Alice

The two questions that decide an Alice draft

The draft filter on Alice boils down to two questions, and both need the right answer.

First: does the enemy team have anti-heal? Baxia's passive (Baxia Mark) reduces Shield and HP Regen by 40% on enemies hit by his skills for 4 seconds. That 40% reduction guts Alice's entire sustain loop. No item choice fixes it. Other forms of anti-heal (Sea Halberd's Lifebane, Dominance Ice) are weaker and arrive late, so they can be played around. Baxia's is free from level 1.

Second: does the enemy team have true-damage carries who scale off Max HP? Karrie's Lightwheel Mark triggers True Damage equal to 5(+1% Extra Physical Attack)% of the target's Max HP every five basic-attack stacks. Karina's Shadow Combo deals True Damage equal to 100 plus 5(+2.5% Total Magic Power)% of lost HP on every third consecutive hit. X.Borg's skills deal True Damage to Overheated enemies, and his Last Insanity detonates for 15% of the target's Max HP as True Damage. Alice builds HP as a primary stat. Against any of these three, the HP she stacks becomes the reason she dies.

Pick Alice when the enemy draft has two or more HP-stack frontliners (Khufra, Franco, Atlas, Tigreal, Hylos, Belerick) and no Baxia. Any composition where at least three enemies will spend the fight clustered around their tank is a green light.

Avoid Alice when the enemy has Baxia plus any true-damage carry, or when they have two mobile ranged carries with reliable disengage (Wanwan, Beatrix, Lesley, Granger). Her ultimate self-slows by 50% during the 1.5-second charge, and every dash-based carry kites that channel on reflex.

If you cannot name which condition your current draft sits in, Alice is the wrong pick.

Alice is a drain field with legs

Alice is not a burst mage. She is a walking damage-over-time field, and every part of her revamped kit exists to keep that field active as long as possible.

Crimson Blood Banquet activates after two Crimson stacks from skill hits. Once active, it deals 25(+30% Total Magic Power) plus 0.5%-2.5% of the target's Max HP (scaling with hero level) as Magic Damage to nearby units every 0.5 seconds, and recovers 10(+3% Extra Max HP) HP for Alice on the same tick. Hitting heroes with skills refreshes the duration. While active, Alice gains 8% Movement Speed.

Those numbers look modest at level 1. At level 15, the 2.5% Max HP tick against a 5000-HP Khufra is 125 magic damage every half second, before the base damage and TMP scaling are added. Alice does not need to aim this. She walks into range and the math runs.

The real burst comes from Doom Waltz. On a 4-second cooldown, it deals 350(+130% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage and slows nearby enemies by 70% for 1 second. If Blood Banquet is already active, Doom Waltz also scorches enemies for 300% of Blood Banquet's damage and heals Alice for the same amount. This is the single most important interaction in her kit. Every 4 seconds, Alice gets a burst nuke proportional to her passive's Max HP scaling, plus a full heal off the same number. The 4-second cooldown is what keeps Blood Banquet permanently refreshed and what makes her sustain loop functional in extended fights.

Crimson Gleam (S1, 12-second cooldown) is the gap-closer. Fire blood energy forward for 100(+50% TMP) Magic Damage, then recast to blink to its location. It is a positioning tool, not a damage tool.

Throne of Ruin (ultimate, 60-second cooldown) wraps Alice in blood for 1.5 seconds, granting Control Immunity and 50% Damage Reduction while self-slowing by 50%. After the charge, she descends for 500(+150% TMP)(+20% Extra Max HP) Magic Damage and immobilizes all enemies in range for 1 second. During the charge, Alice can only use Scarlet Shadow (S1 recast). The Control Immunity window is the engagement armor. The 1-second immobilize is the teamfight lockdown.

Laning: the first 5 minutes

Alice's default lane is EXP, with Jungle as a strong secondary. The laning phase is the most forgiving part of the game for her, and that forgiveness is a trap if you waste it.

1. Level 1, take Doom Waltz. S2 has a 4-second cooldown and stacks Crimson on any unit inside it. Starting S2 means you stack one Crimson on the first wave and hit level 2 with muscle memory for the combo already forming. Taking S1 first leaves you with a 12-second cooldown skillshot that stacks Crimson exactly once and then sits there doing nothing.
2. Level 2, take Crimson Gleam and trade immediately. S1 forward into S2 is a full trade combo that procs Blood Banquet if both skills hit a hero. The healing from S2's scorch during Blood Banquet recovers whatever HP you lost in the trade. Commit the trade, burn the wave, and push your opponent under their tower. The goal is not the kill. The goal is tempo advantage toward your first Clock of Destiny component.
3. Do not rotate before level 4. Alice has no wave clear outside of S2's radius, and leaving lane loses you the gold tempo that is the entire reason you are playing EXP. The only acceptable early rotation is if your jungler is contesting the first Turtle and needs a body. Teleport back immediately after.

Save your battle spell for defense, not offense. Your engage tool is S1 into ultimate. Burning Flicker or Vengeance on an engage you could have made with the kit means you die to the gank you should have survived.

The power spike you are farming toward

The spike is Clock of Destiny plus Oracle, and neither item alone gets you there.

Clock of Destiny provides HP +400, Mana +400, Magic Power +45, and 10% Cooldown Reduction. Its Destiny passive grants 4.5(+0.5 times Hero Level) Hybrid Defense for 5 seconds when dealing Magic Damage to enemy heroes, stacking up to 6 times. Every time Blood Banquet ticks on a hero, Clock stacks defensive stats on Alice. The Gift passive recovers 15% of HP over 3 seconds when HP drops below 50% (60-second cooldown). Both passives layer directly on top of Alice's sustain identity: Destiny makes her tankier the longer she stays in the fight, and Gift gives her an emergency recovery when burst threatens to kill her before Blood Banquet can heal through it.

Oracle provides HP +850, Physical Defense +20, Magic Defense +20, 10% Cooldown Reduction, and its Bless passive increases received Shield and HP Regen effects by 30%. That 30% amplification applies to Blood Banquet's healing tick and to S2's scorch heal. With Oracle, the sustain math tips from "manageable" to "unkillable inside the aura."

What changes at the two-item spike: before it, Alice is a slightly annoying sidelane presence who heals a modest amount per fight. After it, she can stand in the middle of four enemies with a frontliner and outlast all of them, because every 4-second Doom Waltz cycle deals scorch damage, heals for the same amount, refreshes Blood Banquet, and triggers Clock's Destiny stacking. The window is roughly 9 to 12 minutes on a clean game. If you are still farming either item past 14 minutes, the game is already lost.

Teamfight positioning and target priority

The reflex when you dive with Alice is to go for the marksman. That reflex is almost always wrong.

Alice's passive damage scales off the target's Max HP. The marksman has the lowest Max HP on the enemy team. The tank has the highest. Your passive's percentage tick does not care about magic defense, because the Max HP portion is additive on top of your TMP scaling. Position on the fattest HP bar, not the squishiest.

1. Enter on the tank, not through the tank. Drop S1 on the tank's position and recast to blink onto him. You want the tank inside your Blood Banquet radius from the first second. Every subsequent S2 ticks scorch damage on the tank while healing you for the same amount.
2. Do not leave the aura to chase. If the enemy carry peels off and dashes away, let them go. Every second you spend chasing is a second the tank is out of your passive tick, and the passive is the reason your team is winning the fight.
3. Queue Throne of Ruin before you need it. The ultimate has a 1.5-second charge window. If you press it reactively, you eat a CC chain before the Control Immunity activates. Press it as the opening move of the teamfight, use the Control Immunity and 50% Damage Reduction as your engagement armor, and let the 1-second immobilize land on the enemy team as they collapse to peel.

If your support is Estes, you can push deeper because his heal stacks with Blood Banquet's self-heal and both are amplified by Oracle. If your support is Diggie, you cannot push as aggressively because Diggie's peel is reactive (his ult removes CC after it lands) rather than preventive, and Alice needs to avoid CC during the 1.5-second ult charge, not cleanse it after.

Itemization: 3 locked slots plus 3 real conversations

The locked three are Tough Boots, Clock of Destiny, and Oracle. Tough Boots because Fortitude's 30% CC Duration Reduction matters in every fight Alice wants to be in (Jungle Alice enchants with Ice Retribution for the slow and Retribution upgrade). Clock of Destiny because it is the only item that gives HP, Mana, Magic Power, CDR, and a defensive stacking passive all in one slot. Oracle because 30% healing amplification is non-negotiable on a drain-aura hero.

The first flex is the sustain amplification slot. Concentrated Energy gives HP +400, Magic Power +70, and 20% Hybrid Lifesteal. Its Recharge passive stacks +5 Magic Power per stack (up to 6) when dealing Magic Damage, then grants 12% extra Magic Damage at full stacks for 3 seconds. This is Alice's highest-value offensive item because every S2 scorch during Blood Banquet procs lifesteal, procs stacking, and accelerates toward the 12% damage boost. Build it third when your spike held and the game is heading toward extended teamfights.

The second flex is the burn and anti-heal slot. Glowing Wand gives HP +400, Magic Power +75, and Movement Speed +5%. Its Scorch passive burns targets for 1.5% of their Max HP per second for 3 seconds. Its Lifebane passive applies anti-heal reduction to enemies you damage. Both passives trigger inside Blood Banquet's radius, which means every enemy standing near Alice takes percentage burn and has their healing cut. This is mandatory against any team running Oracle or sustain supports.

The third flex is the defensive slot. Dominance Ice (Mana +500, Physical Defense +55, Movement Speed +5%) against physical-heavy teams. Brute Force Breastplate (HP +600, Physical Defense +20, CDR +10%, stacking Adaptive Attack and Movement Speed after dealing damage, up to 6 stacks with 15% Control Duration Reduction at full) when you need to be the primary engage. Queen's Wings (HP +600, Spell Vamp +10%, Adaptive Attack +40, CDR +10%) when the enemy has burst that threatens to one-shot you before Blood Banquet can heal: its Demonize passive grants 30% Damage Reduction for 3 seconds when HP drops below 40%, and Defiance increases your damage by 0.25% per 1% HP lost. Winter Crown when you need an emergency invulnerability button (2-second frozen state, 100-second cooldown).

The weakest common default is building a second defensive item before Concentrated Energy. Most Alice players over-invest in survivability and under-invest in the sustain amplification that makes survivability unnecessary. Concentrated Energy's Hybrid Lifesteal on S2 scorch during Blood Banquet does more for Alice's effective HP than a second armor item.

Mistakes that lose Alice games

Engaging before Blood Banquet is active. Alice's sustain loop requires two Crimson stacks. If you S1 blink into the enemy team and press ultimate before S2 has stacked Crimson twice, you burn a 60-second cooldown with zero healing and zero scorch amplification. The correct sequence: open with S2 to start stacking Crimson, confirm Blood Banquet is active (the 8% Movement Speed buff is the visual cue), then engage with S1 into ultimate.

Using Throne of Ruin as a panic button. The ultimate's 1.5-second charge gives Control Immunity and 50% Damage Reduction. That immunity window is Alice's best defensive tool, but only if she uses it pre-emptively. Pressing R after Franco's hook has already pulled you means the Control Immunity activates after the CC, which does nothing. Press R before the CC arrives: walk into the Franco hook with ultimate charging and tank it for free.

Trading into Cici in the EXP lane. Cici's Yo-Yo Blitz (S1) deals Physical Damage equal to 3(+1.2% Extra Physical Attack)% of the target's Max HP per hit, up to 10 hits over 3.5 seconds. That is potentially 30% of Alice's Max HP in sustained physical damage, and Alice builds HP. Cici also stacks Movement Speed and Spell Vamp through her Performer's Delight passive (0.75% per stack, up to 10 stacks, doubled at full). Do not trade into a full-stacked Cici. Wait for her S1 to expire before engaging.

Building Clock of Destiny and then playing passively. Clock's Destiny passive only stacks when dealing Magic Damage to enemy heroes. If you farm the sidelane for 3 minutes after buying Clock, you get zero value from the item's signature mechanic. The moment Clock is completed, you need to be looking for fights. The Gift passive (15% HP recovery below 50%) also only triggers in combat. The item punishes passive play.

Picking Alice into Baxia and hoping to outscale. You do not outscale Baxia. His passive reduces Shield and HP Regen by 40% for 4 seconds on skill hit, and his skills hit constantly in teamfights. At no point in the game does Alice's healing math overcome a 40% reduction that refreshes every time Baxia touches her. If you see Baxia in the enemy draft and no one on your team has already locked Alice, pick something else.

Key tips