I just max E , a point in Q and W for that sweetsweet CC and I just spend most of my laning phase sucking them dry no punjoke intended . This is your problem and you ' re limiting yourself by maxing mana drain instead of earth spike . Spike is your most useful skill early since it allows you to get kills due to the increased disable damage and it allows you to farm neutralspush lanes . Mana drain is good against certain heroes like wraith king or medusa , but even then it ' s not worth it to get more than 1 lvl early . There ' s few situations where more than 1 point in it early is worth it . For example if you ' re laning mid against a casting hero who can ' t really right click , so someone like Zeus . Purge posted a coaching video of a 3 k lion which might be worth checking out if you ' re interested in learning the hero 1 n 0 g