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2 Votes

Rolling In! A Guide to Earth Spirit [Mid Update]

November 19, 2013 by Hypoxify
Comments: 5    |    Views: 30106    |   


Build 1
Build 2
Build 3

Standard Support/Initiator

DotA2 Hero: Earth Spirit




Hero Skills

Boulder Smash

2 7 8 9

Rolling Boulder

3 5 10 12

Geomagnetic Grip

1 4 13 14

Magnetize

6 11 16

Talents

15 17 18


Rolling In! A Guide to Earth Spirit [Mid Update]

Hypoxify
November 19, 2013


Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to my guide. I've been playing Dota 1 + 2 for quite some time now, and I've got quite a few Earth Spirit games under my belt. This is my first guide, so bear with me.

Ranked Play

As of yet, Earth Spirit isn't in pro games.

Pros / Cons


Pros:
Fun to Play
Great Escape
Very Versatile for a support
Tanky
Great Initiation and Followup
Not Very Farm Dependent



Cons:
Hard to do well with
Slow
Level Dependent

Skills

Earth Spirit has a total of 5 skills at his disposal. He is very unique in terms of skills as hes able to adapt to almost any situation, having an amazing escape, great initiation and tremendous first blood potential. More on this later.

Instead of starting with your first ability, Ill begin with Stone Remnant, as it is the basis for every other ability at your disposal.


Stone Remnant

Earth Spirit clicks on a target area on the ground, and a stone remnant is created on that area. The stone remnants are based on a charge system, with 6 charges being the maximum. There is no cool down for placement of the stones, and it takes 25 seconds for each charge to recharge. Each stone lasts two minutes, provides NO vision, and is invincible. This skill is already unlocked from the start, and only has one level.

Mana Cost: 0
Cooldown: 0
Cast Range: 1400

My Thoughts: This is your bread and butter ability. Without it, every one of your skills becomes far less powerful. With this skill, you effectively make every other skill at your disposal even better than it already is. If you have over 4 charges, always be sure to place a stone in your vicinity.

Boulder Smash

This is Earth Spirit Q, or first skill. Earth Spirit will kick an enemy, ally, creep, and jungle monster or stone remnant in whichever direction Earth Spirit is facing. The target moves 800 units, and if a rock is kicked then it will move 2000 units. If an enemy collides with the slammed unit, they will be damaged for 100/150/200/250, and if a rock collides with an enemy, they will be FURTHER stunned for a whopping 5 seconds, even at level one. This skill also destroys trees in the targets path. If a target is magic immune, they wont take damage or be silenced, but still pushed.

Mana Cost: 100
Cooldown: 22/18/14/10

My Thoughts: This is the skill that allows for crazy first blood potential. Cmon, you kick a unit in a direction! Ill talk more about first blood later, but seriously, this skill is amazing. If you manage to connect a rock with an enemy, thats a crazy 5-second stun they will suffer.

Rolling Boulder

This is Earth Spirit W, or second skill. Earth Spirit turns into a boulder, and begins to travel in whatever direction you click for 800 units. If you roll over a stone remnant, you will gain momentum, increasing roll distance, speed, damage, and adding an 80% move speed slow to whomever you collide with. This attack does 90/120/150/180 damage to whoever you collide with without a stone, and 135/180/225/270 with one. With a stone, you will roll for 1600 units. This skill gives you flying vision, and destroys trees in its path. Everything is blocked by magic immunity except for the slow.

Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 16/12/8/4

My Thoughts: This is arguably the best escape in the game. A 4 second, 50 mana, 1600 distance roll (albeit with a rock) escape. Plus, this skill is amazing for initiation! If you roll into an enemy and you passed a rock, you will appear behind them, prepped for a kick! Crazy.

Geomagnetic Grip

This is Earth Spirit E, or third skill. This skill will pull an ally or stone remnant towards your position. If the ally collides with an enemy, they will be stunned for 1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds. If the stone collides with an enemy, they will also be stunned but will take 125 damage as well. This ability is blocked by Magic Immunity, and obviously cannot be used on enemies.

Mana Cost: 75
Cooldown: 13

My Thoughts: I have no words. A pudge hook, that cant miss, that also damages and stuns units it passes through? For allies, but the cast range is huge and this skill is tremendous for saving allies. Another amazing skill.

And finally:

Magnetize

This is Earth Spirit Ultimate. This is magnetizes a small 300 unit area around Earth Spirit, causing those caught in it to take 50/75/100 damage over a 6 second duration. If the unit walks within 300 units of a Stone Remnant, the stone will explode and will reset the duration! There is no limit to how many times this can happen.

Mana Cost: 100
Cooldown: 80

My Thoughts: This is a great teamfight ultimate. Roll in and cast it, and watch as your enemies run. But wait, you can just place a stone and then kick it in their face to refresh the cooldown. Wallah.

Early Game

Head to your lane, preferably a side lane with another hero. Focus on farming unless you're laning with a carry or someone who need the farm more then you. Your skills are very mana independent, so harass your enemy constantly with boulder, kick and pull.

If you want an EASY first blood:
Take a level of kick at level one, and then run to your lane as fast as you can. You want to position yourself slightly behind where the creep wave meets, so you can walk behind the enemy hero and kick them towards your tower. If you can, stack stuns with a friend or two.

Mid Game

Roam. You have a very cheap 1600 distance move, which you should use to initiate and to catch up with foes. Hopefully you have some better items by now, and you can use those to win fights. If you went with the necrobook build, use the minions to push a tower.

Late Game

Teamfights are happening everywhere now. Focus on rolling in with boulder and then kicking a foe back towards your team. If you have them, pop BKB and Shiva's guard now, so that you aren't instantly nuked down. Remember, you have a 4 second cd escape with incredible range, it's unlikely they'll kill you and even if they commit, you can still run away.

If you're playing Mid

A mid Earth Spirit is a very interesting hero. You're extremely,extremely powerful at levels 3 and 6. At level 3, you have a very powerful combo of
1. Placing down a rock and pulling it towards you for a stun
2. Pushing that rock away from you for a silence
3. Running around the enemy and kicking them towards your tower
4. Body blocking them while you, your creeps and your tower attack him
5. (If Level 6) Cast magnetize and use another stone remnant to refresh the duration as they run

Very few heroes can survive this combo. (I'm looking at you, Spirit Breaker and Pudge)
As you begin to kill the enemy mid hero and gain a level advantage, move over to the side lanes to gank them and snowball even harder. This is your main role as a mid Earth Spirit.

Items

I prefer to play Earth Spirit as a Tanky Initiating Support. Knowing this, we head off to lane with a stout shield, some regen, and some stats. If the enemy team has heavy physical harass and/or melee dps carry potential (think: Alchemist), you want to buy a Vanguard. This is a fairly expensive item which will grant you with HP regen, damage block, and sustainability. If the enemy team does not have these types of heroes, you're in quite a bit of luck as to how you can build Earth. is a common pick up for initiators as it returns damage to those who attack you, and if you roll in, you'll likely be targeted by all. is situational as it only works against enemies with magic damage. If the enemies have an outworld devourer or , pick one of these up. should be built almost every game, as it adds movement speed and attack speed for a cheap price. If you want, you can pick up a Medallion of Courage to make slaying Roshan easier, as well as bursting a single target down. If you lack push, build a , but don't upgrade it to level three unless you require the true sight or the game is going late. A shivas guard is also a tremendously effective pickup, making you a ton tankier and providing your team with a great AOE slow. Finally, my favorite item in the game, euls scepter of divinity, is an amazing pickup on anyone who needs to get into position, or if you or a teammate is in trouble. Pick it up after if you choose to get it!

Friends and Foes!

Earth Spirit has a lot of friends. Anyone who can lock down, disable or stun an enemy is of tremendous importance to you. Notable examples include:
Bane - Nightmare + Fiend's Grip
Shadow Shaman - Lockdown
Invoker/ Brewmaster - Tornado + Slows
Sven, Vengeful Spirit, Both SK's - Point and Click Stuns, let you get into position


Earth Spirit also has quite a few weaknesses. Anyone who is great in 1v1 situations, who isn't reliant on spells and who can turn invisible pose a problem.

Riki/ Bounty Hunter/ Clinkz - Invisibilty
Phantom Assassin/ Alchemist/ Spirit Breaker - Crazy 1v1
Huskar/ Night Stalker - Mana Independent and good 1v1ers

Conclusion

Thanks for reading my guide, and please leave me some feedback! Tell me what you liked, and what you didn't. Again, thanks!

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