I'm just using this format, and I'm lazy to edit it to perfection, so while all sections are filled out, some of them won't have what you want.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Story3. Strengths And Weaknesses4. The Stats5. Epic Skills6. Skill Build7. Items8. Play Style9. The Friends And The Foes And The Counters10. Solo Mid Matchups11. Replay12. Final Words13. Updates

Click to go to the respective sections.

-Introduction-

Xin has often been compared to being Storm, Jugg and Roof all in one. He's like some kind of ridiculous panda that wrecks everything due to his ability to pretty much fly around the map, lock people down and rape them. It pretty much allows him to look for fragile, lone heroes and take them out.

Admittedly, Xin is kind of braindead to play at the moment. He's dangerous as a ganker, pretty strong as a carry, and can even work out well as a tank. Yet, if a Xin player needs anything, it would probably be a good sense of the game. Knowing when to jump towards a remnant, leave a remnant behind, use Sleight of Fist to protect your last 19 HP and killing the guy chasing you and many more is important if you want to roll harder with Xin (he already stomps pretty damn hard even if the player is a scrub).

If there's only one thing I hate about Xin right now, it is that if a skilled player on the other team is playing him, because he's just so retarded and difficult to deal with.

I'm writing this guide based on 10+ or so games with Xin, so don't expect this to be some epic pro guide that is true 100% of the time. I'm going to write this guide as a reference to how to play Xin for scrubs instead of for better players.

Okay, as of 6.73c, he got a pretty solid nerf to his ganking, so he's not as retarded as before. Plus this means his rune control is a little less potent than before. He might need a couple more mana items to work out now, but overall he should be about the same as last time.Back to Table of Contents

-Story-In sword forging furnaces of war, something powerful was taking shape. In a desperate bid to make superior weapons a sword smith by the name of Xin captured and bound a fire spirit to his forge. After countless hours of toil, a single pair of swords were born of the enchanted furnace. While holding and admiring the mystical blades the fire spirit was able to pass into Xin's body creating a being born of flesh and flame. Xin became more powerful than the soldiers he was tasked to outfit, and march out himself to dispatch the enemies of warmth and life. Equipped with burning steel and blazing speed, Xin tears through his enemies leaving nothing but a cinder.

Back to Table of Contents

-Strengths And Weaknesses-

Strengths

+Versatile+Great most of the game+Excellent mobility+Best rune controller in the game+Above average move speed+Can farm really fast+Pretty much unkillable early game unless you get caught

Weaknesses

-Killed rather quickly by silence and physical DPS-Terrible stat growth-Ending base damage is quite low-Runs out of mana pretty quickly-Useless against stronger opponentsBack to Table of Contents

-The Stats-

The Normal Stats

Strength: 21 + 2Agility: 22 + 1.8Intelligence: 20 + 1.8

The Advanced Stats

Affiliation: SentinelDamage: 52-56Armour: 3.08Movespeed: 310Attack range: MeleeAttack animation: 0.4/0.3Casting animation: 0/0.51Base attack time: 1.7Missile speed: InstantSight range: 1800/800Back to Table of Contents

-Epic Skills- Searing Chains Sleight of Fist Flame Guard Fire Remnant

Ability type: ActiveTargeting type: PointAbility Hotkey: F

Xin charges himself with the energy to create a Fire Remnant every 30 seconds, with a max of 3 charges. Releasing a charge sends a Fire Remnant that runs to the targeted point at 2.5X your speed. Xin can use his secondary ability to dash out to each remnant's location, detonating them for AoE damage, and arriving at the one he targeted last.

Gives a sub skill:

Ability type: ActiveTargeting type: PointAbility Hotkey: R

Target the Fire Remnant to arrive at. You dash through all other Fire Remnants, and end up at the one you targeted, exploding them for AoE damage.

The scaling on this move is completely retarded. But that aside, it adds on to Xin's arsenal of dumb skills.

This skill throws out a remnant, which looks like a duller version of the original. Once placed, it either stays there for 45 seconds or if you activate it, in which case you zoom straight to it no matter where you are on the map. Oh, and the remnant gives vision in a small AOE as well. Very convenient.

The limits of this skill are bounded by your imagination of what you can do with it. Xin's mobility is so good with this skill that if you know what you are doing, he can be at any place at any time. This skill can also be used to escape. Throw a remnant in one direction and move in the other to make things difficult for your chaser. You can even throw it straight to get away, considering that the remnant travels at 2.5x your move speed. Think about what Replicate can do in terms of mobility. Fire Remnant can probably do the same thing, so play with Fire Remnant like you would with Replicate. Use it for escaping, as a free TP scroll or whatever you think you might need this for.

Sadly, unlike Xin's other skills, Fire Remnant is actually balanced by a few things. It is still a very good skill, but not the level of broken that I am expecting from a broken tier hero. Firstly, he cannot freely use these remnants. He can store up to 3 charges, and after he throws 1 out it takes him 30 seconds to restore a charge. Therefore, even with a 0 second cooldown, the skill is still limited by this factor. Secondly, all your remnants are activated when you use this skill, and you arrive at the one that you targeted last. This can screw up some initiation attempts if you are not looking out for them. Even if Xin travels at the speed of light when running towards one of these remnants, it still takes time to travel. Furthermore, this also limits his ability to fly around the map whenever he wants. Can you imagine how broken he would be if only the targeted remnant detonated? But I would expect no less from Xin if this was implemented, considering how broken his head is.

I'll just put it out here first. Never ever shoot out more than 1 remnant towards a target if you intend to start killing. You have 3 charges and these things are great for chasing. If you expire all of them intending to burst a hero down, you won't be able to do anything should he successfully manage to survive your combo. Just use these for the mobility and less for the damage. Even if you are concerned about the damage, if he escapes you will shoot a remnant after him and dish it out anyway, so I see no reason why you should be scared of using it later in an attempt to kill. Same thing towards using this skill for clearing creep waves. Use it solely for the mobility and not the damage. It can be used to flash farm, but the more charges you have saved, the more prepared you will be in general situations.

Now that this skill costs 150 mana to start running towards a target, using 2 or 3 of them to burst a guy down is more viable than before, since you will need to limit your flying around early game. I still advocate using 1 remnant for approaching, but it is all up to player choice. However, you still shouldn't use these for farming in most situations.

Back to Table of Contents

-Skill Build-

1. Searing Chains2. Flame Guard3. Flame Guard4-5. Searing Chains6. Fire Remnant7. Searing Chains8-9. Flame Guard10-13. Sleight of Fist13-23. Stats24-25. Fire Remnant

Searing Chains maxed out first is a no brainer. Actually, you might just want to leave it at level 3, because the last level merely adds 60 damage and Flame Guard might be more useful with that skill point. You might want to have 3 Searing Chains, 4 Flame Guard and a point in Fire Remnant at level 8. However, since I like damage and screw survivability, I just max it out first. After all, I never know when an additional 60 damage would come in handy. Max it out at level 9, since in addition to adding 60 damage, it reduces the cooldown by 2.

The optimal skill build for Xin is this:

1. Searing Chains2. Flame Guard3. Flame Guard4-5. Searing Chains6. Fire Remnant7-8. Flame Guard9. Searing Chains10-13. Sleight of Fist14-23. Stats24-25. Fire Remnant

I should probably learn to start playing this build but whatever.

No matter which build you go for, first skill point either goes to Searing Chains or Flame Guard. Add the skill point when you get to lane, depending on whether you want to try to get an early FB or whether you think you are going to get ganked. Personally, I just throw it into Searing Chains because I'm close to my tower if they want to gank me anyway, and throwing Searing Chains in such situations is more frightening than Flame Guard.

Fire Remnant scales terribly. If you thought you saw the end when IceFrog put Demonic Purge to scale by 100 damage every level, then here's the new contender a skill that you should not add skill points for. I still throw in skill points into it at 11 and 16 just because I'm used to it adding my ulti at those levels, but it is infinitely better to put those points in stats, since +2 to all attributes can help anywhere.

Maxing Sleight of Fist first:

After looking at other guides and stuff, I seem to encounter many builds advocating maxing Sleight of Fist first. At first glance, it looks awesome because the mana cost to damage ratio is just retarded for harassing the hell out of your opponent. 50 mana for about probably at most 200 damage at level 7? Sounds pretty perfect doesn't it? So why don't I think it's good?

It completely reduces your ganking potential to 0. I believe that one of Xin's strong points during early game is to create fear in all the lanes by being able to be present at all times. The ability to gank the sidelanes is just as important as surviving mid lane. Maxing Sleight of Fist lets you control your lane, but it doesn't let you gank at all, and even if you add a point into Searing Chains only for the disable, much less efficiently. The 300 damage from Searing Chains is infinitely more useful than a Sleight of Fist. Just try hitting the guy with Searing Chains maxed and normal attacks compared to Searing Chains at level 1 combined with a maxed Sleight of Fist. If you still say that Sleight of Fist does more early game, I'll be pretty damn surprised.

Furthermore, Sleight of Fist only allows you to harass your opponent out of lane. Searing Chains gives you an opportunity to kill. So being the kill minded dicks that most DotA players are, I don't see any reason why you should max Sleight of Fist over Searing Chains first.

As of 6.73c, it would seem more viable than before, since Xin's ganking is nerfed and controlling the lane might be more important. However, Xin is still largely unchanged, and hence for reasons stated above it is still better to go for Searing Chains first. It is more viable than before, but still not the best option in my opinion.Back to Table of Contents

-Items-

Items to Go For

Core

It's always good to have.

It's good for any melee AGI hero, and Xin kind of needs the damage block to survive the lane more effectively

He is the best rune controller in the game, so Bottle is naturally obvious. Plus, he needs it to stay out and gank.

While Xin burns through mana pretty quickly, he doesn't need to invest in some item that grants a large amount of mana or mana regeneration. This ball suffices. Later on, upgrading it is my personal choice, but whatever floats your boat.

The boots

Don't get anything else. Phase complements Xin so well with the ability to chase with Flame Guard on, as well as adding that 24 damage for Sleight of Fist to abuse. You could change to Boots of Travel late game if it gets that far I suppose.

And let me explain why you should not get anything else.

Arcane Boots is kind of overkill for solving Xin's mana problems. While solving his mana problems, doesn't give him the necessary parts required to chase and damage. I could see it working in a build that revolves around using Fire Remnant and chasing with Searing Chains, but really later in the game you will find out that if you manage your mana well, Xin doesn't really need the amount of mana that Arcane Boots provides.

Power Treads is subpar on Xin because he isn't going to be hitting things with his normal attack anyway, plus the move speed bonus is horrendous for chasing. He can use the extra stats, but Phase is just way better in terms of synergy.

Tranquil Boots is retarded, period. If your shoes break halfway in the middle of a kill, it gets a lot harder trying to kill. Also, it heals a mere 150 HP, something that a Bottle can probably do much better.

In short, these boots all work well on Xin (except Tranquil Boots), but it is just that Phase is way too godlike on him.

The orbs

The only one you should ever get. Anything else is just subpar in the face of Mjolnir, which synergizes with Xin almost as well as Phase. The orb effect has a chance to activate on every single hit of Sleight of Fist, and considering how fast he attacks it is almost guaranteed that a chain lightning will come out. The active later on makes him even more scary in teamfights. Plus, the number of bounces increased.

So, if this thing synergizes as well as Phase does, if you read above you should already know that it is not because other orbs suck on Xin, but because Mjolnir is way too godlike for what it can do on him. Even if you won't be using the attack speed that this thing provides, the lightning alone is already good enough of a reason to get it.

Extensions

A friend of mine, as well as various forumers, recommended this as a good item for Xin. I suppose slowing an opponent by 12% when chasing helps a lot, though I see this item's true potential being later, when you can apply a 12% move speed debuff on everyone in a teamfight. In most cases, chasing with Fire Remnant and Searing Chains would suffice, but this thing only costs 350 gold which is almost free, and kind of sick for its rewards.

It lets Xin farm really really quickly. Damage comes in handy for Sleight of Fist as well.

You will never need that much mana regeneration I suppose, but it does make him harder to kill. Plus, you can probably mash more skills if you get it.

People proclaim how lousy it is and stuff, but I think it is still worth it to soak a spell up from your opponent.

He can use the armour since he already has some partial immunity to spell damage. Makes him more of a primary target as well should you want to tank.

And tank till the world ends.

If you feel like going the tank build, I suppose you can skip Perseverance and go straight for this. Killing a Xin with Vanguard is extremely difficult. However, he will run into a mana shortage if he goes for this build though.

Stacking AOE DoT? And 60 damage for Sleight of Fist? Perfect item.

Still viable if you are having difficulty against physical DPS. Gives some good damage as well.

After a few thoughts, he could actually use this to counter his biggest weakness, which is physical DPS.

I could actually see this being useful for Xin. It gives him about enough mana to do his job early game. Plus, cyclone helps a lot for either chasing a guy and waiting for your spells to cooldown, or offering de-aggro as you throw a remnant and flying away as soon as you drop down. Not to mention the extra move speed that really helps.

Stacking damage. And I am serious when I say that he can hold a Rapier. He can just kite using Sleight of Fist with it and never run into trouble. Provided that you aren't caught with silence first.

Starting Items

Okay, so after all the godliness that is Xin's item choices, I believe that you should start with this build.

Lets you go either way early on, whether you want to go for a more tank oriented build with Vanguard and Radiance or a more DPS oriented build with Poor Man's Shield and Perseverance.

Just make sure your team has a chick to send you your Bottle later on.

Rejected items

Putting this down here because some idiot is eventually going to buy it and then suddenly realise that Xin doesn't need lifesteal at all because he never actually hits people directly. For most of the time anyway.Back to Table of Contents

-Play Style-

Choosing your lane

Mid solo. Truthfully speaking, he isn't actually that strong to solo with at mid. Searing Chains is a terrible nuke before Xin hits level 5. Flame Guard can help mitigate damage but a clever laner will just wait for it to drop before nuking your face. However, he needs the levels early on in order to start raping face. Plus, he can abuse runes with Bottle, so why not? Early Game (1-9) Mid Game (10-17) Late Game (18-25)

Between level 1 to 4, it's going to be really hard surviving the lane if your opponent doesn't recklessly dive your face. Your nuke doesn't hurt that much, so you can't really kill him. The disable from Searing Chains isn't enough to lock the guy down for you to rape him. Therefore, play Xin from levels 1 to 4 as if you were playing some carry type hero with no lane presence at all, like Void. Take last hits, but don't be reckless with approaching the creep wave.

At level 5, things change. You have a 3 second ensnare that deals 240 damage. Couple that with Flame Guard and attempt to get a kill. Alternatively, you can camp to level 6 if you aren't confident of killing without Fire Remnant. Look for an opening where you can close distance with the enemy hero without taking too much damage, such as abusing uphill Fog of War. Bait him into that and use Searing Chains. Turn on Flame Guard and start hitting his face. Once Searing Chains wears off, walk with the guy if you are confident of killing him, or just back off and resume farming. It helps if you nuke the guy prefight down to about 450 HP or so. That will probably net you the kill.

When you get to level 6, the tides turn immediately if you have Bottle. By using Fire Remnant to scout for runes, you can take runes faster than anybody in the game, provided that they aren't there yet. Remnant a rune location (and since it has such a long cast range, you can cast it without moving too far from the lane) and wait for the rune to spawn. If it is there, just blink straight to it and take it. If it's at the other side, just run to the other side and take it. If you want to guarantee yourself a rune, place remnants on both sides and blink to whichever side has the rune. While this tactic isn't as viable as before, it is still good to deny the enemy a rune.

Other things you can do is to hold a TP at all times, so that when you need to get back to base, leave a remnant and TP back, so you can immediately return to farm after healing up. I thought this would have been obvious, but since other people seem to mention this (indicating that it is not obvious), I would assume that it would be good to put this down here since not everyone might know it.

Back to Table of Contents

-The Friends And The Foes And The Counters-

Friends

Shoutouts to more AOE DPS.

Her brilliance aura helps so damn much with mana problems early game. And Xin needs mana, more so than others anyway.

Anything and everything that buffs your damage.

Foes

Drow combines silence together with high physical DPS and a slow. She's probably the worst kind of enemy that Xin could ever fight. Luckily, she's pretty damn fragile early game, so take the opportunity to then to repeatedly kill her before she starts beating you up.

Unlike other silences, this guy can silence you even before the fight starts, leaving you helpless for a bit. Last Word is also annoying as hell when you are mashing your skills.

Silences you and leaves you unable to run away. Plus, Puck can probably dodge Sleight of Fist with Phase Shift.

He can be an annoying guy if he sends you back after you use one of your remnants.

Same with this guy, except that it is if you are escaping.

The guys who are scary as hell one on one. It's hard to kill them because the ideal hero kill scenario is if the guy is running away, not fighting you. And these guys have enough power to tear you apart. Plus, Ensnare doesn't stop them from doing their thing. I kinda like to see Xin and SB race around the map one day though.

Counters

Basically, anyone who cannot fight back at close range as well as spell heavy heroes. Disables don't really matter, since Xin can catch up with them using Fire Remnant.Back to Table of Contents

-Solo Mid Matchups-

Xin will probably lose to any good mid solo hero out there, so instead of hero matchups, try to improve your own game instead. Soloing mid with Xin will be made a lot easier should you learn to anticipate nukes and react to them with a well timed Flame Guard. You might even consider levelling Sleight of Fist once early game to dodge projectiles, though I feel that Searing Chains and Flame Guard have infinitely more priority. It can save your life in some situations though.Back to Table of Contents

-Replay-

You can probably live without a replay, since as I mentioned, Xin is pretty braindead.Back to Table of Contents

-Final Words-

If not the best, definitely one of the bestpubstompingheroes to ever be introduced to DotA. While he's good at pubstomping, I believe that his skillset is so good that he might even be in competitive play should he be released. I would like to see what a really skilled player can do with him.

Of course, that is if before he gets nerfed to oblivion.Back to Table of Contents

-Updates-

11/1/12 - Oh look, he got nerfed and I'm updating the guide. Well, what a surprise. At least IceFrog had the sense to fix his broken head. Updated to 6.73c.Back to Table of Contents

Storm Spirit

Table of ContentsI. Alt+Tab Mini-GuideII. The Big PictureIII. SpellsIV. Skill BuildV. Item BuildA. Starting ItemsB. Core ItemsC. Possible Extension ItemsD. Situational ItemsE. Luxury ItemsF. Rejected ItemsVI. GameplayA. LaningB. GankingC. Beyond GankingVII. ReplaysVIII. Credits

Alt+Tab Mini-Guide

__________________________________________________________________

1Static Remnant6Ball Lightning11Ball Lightning

2Overload7Electric Vortex12Overload

3Electric Vortex8Static Remnant13Overload

4Electric Vortex9Static Remnant14Overload

5Electric Vortex10Static Remnant15Stats

16Ball Lightning

Starting items:

Core:

Extension Options: [Situational:]

Luxury:

Ganking Tips: Short RangedBall Lightning>Overload (attack)>Electric Voretx>Overload (attack)>Static Remnanton a single target >Overload (attack). Chase with Bal. Lightning and repeat if needed.Hotkeys:G>A>E>A>R>A(repeat if needed) Watch your mana level, using a Wand/Bottle to squeeze as much mp as needed

The Big Picture

Table of Contents

Storm Spirit is a hero with high mobility, offering lightning quick gank support. His spells indicate rapid usage to take advantage of their low cooldown. He comes packed with a melee ranged nuke, a fair length disable, a pseudo-slow and his signature no-cooldown pseudo-blink. However, he runs into mana problems as his ultimate drains based on percentage of his maximum mana pool, thus his electrifying potential won't be shown until he has his core items.

When to pick : Your team is planning on ganking heavily, even after mid-game Your team depends on a great deal of mobility (especially blink daggers) The enemy team has weak counters to your escape skill (e.g. Storm Bolt can be dodged, but Silence cannot and lasts for a long time)

When to avoid picking : Your team is a push based line-up There's a fair amount of silence on the other team (Death Prophet, Bloodseeker, Doom, Drow Ranger, Silencer, etc) You do not have good mana management skills (fixed by practice) You have a hard time farming up bloodstone (fixed by practice)

SpellsTable of Contents

Check out thehero pagefor a full description of the hero's skills and statistics.StaticRemnantMechanics: AoE: 235 Mana Cost: 70/80/90/100 Cooldown: 4 seconds 140/180/220/260 damageUsage:This spell is Storm's bread and butter. Early on, it provides a decent AoE nuke (although you have to be at melee range for it). Once mana becomes easier to come by, it's great for quickly clearing creeps waves, neutraling, doing heavy damage by spamming it during a gank or fight and even just getting an Overload on your next shot during a gank. Note that you can cast remnant while moving with your ultimate. Also, note that Remnants have flying vision, meaning they can see past terrain that blocks your vision to see incoming ganks, prevent jukes, etc.

Static Remnant's 235 range. Be careful with placement.

Electric VortexMechanics: Casting Range: 300 Mana Cost: 100 Cooldown: 20 seconds Disables for 1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds Pulls the target 100/150/200/250 units Slows Storm by 50% for 3 secondsUsage:Storm's disable. This move is a key part of any gank. Not only does it disable the enemy, it keeps you free to attack them (although you're slowed). It also drags them closer, which makes it easier to hit with remnants. Note that you can pull an enemy up a cliff or other terrain obstruction if you are standing there.

The 300 Range of Electric Vortex

OverloadMechanics: Passive When Storm casts a spell, his next attack will have additional effects AoE: 300 30/45/60/75 magic damage Slows the enemy's ms by 80% and aspd by 50% for .6 secondsUsage:Along with remnant, this skill gives you some AoE power. In ganks, the important part is the slow that you get when you cast any other spell. The damage is ok, but far from spectacular - it's mostly useful for clearing creeps. You can abuse your 4s cd nuke and your 0s cd pseudo-blink to keep an enemy constantly slowed once you have enough mana.

Ball LightningMechanics: Casting Range: Global AoE: 150/225/300 Mana Cost: 15+7% of total mana pool to initiate. Also, 10+1% of total mana pool for every 100 units traveled. Cooldown: 0 seconds Moves at 1250/1875/2500 units per second Does 8/12/16 damage per 100 units traveled Breaks trees if you go through them Invulnerable during movement Immediately stops if Storm runs out of mana en route Can cast while movingUsage:Storm's signature move. It makes Storm the most mobile hero in DotA over short distances. Early on, it's mostly used as an escape. In the ganking phase, it provides you with a way to land the initial disable. Later, it is often used to get into a fight immediately after initiation.During late-game it defines Storm's fighting and can also be used to stop pushes. You can ult in, drop a Remnant and ult out very quickly. You will be invulnerable pretty much the entire time while doing great damage to creeps and nice harass against heroes.

Skill BuildTable of Contents

1.Static Remnant2.Overload3.Electric Vortex4.Electric Vortex5.Electric Vortex6.Ball Lightning7.Electric Vortex8.Static Remnant9.Static Remnant10.Static Remnant11.Ball Lightning12.Overload13.Overload14.Overload15.Stats16.Ball Lightning17-25.Stats

Storm is fairly flexible in terms of build; however this guide will focus on maxing Electric Vortex first for better gank control.

Item BuildTable of Contents

Starting Items:589

This is one of many variations of working starting builds for Storm. Provides decent lasthitting, plenty of healing and cheap stats via branches. This build assumes that you have access to a chicken. The mantle can be turned into a Null Talisman later, the branches form the obligatory magic wand. Why no clarities? Simple. Storm, while being the most mana-intensive hero in the game, doesn't really need to spam his spells during laning, and his spells have pretty low manacost until he gets his ultimate. This is by no means a "must-get", you can alternate by getting more mantles, less healing, less branches. If you're up against an agressive lane for example, this build is pretty good, if you happen to solo against a passive laner, you might want to get less regen for another mantle.

Core Items:(optional)6544(7144 with bottle)

Rather expensive, but Storm needs Bloodstone as soon as possible to rack up charges. Bloodstone is the item that gives the most possible mana-regeneration in the game with enough charges. And this is key to playing Storm, because his ultimate drains a percentage of your whole manapool. It also gives a nice HP-boost, a good bonus considering Storm has to get pretty close to his prey to deal damage. The order you get the components varies depending on circumstances in your games:

If the enemy team is nuke heavy, get Point Booster and Vitality Booster firstIf it's more of a DPS team, get Ring of HealthIf you need to gank more before you get Bloodstone, get Void Stone.The last piece you should get should ALWAYS be the Energy Booster (explained in rejected items).

Magic Wand is highly useful on all heroes, Storm is no exception. The charges can help you scratch your last mana together to Ball Lightning over a cliff, or catch up to a low hp enemy. Null Talisman provides cheap stats, some damage and mana/manaregen. Regular boots will do for now, you have Ball Lightning for chasing and escaping.

Bottle is optional. Storm can use it, but should really aim for a fast bloodstone, and bottle just delays that. on the other hand it provides regen, which Storm loves. The choice will largely depend on playstyle.

you should try to keep a TP scroll in your inventory from mid-game onwards. Storm is good at ganks and counterganks and a TP scroll lets him be where he's needed. You can also use your ultimate to hide in some trees (or over a cliff, etc) and use a TP scroll to get out of trouble.

Intelligence Power Treads: If the need for extra mana arrives or a slight bump in speed, you might want to consider taking Power Treads.

Possible Extension Items:

Guinsoo's Scythe of Visewill be the chief extension item of choice in 99% of cases. Hex is a priceless ability, useful for either preventing a second enemy from disabling you during your combo upon ROFLing in, or to extend your combo against a single target. The time that your enemy spends as a sheep will also serve to narrow the gap between the end of your combo and when you can cast Vortex again. This item grants additional int, mana regen, health and damage - all of which are stats that benefit a late game Storm. Ultimately, Hex is simply the best choice after Bloodstone.

Boots of Travelare perfect for any Storm planning on going into late game. Storm has huge farming potential with Remnant and Overload, which, combined with BoT, allow him to hop around the lanes farming at an incredibly rate - hopefully giving him the monetary edge on his opponents that he will need to carry effectively.

Whether or not you choose to get BoTs before Hex will depend upon your personal playstyle and the current state of affairs in the game. BoTs are more for farming and multiple-lane pushing, whereas Hex is an offensive/team clash/ganking item. If you feel that you can safely farm more without being a hindrance to your team or risking getting ganked, getting BoTs earlier can be gamebreaking. In all other cases - or if you aren't fully sure - going straight for Hex is probably the safest option.

Orchid Malevolence, while no doubt a great item, is overshadowed by Hex in nearly every respect. Typically, you will only want to consider this item after you've finished Hex and BoTs. However, there are some cases in which there is merit to getting Orchid first. These are: If you're having a really hard time and cannot safely farm up the expensive components for Hex in one go. Orchid's components are cheap, easy and effective; much as SnY was once considered a backup for many downtrod DPS heroes who wanted to many a comeback, Orchid is Storm's backup. If you really,reallyneed the additional 1.5 seconds of silence rather than a more complete disable in hex. Namely against hard disablers such as Lion and Rhasta who have pathetic damage output but can shut you down utterly if granted an opportunity to use their spells.

Situational Items:

Eul's: Provides cheap regen, some move speed so you can refrain from ROFLing all the time, and a good disable to take one enemy from a fight for 2.5seconds, or to take you out so you can buy some time or avoid certain spells.

Linken's Sphere: Good stats, regeneration and, of course, spell block. While you are ROFLing you can be disabled, and you don't want that, so Linken's can give you that time of non-disable even without BKB. Don't take it if you are facing AoE Disablers, nor if you are facing Naga Siren. Specially Naga, since Linken's will turn that ultimate into a 5v1 fight. For further information about this item, readnix's Linken's Sphere guide.

Black King Bar: If there are multiple disables on the enemy team (Rhasta, Bane, Lion Witch, multiple Guinsoo's, so on and so forth) having a BKB will make Ball Lightning in and nuking like its going out of style much safer for Storm.

Luxury Items:

Shiva's Guard: A good source of armor, intelligence and a very strong negative attack speed aura, Shiva's is a viable luxury item after getting a Bloodstone and an extension item or two; the reason being that Ball Lightning consumes a large amount of mana due to it's percent based starting cost. The larger your mana pool, the bigger the start up cost. Since Shiva's only grants the minor regen provided from raw intel, get some charges on that Bloodstone.

Eye of Skadi: Although a very expensive item, it gives a great deal of HP/MP and raw stats, as well as a great slow on every attack.

Heart of Tarrasque: Gives nearly 1k in raw hp, very handy late game and increases survival quite well. The 2% out of combat regen (along with a charged Bloodstone) means you'll hardly ever visit the fountain, if ever.

Rejected Items:

Refresher Orb: Storm has low-cd skills, which makes Refreseher a silly item choice.

Arcane Ring, Energy Booster: Both provide raw mana alone. After BS, Energy Booster shouldn't be bought again. Since the ultimate requires a % of mana, you will want to maximize mana regeneration while minimizing your mana pool.

Kelen's Dagger: With your ultimate, your positioning problems are solved - no need for Dagger.

Dagon: Delays your Bloodstone, Guinsoo or whatever you are building, provides no good regen (except from the cheap int) and by the time you build it, it isn't useful anymore, since then it will be lategame. Although 800 burst damage with a 24 second cooldown may sound great, you'd be better off saving those 8250 gold for buybacks.

GameplayTable of Contents

Laning:

The best item to provide mana regen is Bloodstone, so you should always go to the middle lane or the short lane, which are the ones that give access to the side shops or secret shops and keep you relatively safe until you have your ultimate. A double disable lane can give you or your ally the First Blood. If for any reason you're not going to rush BS, then pick any lane you like.

Your goal on a solo-lane is simply to farm that Bloodstone quickly, while occasionally ganking if a good opportunity arises. If you lane against a melee hero you can harass him quite well, the slow from Overload hurts melees that are trying to last hit and you might even hit a Remnant sometimes. It's also easier to Vortex melee heroes. If you're up against a dual lane or a superior laner, just stay passive and farm. Remnant is a poor nuke during laning, but it's cheap and can be used to get some last hits you would miss otherwise, or to stop that Brood from pushing your tower. Overload is also a nice last hitting tool. Check the rune spawn locations from time to time, whether you have bottle or not.

Ganking:Table of Contents

Storm loves ganking. Try to sneak up on your enemy without using your ultimate, every manapoint counts until you have some charges on your Bloodstone.

How to gank a lone hero:

If he doesn't have an escape ability/disable, try to put a Remnant on his escape-route, hit him with Overload, Vortex, hit Overload, Remnant, Overload. If your allied ganker has a disable, make sure you don't overlap it with Vortex and use the disable-time to put a Remnant on your prey. Finish with short Ball Lightning + Overload combos until he is dead or you have to retreat because you're out of mana. You can also try to Ball Lightning in front of him, Overload, and put a remnant in his escape route. Be careful about towers or other enemies. Keep an eye on your mana because Storm without mana is a marginally stronger version of a ranged creep.

If your prey does have a disable/escape ability, its usually good to start the gank with a Ball Lightning from fog keeping the distance as short as possible, Overload, Vortex, etc. Sometimes its better to waste one Overload and make sure the victim doesn't blink away by using Vortex immediately after Ball Lightning.

Some examples to get you started:

Storm is about to gank a full life/half mana Sniper while Storm has half life/full mana... will he succeed?

Ball Lightning>Overload>Electric Vortex>Overload>Static Remnant>Overload

Sniper tries to make a break for it, but Storm spends the last of his mana on another Ball Lightning. A short chase up the ramp and Storm gets his kill. Not pictured: Sniper using his Wand, Healing Salve, Bottle... and his tiny, tiny tears...

To see Storm in action,watch this link.

General tips on ganking:

Mana-management is important, especially in the ganking phase. Death is a serious setback, especially for Storm once he has Bloodstone charges since they are cut in half every time you die. Be careful of silence and disables, if you have mana and are aware of your enemies, its often possible to avoid them with Ball Lightning.

Initiators are your best friends. They can blink in while you use Ball Lightning to arrive at roughly the same time, giving neither the victim nor his team a chance to react. Ideally, the hero with the dagger has some sort of burst damage and benefits from your disable/slows (e.g. Ursa).

Carry TPs with you. If you see a gank/countergank opportunity, TP there, Ball Lightning in to get fleeing enemies, or disable enemies that are about to kill your allies. You won't be able permagank until you have enough mana regeneration. A 2v1 gank might very well cost you 3/4 of your manapool or even more. Hence, go farm a lane after a gank.

Beyond Ganking:Table of Contents

Don't die. Of course dying is always bad, but for certain heroes its worse than for others. This is especially true after you gained Bloodstone-charges. Storm isn't a very good hero without charges, he simply can't sustain his enormous mana needs. That said, it's entirely possible to not die with a hero that has a 0 second cd escape spell, which is one of Storms major strengths.

Never stand still and auto-attack in team fights, unless you can be sure you won't get focused. Do not initiate team fights, let an ally like Earthshaker or Sandking do that for you. You can go in shortly after, but let him eat the first barrage of nukes. Your job is to disable a key-hero, slow others down for your team, deal damage with Remnants, Ball Lightning and Overload. Terminate escapees from successful team battles. Use your ultimate to stop the enemies from focusing you (Ball Lightning grants invulnerability for its duration and you're an invalid target for most spells).

Never get chain-stunned or silenced, it will get you killed in no time. Use your mobility. Remember, you can go anywhere you like, so it might be a good idea to Ball Lightning over the bulky/initiating heroes and pick off a Lion, Lich, etc.

Another thing to note is that Storm is exceptionally powerful in his own base, because he can replenish his mana fast there. You can Ball Lightning (it's possible to drop a remnant during Ball Lightning btw, same for vortex) in to harass and destroy a creep wave, Ball Lightning out, replenish at fountain, rinse and repeat until the other team is too weak to keep the push up.

Adjust your play style according to how well you're doing. A fat Storm can be a huge pain in the ass, because he is extremely hard to kill if played well. With a large amount of mana regen, you just have to wait a few seconds for an empty mana pool to refill. This means you can be more aggressive and pick off the fragile heroes very often/fast to be an even bigger pain in the ass. On the other hand, a Storm that didn't farm well or died many times isn't much more than a supportive disabler with a blink-like ability, and can't be as aggressive.

As an afterword, please remember that a guide is just that: a guide. There may be times when you feel that maxing Static Remnant or Overload will help you more. Guinsoo first? Try and be flexible, especially when dealing with enemies and supporting your team mates.

Kaolin, Earth Spirit - DotA Strategy Guide

Kaolin,EarthSpirit is a Sentinel strength hero added inv6.78patchupdate.EarthSpirit is a unique concept semi-carry/support hero based entirely on precision skills (Meat Hook, Elune's arrow etc.).EarthPanda relies on Stones (innate skill) to make use of his other spells. He can smash stones/units with his 1st spell to damage and silence the opponents. His second spell turns him into a rolling boulder (like Tuskarr's Snowball) which helps in chasing/ganking heroes, it also deals a little damage and slow. The 3rd skill, Geomagnetic grip allows him to pull allied units androcksto him, whoever crashes the pulled unit receives stun/damage. His ultimate provides a good DPS damage which can be renewed byputtingStones in its Area of Effect (AoE).

Basic stats

Movespeed: 305Starting Armor: 4Primary attribute:StrengthSight Range: 1800 / 800Affiliation: SentinelEarth Spirit GuideAbilities:1.Innate:Stone Caller(Innate, Level 0,TargetPoint) - Hotkey:E

Kaolin raises a stone from the depths of theearthto aid him in battle. Creating arockconsumesa Stone Charge, and charges replenish at a rate of 1 per 25 seconds. Therockslast up to 2 minutes with a max 6rocksactiveat a time.Rocksprovide no vision.

Note: This hero has an Innate ability that doesn't do anything on its own but is used by his other abilities.

Tip:This skill has great cast range, you can even cast it at places where you can't see (Fog). This skill uses 0 mana and will replenish every 25 second so keep spamming this skill everywhere!!!

2.Boulder Smash(Targetally, enemy orrock. Melee range) - Hotkey:D

Kaolin slams an ally, enemy, orRockwith his mighty stone, knocking them away from him, and damaging enemies the slammedtargetcollides with. SlammedRockstravel farther than fleshy targets and also silence impacted enemies.

Tip:This skill can silence if you smash arock. It can pass trees. You can also push enemy away when your teammate is fleeing. SAVE Him!. This can be use as combo with BloodSeeker's Rupture, same as force staff but with damage.3.Rolling Boulder(Short Channel,TargetDirection) - Hotkey:F

Kaolin turns into a boulder and begins spinning in place tobuild upmomentum. After 0.6 seconds, he launches himself 800 distance in the direction he is facing, damaging units hepasses throughbut stopping if he collides with an enemy hero or is stunned. Rolling over aRockwill add momentum, increasingrolldistance, speed, damage, and adding a slow to the hero you collide with.

Note: This skill will always go the full distance, you cannot choose a shorter distance. It stops on the opposite side of the first hero it impacts. TheRockis consumed when used as a boost for rolling.

Tip:Since your innate has 1400 range, you can cast innate far and keep rolling to yourrock. This skill has low cooldown, it can be used as escape mechanism. Rolling overrockmake it impossible for your enemy to catch. You can also use this to catch fleeing opponent.4.Geomagnetic Grip(TargetAlly orRock) - Hotkey:R

Kaolin runs a magnetic charge through the targeted ally orrock, quickly pulling them to him. Enemies struck by thetargetbeing pulled will be stunned, and will also be dealt damage if the pulledtargetis aRock.

Tip:Good for pulling your ally and saving his life.5.Magnetize(Active, NoTarget) - Hotkey:T

Magnetizes units in a small nearby area, causing them to take damage over time for a short duration. Any magnetized heroes cause nearbyrocksto become energized and explode, applying/refreshing the magnetize debuff on all units near therock. This process can repeat multiple times.Rocksare destroyed in this process.

Magnetized heroes feel the effect of the Silence and Slow fromRockenhanced Boulder Smash and Rolling Boulder if one Magnetized hero is affected by them.

Note: When aRockis in an AoE of Magnetize, it doesn't immediately disappear, it becomes innert and then disappears after 5 seconds (can still be used by your other spells in the meantime)

Tip:Cast this withrocknearby or else this skill is like completely useless. Use this wisely, it can affect many heroes at once.

Thisguideis still in beta, You are free to post your item builds, strategies and tips using the comment section below!54 COMMENTS YET..:

Anonymous said...First Blood!7:46 AM

Anonymous said...Sange n Yasha + basher is a nice build..7:47 AM

Anonymous said...i suggest radiance for ur ss8:03 AM

Anonymous said...no.basher is shit.arcane boots bloodstone shiva and so on9:04 AM

Anonymous said...caster type build is better12:44 PM

Anonymous said...hahah too hard to use this hero.. need 2 practice2:29 PM

Anonymous said...battle fury you'll thank me later5:41 PM

Anonymous said...i ddint like the new hero in this dota 6.78 :(I guess there's gonna be a remake6:51 PM

Anonymous said...Killing Spree!10:52 PM

Anonymous said...Cool :)9:55 AM

Anonymous said...he's squishy in early game.....3:31 PM

ang wei hsinsaid...life too low.......5:01 AM

Download Map DoTasaid...I hope IceFrog promptly update this hero skill, because kaolin skill very very imba, unfair ^_^5:09 AM

Anonymous said...Beyond Godlike only :-(Use bloodstone and veil of discord...Please, don't suggest your stupid item builds,. Fools6:37 AM

Anonymous said...ugly as shit6:59 AM

Anonymous said...Think this hero is imba in a wrong wayThink its better if the1st skill is like "Toss", auto-find-target mechanism wherein you only target the desired direction

and 2nd skill's delay be reducedeasily blocked and countered12:00 PM

Anonymous said...i suggest this build....phaseboots, urns, linkensphere, lothar's edge, mechanism, and BKB...

try it...andnote: earthspirit can be a support type...5:20 PM

Kevin Belarminosaid...Good news the 3 spirits are complete! :D5:32 AM

Kevin Belarminosaid...Three Spirits, Assemble! :D5:33 AM

Anonymous said...Oracle is better :)10:08 AM

Anonymous said...power thread,satanic,sange&yasha,blademail,heart,battle fury5:45 PM

Anonymous said...AVATAR EARTH BENDER!! hehe3:09 PM

Anonymous said...cant become a caster he got long cooldown on some skill...probably basher can be. Also vanguard.1:41 PM

Anonymous said...three spirits can be combined to .....wew!i forgot his name..i know you know it.. XD6:47 AM

Anonymous said...if using his guy you unable to kill more than 5 times in a game,then u are considered weak in using this hero -.-2:18 AM

Anonymous said...and his ulti even without rock nearby when u cast it,its still the same..the rock juz replenish the timer duration for ur ulti2:20 AM

Anonymous said...this hero is the best....^_^12:45 PM

Anonymous said...I used this hero and wow imba GODLIKE for less than a 20mins... SF 1v1 mid is owned by this hero.! I think icefrog should make some adjustment for this hero too unfair.1:26 PM

Anonymous said...Oracle is better! This hero very alike of xin. Slow regen rate. Item dependant.12:27 PM

Anonymous said...i like its2:54 PM

Anonymous said...It's frustrating to go against this hero.. pulling allies away? and rolling to escape? and the rocks silences and stuns??? Come on.. Fix earth spirit please..10:18 AM

Anonymous said...It's not frustrating. You're just not used to it yet since it's a new hero. Try using it yourself so that you'll understand its skills better. It's easy to block his roll. Just get ahead of where his going to roll. You'll have time for that since it Kaolin takes time before he starts rolling. Rocks that silences is not an easy feat. It requires some 'player skills' to be able to actually make it hit the enemies. I think he's not a very imba hero. The problem with this for now is its item build. I haven't seen a perfect item build for it now but this hero could be a semi carry or a support. My personal 'combo skill' for this hero is:

1. Put a Rock at the back of an enemy hero2. Pull the rock towards you so that you'll stun the enemy hero3. Since there's a rock in front of you (because you pulled it towards you) and the enemy is stunned, next thing you should do is to Roll towards the enemy hero. (since there's a rock in front of you, the roll will be faster and will have double base damage so if your roll is maxed out, the maximum damage would be 270.)4. Cast Magnetize then wait for 5 seconds and put rocks beside your enemy heroes to repeat the 6 seconds damage per second of the skill. Repeat putting rocks until you don't have any rocks to throw. Rocks that explode disappear after 5 seconds so you could use it to roll towards the enemy for extra damage.5. Finishing blow is the Boulder Smash. You could smash the enemy hero away or kick a stone towards the enemy hero. Just do this if you think he'll die from this skill or your Magnetize skill.

As I have said earlier, item build depends on what role you're going to play for the team. This hero is usually the initiator/support. The items that I've used are Blademail, Pipe, Arcane Boots, Linken or bloodstone. If you're planning to be a semi carry type, then you could go for Radiance, Sange and Yasha, Cuirass, Basher, Helm of dominator or anything that would make him attack faster or make his life bigger and defense better. :) Hope this somehow helps! :)6:24 AM

Anonymous said...i dont like yhe 2 hireos added its boring??6:52 AM

Anonymous said...you need more mana of these hero kaolin;;What is the build item of that hero me i know??6:55 AM

Anonymous said...tips:.. arcane first.. nxt dagon lvl till 5.. good killer against 2 heroes.. i can do 30 kills or 30 assist..or more.. you'll never regret it..

Lvl 1 = 3rd skillLvl 2 = 2nd skillLvl 3 = 2nd skillLvl 4 = 1st skillLvl 5 = 2nd skillLvl 6 = ultimateLvl 7 = 2nd skillLvl 8 and so on.. up to you.. if you want damage.. level 1st skill if you want support 3rd skill..1:16 PM

wahed tinwalasaid...get an ai map fast1:32 PM

Anonymous said...best support hero you can pull and push allies. can stun, slow and silence enemy heroes practice makes perfect ^_^ my favorite hero full package hero9:06 AM

Anonymous said...kaolin is the bestttttttttt hero :D12:07 PM

Anonymous said...no oracle is the bast hero!!6:23 AM

Anonymous said...Im a little bit disappointed that kaolin doesn't have a remnant like... fire remnant for ember spirit..and static remnant for storm spirit...11:04 AM

ken amparadosaid...the 3 pandas are great.. they have their own escape plan.. XD nce7:36 AM

Anonymous said...Build?8:55 AM

Anonymous said...I feel proud of baing one of the few in my server able to use this hero properly.You can made tons of solo and team combos (hust to quote 1, Tiny throws panda, panda atracts tiny and the rest is just to kill the permanently stuned/muted/slowed opponent).Deppending on your playstile, any build may worl with this hero.No matter what style you play, the boot must be arcane, unless you rush for the bloodstone and then u pick travel so you can have some controll of the whole map (it also works to disarm the arcane to make the bloodstone).In this build you must be a mage with high resistence and a decent basic damage plus relatively high atk speed (like a storm spirit with much more hp), this way is the best to do solo kills, in wich you must max the second skill in order to do is every 6 secconds, making it easy to chase your foe. To this build you can also buy Battle Fury, S+Y, Assault and radiance, and after your hit rate and damage are high enough, cristalis (not buriza yet). And of course the final touch is terraske. This way, you will have a heavy hitter with a big amount of damage and 1 regular hero may be unable to defeat is on it's own (3k-5khp). And btw, orb efect for this buld is Maelstrom (in this case don't buy assault) or Dominator for further update to satanic.

The second build is a carry/mage way: -Arcane Boot -Dagon (in late game, update it to dagon 2 or 3) -Orchid -Guinsoo -Shiva's, and at the end make it stronger with teraske. I recommend not having an orb effect for this build, and you should max skills 1 and 3 (at the same time) and have 1 level of skill 2 for fast moving or fast escape.

You can also build a regular tank build, basically a centaur with range stun and mute (no dagger as you have the seccond skill). I personaly don't like this build because the real power of this hero are the skills. Vanguard-blade mail-hood-pipe-terraske, with an optional bloodstone.

In any build, and deppending on your opponents, you can add a blade mail, bkb or something to protect/destroy a specific opponent, like you would do with any other hero.

I feel like I'm forgeting about 1 build but I can't remember wich one XD8:33 AM

Anonymous said...this hero is easy just focus 1st skill if you want to trashing6:10 PM

Anonymous said...Why not use heart, vanguard, BKB, cranium bashar, and also tango and pass bots? Try it..

I got beyond godlike :D8:35 PM

Anonymous said...wew12:26 PM

Anonymous said...i prefer battle fury, basher, bureza, vanguard or cuirass, and maelstorm is good for him too..its a great hero..i really liked this hero6:19 PM

Anonymous said...if anyone ever says that this guy doesnt have a remnant skill, well, what's the name of his passive?1:50 PM

Glenn Rowell Isiangsaid...lotars edge :)3:49 PM

Anonymous said...Arcane+Malevolence+BLoodstone+Shiva's+Veil of Discord+Radiance=BEYOND GODLIKE Every game. HAHAHAHAHA. :D7:08 AM

Anonymous said...Radiance, Veil of discord and dagon works really well with it's combo.5:46 PM

shriisma shresthasaid...when is another new hero coming????10:16 PM

agus patisaid...its easy hero to play6:09 AM

Anonymous said...its not unfair. this hero is only good in early games

suck later in mid to late game. ^_^

wish its a long gamer.11:03 AM