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Iron BranchIron BranchIron Branch
Tango
Magic Wand
Blink Dagger
Force Staff
Power Treads
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Heaven's Halberd
Phase Boots
Sange and Yasha
Scythe of Vyse
Heart of Tarrasque
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1 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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2 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
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3 | 4 | 5 | 7 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
This is my first guide, so bear with me. The purpose of this guide is to raise awareness and hopefully we will hear less of the "mid es gg end fast." I know SlashStrike has already made a pretty good guide on Coreshaker, but I'd like to expand upon that, offer a few alternative methods, and go deeper with this fun build. Check it out if you haven't already.
A lot of people think ES Mid is a joke, but they can never really offer any explanation as to why. They get mad when you don't gank, but no one ever gets mad at a tinker for the same crimes, despite both going mid for the same reasons: getting a level advantage and farming up the first core item in order to be useful to the team. Being Melee and going mid is not a reason either. Heroes such as Faceless Void just need lvl 6 to get free kills and Mid guarantees that. Earthshaker is no different. ES gets enough farm that he needs on middle, and that isn't even a lot until you need to get your blink dagger, which you can get under 12 minutes and faster if you get a kill on mid.
Shoutout to kzz (stood in regularly for EG and Liquid back in 2013)who popularized this PLAYSTYLE. And I say playstyle because any ****** can pick Earthshaker and walk down mid. Shoutout to Qojqva for bringing light with a similar build in TI4.
YES
● Semicarry and Snowball via solokilling even multiple enemies
● Kill and stunlock(~4 sec) multiple enemies in ganks, skirmishes, teamfights, and counterganks
● Discourage and prevent pushing by simply existing
● Somewhat level dependent, but not very Gold dependent
● Vastly underestimated all the time. Your Combo does a crazy amount of damage and it is almost never expected
NO
● Carry/Rice (stop punching creeps unless you are close to hitting a major item)
● Let the game go on very late
● Melee and suspect to harassment
NOTE: This is only in regards to THIS SPECIFIC PLAYSTYLE. Earthshaker is a very versatile hero, but to prep you for this playstyle, keep all of the above in mind.
Going mid as Earthshaker is much like a mid Razor or Tinker in that you are going to be farming the lane and start making things happen once you hit your first major item(Mek on Razor for pushing, BoTs on Tinker for not being a useless sack of ****). Depending on your mid matchup you can afford to be more aggressive.
You have a base movement speed of 310, meaning it is possible for you to catch up to a lot of other heroes and get that last punch to finish off a clutch kill. His castpoint on Fissure and Enchant Totem are absolute ****.
Though as Coreshaker you are more of an actionary player as opposed to reactionary, You can easily turn around ganks. Earthshaker's biggest problem is closing gaps, but when enemies are jumping onto you that is no longer an issue. If they are diving you in an early gank, try to fissure block them so they tank more tower hits.
On Snowballing
Coreshaker is a snowballer, much like a Nightstalker or Slark in that in order to be effective you need to keep rolling on the opposition. Try to get pickoffs on fragile heroes first once you get your blink, even if they are not alone. If said target is accompanied by another hero that is tanky or with stuns, go in when both of them are together, obviously to keep him stunned and unable to react and save his ally. You may not kill the tankier hero, but the fragile hero is dead for sure. You should be able to get a kill every time your ultimate is off cooldown, or weaker heroes once you get some levels on Totem. Knowing when to kill and how much damage you do comes with experience. Play a few games and learn to gauge how much damage you deal at various stages of the game. For reference, your combo does around 1200 (mixture of magic and physical) WITHOUT your ultimate. Obviously it does less if you are spreading your totem hits on multiple enemies, but with the inclusion of your ultimate more often than not they will both be dead. I think it goes without saying that you should ult when they have creeps around them.
If you're trying to kill a high level core that can escape like Puck or QoP, that extra stun may be just worth it. Something I see a lot of players do with that they're very stingy with high level cooldown ultimates. Sure it may not be worth it to use your ult on a level 3 Treant(you probably don't need it anyways), but against a hero that is a level below or more, I would go for it. That level boost will help you one shot your next target anyways.
As far as items go, Blink and Forcestaff is crucial. Earthshaker's biggest problem is closing gaps, and they both help greatly with that. Once you get your Forcestaff and/or euls, you are able to get a third Enchant off easily.
F-F-Free Last Hits?
Aftershock and Enchant Totem means you guarantee 2 last hits and possibly even harass. Slam the floor and Aftershock kills the first creep (and maybe harass the enemy if he is melee or in close range). Punch another creep with your bonus damage and that's money your enemy can't prevent you from taking. You could always switch it up by catching your enemy in your aftershock last hitting and harassing him. And there's always fissure to kill multiple creeps, and possibly even disrupting your enemy from getting one as well.
Runes
During rune spawns if your enemy is walking towards the rune, fissure blocking them to prevent them from taking the rune is always an option. Fissure takes up a huge chuck of your mana, and if you are against a really aggressive laner, using fissure to net last hits may be your only option, so runes are very important. With the introduction of the two runes spawning at both sides of the river, fissure blocking enemies walking towards the rune to prevent them from taking it is not as effective, but it is still worth it to waste their time. Obviously push the lane so you don't lose out on exp or let your tower take damage before the 2 minute marks when going for runes. Ganking before you get your blink is usually not an option unless you get Haste or Invis.
Playing Offensively
If you are doing well and get your Boots faster than you enemy you may choose to engage on them. That extra 50 movement speed is a big deal. If you are finding that the enemy is playing very offensively and going as far as to go walk past the creepwave to harass you, that may be a good time to engage. If he is trying to deny his last creep while you are pushing in, you may choose to fissure him, prompting him to take damage from your creeps. Good laners will know what I'm talking about. Many lower leveled players underestimate the damage creeps do during the laning phase. Though if you get a good fissure block off, you don't need to wait for boots anyways. If you manipulate the creeps well enough, your creeps may even block the enemy for you.
If I am unable to play offensively due to constantly rotating supports, enemy supports securing runes, it's best to stay back and take whatever last hits I can without exposing myself too much. Once you hit level 6 it's time to go. If you decide to go offensive as Earthshaker, it is best to go all out. If you strike first before you enemy, his lowered health points will discourage him from fighting back at risk of dying. Even if you do not net a kill, it is still a victory.
Level 6 and Gap Closing
Once again, Earthshaker's biggest problem is closing gaps. To circumvent this comes with experience and catching your enemy off guard.
Regardless, once you get your Ult you should be able to kill most mid heroes and get your first kill. A few examples:
● Push in towards the tower, and walk up to the enemy when his creep wave arrives. SlashStrike demonstrates this pretty well.
● When your creeps are under the enemy tower and the last one is about to die, walk up to the enemy and ult. Naturally they would expect you to back off once your creeps are dead and keep walking forward, but that only results in their demise. Sure you tank the tower damage, but if you are sure you can kill them, it's obviously ****ing worth it.
● High ground elevation is also a way to bait your enemy. ddz from Arrow demonstrates here using the fog of war to pretend to back off, but then turns around to get a kill on an unsuspecting Tinker.
● Combining the high ground fog and your enemy pushing in is also another opportunity to walk in and ult. This is a lot more viable when it's night time and your enemy has restricted vision.
● Walking in when your enemy is in an attack animation.
● Even basic **** like walking behind the enemy from the side of the river when they don't have wards to kill them. This is easier when you bait the enemy to nuke you and then you retreat, making them think you went back to the fountain. They well be less cautious after this. Simply bottle up and proceed.
Just keep in mind that once the enemy is in melee range you've already won the fight. You can burst the enemy down in one go, so tanking the enemy or bating them with low HP is always an option if you like to toy with death. If you are under risk of dying, you can always bottle up when you are chainstunning them or pop your wand. This is very underestimated in the earlier stages of the game where it makes a big difference. Gap closing and finding opportunities to kill comes with good laning and ganking knowledge, as well as knowing how to use Earthshaker. To underestimate Earthshaker means death.
Fissure Blocking on Mid
Under Construction (Pictures Pending)
Mid Matchups
Under Construction
Obviously not every thing is clear cut and it is possible to start picking off people before the mid game, but level 11 is when you are at your strongest provided you aren't behind in levels. Enchant Totem and Aftershock are maxed out, and it's time to farm your crops before they rot.
The Combo You Are Known and Feared For
Cast Totem ► Wait for the cooldown to come off ► Blink in and Echo Slam ► Fissure ► Hit Totem ► Enchant Second Totem ► Hit Second Totem
Very simple once you know of it. You enemy and those around him will be stunned for around 4 seconds. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS pump up an extra Enchant Totem before going into a fight. Even if your buff wears off, it's worth spending 50 mana for a possible engagement. Tread switching is pretty important on Earthshaker due to his low mana pool, get used to it. Remember to distribute your damage among enemies. You don't want to be wasting a 400+ Totem on a 50hp hero. Punch someone else and let your Aftershock or Fissure kill them.
In the earlier stages of the game I like to cast Fissure before I hit my First Totem. Due to the large cast time, your enemies may not be permastunned and I'd rather not give them a chance to react, especially if they have a hero like Lion who can insta hex you. Obviously if you are lacking mana you may need to skip out on using Fissure. Also remember that stuns enemies in a line. A VERY obvious fact, but sometimes ES players don't remember this. Aim your fissure to stall the reinforcements coming from the back or any outlying heroes you didn't catch in your initial echo so you can finish off your combo.
You could wait for only 3/4 sec when prepping your initial Totem, since by the time you go in the cooldown will have gone off more or less depending on if you use Fissure or Echo or both.
Obviously you could always not Echo if it's unnecessary, or use enchant totem first, but that's up to you to decide what's best in the situation.
The more casual version of this combo involves only Fissure and Totem, but it's basically you Totem up, blink in, cast Fissure at melee range, punch, cast totem again, and punch again. This usually kills supports in one go once you have your level advantage going on. Once they see you they're dead, that's how strong this combo is. BUT if the enemy has a good reaction time they may disable you or blink out right when you are going to Fissure them because, again, Earthshaker's abysmal cast time. To deal with slippery heroes like this or to ensure your enemy cannot react, either Echoslam first as it has no cast time, or once you have a few levels in Fissure going on you can Fissure from out of sight, and blink in to do your thing (you miss out on a bit of Aftershock damage unfortunately). Keep in mind that if you fissure first you may kill off some creeps, resulting in a weaker Echoslam. Also be careful, your fissure range is longer than your blink range by 200 units, so if you catch your enemy on the tip of your fissure you are going to need to walk a bit before you can punch them and Continue the chain stunning.
But that's the basic gist of your bread and butter. Go check out Slashstrike's video, it's easier to understand when you see it in action.
Always carry a TP to assist your allies in the case of a dive. Fissure ensures the enemy stays under your tower, and if they decide to push when you're level 6, they're in for some big trouble, especially when they think they're about to kill the poor fellow TP'ing into 3 heroes (This usually doesn't happen against better players unfortunately).
Skill Build Variation
Under Construction
My Usual Item Progression
3 Branches + 1 Set of Tangos ► Bottle ► Boots ► Wand ► Blink ► Force ► Blink ► Halberd/Heart
Walking to Lane
More often than not I find myself going 3 Branches + 1 Set of Tangos, or 2 Branches + 2 Shared Tangoes if anyone pools me. I don't go Stout Shield very often as I like to rush my bottle ASAP, get runes, and fissure constantly. Healing Salve is always preferred in the mid lane over tangoes if you aim to be fighting a lot. The reason for this is that you can trade hits and harass, and when you back off, you heal much faster than your enemy then if you had tangoes. Unless your enemy has a salve as well, the end result of the engagement is you with full HP and your enemy at low HP slowly healing up with tangoes. I get Salve if I'm against an aggressive melee like Nightstalker or Brew.
Core Items
I skip wand if the enemy is passive or if the game is very one sided in our favor. You should have Boots and Bottle by the time you're level 6, and Blink Dagger at the 10 minute mark or earlier if you've gotten kills. Once you get it, it's time to start being active and get your snowball rolling. Start putting yourself on the map. I get Forcestaff after Blink to deal with ES's mana problems, and once you have both up and going, no one can get away from you. Also blinking in and sniping a hero, and force staffing out is another action you can take. Some player like Qojqva and ddz go phaseboots for the mobility, but in my opinion treadswitching is pretty crucial on ES due to his low manapool, and the little attackspeed helps with delivering faster Totem punches and keeping your enemy permastunned.
Another reason I like to get Forcestaff is that you use it on other players, to save allies or **** up enemy positioning:
In the case of a mexican standoff or if your allies are coming to gank someone on your lane, I start it off with forcestaffing the enemy into me and blocking him off with Fissure then Totem. Alternatively an easier method is to wait for him to last hit and then fissure him. If he is still facing forward I forcestaff him and then Totem him. Players never expect this coming and once you Forcestaff the enemy out of position into your team he's pretty much dead. Forcestaffing you or an enemy over a fissure is often life saving. Mobility is King.
With these items alone you should be able to wreck havoc. I don't get early damage items like Drums, Armlet, or Sange first because if you have that level advantage, you should have all the damage you really need(Though Phase+Drums is pretty funn if the enemy doesn't have heroes that can disengage like Mirana, QoP, Slark, etc.).
Luxury, Variation, and Adapting
Under Construction
Don't ****ing Get These
Under Construction
I'll finish it when I have time, but I think this is a lot of information that I can share already.
Dotafire is a pretty ****ty website for guides, but this is the only website I know that gets any traffic at all.
If there's anything that should be improved/added please tell me so.
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