Meepo is perhaps the single-hardest hero in Dota 2 to master. This is mostly because of the fact that most of his strength comes from being able to effectively micro the clones in order to farm and fight efficiently. His clones only benefit from attribute bonuses and boots, which makes his item build very unique in that it’s not unusual to see a meepo buy multiples of the same late game stat item.
His skill build is quite linear, in that you always max Poof first and then usually Geostrike followed by Earthbind. If you need the root against heroes that are hard to lockdown, then it may be effective to max Earthbind after 1 or 2 levels of Geostrike.
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Meepo Item build
Starting Items
- Stout Shield
- Quelling Blade
- Tango
- Healing Salve
- Iron Branch
- Wraith Band
Early Game Items
- Wraith Band
- Bracer
- Power Treads
- Blink Dagger
- Dragon Lance
Mid Game Items
- Ethereal Blade
- Scythe of Vyse
- Shadow Blade
Late Game Items
- Eye of Skadi
- Boots of Travel
- Aghanim’s Scepter
- Ethereal Blade
Situational Items
- Silver Edge
- Eye of Skadi
- Heart of Tarrasque
- Poof
- Earthbind
- Divided We Stand
- Poof
- Poof
- Geostrike
- Poof
- Geostrike
- Geostrike
- Divided We Stand
- Talent
- Geostrike
- Earthbind
- Earthbind
- Talent
- Earthbind
- Divided We Stand
Meepo casts a net upon the target area, rooting all enemies that are within its radius and preventing invisibility, provided they were not already invisible. Usually only one level of Earthbind is needed in the early game because it’s more useful when you have more clones. In addition to this, your other two spells will help you to farm faster in the early and mid game. If you’re playing against very mobile heroes that are hard to kill and you don’t have many disables on your team, it could be a good idea to get a few more levels in Earthbind. Earthbind does not cancel channeled abilities.
Generally, try to get close to an enemy before casting it first, as it has a travel time that can make it harder to land in some situations. Use the Tab hotkey to cycle through your Meepos and keep them casting Earthbind as the last one is about to end.
Poof
After a short delay, Meepo teleports to the location of either himself or a clone, dealing damage in an area around both his departure and arrival locations. This can easily startle the enemy, causing them to make a mistake and leading to some great Dota 2 memes. This is maxed first because it gives you the most kill potential of all of your spells when combined with Divided We Stand. It also gives you a lot of farming potential, as you can use it quickly clear jungle camps as well as creep-waves. During the laning phase, try to use Poof to last hit creeps and harass enemies. This is easier to do against melee heroes.
You can target illusions with this spell. With this in mind, you can use the illusions from an illusion rune to scout areas for vulnerable enemies which you could Poof to with all of your clones and kill. If you target the ground with Poof, the selected Meepo will Poof to the clone nearest to where you targeted. This can be used to help you achieve the Poof and Blink Dagger combo as described under the ‘Blink Dagger’ section. Note that it will arrive at the location of the Meepo that is closest to where you targeted the Poof at the end of the cast time. If one of your clones is in danger while farming, be quick with your fingers and have them Poof to a Meepo in a safer location. This can also be done by targeting the mini-map. Remember to use Tab to cycle through the units and use Poof one by one, since you cannot issue a group command to all of the clones.
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Geostrike
Meepo’s attacks deal damage over time and slows the enemy for 2 seconds. This effect stacks from different Meepos. This is usually maxed secondly because it helps you to farm a bit faster and get kills in the mid game. Geostrike pierces spell immunity which makes it a great spell against heroes like Lifestealer and Juggernaut. Attacks from illusions also apply the current level of Geostrike, which can make illusion runes very helpful when it comes to kiting or chasing an enemy down.
Divided We Stand
Each level of Divided We Stand spawns a fully controllable Meepo clone that has his own spell cooldowns and shares the attributes of the primary Meepo. However, they do not benefit from armor, damage or raw HP/mana items. The only items they have are a copy of Meepo’s boots. If one of the Meepo clones dies, so does the main Meepo. All Meepo clones fully benefit from any talent upgrades as well. Dived We Stand is a very unique ultimate ability in that it can be learned 3/2/1 levels before most other heroes would be able to upgrade theirs. It’s a tricky ability that will require hours of practice and might force you to change some of your usual Dota 2 pro settings.
How to use it:
Try to make sure that your Meepo clones are always doing something. In the early game when you only have one clone, it can be effectively used to stack camps while your main Meepo continues to farm your lane. You can farm stacks very effectively with a few clones and farm them easily with Poof. Later in the game, it’s common to have the Meepos go as groups of 2 to farm jungle camps and push out creep-waves. Have a hotkey set up so that you can always easily select your main Meepo to use his actives such as Scythe of Vyse, Blink Dagger and Ethereal Blade.
You should have your main Meepo go with your team during smoke-ganks, for example, or if a tower needs defending. You should always lead with your primary Meepo while your clones continue to farm, push lanes out and pressure towers. Meepo has a unique advantage in that he can pressure a tower without having to commit his hero to do so. This means that you can split-push a tower while the enemies push in to your tower and have the clones come back to you if a fight breaks out or if they decide to back off, perhaps allowing you to get some kills in the process. Just be careful about one of your Meepos getting caught out as you farm or push.
Pick the right Talents
Level 10: +7 Strength or +20 Damage
If you need to tank up your clones, then the extra strength will give you another 140 HP which can be very helpful. If you don’t need the extra strength, then the extra damage will help you to farm a bit faster and deal a lot more damage in early game fights.
Level 15: 10% Lifesteal or +40 Poof Damage
The lifesteal is almost always a stronger talent. This is because it helps to sustain all of your clones while they are farming and fighting. Most of your damage comes from the attacks of your Meepo clones in the mid and late game. Assuming you have 4 Meepos in the late game, it would only deal an additional 320 magical damage if you managed to cast Poof with all of your Meepos next to the target. Given that it is often hard and unreliable to use Poof as a strong nuke in team-fights, the extra damage you’d get from it is not very significant. On the other hand, the lifesteal helps to keep all of your Meepos with high/full HP while farming and saving them from having to go back to base as often.
Level 20: -4s Earthbind Cooldown or 15% Evasion
If you’re playing against very mobile heroes and you don’t have many disables on your team, then the reduced Earthbind cooldown could be helpful. Otherwise, you generally don’t really need it, because when you get a few points in your ultimate, you will usually have enough time to kill an enemy through chain-casting the spell. The evasion will go a long way in keeping your Meepos alive against physical damage, especially if you get a few HP items like Eye of Skadi or Heart of Tarrasque. Even if you don’t, Meepo usually has quite high armor from the amount of raw agility items he tends to buy. Overall, you’ll almost always get more value out of the evasion.
Level 25: +600 Health or -5s Poof Cooldown
There is almost no situation where the reduced Poof cooldown is better than the extra 600 health. Meepo can be easily burst down if caught out, and the extra HP will help to keep your clones alive for longer in fights, often giving them enough time to be saved where they might otherwise die. The Poof cooldown doesn’t really help you as much anyway since most of your damage comes from your right clicks in the late game and enemies usually have magic immunity. In addition to this, it doesn’t help you to farm any faster because 2 or 3 Poofs from a couple of clones are enough to clear waves/camps anyway. Lastly, it’s quite an unreliable form of damage because it can be hard to keep enemies near your Meepos for the full cast duration.
What Items to build on Meepo
Starting Items
- Stout Shield
- Quelling Blade
- Tango
- Healing Salve
- Iron Branch
- Wraith Band
Meepo’s base damage is very low, and until you get level 3, you will likely have a hard time last-hitting against whichever opponent you get. You can try to use Poof to get some last hits, as it’s quite a strong AoE damage spell, even at level 1. A Quelling Blade can be purchased to help you contest last-hits and denies if there is a significant damage difference between you and your opponent, otherwise you may be able to get away with a Wraith Band.
A Stout Shield is often needed against ranged heroes as you will usually take a lot of harass damage. You can get as much regen as you think you’ll need, but usually a Healing salve and a few shared tangos from supports will suffice. Meepo doesn’t buy a Bottle or Soul Ring, so you may need to courier out some more regen to you in the lane.
Early Game Items
Wraith Band
An additional Wraith Band gives Meepo and his clones a bit more damage to last hit with. Early stats help him farm a lot because his all-around stat gain is very low. If you’re laning against a hero with high base damage, an extra Wraith Band will help you to get some more last hits and denies. An extra Wraith Band is almost always a good pickup for Meepo, unless you are able to farm well without it and can get a bigger item sooner.
Bracer
A Bracer is a good option to help tank you up a bit if you’re having a rough game. It’s strong against magical damage dealers such as Zeus that can quickly burst down your clones. In most games you won’t need a Bracer, however.
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Power Treads
Power Treads are the best boots of choice for Meepo because although the clones do not benefit from the extra attack speed, they do benefit from the stats they provide. In addition to this, they will also gain stats from the fact that they are in the individual clones’ inventories. This means that effectively, they will gain double the stats from Power Treads. Boots of Travel are an alternative although they don’t help you to fight as much as Power Treads do. If you need to keep explicitly keep the lanes pushed out, split-push, have a stronger map presence or farm a bit more, then Travels could be a better alternative.
Blink Dagger
A Blink Dagger is a very strong item on Meepo. This is because you can have your Meepo clones begin to cast Poof onto your main Meepo and then Blink right on top of an enemy just before they would arrive at you. Pulling this off successfully could easily land you on the front page of the Dota 2 reddit. One easy way to do this is by having the hotkeys set up so that you can easily swap between selecting your main hero and all units under your control other than your hero. Have your hero move away from the clones, select the clones, and then cast Poof one by on near to where your main hero is, cycling through them all with the Tab key. Just before they finish casting Poof, select your hero and Blink next to the enemy. This may take some practice, so go ahead and try it in a private lobby or under the ‘Demo Hero’ option.
Besides this powerful initiation and burst combo, a Blink Dagger also allows you to quickly close the gap on enemies and land Earthbinds more easily. You can also use it to help escape from situations where enemies have no stuns/silences as you can do the same combo as above to escape into trees or over a cliff, for example.
Dragon Lance
A Dragon Lance can be a great early-t0-mid game item on Meepo if you need to do a lot of fighting. You don’t benefit form the attack range, but the raw stats are nice and relatively cheap. You can also disassemble it and build the Ogre Axe into an Aghanim’s Scepter later in the game.
Mid Game Items
Ethereal Blade
An Ethereal Blade is usually the strongest mid game item to get on Meepo. It provides lots of all around stats and a massive increase to his agility. The active is also very powerful, as it will make an enemy take 40% more magical damage from your Poof and Blink Dagger combo. You can also use it defensively either on a Meepo which is getting burst down, or on the enemy carry that is right-clicking you.
If, in the late game, you find that you need more damage more than anything, then it can be good to get a second Ethereal Blade. Although the active from the second Ethereal Blade are wasted, the amount of stats it provides makes it on the best item to get on Meepo for more raw damage. It’s rarely effective to get a 3rd E-blade, because at that point, you usually need more control or HP. If raw damage is the only thing you need however, stack E-blades. Additional E-blades will also increase the amount of damage that the initial nuke will deal, allowing you to more quickly burst down enemies.
Scythe of Vyse
A Scythe of Vyse gives Meepo a lot more control when fighting or ganking a target. It also makes the Poof and Blink Dagger combo a lot easier to land, and makes it a lot easier to follow-up the initiation with your right-click if that doesn’t kill them. The intelligence it provides will keep you casting Poof to farm lanes and camps faster, and it provides some strength and agility as well. Overall, this is a strong item if you need to be able to control an enemy carry that would otherwise be able to quickly burst one of your clones down.
Shadow Blade
A Shadow Blade can be a surprisingly strong replacement for Blink Dagger on Meepo. It’s usually better if you’re playing against a hero that you need to shut down in the mid game before they farm and become unstoppable in the late game. With a Shadow Blade, you can more easily gank lanes and control the enemy jungle. You should stand near the enemy while invisible, begin to Poof your clones to you, and cast Earthbind right before they arrive. This will give the enemy no window to Blink or jump away if they have escape spells and you can immediately follow up with the Earthbind from your clones.
Late Game Items
Eye of Skadi
An Eye of Skadi is a very strong late game item on meepo. It provides a massive increase to all of your stats which tanks up and increases the damage of each of your clones. The MS/AS slow it provides to your main Meepo also stacks very well with Geostrike and allows you to kite and chase enemies even more effectively. You can get several Eye of Skadis if you need to tank up and get more damage at the same time.
Boots of Travel
Boots of Travel are a very strong item on Meepo because you can be constantly traveling around the map since the clones don’t share the cooldowns. This means that you could have one Meepo teleport to a lane, Poof all of your clones there, push the lane out and farm nearby jungle camps and then teleport to a different lane and do the same. Boots of Travel also allow you to heal your clones much more easily, as you can just teleport them back to base and then Poof back to your other Meepos to keep pushing or fighting.
Aghanim’s Scepter
An Aghanim’s Scepter can be a good late game item if you already have damage/control/HP items. It adds another clone to Divided We Stand, which will increase your overall DPS and farm rate. Aghanim’s can also be risky or less effective against heroes that can take advantage of the extra clone, such as Earthshaker, Lich with an Aghanim’s Scepter or heroes like Sven that can just Cleave through your clones. It may be better to just tank up or get more control items instead. The extra stats are also helpful for your clones.
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Situational Items
Silver Edge
A Silver Edge can be a decent upgrade to a Shadow Blade if you need to deal with a very strong passive. It provides a lot of all-around stats for your clones and can even be a decent upgrade if you’re trying to get the most out of your inventory slots and still keep the Shadow Blade.
Heart of Tarrasque
A Heart of Tarrasque will tank up each of your clones with an extra 800 HP, an an additional 500 for your main hero. It can be a good item if you just need to tank your clones up a lot and quickly if you’re against a lot of magical damage, for instance. However, both the extra 500 HP and the HP regeneration are effectively wasted on Meepo as they don’t affect his clones. Otherwise, it’s usually better to build an Eye of Skadi or two so that you will also benefit from the extra damage it gives your clones. Make sure to get the Reaver first, as your clones will not benefit from the raw HP from the Vitality Boostes.
Interesting Match-ups for Meepo
Blink Heroes
Heroes with lots of mobility or spells like Blink are very strongly countered by Earthbind, especially when you get a few levels in Divided We Stand. You will effectively be able to prevent them from escaping you. Later in the game when you get either a Blink Dagger or a Shadow Blade and perhaps a Scythe of Vyse, you will also have a massive amount of solo-kill potential against them. These items will also reduce the time they have to react to you initiating onto them.
Phoenix
Each of the attacks from the Meepo clones count as full hero attacks against Phoenix’s ultimate. This makes it very easy for Meepo to very quickly kill the egg, especially if there is another 1 or 2 allies nearby or if the clones are not affected by Phoenix’s attack slow beforehand.
Cleave/AoE
AoE damage is very strong against Meepo, especially spells that can take advantage of the multiple-units of Meepo, such as Paralyzing Cask, Chain Frost or Echo Slam. Meepo has a higher base magic resistance than most other heroes to make up for this vulnerability, however. You will most likely need to tank up with items like Eye of Skadi or potentially even a Heart of Tarrasque if you find yourself taking too much damage. Heroes like Sven with massive amount of Cleave require lots of control. Items such as Scythe of Vyse and Silver Edge help against him.
Tusk
Each Meepo clone counts as a hero when you’re inside of Tusk’s Snowball. This means that if you manage to enter his Snowball with several clones, you will deal a lot of damage to any enemies damaged by the spell.
Dazzle
Shadow Wave is a very strong spell which can be used very effectively with Meepo. The damage is dealt to an enemy from each clone, which means that if you are surrounding an enemy, Dazzle can potentially deal a massive amount of damage to the enemy with one spell.
Ancient Apparition
Ancient Apparition works very well with Meepo for 2 main reasons. Firstly, Ice Vortex increases the amount of damage that Poof will deal and makes it a bit easier to land Earthbinds. Secondly, Chilling Touch is applied to each of the Meepo Clones, which means that you will be able to deal a massive amount of bonus magical damage to enemies.
