Storm in a bottle!-A guide to Storm Spirit [7.01]

Introduction

Hello everybody! It's Satomi and today I am bringing you a guide toooo.... Storm Spirit!
So, Storm Spirit! He is a very powerful ganker/semi-carry with very good teamfight presence-early, mid and late game. He is unique, due to the fact that with Ball Lightning he is extremely mobile. Well, this mobility comes at a very high mana cost. Which means you should be building mana regen if you really want to do something. Anyway, without much dragging here, lets proceed to the guide!

Pros/Cons and general information

Storm Spirit should be played in the mid lane as this lane allows him to get the levels and farm he needs to start ganking other lanes. Ball Lightning has a scaling mana cost(7% of your max mana pool + 15, also increasing while you are travelling), which means that building raw mana and intelligence(only) is unadvisable. Building mana regen is the way to go! Though rarely, Storm Spirit can be played as the main initiator if needed. He pops BKB, balls into enemy team, stuns someone and bursts him to death while his team does a follow-up.

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Pros and cons

Pros:
+Very, and I mean VERY mobile hero with Ball Lightning
+Can solo kill at level six almost anyone
+ Ball Lightning makes him invulnerable!
+Very good base armor and armor gain
+Reliable stun with Electric Vortex
+Can initiate after taking a mana regen item and a defensive one(either Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere)
+Very hard to gank without silence or chain-stun
+Abilities with low cooldowns
+Not very hard to play

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Cons:
-Needs proper mana management as Ball Lightning costs ALOT of mana
-Very squishy and mana dependant
-Mana dependant
-Silences make his life hell
-Low range
-Low movement speed
-While in Ball Lightning his vision range is 400
-Kinda hard to master

When to pick

When to pick Storm Spirit:
+Team needs a ganker who can help as early as level 6
+Team needs a midlane hero
+Team already has a hard carry
+Their team lacks silences

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When not to pick Storm Spirit:
-Their team is full of long duration silences( Doom, Crippling Fear)
-Their team has mana burn ( Quas- Wex Invoker, Anti-Mage, Nyx Assassin, Keeper of the Light)
-You cannot get the midlane
-You don't know what is mana management
-Team needs a hard carry (Storm has a pretty good late-game, but he just cannot do as much damage as needed late)

Abilities

Static Remnant

This is Storm Spirit's first skill and also his farming ability. It is a simple-you place a remnant of yourself and after a short delay it will explode when an enemy comes near it, dealing damage. It has very low cooldown.
The remnant also provides flying vision around itself which is very useful versus jukes in the fog of war and when scouting Roshan.
You max this last as Overload gives you more damage and Electric Vortex's stun is just too useful. BUT you will spend one point in it on level one as this ability helps with last hitting.

Tips:
The remnant gives flying vision around itself when you place it for the full duration or until it explodes. Use this vision to prevent jukes and to scout important places like Rosh's pit.

The remnant has a delay before it explodes. It is NOT instant. Keep that in mind.

You can use Static Remnant during Ball Lightning. Use this to provide vision for yourself.

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Electric vortex

This is Storm Spirit's second ability and also... a stun! Basically this ability stuns the target enemy hero and drags them slowly towards you. It has a drawback though-it slows you by 50% for 3 seconds.
You will not max this first, but instead-take only 3 points and skip the last for later. Why, you will ask? Isn't more stun-time and less cooldown nice? Well, 3 points are enough to make this spell drag your enemy into a Static Remnant! Ofc you can always take a fourth point earlier if you need more lockdown.
You can also get one point in this skill at level 4 and proceed to maxing Overload at level 7! This skillbuild generally leaves you with less CC, but makes you deal amazing damage.
Use the skillbuild that fits your playstyle best.

Tips:
At level 3, this spell will drag your target into a Static Remnant and make it explode(if you placed one ofc). That's why you can skip the last point for later.

This spell applies a debuff which slows you by 50%. That's why using it when 2+ heroes are chasing you is unadvisable-they will have easier time catching you when you are slowed :/.

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Overload

This is Raijin's third ability, which is a passive. It is also his main source of damage, apart from Static Remnant.
When you cast a spell you will get a Overload buff, which will make your next autoattack deal bonus AoE magic damage and a slow(80%) in a AoE.
You will actually receive the Overload buff exactly at the time you casted a spell. Which means that, if you have a attack flying and cast for example- Static Remnant, this attack will deal bonus damage and slow.
You are maxing this after getting your 3 points in Electric Vortex as the damage this spell gives is unbeliavable.
You can also max this first as I said earlier.

Tips:
Cast Ball Lightning at very small ranges to trigger Overload and constantly deal amazing damage as long as you have mana.

Casting a spell while an attack is flying will still make it slow and deal bonus damage. Use this to finish off escaping heroes early when you don't have enough mana to Ball near them.

The bonus damage is AoE! This is brilliant for farming along with Static Remnant.
The slow is AoE too! Makes you very annoying in teamfights.

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Ball lightning

Here we go bois- Ball Lightning, Storm Spirit's ultimate.
Basically this spell makes you transform into a ball and travel very fast to the target location, while being invulnerable in the process. It has no cooldown, but instead-an amazing mana cost. The mana cost scales with your own max mana - 15 + 7% of your max mana(activation) + (12 + 0.7% of your max mana)(per 100 units).
This means that building raw mana and intelligence only, actually, is useless. You will need mana regen to sustain your mana pool.
The damage scales too! Per 100 units travelled this spell deals 8/12/16 damage. Which means that if you travelled 10000 units you will deal 1600 damage on level 3(before reductions). Cool, eh?
You get this at levels 6,12,18.

Tips:
Cast Ball Lightning at very small ranges to trigger Overload and constantly deal amazing damage as long as you have mana.

If your hero has already started travelling with Ball Lightning, you cannot stop him. This means that you will have to wait Storm Spirit to run out of mana or to go to your desired location, if you want him to continue following your orders.

You can activate items during Ball Lightning.
Feeling like your mana will run out before catching this Beastmaster? Use Soul Ring while in in Ball form-ez.
Forgot to activate BKB before balling into their team? Well, you can still activate it while travelling before it is too late.
Tread switching during Ball Lightning? Yeah.

Pudge can hook you while you are in ball form????

During Ball Lightning you are invulnerable. You cannot be damaged or CC-ed under this effect(exc. Pudge and Soul Ring).

You can use Static Remnant during Ball Lightning. Use this to provide vision for yourself.

During Ball Lightning your vision is 400. Use Static Remnant for vision as you may be going in the eye of the storm(lel).

Using Ball Lightning disjoints projectiles. If you have good timing and reflexes you can dodge stuns and other high damage projectile-based spells(even Laguna Blade, although it is not a projectile).

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WOMBO-COMBO!
Here are is a simple combo for solo killing:
Black King Bar(optional)- Ball Lightning near enemy(optional, if far enough)-hit(optional, if you balled)- Electric Vortex-hit- Static Remnant-hit- Ball Lightning(at small range, to trigger Overload)-hit-keep repeating the last 2 steps until you've killed your foe.

Talents

Talents are buffs for your hero that are available to get at the expense of a skill point.
They can be gotten at levels 10,15,20,25 and only one of the two can be chosen.

At level 10 you can get +20 dmg or +3 mana regen. The regen is way better. You can get the damage, but I would not advise it.

At level 15 you can get +175 hp or +10 intelligence. The hp is too low to make a difference. You take the int here.

At level 20 you can take +40 attack speed or 7 bonus armor. You will take the attack speed most of the times. Get the armor only if you are facing heavy physical dmg or -armor strats.

At level 25 you can get +0.75s Electric Vortex duration or +10% spell amplification.
In the late game, your damage starts to fall off so the spell amp would be way better. The bonus duration is not very much also-get the bonus spell amplification.

Items

Starting items

These are the standart Bottle rush starters. They leave you with very little amount of stats so be careful and use Static Remnant to get some fast last hits and get Bottle around minute 2. The Tango is to keep you healthy versus harass.

Early game

The Bottle is essential for every midlane hero(for rune control and sustain).


Every hero needs this. Especially Storm Spirit, because he has low movement speed(285). Makes chasing and escaping alot easier.


Burst heal and mana. Also some stats. Very cost-effective early game item.


This item is just too good on Storm Spirit. Gives him some mana regen to start with, some health regen and an amazing active! With the active you can give yourself enough mana to escape or to chase someone!

Core options

Just one thing to clarify. After getting his early game items a Storm Spirit player should build one thing next- either Orchid Malevolence or Bloodstone as a first major item. The boots vary between the two builds(arcanes and treads).

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IMO, it is up to personal preference which of these you are going to build first.
If you are going for Orchid, get Power Treads. If you are going for Bloodstone, get Arcane Boots and later disassemble them, make Bloodstone then upgrade brown boots to either Power Treads or Boots of Travel.

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Gives some mana regen, intelligence, attack damage, attack speed and a soul burn active(which silences). This item makes ganking elusive heroes alot easier and overall-makes your DPS more. It is a MUST versus heroes with escapes like Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain etc.
Compared to Bloodstone- Bloodstone gives better snowball potential and tanks you up, also lets you suicide.

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Gives lots of raw health and mana, lots of health and mana regen and lets you suicide when needed. This item is better in terms of snowballing to Orchid Malevolence, because of the Bloodpact passive, which, with every kill makes you stronger and stronger as you gain more mana regen. Also, please do not use the active while in Ball Lightning form as the item will go in cooldown without effect.
Compared to Orchid Malevolence-Orchid gives you overall more burst and lets you silence a key target.

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I will say this again. IMO it is up to personal prefernce which of these are you going to build first ^^

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If you are going for Orchid, consider getting Power Treads before that. They allow you to tread switch and give nice attack speed.


These are only gotten when you are going for Bloodstone. Until you get it, they will keep your mana pool full. Later you will disassemble them and use the Energy Booster for finishing your Bloodstone.
Well, after getting it you will be left with only brown boots. You can upgrade them to Power Treads or wait for late game to build them into Boots of Travel.

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VS
Storm Spirit must build one of these items after either Orchid Malevolence or Bloodstone as he needs a way of defending himself versus magic damage and stuns. Only one, though...

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You will get this when their team has lots of magic damage and crowd control, which does not go through BKB( Finger of Death, ghost ship, Ravage etc.).
Compared to Linken's Sphere- Linkens blocks one spell every 16 seconds, but it can block technically everyhing single target. Also Linkens gives better stats and also mana regen.

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You are getting this when their team is full of pure damage nukes and/or CC that goes through BKB( Primal Roar, Fiend's Grip, Doom, Agh's Laguna Blade etc.).
Compared to Black King Bar-BKB blocks every magic damage for a duration and almost every CC.

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It depends on the situation which one of these items you will be building.
If their team has lots of BKB-piercing nukes and CC- Linken's Sphere
If they have lots of magic damage and non-BKB-piercing CC- Black King Bar.
Some people prefer Linkens as it gives better stats. But some people prefer BKB as it is for duration and not only for one spell.
Saying this again:It depends on the situation!

Situational and luxury

When it is late game and you do not have enough place for tp scrolls. Or you just want to spend your money.

upgraded boots of travel
It is super late-game and you need massive backdoor. Or again-you want to spend your money on something.


The ultra-super-mega-luxury item. It gives nice stats and slow. You will be very tanky if you get this along with a Bloodstone.
Makes kiting BKB carries super ez.
But it is just too expensive :/.


Mana regen?-check
Cooldown reduction?-check
Spell lifesteal(or spell vamp, call it the way you like most)?-check
This item is overall great, but it is not the best item for Storm Spirit. The spell vamp is very useful for 1v1's. The cooldown reduction is not that great as Raijin already has very low cooldowns.
It is a great item-don't get me wrong, but most items are better than this on Storm Spirit.


Very underrated but actually AMAZING item. It gives 30 intelligence and some nice raw hp.
The active is useful when you do not want to waste mana using Ball Lightning to catch someone. It has low cooldown, which means that you can spam it :D! Bad thing is-no mana regen.


You will be in the center of the fights most times, which means that the aura can do its work. The active is nice for initiating too. The armor is nice versus nasty right-clickers. The int. is just too good. One of my favourite items on Storm, very strong pickup.


A very rare pickup on Storm. I almost never get this. You will only probably get it when you are so low on budget you cannot afford a Orchid.
The only good thing about this item is the active(at least on this hero :/).


Direct upgrade to Orchid Malevolence. Makes your damage viable late game. Buy it after your mana regen items.


The best ****ing item in the game. Gives you everything you need.
Some more CC is always good. And the stats and mana regen are amazing. This is the perfect luxury item for Storm Spirit.


BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING, READ!
This is the super-late game item. Storm Spirit generally does not need a refresher as his spells all have low cooldowns. The only true reason you will be getting this is toooo.... refresh BKB. There is no other reason to ever get this.

Rejected items

You should not be farming. You should be ganking. End of story.


Storm Spirit already has decent initiation. Getting a pure initiation item is just a waste of item slot. The damage and attack speed these items give are so low... If you really want the "Break" thing let someone like Slark to get it. Storm Spirit should never be building this item.


Silences are a counter to Storm Spirit. You know what this item does? Silences you.

You have Ball Lightning for mobility. Do not waste a whole item slot for mobility you do not need. Instead-get some MOAR mana regen :D.

Friends and foes

Friends

KOTOL GIFF MANA along with Rylai can keep your mana pool full for the early/mid game.


Lifestealer can benefit alot from your mobility as he needs someone who can get close to the enemy easily.

etc.
Early gankers and roamers can help you dominate your lane and get more gold. Also a faster level 6 for faster ganking! Be aware to know when they are rotating to your lane.

Foes

If he Dooms you, you can literally do nothing. A Linken's Sphere is a must versus this thing, as Doom goes through BKB.


At early game, if you have some dust you can easily kill him 1v1. The problem is when he gets his Orchid Malevolence. He will silence you and right-click you to death. You can easily continue to dominate him 1v1 when you have gotten your BKB or Linken's Sphere.
He is VERY squishy.


Mana Leak works on you while you are in Ball Lightning??? This literally means no escape until you have gotten your BKB or Linkens.


If Anti-Mage catches you with zero mana...you are dead, that's all. As Mana Void scales with missing mana he can literally one-shot you if you are low on mana. He has amazing magic resist so you will have harder time killing him as all of your damage is magical. The mana burn is quite annoying too. BUT if you are able to constantly gank and kill him early, he will be low on farm and levels thus making him an easy kill with low damage. Buy an Orchid vs this guy as he can escape easily with Blink.

tl;dr Keep him anti-fed


He has a broken 8-second silence that makes you useless.
Completely try to avoid this guy at night as you are an easy kill for him.
Also at night he is a better ganker than you :/


He has a heal, a BKB-piercieng perma-slow, magic immunity and physical immunity.
Now, tell me is it possible to kill this guy?
Yes it is, but you can't do it. Consider getting a Diffusal Blade carrier on your team...or a Shadow Demon ;p.

Gameplay

Early game

So, you are going in the midlane? Get this Bottle. Just do it. Just get the lasthits needed for it. Then start to control the runes.
Aim to harass the enemy laner with Static Remnant(if melee) and Overload.
When you get your level 6 go to gank.

Mid game

By this time you should have Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere. Try to initiate the teamfights.
Storm Spirit contributes to the teamfights so much it is not even funny.
If you had a bad early game assassinating the supports is a comeback option.
If you do a team wipe, push like hell. Storm Spirit is a very good pusher with proper mana regen.

Late game

Do not get cocky with your ultimate. Be careful of silences and chainstuns.
D O N T D I E
Split push when you can. Storm Spirit can escape ganks quite easILY.
Protect your hard carry. Slow and stun everybody who tries to touch him.
Also, focus their hard carry(or whoever is causing trouble).

Conclusion

That's all guys! Hope you enjoyed my guide to Raijin, the Storm Spirit.
Be sure to comment everything you find wrong in my guide so I can correct it and move forward. Before downvoting-write a comment why are you doing it. Seriously, I cannot read your mind-tell me why you don't like my guide!(this also applies to upvoting-tell me why you like my guide)
Have fun with Storm Spirit!