Eye of the Storm - A Guide to Storm Spirit

Introduction

Welcome one and all to my 3rd DotA 2 guide covering one of DotA's most beloved and powerful heroes: Storm Spirit

Storm Spirit is a ranged intelligence ganker who can easily turn into a semi-carry and has a number of useful support aspects to his skill set and item choices. Storm Spirit is a strong hero throughout mid and late game. He can farm absurdly well, and is actually pretty item independent up to the late game. His ultimate allows him great mobility and makes him one of the most effective gankers available in the hero pool.

When playing Storm Spirit, it is imperative that you play a solo lane. While he doesn't need that many items, he NEEDS levels. A Storm Spirit without a level advantage is worthless, no matter how good of a player you are. Putting him in a dual lane drastically weakens your capability to take over a game - and so it's best for you to take middle or a suicide (1v2) lane in which you have a jungler nearby.

With this in mind there are times when it is best to pick Storm Spirit. Pick Storm Spirit when:

You don't have a strong solo lane
Your team can afford to have two solo lanes
Your team has a hard carry to take over late game
Their team doesn't have heroes with long silences or disables
Their team does not have mana burn



Times not to pick Storm Spirit include:

You face significant mana burn
Your team already has a strong solo middle and no jungler
Your team does not have a strong push strategy or a late game carry to take over late game
Their team has long duration crowd control or AoE silence


Now, let's begin our discussion of the mighty Raijin Thunderkeg.

Skills and Abilities

Static Remnant - This is Storm Spirit's nuke and major farming skill. This is a large part of where the damage comes from during ganks in combination with Electric Vortex . It's got a very low mana cost, and some solid AoE damage. One fun little note on this skill is that the remnant has flying vision, which makes it very useful for counter warding. Also, the damage occurs in a 260 unit AoE but it is triggered by units that approach in a 235 unit AoE. It's subtle, but something you should definitely keep in mind.

Electric Vortex - This is Storm Spirit's single unit CC ability. It pulls a target unit from increasing distance with level towards Storm Spirit. This in conjunction with Static Remnant , he can dish out a lot of damage on a single target very quickly.

Overload - This is what allows Storm Spirit to scale and deal incredible amounts of damage. This spell adds damage and a slow to your auto attack after each spell cast. Note: this doesn't work with items. It's really important that you maximize your use of this ability. Instead of approaching your skills chain as Static Remnant >>> Electric Vortex you should go Static Remnant >>> auto attack >>> Electric Vortex >>>auto attack. This allows you to maximize your slow and your damage. Add in your ultimate, and you can begin to see just how well Storm Spirit's skills synergize.

Ball Lightning - Storm Spirit's signature skill. This ability allows you to zip around the map leaving chaos in your wake. For a % of your mana, you can move at maximum movement speed while invulnerable to a target location. The farther the distance, the greater the mana consumed. This skill does damage based upon distance traveled in a small AoE around him. Ball Lightning procs Overload and with proper usage can make you impossible to kite. This spell goes through all obstacle and destroys trees, making it very hard to juke Storm Spirit. When using this spell it is important that you watch your mana. It's very easy to travel a long way to gank a target, but run out of mana and be stuck up a creek without a paddle. Generally, you should use this skill in short burst in order to increase how many times you can proc Overload rather than to travel a long way for a single gank. This skill becomes more valuable with more mana regen.

Skill Builds
Note: There are a number of viable ways to build Storm Spirit. Some people prefer to max Electric Vortex first while others like to max Static Remnant for it's early nuke damage. Still others like to max Overload so that you can deal a boat load of damage at level 6 between Overload and Ball Lightning .

The basic template is:
1. Static Remnant/ Electric Vortex
2. Electric Vortex/ Static Remnant
3. Overload

You essentially want one of each skill by level 3 because of their incredible synergy together. Getting Static Remnant first gives you an early farming mechanism, while Electric Vortex is useful for early game ganks. The most important thing is to be aware when playing storm spirit. You should max skills based upon your team's composition and the enemy composition. The one posted in the skill description is one of many ways to build storm spirit.

Early Game Items

Their are generally speaking, two starting item builds with Storm Spirit described in the items section as Early Game 1 and Early Game 2.

Early Game 1 - Focuses on getting stat items early on so that you can last hit and survive middle lane until you can farm a Bottle , at which point you can go roaming. This build also gives you a pretty easy mechanism for picking up a quick Null Talisman . You should pick up:
1 x Tango
2 x Mantle of Intelligence
2 x Iron Branch
and either
1 x Healing Salve
or
2 x Clarity

Early Game 2 - Immediately picking up a Bottle . This build focuses on eliminating the middle man of the stats provided by Early Game 1 and picking up the bottle right away. This build requires that you last hit very effectively, but it does allow you the ability to spam your Static Remnant in order to farm.

Which build you choose is largely up to your preference. I prefer build 1 and recommend it for people who are new or less secure in their ability to last hit effectively or stay out of the way of damage. Some players prefer bottle, which does make you a little more squishy. Again, preference.

TL;DR - Make an item choice based on your confidence in your ability to last hit and get runes.

Boots

Which boots to pick is moderately contentious on Storm Spirit, but Power Treads are widely considered the de facto boots on Storm Spirit. The ability to toggle the stats and the added survivability that brings is particularly attractive on a squishy intelligence hero like Raijin.

However, Arcane Boots are equally viable, and are not a bad choice on Storm Spirit as he is a very mana hungry hero. This, once again, comes down to preference and situation. If you are finding that you're roaming a lot and spending long times between ganks or needing the extra survivability, go with Power Treads . If you are finding that you need that extra little pinch of mana during a gank or team fight, then Arcane Boots are probably the better choice. This largely comes down to preference and choice.

A special mention goes out to Boots of Travel . They are extremely pricey, and I don't recommend going with them early on in the game, but the ability to teleport to anywhere on the map that you have creeps is incredibly deadly on Storm Spirit. It is usually a good idea to switch to these later game, but if you are getting the absurd amounts of farm that are possible early game - then you may wish to pick up Boots of Travel to augment your map control.

TL;DR - Get if you desire survivability. Get if you want quick extra mana boosts. Get if you want to roam and gank like crazy.

Mid Game Items

Core Items

There are a few items to select from when thinking about your core build. Some popular selections include:

Scythe of Vyse - This item provides everything that Storm Spirit needs: mana regeneration, intelligence, and stats. It also provides crowd control which allows you to lock down a target for a long period of time between this and your vortex. A very powerful item that you pretty much must pick up at some point or another. Some people like to rush it, others like to get it a bit later. Your choice.

Orchid Malevolence - My personal favorite item on Storm Spirit because of it's AMAZING regeneration and active ability. Similar to Scythe of Vyse this item allows you to silence a target and amplify damage applied to them. This makes you capable of killing opponents even faster, and the speed of your ultimate gives them very little time to react and pop a Black King Bar . I usually get this before Scythe of Vyse , but it can be post-poned if you feel that you need the health provided by Scythe.

Linken's Sphere - A more defensive item that still provides many of the things that Storm Spirit needs: stats, health regeneration, and mana regeneration. The bonus of being able to nullify one disable make you very pesky and can be the difference between an early death and crushing their team. Good if they have a lot of single target disables.

Late Game Items

Items late game are pretty varied. You should definitely shoot to pick up items that boost your intelligence and crowd control abilities. Mana regeneration is also quite valuable on Storm Spirit. Picking up items from the core build will generally suffice for late game, and if you're able to pick up Orchid Malevolence , Scythe of Vyse , and Linken's Sphere - then the game is probably already over.

Some honorable late game luxury mentions include:
Bloodstone - This item should be picked up if you are having a strong mid-game. With kills, bloodstone can quickly snowball and make you an incredibly difficult target to kill. With a Linken's Sphere or a Black King Bar , you can zip around the map with little fear of being killed. Honestly, your ultimate gives you enough survivability that it renders this item unnecessary, but it can be picked up for fun.

Shiva's Guard - This item is a solid defensive item with some nice AoE usage. It adds a useful bit of tankiness to Storm Spirit while also increasing his intelligence, and thus his damage. It's very useful to pick up after an Orchid or Scythe.

Ganking Sequence/Playstyle

When ganking as Storm Spirit, your sequence should be the following:

Initiate in with Ball Lightning >> auto attack >> Ball Lightning on top of them >> Static Remnant >> auto attack >> Electric Vortex for its full duration >> auto attack >> Ball Lightning >>auto attack etc.

If this series doesn't kill them then repeat the combination of Ball Lightning followed by Overload auto attacks until they fall.

Another ganking sequence is:

Initiate with Ball Lightning >> Static Remnant >> auto attack >> Electric Vortex >> auto attack >> Ball Lightning >> auto attack etc.

While I personally feel that you should bait stuns and try to dodge non-target stuns with Ball Lightning you can also gank for somewhat less damage using the combination:

Initiate in with Ball Lightning >> Electric Vortex >> auto attack >> Ball Lightning >> Static Remnant >> auto attack >> Ball Lightning >> auto attack etc.

You should look to start ganking as soon as level 6. Any earlier and you really lose out on damage and increased mobility of [ball lightning]]. Be VERY careful if you are going to be initiating with Storm Spirit. He is squishy and if you do get stunned in a team fight, odds are good that you will die. You can't afford to get focused, and it's usually best to go in after a better initiator like Earthshaker.

Later in the game your role becomes to pick off squishy heroes in team fights and lock down targets with CC items and Electric Vortex.

Enemies to Fear

doom bringer - If you get hit with Doom, you are screwed. If you see your opponents pick doom bringer then you probably shouldn't pick Storm Spirit

Drow Ranger - She has both a long silence and all the capabilities to tear you to pieces once late game hits. Not as scary as doom bringer, but don't take her lightly.

Anti-Mage - He will drain your mana in a hurry, which severely limits your effectiveness in combat. You should avoid him at all costs.

Other heroes to fear: Death Prophet Night Stalker

Farewell

I hope you all enjoyed/learned something from my Storm Spirit guide. Good luck owning in your games, and ride the lightning!