Creating Chaos! A Guide to Leshrac

Introduction

Hey guys! This is my first guide and it's on Leshrac! I haven't seen many out there so I decided to put in my build. Leshrac is one of my favorite heros and can instantly create chaos for the enemy team. Please keep in mind that this is MY build, so feel free to change up whatever you disapprove of. After all, who's gonna stop you?

Updates

(Starting from 5/13)
-5/18 Edited description for Lightning Storm, added more Not Friends
-5/16 Just some minor edits with formatting, will add more Friends and Not Friends soon
-5/15 Split Friends and Not Friends into two sections, edited Not Friends
-5/14 Edited the skill sequence to bend towards lightning a bit more (v1.1)
-5/14 Added more heroes to the Friends section, will add foes soon.
-5/13 Started Friends and Not Friends chapter, will finish soon

Pros / Cons

Pros:
-Great at Pushing
-Stong at 1v1
-Can deal some insane damage
-Has a decent radius stun
-Can go in pretty much any lane
-Looks Pretty Cool

Cons:
-Squishy until BloodStone
-Stun can be kind of hard to land
-Reliant on Mana
-No escape mechanism

When to Pick LESHRAC

When:
-When your team needs a second layer stunner
-When your team needs a decent damage-disher
-When you feel like playing Leshrac

When not:
-When the enemy team has lots of burst
-When the enemy team has stupid heroes that will shut you down no matter what because you are squishy early game
-when your team does not have a consistent first layer stun/disable
-When you don't feel like playing Leshrac

Skills

Split Earth is your first skill and is your stun. It should be maxed out FIRST, as increasing the level of this skill will also increase the radius, thus making it easier to land. There is a small delay of 0.35 seconds (although it feels like much longer) before Split Earth will actually land, making it a somewhat difficult skill to hit with. I think the easiest times to hit with Split Earth is when someone is chasing you, or as a second layer stun.



Diabolic Edict is your second skill and what makes Leshrac such a good pusher. When used, a series of randomly located explosions will go off around Leshrac, but hitting a RANDOM target if within range. This means that if there is only one unit within 500 units of Leshrac, then they will take a full 1600 damage at max level before resistances. Also, Diabolic Edict will hurt towers, so be sure to use it while pushing. If there are enemy creeps nearby, try to stand to the side a little bit so you will only hit the tower. Keep in mind that Diabolic Edict deals MIXED damage, so it does work against Mud Golems!



Although the image looks amazing, Lightning Storm, which is your third skill, is pretty useless. The damage it deals is decent, but the fact that it jumps through random units makes it an unreliable source of damage when there is a creep wave around during a team fight. There is heavy player preference involved in this, but I like to put my skill points into a few levels of stats first to increase my durability and damage output. When using lightning storm, cast it on the target that you absolutely must hit in order to maximize its potential.



Leshrac's ultimate skill is Pulse Nova! This skill looks amazing and IS amazing, but the mana cost is simply way too high to sustain without your bloodstone. So instead, you get a few points of stats to help you increase your max mana by a BIT. By the time you are level 13, you should have close to enough farm to get your bloodstone if you have been doing decent. Pulse Nova deals damage to all nearby enemy units every second, as well as draining your own mana every second you leave it toggled. DO NOT FORGET TO TURN IT OFF after a fight or else you will find a very sad Leshrac :(

Item Explanation

Euls Scepter of Divinity is a great item to pick up if you find that you are having trouble landing your stuns. It allows you to completely disable an opposing hero (or yourself) by blowing them up in the air with a Tornado of Greatness. The cyclone lasts for 2.5 seconds, so you can time your stun and have it land perfectly. Watch as the enemies stare in awe as they watch their carry disabled for a full 4.5 seconds (if the stun is landed perfectly) while they are being dessimated.




Arcane Boots give you much needed mana for you and your team. Early on, you will find that you will burn your mana rather quickly if you are staying with your team.




Force Staff will give Leshrac a great escape mechanism as well as chase tool. If an enemy ever gets out of range of your edict or ultimate, just use Force Staff to catch up. Don't forget to use this item to save allies that are being chased as well. The Force Staff is also great to push an opposing hero out of position and pick em off with Diabolic Edict.



Blood Stone is much needed on a hero like Leshrac. This item will give you the health you need to stay in the middle of team fights with your ultimate toggled on. Eventually, the enemies will start to focus you down first, but Blood Stone also heals all nearby allies when you die, giving your team better team fight potential. Some people say that this item takes too long to farm on a support/pushing Leshrac, but I tend to get enough gold from assists and pushing empty lanes to be able to get Bloodstone at around mid game.


Since you will be disassembling your arcane boots to finish up your blood stone, you can now buy Phase Boots! These will greatly increase your speed every four seconds, allowing you zip in and out of fights, push lanes, and chase/escape from enemies. You can also get Boots of Travel instead.



As said earlier, once you get your blood stone, you will start to be focused down first in fights. Opposing heroes will hit you with their nukes first in an attempt to decrease your team fight presence. HOWEVER if you turn on your trusty blade mail at the beginning of team fights, then annoying Tinkers will feel their own wrath. It is also great if you think Necrolyte is going to pop his ulti on you.

Item Build/Phases of Game

Stating Items

When you start, buy courier if your team doesn't have one already. If they do, buy wards. Then get a tango and healing salve for some regen and lane survivability, and two clarity potions to keep your mana up at all times. Lastly, buy a gauntlet of strength for some health increase which you will use to turn into a bracer later. If liked, you can skip the gauntlet for 3 iron branches, and go into a magic wand later instead of a bracer.

Laning Phase

I like to get a ring of regen as fast as possible to get some minor regen, but do let your carry get some farm. Pull camps to keep the creep wave under the safety of your tower and make sure to call MIAs and potential ganks. After your RoR, get some boot of speed and finish up your bracer or magic wand. The bracer will give you some much needed stats to survive fights and the wand will give you some burst regen if needed. Try to only get one though, as you need to get to your bloodstone FAST!

Mid Game

By now, you should have arcane boots and have finished your force staff. Work on getting a Ring of Perseverance for your much needed bloodstone. Be extremely mobile and help push every lane, but get to your team if a team fight is heating up. You need to be there for team fights. You should be getting a decent amount of assists to get some mediocre farm. Also, try to push empty lanes as much as possible, to get yourself some farm and help out your teaml, as well as limiting the opposing team's vision and known territory.

Later

YOU NEED YOUR BLOODSTONE NOW! If you don't have it yet, farm your way to victory by jungling a bit. Disassemble your arcane boots to make your soul booster for your bloodstone. After you get you bloodstone, you will have enough health and mana regen to stay in the middle of team fights with your ultimate toggled on.

Team Fights

Leshrac deals a great amount of damage to a single enemy hero in the early phases of the game, but is too fragile to stand in the middle of a team fight. Because of this, you want to stand at the edge and slowly pick off people with Diabolic Edict. Also, don't forget to use Split Earth in the middle of the fray! Try to disable the enemy carry so your team can shut em down and win the team fight.

BUT everything changes once you get your bloodstone and phase boots. Leshrac turns into an insane damage-dealing mega tank that is also great at disabling and chasing. If you do scale lightning storm, cast it first on the unit you absolutely want to hit, as the random bouncing does not guarantee that every opposing nearby hero will be electrified. Turn on your blade mail when the nukes are about to come out and demolish a chunk of the enemies hp.

Friends

Friends

So basically, pretty much everyone with a reliable disable/first layer stun can be counted as a friend. This includes Vengeful Spirit, Chaos Knight, Ogre Magi, Shadow Demon, and ect...

Special Mentions go to:

Shadow Shaman
The king of disables sets you up for a perfect split earth and diabolic edict in the early stages of the game.


Faceless Void
It might not always work, but a good chronosphere will let you dessimate the opposing team with Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova.


Pugna
Decrepify will allow one enemy unit to take extra damage from all of your skills, as well as slowing them so you can land a split earth.


Dark Seer
This may recqure a good amount of communication, but a well executed Vacuum can allow you to stun multiple enemies with split earth. Ion Shell can also boosts your AoE damage when using Pulse Nova.


PuckTreant Protector andElder Titan
These three all have amazing AoE disables, letting you dish in as much damage as possible while your opponents hopelessly stare at their computer screens.

Not Friends

Not Friends

Leshrac is not friends with a number of heroes in Dota.

Dislike List:

Drow RangerSniperUrsa
Nobody likes ******ed right clickers.


OmniknightLifestealer
These two have a portable BKB which will render you pretty much useless.


LionLinaTinker
Lion and Lina both have REALLY HIGH DAMAGE NUKES which will turn your squishy Leshrac into a bacon thing. Tinker is just king of nukes.


NightstalkerRikimaruSilencerDeath Prophet
All these heroes will silence you, rendering you useless. Remember that if you are silenced while your Pulse Nova is toggled on, you won't be able to toggle it off! This can be pretty annoying and will often drain your mana.

Conclusion

All in all, Leshrac is a very versatile and mobile hero that can be used to fill many different roles. He is a great team fighter as well as a pusher and can melt the entire enemy team with a few seconds of Pulse Nova and Diabolict Edict.

Thank you for reading my first guide and I do hope that you have enjoyed it. Feedback is greatly appreciated as I will take it into account on any future guides I make. Thanks!