Monkey King is most often played as a core, but is very flexible in which lane he can go to. His skill build varies slightly, depending on the situation, but it is relatively straightforward after his Dota Update 7.33 buff.

Jingu Mastery is maxed firstly, as it gives him a lot of kill potential at early game. This is then followed by maxing Boundless Strike after getting one level of Tree Dance. The Jingu Mastery + Boundless Strike combo is Monkey King’s bread-and-butter throughout the game, providing kill potential, counter fights and even further increases your survivability, as you can lifesteal a massive amount in conjunction with Jingu Mastery.

Tree Dance is usually least prioritized unless you are a roaming pos-4 player on your team, where you want initiations and can’t land Jingu Mastery stacks.

How to use Monkey King Spells effectively

Boundless Strike

Monkey King slams the ground in the target direction with his staff up to 1100 distance, briefly stunning all affected enemies, and dealing a critical hit based on his attack damage. Boundless Strike is usually maxed firstly when Monkey King is played as a safe lane core. This is because it allows him to quickly farm creep waves and jungle camps and contribute a lot of damage to early skirmishes.

Monkey King applies all attack modifiers to affected enemies, with Cleave being the only exception. This makes items such as Eye of Skadi and Desolator very effective on him. It’s best in situations where Monkey King activated his Jingu Mastery, which increases his damage tremendously. That damage is amplified by the critical damage of up to 225%, making it a powerful spell when used properly. It also heals up instantly by striking several enemies consecutively. Often, doing so will allow you to turn a gank around or help you to stay alive in a team-fight.

Boundless Strike will also activate Jingu Mastery if Monkey King uses it as the 4th attack which would activate it on an enemy. You can use Boundless Strike while perched on top of a tree during Tree Dance.

Tree Dance

Monkey King jumps on top of a tree and gains the ability Primal Spring. This spell goes on cooldown for a few seconds whenever you take damage and if the tree you are perched on is broken, you will be stunned for 3 seconds. This spell comes with Primal Spring, which means that one levels up the other. Monkey King gains flying vision while perched, offering vision at a relatively safe spot for roamers.

Tree Dance is an excellent spell when it comes to chasing down enemies, as you can take paths which they cannot. It also has a very low cooldown, allowing you to cover relatively vast distances quite quickly. You cannot be seen while perched unless the enemy has flying vision or if they are 2 layers of height above you. However, you can be seen while jumping from one tree to another if the enemy has vision of you while you would jump.

@ Valve

Primal Spring

Monkey King springs from the tree upon which he is perched, damaging and slowing enemies in the area of effect in proportion to how long the spell is channeled. Primal Spring can be a great utility spell to use as a safe lane core as it gives you a greater edge in early game skirmishes. This can be good if you need to fight a lot in the early game, or if you need more disables to get kills. It can be used to farm jungle camps and creep-waves quite effectively, especially when used by some of the best Dota 2 players.

While you are channeling the spell, allied and enemy heroes can hear the sound effect. This often makes it easier for the opponent to move out of the AoE as they can sometimes respond by blinking or escaping.

Hence, use Boundless Strike beforehand, or cast it in the path the enemy has to take to escape. You can use Primal Spring immediately after using Tree Dance to both escape and chase enemies down much more easily.

Jingu Mastery

Monkey King gains increased damage and lifesteal from his attacks after attacking the same hero 4 times in a row. The damage and lifesteal lasts for the next 4 attacks or for 35 seconds. This passive is usually maxed firstly if you are playing in the mid lane, as it helps you to get solo-kills more easily than any other spell. Jingu Mastery can be activated through Boundless Strike if it is the 4th attack, and Boundless Strike uses one of the 4 charges the passive provides when activated, even if it doesn’t hit any enemies. This spell is usually prioritized because it gives you a lot of team-fight potential in the early game and helps to keep you alive.

As of Dota Patch 7.33, this skill improved in terms of bonus damage and lifesteal, up to 160 damage and 80% respectively. This is arguably why Monkey King is a popular hero at Berlin Major 2023 as his skillset remained similar yet improved.

Mischief

Monkey King transform into a nearby object, able to move around but not use spells or items without breaking the transformation. Mischief is known from level 1 which means that it does not need to be skilled in order to use it. At the beginning of the game, you should transform into the Animal Courier, as you gain increased movement speed. When you transform, your movement speed is normally set to 200, with Animal Courier being the only exception and sets your movement speed to 380.

You may be required to use Mischief a few times to correctly transform into the desired object, and you must stand relatively near your courier. Monkey King can turn into runes, trees, the animal courier and a few items such as Tango or Clarity. Enemy creeps and towers will not attack you while you are transformed, however enemy players’ pointer will turn red, indicating a hostile target. Often this is overlooked by players however, especially if you are disguised as a tree and stood still. Taking any damage above 0 which is not classed as HP removal will dispel Mischief.

Wukong’s Command

Monkey King summons two rings of stationary clones which expand from his position. These clones cannot move and are completely invulnerable, although they attack a nearby enemy in range every 1.2 seconds. Monkey King gains bonus armor for the duration, although the spell is cancelled if he moves outside of the circle. The clones do not gain or create stacks of Jingu Mastery (unless you purchase Aghanim’s Scepter), and their attack speed cannot be increased. They deal full damage, which makes it effective to buy agility and damage items on Monkey King, to increase the potential damage output.

This spell is great at zoning your opponents, such as the high-ground ramp in your base or nearby Roshan. The clones benefit from every attack modifier except for SJCll Basher. The spell has a very long cooldown and is usually skipped until you can get it at level 2. This is because your other skills are more viable and flexible, and the clones only deal as much damage as you do. Regardless, it can be good to get early for the temporary bonus armor.

The best talents for Monkey King

Level 10: +0.3s Boundless Strike Stun Duration or +0.2s Mischief Damage Immunity Duration

The extra Mischief Damage Immunity duration is underwhelming because not many players can effectively use this timing window to avoid enemy attacks. There are indeed very few scenarios where it is helpful, unless you are Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen. Instead, having that extra 0.3s stun duration for your Boundless Strike serves better purpose.

Level 15: +130 Jingu Mastery Damage or +450 Tree Dance Cast Range

The extra Tree Dance cast range doesn’t really do much for carry roles, but can be viable for roamers. The cast range will increase from 900 to 1350, which won’t be adding extra damage output to your hero. On the other hand, the extra 130 Jingu Mastery damage will increase your damage output when active, the amount you lifesteal and potentially the amount of damage that you can deal through Boundless Strike to multiple enemies. Overall, it’s a major game-changing talent than the other option.

Level 20: -7s Boundless Strike Cooldown or 0 Cooldown Primal Spring

The 0 Cooldown Primal Spring was formerly a Level 25 talent, which nobody picks anyways. Even at a discounted Level 20 talent, it’s still a horrible option compared to the -7s Boundless Strike Cooldown. With this talent, you can land a Boundless Strike every 15 seconds, which goes well with your previous talents too.

Level 25: +100 Armor Wukong’s Command or +1 Wukong’s Command Ring

By level 25, Wukong’s Command often struggles to deal a lot of damage to enemies, especially high mobility heroes or if your team lacks stuns. One of its primary functions is to zone enemies away from, for example, towers or the Roshan pit. However, having extra Ring grants an additional 7 clones at a larger radius of 1100 distance. It adds a massive increase to the potential damage output of the spell, especially if you have some damage items and makes it difficult for enemy supports to remain nearby. The extra zone space also allows you to kite and chase enemies a bit more easily as well as maintain the armor, as you won’t cancel the spell as easily by leaving its radius.

In almost every situation, the extra ring is a much stronger talent choice than -1 Jingu Mastery Required Hit as you should have high attack speed and Echo Sabre to not have issues activating your Jingu Mastery stack.

Items

Starting Items

• Tango
• Iron Branch
• Slippers of Agility
• Magic Stick
• Orb of Venom

Starting Items for Monkey King is identical for most carries. You want agility stats and health regen to have a comfortable laning phase. Tango and Iron Branch can be a last resort to double the health regen when you are severely low on health.

Whereas Magic Stick, and eventually, a Magic Wand, stores up stacks for every enemy skill used around you. These stacks can be used to regenerate health and mana in various situations, such as for skills or surviving an attack.

Orb of Venom will be crafted into the Orb of Corrosion in early game.

@ Valve

Early Game Items

Wraith Band

Wraith Band is an affordable stats item, mainly agility, which is great for Monkey King’s damage output. It also doubles in its stats bonus after the 25^th minute mark, which is great considering its affordable price.

Power Treads/Phase Boots

Upgraded Boots are essential for all heroes, where Power Treads offer balanced stats to Monkey King. An experienced player will be able to dynamically shift its attribute for different uses, such as intelligence when casting spell or strength when tanking hits from enemies.

Echo Sabre

This is a necessary item for Monkey King as it essentially reduces the number of Jingu Mastery stacks you need to get. Echo Sabre hits a target twice instantly, followed by a slow debuff.

Additionally, it comes with stats bonuses, which is great for Monkey King.

Orb of Corrosion

Having an armor reduction debuff at a cheap cost can go a way when maximizing the damage output of your skills. And, it ultimately serves as a budget attack modifier until you get your important midgame items.

Mid Game Items

BKB

No game of Monkey King can go without BKB. As the game progresses, enemy heroes might have arsenals of stuns that they can permanently target on Monkey King. And, a stunned Monkey King is as good as dead in our books.

Don’t let your enemies kite you around by making sure no skills stand in your way of auto-attacking your opponents.

Diffusal Blade

Yet another affordable damage item that also has the added effects of mana burn and slow.

Late Game Items

Harpoon

Recently introduced in Patch 7.33, the Harpoon is an extension of the Echo Sabre, which offers a fun active skill. It lets Monkey King launch a hook on an enemy, pulling him close enough to start dealing some Jingu Mastery stacks.

Of course, it comes with various stats that are always good for Monkey King.

Aghanim’s Shard

Adds a whole new layer of escape and initiation to Monkey King’s skillset. Specifically, it upgrades Boundless Strike to let Monkey King fly to the tip of his staff when he uses the skill.

SJCll Basher

Monkey King lacks reliable stuns, so having a passive item that can proc stuns on auto-attack is handy. It’s not very expensive either, for the benefits it offers, and can be extended to a full-fledged Abyssal Blade in late game.

Eye of Skadi

The slow attack modifier is great on top of the tremendous stats boost.

@ Valve

Situational Items

Abyssal Blade

Extension of the SJCll Basher, which Monkey King can buy for the extra lockdown.

Nullifier

If you’re dealing with pesky and elusive enemy heroes, Nullifier is great for shutting down them as you go on with stacking up your Jingu Mastery. And, follow up with Boundless Strike to secure the kill.

Bloodthorn

Similarly, Bloodthorn is also a dangerous item against heroes with spammable skills, such as Storm Spirit. It’s also a massive crit-amplifier, so picking it up in such scenarios, isn’t too stabby.

Tough Match-ups for Monkey King

Muerta

Muerta has always been that antithesis of hard carry heroes in Dota 2. Despite being a hard carry herself, her ultimate renders a target obsolete by preventing them from attacking while letting her deal tremendous magic damage on the target.

Jakiro

Jakiro is a very effective support against Monkey King. Ice Path gives vision of the affected area, making it a good spell to scout trees with and Macropyre destroys trees which in turn will also stun Monkey King and force him to take a lot of damage. Lastly, Dual Breath and Liquid Fire are strong damage over time spells which prevent him from using Tree Dance. The attack speed slow from Liquid Fire also makes it a lot harder to gain stacks of Jingu Mastery.

Beastmaster

Beastmaster is another hero which can potentially make Monkey King’s life very hard. Wild Axes can cut trees down very easily and the hawk from Call of the Wild can also be used to scout Monkey King’s position quite easily. Beastmaster can also keep Monkey King stunned through Primal Roar, which is an incredibly strong single-target spell. When stacked with the stun Monkey King suffers when falling from a tree, Beastmaster can potentially keep him stunned for a very long time. When Beastmaster is on the same team as Monkey King however, he can make use of the attack speed aura to gain Jingu Mastery a bit more easily.

Batrider

Batrider can use Firefly to gain flying vision which is very strong against Monkey King and this spell also cuts down trees. Combined, these two aspects make Batrider a very strong counter to Monkey King. In addition to this, he can also use Flaming Lasso to keep Monkey King stunned for even longer. Lastly, Flamebreak can be used to push Monkey King out of Wukong’s Command in some situations.

Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit can easily chase or hunt Monkey King after getting a few core mana regeneration items up. This is because Ball Lightning destroys any trees which Storm Spirit passes through, which leaves unfortunate Monkey King players stunned for 4 seconds if his tree gets cut.

Storm Spirit also generally has high solo kill potential and Orchid Malevolence. Hence, this is often difficult to play against in teamfights if you get scouted out beforehand. Any other hero who can potentially destroy trees can be quite effective at dealing with Monkey King in Dota 2 esports, such as the aforementioned Beastmaster and Batrider.

Damage Over Time

Damage over time spells or items prevent Monkey King from using Tree Dance or Mischief to escape enemies as easily. Whilst not being a super strong counter, it will definitely help you to chase him and lock him down more easily.

Puck

Dream Coil is an incredibly strong spell when combined with Wukong’s Command. It forces enemies to either stay in its radius for the rest of the duration, or attempt to leave it and get stunned and take lots of damage all the while still being hit by your clones. Often, this will be enough to kill them, especially if you stack a few more spells on top of the affected enemies.

Razor

Razor’s damage absorption as the fight prolongs, can be troublesome against Monkey King, who relies on stacking Jingu Mastery for damage bonus. Leaving Monkey King stuck with the dilemma of standing up to fight or flee to avoid the damage absorption.