A Comprehensive Appendix for Leshrac

Introduction

THE HISTORY OF CORE LESHRAC

Leshrac--the support that was turned carry by a niche pub meta. Roughly a year ago, the Arcane-->Euls build was played around with as a joke by several high skill players, trying to mimic Lina's legendary LSA combo. Though extremely rare, the build gained slight traction for its success. Now, in 6.84, Leshrac is in an odd situation--play him as a damage only support, or as a farm hogging carry that destroys every enemy in his path. I'd think it's pretty clear which to pick.

LESHRAC: SKILL CAPS AND MECHANICAL DIFFICULTY

One thing highly underestimated about Leshrac, especially by newer players, is the immense skill requirements for playing the hero as a core of any type. As Leshrac is a very squishy hero, more than clicking spells is vital to appropriate play of the hero. Also, players have a tendency to forget that the timings involved with Leshrac's Eul's Combo are extremely precise, with so much as 100ms variance maybe far too wide to be useful. Rather than simply trying the hero in a pub, get to know the hero in bot matches, learning his Eul's timings so that you don't make a fool of yourself while constantly stunning too early/late.
Overall, remember that Leshrac is not the most difficult hero, theoretically, but requires precision more than knowledge to execute properly.

When to Pick or Ban a Leshrac

CAPTAIN'S MODE

If you don't plan on taking Leshrac, it is best to Round 1 Ban him, as his potential, even in a support role, is far too great to go freely unchecked. If this is a lower skill game, let it pass, and perhaps you'll have an ace in your sleeve if the other team is too slow to grab him up come Round 3/4 Picks.
Leshrac is an Excellent pick into a lot of heroes currently present in the meta--Chen, Manta-Base such as Gyrocopter, and Enigma. If you are purely wondering if Leshrac is good with your draft, the answer is most likely yes. Leshrac benefits from almost any type of synergy set, including the infamous Drow+Visage. The real question is--how well can my (Role X) player use Leshrac in this game?

ALL PICK

Assuming you are not the guy that says "I pick last", it is generally safe to take a Leshrac in the 2nd Round of your team picks. 1st Round leaves you open to heroes that can take advantage of your very low cast point, e.g. Pudge or Invoker. If you are feeling particularly on edge about a Leshrac pickup, wait until you see your most likely lane matchup completed, then decide from there. If the other team has a Storm Spirit, you are probably safe to take Leshrac in a core role if you know how to play around the Storm. If they take Rubick, you may think twice about running that aggro trilane.

Item Builds

The Aggressive Build

Aggressive Build is exactly as it sounds--you can afford to take risks due to either a favorable lane matchup, or simply winning your lane through proper play. The key to a successfully progressive build is to always remember that tweaks might be needed on the fly, and thus, not taking a BKB when the entire enemy team is useless against it may not be the brightest decision. No starting items is much stronger than it may seem--but a 0 minute Bottle is far more useful than a set of Tangoes if you can stay away from trouble. Secondly, upgraded boots are of no concern to a Leshrac. Your goal, ultimately, is a ~9:45 Eul's delivery. This is very quick, but having such huge leverage is a much larger advantage than Arcane Boots. Secondly, the Bloodstone has to be acquired by 19 minutes. If this isn't accomplished, you may find yourself missing out on all of the opportunities for charges from your early Eul's. A critical point also--any time that Leshrac isn't farming or killing is generally wasted time. Waiting to respawn for 60 seconds at 20 minutes gets to be a real bother, so on the off chance you might suicide, or worse, die, you have a recovery mechanism. This now, is where the magic happens.
At this point, you will pick up BoTs, and prepare for full on combat across the map. The goal is that you are constantly with your teammates, taking fights, then a few buildings, then repeating the cycle until victory. Hopefully, you'll have roughly four multiples the damage output of any hero on the map--as Pulse Nova should rightly be dealing ~500 per second if you are in a teamfight. This is where an Octarine Core becomes vital. Leshrac has this small problem of having all of zero sustain in a fight, and thus magic lifesteal is a godsend. The ability to gain ~150 HP every second is quite lovely. A late Aghanim's Sceptre is picked up as a final additive to the heal/damage of your Pulse Nova.

The Defensive Build

The Defensive Build is excellent when you face heroes such as Shadow Fiend that can constantly stay in control of farm and lane dominance. If you feel completely confident, don't use this build, as it limits Leshrac's damage in favor of extreme defense. A quick Arcane Boots is very important to ensure continuous Lightning Storm. If Leshrac cannot play from ahead, he will not come back without being dragged across the line by his team. The Eul's in this case is acceptably acquired around 15 or 16 minutes, as it is expected that you will not have access to unlimited farm. Try desperately to accomplish this, as Eul's gives a great amount of teamfight and pickoff potential, and thus you must have it ready when the enemy carries suddenly come charging. Naturally, your build is planned roughly the same throughout the rest of the game. When you are able to be offensive, make sure you have your BKB at the very least, as you must remember you are probably not in control of the game.

The Push Build

Leshrac has far less potential to push than he does to stomp enemies in the mid-game, but he can easily be paired with a supprt Pugna (or a similar hero) to take early towers. Rather than focusing on a Eul's, this form of Leshrac will deal AOE/teamfight damage over ganking heavy items. Acquiring a Veil boosts you damage exponentially, and allows you to deal more damage to towers due to the fear inspired by -25% magic resistance. Most of the same items are present, but this Leshrac will be able to stand under the enemy stairs, destroying towers while being somewhat tanky on his own high armor focus. With the bonus Shiva's, there should be no problem with attacking in the late game.

Ability Summary

Q - SPLIT EARTH

Leshrac's core component in the Eul's combo. This skill is incredibly powerful, even said to be entirely overpowered by some. As the stun takes 1.05 seconds to apply, a blind guess is almost entirely useless with the very small AOE. The mana cost is relatively high, but not outrageous for an essentially guaranteed kill on any hero.

W - DIABOLIC EDICT

Leshrac was once a sustained damage hero, and this ability remains the same. One of the only abilities to damage towers, and early focus in Diabolic Edict can cause a Tier 1 tower to fall by 5 or less minutes. The key to using this ability correctly is remembering that the actual range is less than your attack range, and thus you most expose yourself to enemy Force Staff manipulation.

E - LIGHTNING STORM

Lightning Storm is the main farming ability of Leshrac. Having a very short cooldown, high damage, and a sharp slow, even jungling when ahead can be simple with a few rounds of Lightning. This is most likely the least challenging skill to use out of Leshrac's skills.

R - PULSE NOVA

The damage in teamfights mostly comes from this skill. Octarine Core is really the best friend of Pulse Nova, reducing the wave interval AND granting huge health regeneration for Leshrac. The goal is to not waste all of your mana--you have to use this sparingly.

Pros / Cons

Pros

+++Massive Damage
++High AOE
++Strong Control
+Good Push
+Persistent Auras

Cons

---Extremely Squishy
--Difficult
--High Risk
-Poor Mobility
-Subpar Lane Farming

Farming

Early Game

Leshrac has a rather poor auto-attack, so simply expecting a great experience from that is not a great plan. Rather than worry strictly about that, don't be afraid to throw a Lightning Storm when you have guaranteed mana. This can also lead towards a quick push on the Tier 1 towers.

Mid Game

You shouldn't need to farm in the mid game, as most of your gold will be from farming heroes. However, if you must, jungling can be done with some Lightning Storms so long as you have the mana regeneration to support the mana cost of Lightning Storm.

Late Game

If farm is still needed in the late game, you can always E-->R a creep wave for a quick ~250 gold. Quite honestly, Leshrac can even hold against Mega Creeps for a long time--4 waves of Pulse Nova should handle their residual health.

Conclusion

Remember--Leshrac is a difficult hero, but has extremely opportunity for great damage during ganks and teamfights. What you really have to look for when deciding on a Leshrac, above all else, is your own confort.

--NTTHRASH