Curse mage who zones a lane and fields a persistent Eternal Guard in fights.
Vexana is a control mage who curses anyone she hits with Nether Touch, so a kill near her explodes for bonus magic damage to everyone around it. Deathly Grasp knocks a target back and terrifies them to break an engage, while Cursed Blast punishes anyone who ignores the ground marker. Eternal Guard turns a single ultimate into fifteen seconds of extra AoE pressure.
Cursed Blast's delayed AoE and Eternal Guard's positioning both require reading enemy movement rather than raw mechanical skill.
Max Cursed Blast first for its burst ratio, level Deathly Grasp second for the terrify and slow zoning, and take Eternal Guard at 4, 8 and 12.
Vexana and the Eternal Guard inflict Nether Curse on enemies hit. The Curse lasts 5 seconds and will cause the affected enemy to explode upon death, dealing 108 (+38 × Hero Level) (+60% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to nearby enemies.
Always active — no cooldown
Vexana unleashes a Deathly Grasp in the target direction, dealing 200–300 (+60% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to enemies in its path. The projectile stops upon hitting an enemy hero, terrifying them and knocking them back, then it explodes, dealing 200–300 (+60% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to nearby enemies and terrifying them for 1 second.
Vexana marks the target area with the power of the undead, striking it after 0.8 seconds delay and dealing 580–850 (+160% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to enemies hit.
Vexana summons an Eternal Guard at the target location, dealing 500–700 (+60% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to enemies hit and knocking them airborne for 0.8 seconds. The Eternal Guard then joins Vexana in battle for 15 seconds. Each of Eternal Guard's attacks deals 225–275 (+40% Total Magic Power) (+enemy's 5% Total HP) Magic Damage to enemies in a large area.
Signature combo
Core items in buy order, with the emblem, talents and battle spell that go with them.
7,840g total
Default pick for lane poke and picking off targets before a teamfight starts.
Battle spell
Flicker120s CDThe 'Flicker combo' — blinking in right as a hook or stun lands, or blinking out the instant an enemy ultimate is cast — is the single most common high-elo outplay moment in the game.
Swap in when needed
Glowing Wand — Against sustain or lifesteal heroes — Scorch's burn and Lifebane cut healing while adding damage over time.
Ice Queen Wand — Versus mobile divers — Ice Bound stacks a slow on every skill hit to keep them out of range.
Winter Crown — When you're the primary burst target for assassins — the freeze dodges a lethal combo.
7,560g total
When the enemy stacks magic defense and Cursed Blast alone can't burst through.
Battle spell
Sprint100s CDUnlike Purify, Sprint does nothing against stuns or roots already applied — it only prevents future slows and outruns melee threats, so it's best on heroes who aren't the primary CC target.
Swap in when needed
Genius Wand — Early-game penetration before enemies have stacked much magic defense.
Clock of Destiny — Extra survivability stacks and a heal-back window in extended poke wars.
Wishing Lantern — Butterfly Goddess deals 8% of the target's current HP, scaling off the frontline's health pool — Divine Glaive in the core is what cuts their magic defense.
The heroes that make this matchup hard, and the mechanic that does it.
AliceTank · MageHardBlood Banquet heals Alice every half-second she stays in the fight, out-pacing what Cursed Blast and Deathly Grasp can put out, and Crimson Gleam's Scarlet Shadow blink closes on a mage with no escape tool.
BenedettaAssassin · FighterHardAn Eye for An Eye blocks Deathly Grasp outright and turns the fended-off terrify into a 1.5-second stun on Vexana, and Alecto: Final Blow's untargetable dash closes the gap before Cursed Blast's 0.8s delay lands.
NataliaAssassinHardNatalia's stealth lets her walk up unseen and burst Vexana down before Eternal Guard is even summoned — Vexana has no vision tool or escape to react.
KaguraMageHardKagura's umbrella-teleport dash closes distance and dodges Deathly Grasp's linear telegraph, then her own burst combo outpaces Vexana's slower, delayed damage.
X.BorgFighterSoftFiraga Armor absorbs the burst from Deathly Grasp and Cursed Blast entirely before X.Borg loses it, so Vexana's combo often just strips armor instead of health.
HanzoAssassinSoftNinjutsu: Dark Mist dashes him clear of Deathly Grasp's linear path, and Kinjutsu: Pinnacle Ninja sends Hanekage at her through terrain while his real body sits invincible elsewhere, so Vexana never gets to zone him out.
KimmyMarksman · MageSoftKimmy moves and aims her Spray Gun at the same time, so she never stands still where Deathly Grasp's line or Cursed Blast's marked ground can catch her while chipping Vexana down.
FaramisSupport · MageSoftCult Altar's Specter state briefly resurrects allies Nether Touch and Eternal Guard had already killed, erasing the kill value Vexana's zone control just bought.Winter CrownDodges the burst window right after Cursed Blast detonates, when Vexana's combo does the most damage.
Tough BootsCuts the duration of Deathly Grasp's terrify, letting the target act and close distance sooner.
Athena's ShieldBlunts the magic burst from Cursed Blast and Eternal Guard's knock-up combo in a short trade.Duo partners whose kit completes this one.
HarleyAssassin · MageDeathly Grasp's terrify and knockback set up a clean landing spot for Harley to blink in with Space Escape and drop the Deadly Magic ring on the target.
AldousFighterEternal Guard's airborne knock-up and follow-up AoE hold a cluster of enemies in place long enough for Aldous to land a fully stacked Contract: Soul Steal hit.
AtlasTankFatal Links chains the enemy team and plants them all in one spot, and Vexana drops Cursed Blast and Eternal Guard straight onto the cluster for a near-guaranteed wipe.
SunFighterVexana's Eternal Guard adds a second AoE threat alongside Sun's Doppelgangers, making it hard for the enemy to tell which target actually needs focus.NataliaAssassinNatalia's stealth picks isolate a single target for Nether Touch's curse, and the death explosion punishes anyone standing nearby when the kill lands.
SelenaAssassin · MageAbyssal Arrow stuns the first hero it hits — for longer the farther it travels — giving Vexana a guaranteed window to land Cursed Blast's delayed strike.
RogerFighter · MarksmanDeathly Grasp's knockback tosses a fleeing enemy back within range of Lycan Pounce's lunge and heavy slow instead of letting them escape.
HarithMageEternal Guard's persistent zone control gives Harith room to blink in, burst, and blink back out without contesting Vexana's own combo timing.Land Deathly Grasp before committing Cursed Blast — the terrify buys the 0.8s delay time to land
Drop Eternal Guard on a choke point or objective fight, not in the open where it whiffs
Bait a diver onto a cursed target so Nether Touch's death explosion punishes the whole dive
Use Deathly Grasp's knockback to peel divers off your backline rather than only as poke
Vexana is moderate difficulty — her poke skills are straightforward, but landing Cursed Blast's delayed strike and positioning Eternal Guard well takes practice.
A burst magic build with Enchanted Talisman, Lightning Truncheon, and Holy Crystal covers most games, adding cooldown reduction and raw magic power for repeated poke.
Mobile dive assassins like Benedetta and Natalia counter Vexana by closing distance before her delayed skills land, since she has no personal escape.
Vexana is a mid lane mage who solos the middle lane for levels, then rotates to poke side lanes and set up Eternal Guard in teamfights.
