- Tittle: Welcome to the world of ownage
- Author: AduhAwas
Pros
- 4.75 second AOE stun. (one of the longer combination stuns per individual hero)
- Great pusher/anti pusher
- Fissure is a very versatile skill.
- Item independent to a degree.
- Excellent roamer. Can gank from level 1 if need be.
Cons
- Poorly placed fissures can block kills/kill allies.
- Poor stats
- Poses absolutely no threat without mana
- Requires blink to unleash full potential
- Difficult to use.
Skills
Fissure
Slams the ground with the Raigor's mighty totem, causing the ground to crack open front of him, damaging opponents and leaving an impassable crevasse for a period of time.
- 1. Mana 125 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 1 second* / 8 seconds** / 125 damage and stuns
- 2. Mana 140 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 1.25 second* / 8 seconds** / 175 Damage and stuns
- 3. Mana 155 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 1.5 second* / 8 seconds** / 225 damage and stuns
- 4. Mana 170 / Cooldown 15 / Duration 1.75 second* / 8 seconds** / 275 damage and stuns
- Damage type: magic
- (*) Duration of the stun
- (**) Duration of the crevasse
Fissure is ES's early game weapon of choice. Remember fissures aoe stun and damage is only half the beauty of this skill. From blocking enemies to saving his allies, Fissure can do it all and leave you feeling warm inside. Enemies downing a tower? Isolate one while your teammates beat down on him. Ally being chased down? Create a fissure between them!
Remember fissure has a slight cast time. Keep that in mind while trying to pull of those precise timing stuns. Some people argue that one level of fissure can suffice and to a degree they have a valid point. But nothing else ES can provide is more useful then leveling his stun.
ES is also an ideal roamer. Fissure is unique from most disables in the sense that a lot of its practicality can be obtained from just one point in the skill. A fissure block at level one can be just as useful as at level 4. This is in no way an advocacy for you to just get one point in fissure. The damage increase is a boon, its just a way of saying that ES is useful from the get go.
Aim fissure on the ground. I say this from ages of experience. Fog of war can and will cause you to lose targeted fissures. A ground fissure not only will land every single time, you can fissure block far better when aiming at the ground.
Enchant Totem
Empowers the totem resting on Raigor's back, causing it to deal extra damage on the next attack.
- 1. Mana 50 / Cooldown 5 / Duration 14 seconds or 1 attack / Increases Damage by 75%
- 2. Mana 50 / Cooldown 5 / Duration 14 seconds or 1 attack / Increases Damage by 150%
- 3. Mana 50 / Cooldown 5 / Duration 14 seconds or 1 attack / Increases Damage by 225%
- 4. Mana 50 / Cooldown 5 / Duration 14 seconds or 1 attack / Increases Damage by 300%
- Only increases base damage and that given by the primary attribute. Raw bonus damage is not increased.
- Bonus damage from this skill does not stack with the Double Damage rune.
Enchant Totem is a very solid skill, though for reasons other than expected. While the damage bonus can seem like a lot, ES is not a physical dps machine. A single point will suffice to give you its valuable stun via aftershock. Thus only one point of enchant totem will be skilled until level 23 and the fact that stats will help you far more then a measly one hit with plus damage.
Furthermore as Enchant Totems damage is only enhanced by +stats items (i.e Heart which doesn't come till much later if at all) there is no real benefit to getting more than one point in this skill. Another problem with enchant totem is that it is hard to place without a blink dagger. No ones just gonna let you wade up to them and enchant totem. Once blink dagger is purchased this becomes a staple move in your combo.
Totem has a slight casting time. People with sufficient move speed will move out of it if you are standing next to the hero. Always anticipate movement and stun there. Blink about where the enemy would be in the next .25 or so seconds and stun there. A well place totem with blink can easily allow you to set up a great fissure block.
Aftershock
The power of Raigor casting a spell causes the earth to shake below him, dealing additional damage and stunning.
- 1. Duration 0.6 seconds / 50 damage and stun
- 2. Duration 0.9 seconds / 75 damage and stun
- 3. Duration 1.2 seconds / 100 damage and stun
- 4. Duration 1.5 seconds / 125 damage and stun
- Damage type: magic
- Using items does not trigger Aftershock.
Aftershock is the skills that gives ES his "perma-stun" reputation. All skills cast by ES now have an AOE around him to disable and damage the enemy. This gives totem and Echo Slam 1.5 second stuns and is integral to the disabling ES. As we are delaying leveling up totem we can skip out on taking this for a while. At level 10 ES has plenty of mana and possibly nearing blink thus making it a logical step to get that level in blink.
Echo Slam
Raigor sends shockwaves shooting through the ground, dealing damage and ricocheting to nearby targets for additional damage.
- 1. Mana 145 / Cooldown 150 / 160 Initial Damage and 40 Echo Damage
- 2. Mana 205 / Cooldown 130 / 210 Initial Damage and 55 Echo Damage
- 3. Mana 265 / Cooldown 110 / 270 Initial Damage and 70 Echo Damage
- Damage type: magic
- Will not damage ethereal units.
- The initial damage will go through magic immunity, the additional damage will not.
- The initial damage is dealt in an AoE of 500 around Earthshaker.
- Each unit within 550 AoE of the initial blast will produce an echo wave, dealing damage to units around it (including itself).
- Can be upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, causes each hero and illusion hit by the initial shockwave to echo the wave twice.
If enemies heroes are scattered that does not mean you can't still pull off a good ult. Even a few units clumped boosts echo slams damage by a fair bit. Pick key opponents and echo slam! 9/10 times this is your enemy carry. However, a carry can do little on his own. If an enemy disabler seems like the more important threat take them out first!
Try to aim echo slam in the center of the battle. That way all opponents are bound to take damage. Also remember that echo slam gets a stun added via aftershock, so blink towards the opponents you definitely want disabled.
Item Build & Strategy
Early Game (level 1 - 5)
- Level 1 Fissure
- Level 2 Stats
- Level 3 Fissure
- Level 4 Stats
- Level 5 Fissure
As I have mentioned time and time again, ES is relatively item independent. A well placed fissure can net you an easy first blood. So don't sit there and rice a blink dagger. Be aggressive and don't hesitate to roam. However, don't leave your teammate alone to die though! The 2 clarities make sure you have a constant stream of mana so you can pull of that fissure whenever you need it.
The early game stats are taken for a very specific reason. ES is highly mana dependent and chances are that youre role in the team may include warding/purchasing a chicken. This leaves you with a relatively lackluster mana pool. Furthermore Fissure and Echo Slam are relatively high mana skill costs thus posing even greater problems for Earth Shakers small base mana. The stats in combination with the 3 stats gained from the iron wood branches will help make you substantially sturdier while also giving you the ever important larger mana pool. In conjunction with clarities you can easily maintain sufficient mana levels for at least one fissure and possibly two fissures if you're a bit more defensive.
Also remember to keep an eye out for angles! As an Earth Shaker you have to start creating angles with fissure. A blocked enemy has to either stand and take punishment or walk around the fissure. Creating sharper angles creates not only less movement place but makes walking around the fissure less appealing. Restricting enemy movement is paramount. You want an enemy to be stuck there taking hits from the tower. Take note that creating wide angles is easier, but a block is still a block. Don't miss out on blocking the enemy because you wanted to get in that perfect fissure.
Right of the bat you have to make multiple decisions regarding ES. Are you a roamer or a laner? ES can fulfill both roles with great ease. He can skill fissure and run around the map making life difficult for his enemies (and himself) or lane for a bit and then start roaming like mad. ES makes an excellent lane partner, so don't underestimate how much a good ES in conjunction with an ally can fuck up a lane. Pairs like Puck, CM, (any stunners really), Orb Walkers all make excellent lane partners for ES. ES should ideally be laned with a strong lane partner so that they can devastate the opponents lane. We don't want ES' potential going to waste.
Roaming can begin whenever, you feel comfortable enough to do it without feeding like a mad man. Since ES is on the move a lot he can be caught with his pants down. Try to avoid the very commonly warded rivers and take side paths that aren't warded as often. Learn to love invisibility runes and haste runes. They make getting those kills for your team a lot easier. Roaming is incredibly rewarding and fun, but it has some drawbacks. Roaming can leave you underleveled and underfarmed. Always remember that.
Special note on Urn. It is great for ES since he is by nature a ganker and needs both the added hp/mana regen. Great item to get but as cws are not being played on 6.65 I haven't incorporated this into the main build yet.
Early Mid Game (level 6 - 10)
- Level 6 Echo Slam
- Level 7 Fissure
- Level 8 Aftershock
- Level 9 Aftershock
- Level 10 Enchant Totem
Items have gotten better. Levels have been gained. ES is all guns ho with a bottle, a few nulls/bracers/magic stick and his trusted boots. Nulls provide you with a cheap source of mana and allow your presence on the battlefield to be felt for greater periods of time. Usually one null and a magic stick is enough since ES has item slots problems in between boots, magic stick, null, tp, bottle and one miscellaneous item.
Bracers can substitute nulls in case a beefier ES is required. Sometimes the goings are tough and that extra hp can come in handy. ES does not have the best of hp pools and heavy nukers can make short work of you. A lina who unleashes her full combo on you can easily kill you or leave you on the verge of death.
We skipped out on enchant totem till level 10 for a very specific reason. ES is a heavily mana dependent hero as mentioned countless time. No mana = no fissure = no presence. Early points in aftershock and enchant totem provide measly improved dps output and are a drain on your mana pool. Furthermore an effective enchant totem is hard to pull of unless a hero is in melee range. And why does an orb walker or a ranged hero ever need to come into your melee range? S/He never will. Only heroes that can be disabled via early enchant are melee heroes. Considering most higher level games are quite devoid of melee heroes it seems an unnecessary investment.
Furthermore enchant totem is absolutely useless without at least 2 points in aftershock, there is absolutely no need to get it before aftershock. The first level of aftershock is gotten late because aftershocks affects can only truly be felt within near melee range.
Again since this cow is a sniper of sorts, you won't find yourself in melee range all too often. Aftershock and enchant are started leveling past 7 because that's a reasonable time frame to start expecting blink within a the next 4-5 levels. That is when aftershock and enchant totem truly become efficient and are thus gotten at that point. The reason for getting to points of aftershock before enchant totem is because the mini-stun is near useless and at level 2 it becomes .7 seconds thus gaining some substance.
The laning phase is over by all means and essentially you should be in roam mode. The only time you really need to sit down in your lane and farm is if you're right on the verge of blink. Fissure can be used to hasten farming but TAKE CARE! Fissure is your only efficient disable and if its on cool down and you get ganked, you're fucked. Not only do you die but all that farming was wasted. Be careful with fissure farming!
Mid Game (level 11 - 15)
- Level 11 Echo Slam
- Level 12 Aftershock
- Level 13 Aftershock
- Level 14 Stats
- Level 15 Stats
This is the shifting point in Earth shakers game. Teams start roaming together with greater frequency and in larger numbers. Creep waves are getting consistently larger as well. That's good news because you've hopefully picked up a blink dagger by now. Bigger groups mean bigger echo slams and as a result Raigors true damage potential is unleashed. Whole team downing your tower?? Blink, echo slam, totem, fissure block, ultra kill.Of course not all scenarios are ideal but even if you see two heroes clumped together with a few creeps blink the fuck in! 2 dead heroes are still better then waiting for that team wipe that might never come.
For best results always bring allies. Very often what happens is that ES can devastate enemy teams but not quite do the job on his own. That's why Earth Shaker is a relatively uncommon sight in pubs. Bring the clean up crew.
Remember in clashes to initiate with echo slam. Both fissure and totem have slight casting times. Quick fingers can and will leave you disabled. You don't want that happening. A disabled hero is a dead hero. ES initiating is even more important due to the changes brought about by 6.63. Since echo damage is reduced by half of corpse, this makes it a necessity that ES be the first to initiate! Make sure your teammates don't clear creep waves prior to a clash. That is tremendously reducing your dps output.
Late Game (level 16 - 20)
- Level 16 Echo Slam
- Level 17 Stats
- Level 18 Stats
- Level 19 Stats
- Level 20 Stats
While ES is still booming in strength, due to increasing creep waves, Earth Shakers power in comparison to the hard carries is waning fast. You don't want to be in this stage for long. However, you are still incredibly dangerous. 4.75 seconds of disable is tremendous and your role changes little overall. Stick around with allies permanently. An alone hero especially a fragile one is a dead one.Items wise you have already attained your core. You can delegate all funds to warding. Should you happen to have access to excess money I would recommend a guinsoo. Guinsoo is the ultimate support item. Dunno what to make with any hero? Make a guinsoo. Just fucking do it.
Optional builds include refresher for the massive aoe damage, blood for survivability, necro for added dps and invis counter, shiva for support auras and spamming and of course heart when you need to step up the tanking. Refresher is less and less important considering the recent nerf ES received. Corpses only transfer half the echo damage thus making Refreshers damage output by almost half considering all the creep waves probably died in the first echo slam.
Late Late Game (level 21 - 25)
- Level 21 Stats
- Level 22 Stats
- Level 23 Enchant Totem
- Level 24 Enchant Totem
- Level 25 Enchant Totem
Just finish already!
Edited by basicdotaguide.blogspot.com