there are certain items which give her very large power spikes and are very strong in every game. She relies on gaining many stacks of duel damage in the early and mid game to snowball into the late game. When she begins to gain lots of damage through successful ganks, she and her team begin to gain lots of momentum, gaining map control and pressing their advantage even further.
Legion Commander is somewhat item dependent, but she can do quite a lot with just a Blink Dagger and Blade Mail. However, if she has a poor early and mid game, she may struggle to have a larger impact in the late game.

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Legion Commander Item build
Starting Items
- Quelling Blade
- Stout Shield
- Tango
- Healing Salve
- Enchanted Mango
- Iron Branch
Early Game Items
- Power Treads
- Phase Boots
- Magic Wand
- Soul Ring
- Blink Dagger
Mid Game Items
- Blade Mail
- Shadow Blade
- Black King Bar
Late Game Items
- Assault Cuirass
- Heaven’s Halberd
- Desolator
- Daedalus
- Heart of Tarrasque
Situational Items
- Desolator
- Armlet of Mordiggian
- Aghanim’s Scepter
- Silver Edge
- Linken’s Sphere
- Mjollnir
- Monkey King Bar
- Aeon Disk
[/column]Legion Commander Skill Build
- Overwhelming Odds
- Moment of Courage
- Press the Attack
- Overwhelming Odds
- Overwhelming Odds
- Duel
- Overwhelming Odds
- Press the Attack
- Press the Attack
- Talent
- Press the Attack
- Duel
- Moment of Courage
- Moment of Courage
- Talent
- Moment of Courage
- –
- Duel
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Complete Legion Commander Spell guide
Overwhelming Odds
Legion Commander deals damage in the target area and temporarily gains increased movement speed. The amount of damage and movement speed increase depends on how many units Overwhelming Odds affects. Overwhelming Odds deals bonus damage to illusions and summons. This spell is usually maxed first because it’s Legion Commander’s most effective means to get kills in the early game. It can potentially deal a massive amount of damage, and the movement speed increase can help Legion chase or escape enemies and get in range for Duel to finish an enemy off.
During the laning phase, look to harass the opponents with this spell whenever they walk near a creep-wave and/or enemy heroes. The movement speed increase can also help you to get close to your enemies to harass them with right-clicks as well.
Press the Attack
Legion Commander places a healing buff on a targeted ally which provides attack speed and also dispels any negative de-buffs. This spell is usually maxed secondly, since it provides you with a reliable heal and a means to disable most de-buffs including stuns. In addition, it also provides you with a temporary increase to your attack speed, helping you to get kills a lot more easily in the early-to-mid game.
Upon cast, it provides the target with a strong dispel and provides increases health regeneration. You should use this on yourself before you cast Duel to give you an additional advantage. It can be very effective when cast on your carry as it will increase their damage output. This can be helpful when pushing or taking Roshan or just before a fight. However, consider that you won’t be able to use it for several seconds to purge a de-buff or to heal another ally.
Moment of Courage
When Legion Commander is attacked, there is a chance that she will immediately counter attack with added life-steal. This passive is usually maxed lastly because it scales with how much damage you deal, which is greater in the late game. The counterattack effectively acts as a very temporary increase to your attack speed, which life-steals and returns to normal after your next attack.
Moment of Courage can proc off of an attack from any unit, be it from a hero or a creep. This allows Legion to jungle rather effectively in the early game. However, Legion jungles quite slowly, so it’s better to lane in the offlane, getting experience whenever you can. If you’re struggling to get any experience or if you’re dying a lot in lane, it may be better to farm a few camps as effectively as you can. It can be very effective to attack an enemy near a creep-wave to get creeps to attack you, as this will enable the proc chance for Moment of Courage, which you can lifesteal off of. You should also consider Dueling an enemy near a creep-wave, since you will gain more chances to proc the lifesteal.

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Duel
Legion Commander locks herself in combat with the target enemy hero, preventing herself and her target from acting until either one of the heroes in the Duel is dead or until the Duel has ended. If a hero wins the Duel, that hero will gain permanent bonus damage. Aghanim’s Scepter increases the duration of the Duel, makes Legion Commander spell immune during Duel and also makes her and her opponent only take damage from each other. Duel is broken if either hero is moved more than 2000 units away. This spell has a very short cast point, which makes it ideal at locking very mobile enemies down if you are able to get close to them very quickly. This is why a Blink Dagger is a core item in almost every game. It does not matter who deals the killing blow on either hero, the victor will gain the damage.
Duel can potentially give the opponents a lot of damage, so be careful about using it if you aren’t entirely sure that you will either come out victorious, or that it will end. There are some spells which can interact with Duel strangely, resulting in the Duel ending early. Most of these interactions are listed in the Match-ups section below. During the early and mid game, it is important for Legion Commander to gank often and successfully gain bonus damage in order to make her more impactful in the late game. If you master this skill, you’ll climb Dota 2 ranks without issues.
Talents
Level 10: +8 Strength or +25% XP Gain
Both of these talents are very strong for Legion Commander. The strength can be strong if you’re taking a lot of damage in fights or if you think you are likely to later in the game. Otherwise, the extra experience gain is generally very strong. Levels are important for Legion Commander because she has fairly high strength gain and benefits a lot from skilling her spells and her talents.
Level 15: +30 Attack Speed or +50 Overwhelming Odds Hero Damage
Generally, the attack speed is a stronger talent because it helps Legion to kill enemies during Duel more easily. It also increases her farm rate and scales into the late game much better. It’s especially strong if you have gained lots of Duel damage, as it will effectively allow you to deal that damage faster. The Overwhelming Odds damage can be good if you have many area of effect disables, as you are more likely to damage multiple heroes if they’re nearer each other. It can also be strong if you’re playing against many melee heroes for the same reasons. If you’re struggling to deal much physical damage with your attacks, then the extra spell damage may be a better talent as well.
Level 20: +50 Movement Speed or +10% Moment Proc Chance
The extra movement speed is almost always a better talent choice here. It helps you to get around the battlefield even more easily and in range to cast Duel. It makes you harder to chase and lockdown and stacks very well with the percentage increase movement speed from Overwhelming Odds and Phase Boots if you have them. The Moment proc chance can be good if you are playing against enemies who attack you very frequently, for instance if you’re playing against illusions or creeps.
Level 25: +40 Duel Damage Bonus or -10s Press The Attack Cooldown
Both of these talents are very strong in different situations. The reduced cooldown will help you and your allies deal with any de-buffs including stuns, slows and damage over time effects. This can be good in case you are playing against a particularly large amount of de-buffs. On the other hand, the increased Duel damage can be very strong in many more situations. It may be weaker if you aren’t able to effectively use Duel, for instance if you are very under-farmed and struggle to survive Duel engagements. However, if there is a chance that you’ll be able win Duels, an extra 40 damage per victory is potentially a massive amount.
What Items to build on Legion Commander
Starting Items
- Quelling Blade
- Stout Shield
- Tango
- Healing Salve
- Enchanted Mango
- Iron Branch
Legion Commander’s starting items are very basic. She usually lanes in the off lane, and as such she can benefit from lots of health regen and a Stout Shield. If you are able to farm your lane quite easily, then a Quelling Blade will help you to score some more last-hits and denies against your opponents. If you intend to be playing aggressive, which may be the case if you have the best hard support Dota 2 hero who offers kill potential in your lane, then an Enchanted Mango or a Faerie Fire can be very beneficial.
Early Game Items
Power Treads
Legion Commander can greatly benefit from Power Treads since she is a core strength hero. It grants her with strength and attack speed which help her to carry more effectively, and they are usually the better choice if you are likely to be having a tough match. For instance, if the enemy team has lots of damage or many disables, the extra health will probably help you to stay alive for longer in fights.
Phase Boots
Phase Boots are generally a more impactful item in the early and mid game. The movement speed boost it provides can be very helpful if you’re playing against fast or mobile heroes. It also stacks very nicely with the movement speed increase from Overwhelming Odds, allowing Legion Commander to be highly mobile and very effective on the battlefield. It makes it easier to get in range for Duel and makes it easier to chase and escape enemies in all situations.
Magic Wand
A Magic Wand is almost always a strong item on Legion Commander. Legion relies on getting as many Duel kills as possible, and as such is a natural ganker. This makes a Magic Wand an excellent item to have in her inventory, since it will likely gain many charges and can be used in between and during ganks. The burst heal will also be another means with which you can keep yourself alive with, adding to Legion’s already high survivability. In conjunction with Moment of Courage and Press the Attack, Legion can be a very hard hero to bring down in the early-to-mid game.
Soul Ring
A Soul Ring can be a great item on Legion Commander. If your team lacks mana regen or if the enemies have lots of mana drain, then a Soul Ring will help you to cast all of your spells. All of Legion Commander’s spells are very strong, so having mana for them will almost always make a difference in team-fights. It also sucks to not have mana to cast a Duel when you’re about to get a kill, so if you’re having any mana issues, consider buying a Soul Ring.
Blink Dagger
A Blink Dagger is generally the first core item you’ll purchase on Legion Commander in almost every game. It allows Legion to blink on top of enemies to cast Duel which is incredibly powerful because of the very short cast range of Duel. The importance of getting Duel kills cannot be overstated, and a Blink Dagger will help you to get the bonus damage whenever there is an opportunity. Combined with legion’s generally high movement speed, she can become highly mobile and quite hard to lockdown as well. Lastly, it also makes Legion Commander into a very powerful initiator, since Duel will effectively disable an enemy for several seconds. With such a low cast point and such a long disable, your allies will usually have no problem following your lead and helping you to burst down those easy kills.
Mid Game Items
Blade Mail
A Blade Mail is another core item on Legion Commander. It’s needed in almost every game because it allows you to reflect all incoming damage during Duel, which makes it highly effective against enemy carries with strong right-click damage. It also allows Legion Commander to charge into the enemy team more confidently because enemies are less likely to attack her. It also provides a fair amount of armor and damage which is very helpful for Legion, especially because her base armor is very low throughout the game.
Shadow Blade
A Shadow Blade is a very strong mid game item on Legion Commander because it allows her to get solo-kills, pick-offs and initiations far more easily. With invisibility, she is also able to get behind enemy lines and easily bring down a squishy hero to gain easy Duel damage. It’s especially strong against heroes who can counter-initiate, such as Earthshaker or Magnus, as you can lock them down and easily stop them from contributing to a team-fight.
Black King Bar
A Black King Bar provides Legion Commander with magic immunity, and some helpful stats including damage and strength. The magic immunity allows you to Duel enemies in the middle of a team-fight without getting burst down my magical damage and nukes. It will also allow you several seconds of unobstructed movement around the battle-field with very high movement speed. Overall, it’s a very important item on Legion Commander in almost every game, unless you’re playing against very little magical damage and few disables.
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Late Game Items
Assault Cuirass
An Assault Cuirass is a very strong item on Legion Commander for several reasons. Firstly it provides her with a massive increase to her armor, which is important if you’re playing against lots of physical damage dealers, since Legion’s base armor is quite low. AC also provides a large attack speed increase, which will largely increase your damage output. The passive aura it provides will also help your allies to tank up against physical damage and you and your allies will also deal a bit more physical damage.
Heaven’s Halberd
Heaven’s Halberd will provide Legion Commander with a large increase to her strength and evasion. The active ability will also allow you to disarm an enemy for several seconds, which can be very powerful against carries who can deal a large amount of burst physical damage, such as Ursa, Phantom Assassin or Templar Assassin. It also provides a chance to main enemies, slowing them by a considerable amount and making it much easier for you to chase them down with Legion’s naturally high movement speed. A Halberd can also be good if Duelling an enemy carry may be dangerous because of the damage of their attacks. Just make sure to use the disarm before casting Duel. However, this will reduce your Moment of Courage procs, since they won’t be attacking you.
Daedalus
A Daedalus is a very powerful late game item on Legion Commander, especially if you have gained a large amount of damage through Duels. It will drastically increase your damage output in the late game and potentially allow you to bring down tankier enemies a lot faster during Duel. Overall, it’s a great item to get in the late game if you need to increase your damage output and deal with more tanky enemies.
Heart of Tarrasque
If you’re struggling to survive late game engagements, then a Heart of Tarrasque can be a great item to purchase. It provides a massive increase to her health and also a massive amount of health regen in between combat. The raw strength will also increase your damage output. Overall, it’s a great item to get in case you need to tank up or if engagements are lasting a lot time. The tankiest item in all of Dota 2 esports.

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Situational Items
Desolator
A Desolator can be a very strong late game item on LC. It provides her with a large damage increase and a passive which reduces the armor of her enemies, further increasing her damage output. It will effectively help her to carry more effectively in the mid-to-late game and will help her to burst down enemies during Duel.
Armlet of Mordiggian
An Armlet of Mordiggian can be a very strong item on Legion if you need more physical damage on your team. It will help you to semi-carry much more effectively and can be good if you need more damage in the mid game, although it will delay your other more core items. It’s a very efficient item on Legion because it provides a very large damage increase among many other benefits. The health drain is also somewhat minimized because of the lifesteal and health regeneration from Moment of Courage and Press the Attack.
Aghanim’s Scepter
An Aghanim’s Scepter is a rather situational item on Legion Commander. It effectively allows you to Duel a target without anyone else interfering, making you untouchable by anyone other than your duel target. It can be very powerful if you are stronger than the enemy carries and can kill the enemies during Duel. However, enemies such as Shadow Demon and Outworld Devourer are able to banish their Dueled allies, preventing you from attacking them for several seconds. Overall, it’s a highly situational item but it can be very good if you are very farmed and able to burst down one of the enemy cores during Duel.
Silver Edge
A Silver Edge can be a strong upgrade to Shadow Blade if you’re playing against heroes who have strong passive ability, especially if they make them harder to kill. It adds a large increase to your stats, and is another reason to purchase a Shadow Blade to begin with, which adds several benefits in itself. Overall, it’s a situational item but it can be very strong in many games. Legion Commander can also naturally use the Break from Silver Edge, since she can attack enemies to break the invisibility and immediately follow up with a Duel.
Linken’s Sphere
A Linken’s Sphere can be a very strong item on Legion Commander if you’re playing against heroes who have very strong single-target spells. An Aghanim’s Scepter and a Black King Bar will make you magic immune and only take damage from your Dueled enemy, but the spell block will allow you to evade a potentially very strong spell which can either prevent you from contributing much to a fight or easily get you killed. Overall it can definitely be a strong item if you’re playing against heroes such as Lina or Doom.
Mjollnir
A Mjollnir can be a very strong late game item to get to increase your damage output. The extra attack speed and chain lightning procs will increase your overall damage, and also help you to deal with enemies who spawn illusions or creeps. If you have lots of Duel damage, it can be very strong because you may not necessarily need more raw damage, and attack speed might actually increase your damage output more.
Monkey King Bar
A Monkey King Bar grants you with a fairly large increase to your damage output, but is mostly purchased in case you need to deal with one or ore enemies who have evasion. It’s not always a very popular item because Legion doesn’t usually need to be the main carry of a team, and as such your safe lane carry should be able to deal with enemies with evasion while you can pick off the other heroes on the enemy team. However, if several enemies have evasion, it may prove very helpful.
Aeon Disk
An Aeon Disk is a highly situational item on Legion Commander. It can help you if the enemy team can disable you and burst you down in the time you are disabled, and if you have no other means to survive. In these cases, the self-purge and damage block may help you to survive long enough to turn an engagement around, either through Dueling an enemy with an Aghanim’s Scepter or using your spells just to help you stay alive for longer and perhaps to outrun your opponents.
Interesting Legion Commander Match-ups
Abaddon
Abaddon’s ultimate ability, Borrowed Time makes it very hard for Legion Commander to burst him down when he has it up. Abaddon can also purchase an Aghanim’s Scepter, which can be used to make it hard for you to burst down even his allies when he uses it.
Bane
Bane can use Nightmare on either of the Dueled targets to create a rather unique interaction. Each of the Dueled enemies will take turns trying to attack each other, thereby taking turns to swap Nightmare between each other. The result of this is that no damage will be taken by either target until the Nightmare is stopped or taken by a hero other than the two Dueled heroes. Bane can also use Fiend’s Grip on Legion Commander when she duels one of his allies, which is another way to protect his allies from you.
Io
Io is very strong both with and against Legion Commander. She has the potential to increase your damage output and block incoming damage through Overcharge and can also very easily land Spirits onto the Dueled target. When playing against an Io, you need to be careful about using Duel, since Io can Relocate the Dueled target more than 2000 units away to break the Duel. Best Dota 2 players will practice this duo a lot.
Medusa
When playing with or against Medusa, Stone Gaze can be used to effect the Duel. When playing with a Medusa, she can stand in front of the Dueled enemy, turning them to stone and making them take more physical damage from you and your allies. Against Medusa, you need to be careful about how you position yourself before you engage in a Duel. Make sure that you are facing away from Medusa when you Duel someone so that you aren’t immediately turned to stone.
Omniknight
Omniknight has many spells which can make it hard for you to kill anyone on his team, especially if he has Guardian Angel off cooldown. If you’re playing against an Omniknight, prioritize Dueling him, since he can contribute massively to any team-fight or engagement.
Oracle
Oracle also has several spells that he can use to keep his allies alive if you initiate on them with Duel. He can disarm you, purge you of press the attack, and use Fate’s Edict on any of his allies to keep them alive for longer and potentially completely save them. Oracle is another hero who you should prioritize trying to pick-off through Duel, as he is usually very easy to kill at that point. This means he is also usually guaranteed to give you the bonus damage from a successful Duel.
Pugna
Pugna can use Decrepify on either you or the Dueled target to make it harder for you to kill someone, and he can also use Life Drain to heal an ally of his or to bring you down.
Phoenix
If Phoenix has an Aghanim’s Scepter, she can use Supernova on your Dueled target to cancel the Duel. She also has a number of spells which make it very hard for you to successfully kill someone during Duel, as she can heal her allies and drain your health, slow your attack speed and can also deal a very large amount of damage over time to you. If Phoenix is an ally, she can use Sun Ray to keep you alive while draining the health of your target.
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Slark
Although it is very rare indeed, Slark can purchase an Aghanim’s Scepter, or be provided it through an Io tether if she has selected the respective talent. This will allow Slark to hide his Dueled ally by standing close to them, thereby completely cancelling its effects.
Underlord
Underlord can use Dark Rift to cancel the effects of Duel if you aren’t able to kill the target fast enough. This is usually not a problem, since it takes several seconds to teleport, but it’s worth keeping in mind that he can potentially interrupt the Duel.
Winter Wyvern
Winter Wyvern can use Winter’s Curse on you to prevent you from killing an enemy during Duel. She can also use Cold Embrace on her Dueled ally to prevent you from attacking them and also healing them for several seconds.
Invulnerabiltiy spells
Heroes such as Outworld Devourer, Tusk and Shadow Demon are able to make their allies invulnerable for several seconds which can completely disrupt your Duel. Be careful using Duel if they are nearby, and if so consider Dueling them to kill them quickly.
Gankers
Heroes who are typically played as gankers are very strong allies to Legion Commander, since they can join her when she goes for ganks and can help her to get kills and Duel damage very easily.
Mobile heroes
Heroes who have spells which make them naturally very mobile are excellent teammate to Legion. This is because they can very easily follow you after you Blink and Duel an enemy and help you to bring them down quite quickly.
Spells that require a setup
There are many heroes in the game who have spells which are easier to land on a hero who is not moving. For example, heroes such as Mirana, Invoker and Kunkka all have spells which can help you to get kills much more easily if you Duel a target and are also very easy to land on heroes who are stood still.
Global damage
Any hero with a spell that can deal global damage such as Invoker, Zeus or Nature’s Prophet are very strong allies to Legion Commander, because they can help her to get solo-kills without having to join you when you go for a gank.
Burst damage
Any Hero who has a spell which can deal a large amount of burst damage is a great ally for Legion Commander. This is because they will be able to help you burst enemies down during Duel and more easily guarantee scoring bonus Duel damage, especially if it’s about to end and you haven’t killed them.