Kaolin - The Earth Spirit

Introduction

"Deep amid the Upland crags and cliffs there runs a seam of sacred jade long foresworn by highland minders. From this rare material, the likeness of the great general Kaolin was carved and buried at the head of a stone funerary army ten thousand strong--a force of soldiers and holy men, jesters and acrobats, carved by craftsmen and entombed for millennia in the dark embrace of the Earth.
What the craftsmen had not known was that within the strange seam of jade flowed the spirit of the Earth itself--an elemental force at one with the planet. When the force within the carved jade found itself cut off from the life's blood of the world, it gathered its strength over the course of a thousand years and dug itself free and into the light. Now the great Kaolin Earth Spirit strides the Upland roads, fighting for the spirit of the Earth; and in times of need calls forth remnants of his buried army still locked in the loving embrace of the soil."


Earth Spirit is a very cool hero to play. He can solo mid very easily. I prefer mid lane with him. He needs level up and can also gank anyone at almost any level.The problem with Earth Spirit is that as the game proceeds, his role in the game tapers to such an extent that he becomes 'useless' that a support. I think the role of this guys is Nuke/Gank/Semi-support/Initiator.


I AM TELLING YOU GUYS WITH EXPERIENCE THAT THIS GUY'S REAL ROLE IS TO GANK ALL THEIR CARRIES AND NOT LETTING THEM FARM AT ALL!!!

Skill Discussion

Stone Remnant

Earth Spirit calls forth a remnant of his stone army, long buried with him in the dark embrace of the Earth.


Stone Remnant is an innate ability where you place a stone charge on an area within a 1400 range. It has a maximum of 6 charges which you start with, and the charges replenish every 35 seconds, and lasts for 120 seconds. It doesn't cost any mana, neither does it have a cooldown, neither has a cast animation.

This skill is to be used at initiation rather than planting early. The latter gives an idea of what you are going to pull off. Save them..The cooldown is punishable and you dont want to see a no stone Kaolin..




Boulder Smash

It is with the power of a mountain that Earth Spirit strikes his enemies.


Boulder Smash is an active which allows you to kick the target unit (allied or enemy) or rock towards the direction you're facing. The target enemy will take damage, as well as damaging any unit it passes. If it is a rock, it will move further, and stun all enemies in contact for 2.25(highest level) seconds.

This is basically a free Force Staff for your allies as well as a decent ranged AOE nuke and a powerful ganking and teamfight ability. You can use this to help your initiator initiate, or kick solo enemies towards your teammates, or utilize the very powerful 2.25 seconds stun at 2000 range. It's quite tricky to use this against moving targets, as they might change the angle to where you're facing, and screw up the kick.




Rolling Boulder

Calling upon his connection to the land, the Earth Spirit draws loose stone to him, which forms a protective ball that he can use to roll short distances.


Rolling Boulder is basically your mobility spell (all the spirits have a Mobility spell) in which after a 0.6 seconds delay you turn into a rock and roll towards the target location for 800 units. You will stop when stunned or when colliding with an enemy hero, damaging them. If you run over a boulder, it will consume the boulder charge and extend the range by 1600 and adds a slow effect of 80% when colliding with an enemy.

If you're unable to afford an initiation tool, this is a great ability to use for your initiation. You'll have to time it because of the delay, which also makes it not so good as an escape mechanism.The thing here to be noted that You are NOT INVERNERABLE while rolling and ALL stuns just stop your roll like a boss..

You might want to max this out as fast as possible after Geomagnetic Grip as the cooldown reduction is really good, allowing you to be very mobile. It also has a really low mana-cost of 50 every level.




Geomagnetic Grip

Like calls to like. Even the minerals found in the blood and bones of living beings are not immune to the call of the Earth Spirit.

After swapping the skill, this skill is now the first priority to Earth Spirit. The increasing damage each level causes easy nukes at level 7. This skill provides a nice STFU to the foes also. Extremely useful in team fights for the silence. Also provides the initiation tool for Kaolin.




Ultimate - Will be discussed in detail

Gameplay

The basic bread and butter combo for this guy revolves round the first three skills itself. But combo-ing is not that easy. It goes like this.
1) You put a stone behind the foe
2) You pull it ( pull = geomagnetic grip) towards yourself
3) You roll as the remnant comes to you ( roll= rolling boulder)
4) AFTER..AND I REALLY MEAN AFTER reaching the foe, push him backwards( push = boulder smash)


This is the basic bread and butter with kaolin. A lot can go wrong in this process. The pull has no disable now, so just moving away after the pull causes kaolin to jump about 1600 range eventually leading to tower dives. Another thing is that you may perform actions during the roll so targeting the push IN THE ROLL causes to foe to get pushed to safety instead of jeopardy. The roll mechanic is some what like this..




Step 1 :- You put a stone behind your enemy and get ready to pull it..



Step 2 :- Roll as soon as you pulled it ( foe is silenced )



Step 3 :- Hit the foe in the roll


Step 4 :- Push him back



( My ES Facing opposite Side :D)
The point to be noted here is that when hit after the roll, you go opposite to the foe giving a chance to push.

Now the ways to go wrong...

Skill Build

I highly recommend you guys to level up the Geomagnetic Grip before others since you need the damage to kill as soon as possible. Then leveling up the Rolling Boulder causes to cooldown to decrease meaning increased mobility of Kaolin. Varying levels of Boulder Smash causes change in the push range causing more danger. Also helps in pushing enemies farther while escaping. Hence this is given the last preference. the ultimate is taken as per availability.

The ultimate will be discussed in much detail!!

Magnetize

It is one of the most underestimated ultimate i have ever seen ( the other being macropyre). The thing about the ulti is that its like a thunderclap at first without slow and has a dps. The buff lasts for 6 seconds. The thing here is that when you put a stone nearby the magnetized foe, it explodes in a 600 aoe to reapply the buff to all units ( much like Doom's agh ulti reapplying every second if you are close).

Its the most amazing ultimate i have ever seen guys. Trust me guys.It has a small aoe but hitting one unit even a creep is enough to to the stuff. In the 6 second duration, if you put a stone remnant near to the magnetized foe(300 aoe), it explodes restarting the duration again for all the units. The Craziest Mechanic.



Silencing or slowing one magnetized unit causes other magnetized units to share it. The process can repeat itself. So You can wreck the enemies a lot. In late game a perfect magnetize can deal about 3600 damage. WALAO..But it tapers in the late and you would not like to waste stones in late for this, but it will be used to disrupt the positions of the foes causing them to scatter and leading you to pick em off one by one. The stones get destroyed slowly in about 5 seconds in which you can perform all the remaining skills.

Item Discussion

For this guide, There are actually 2 builds..

1) Nuke build
This build is the most preferred with My Kaolin. It focuses on taking out foes very quickly to eventually win team fights.

Bottle is necessary for this guys if he goes to mid lane. Getting a haste,double damage is the key to early ganks. Early damage and movement speed are crazy. Picking a Veil of Discord is very viable in this awesome dude since all the spells deal magical damage and on the account of the area of effect of the ultimate. Just pop it before Geomagnetic Grip and your are good to go. It also helps immensely the nukes in your team like Lion, Lina, Crystal Maiden and the list is endless..

Building a dagon is perfect for this guy.. Really guys.. The burst Damage with the veil of discord even helps you get the hardest of the hardest kills. A veil and going for dagon level 5 is most viable for this hero. I have owned many a game with dagon play.

Picking a Scythe of Vyse is favorable after dagon since it helps out finishing out a foe. Geomagnetic Grip and hex make a super disable..

When there are heroes like Juggernaut, Weaver or other right-click based heroes, Ghost Scepter would be really preferred which can later be upgraded into a Ethereal Blade making your nuke build even powerful. Veil of Discord, Ethereal Blade, Geomagnetic Grip, Rolling Boulder, Boulder Smash,dagon(level 5) deals about a ton of damage. Ultimate usually tapers of at this stage but is really useful in scatering all the foes.

Beware of the Black King Bar, you just might be too aggressive with your skills which usually pisses them to get a BKB eventually. Just wait(roll out) for the duration to taper off and you are good to go..



2) Support Build

This build doesn't make Kaolin doesn't make Kaolin a baby sitter like Crystal Maiden or Dazzle but just shifts his item build. Bottle is partially necessary i.e just for rune control. Getting a Force Staff suits his role here. He Becomes the Friendly Neighborhood. You could save anyone from a freaking disaster. A Pudge's hook is not fatal now to anyone but you.. The key to this play is not to get target and you can save your carry's ***.

Now for the next item. I'd prefer a Blink Dagger. This item is highly preferred and makes you super annoying thanks to your Force Staff. This tool also helps you to initiate ganks just by blinking and pushing the foes towards allies.

Getting a Mekansm will also help your team if it doesnt have one. vladimirs is also viable if the carries are melee and your team doesn't have one.

Friends and Foes

Basically any disabler who makes sure that kaolin will hit his Geomagnetic Grip is a good friend. Lion Lina Crystal Maiden Shadow Shaman Sven Naga Siren Beastmaster and all the other disabler.


The foes are those who exceptionally hinder your movement by blocking your roll with their movement speed bonus or disables which include projectiles. Examples are Invoker Sven Alchemist Bounty Hunter Weaver Riki Bloodseeker. A special mention to doom bringer with his Doom the worst nightmare or any hero..

Points I missed on

The point I really missed on this guide is about the combo of Stone Remnant- Boulder Smash. I have used the Boulder Smash only to push foes into allies but never talked about the stun. I find it difficult to do so and I would only do to harass people and hardly out of luck some really connect in the team fights.. Frankly i haven't really tried theis combo and would be researching on more combos.

Extra Points

- Rolling Boulder allows the usage of items and spells meaning that you could cast roll then place and pull a stone within the .6 second cast time of the roll. This is also Extremely useful and becomes the gank savior if you forget to cast/ don't cast your Geomagnetic Grip.
- Rolling Boulder doesn't allow kaolin to blink/force staff while rolling. But you are pleased to do it after rolling. Note that force staff takes place but you won't be forcing yourself.
-Teleport Scroll + Shift Key are really great together. You could Tp on the tower, Shift + Stone Remnant,Shift + Geomagnetic Grip, Shift + Rolling Boulder.. Don't go Shift + Boulder Smash..remember? you can use spells in roll, so it would do nothing since you don't have the unit in range. But as you targeted him, kaolin will try to push him..i.e repeating the ''Way to go wrong number 2" all over again..!!
- Boulder Smash and Geomagnetic Grip DO NOT interrupt channeling skills which allow you to manoeuvre you allies who cast channeling ultimates like Witch Doctor Enigma. You could also pull an Epicentering sandking or about to Echo Slam Earthshaker or Requiem of Soulsing(weird verb) Shadow Fiend

Some of The Heroes who take advantage of Earth Spirit

Just watch this video and speak...
Play Video

Vote of Thanks

I would like to thank Hades and Deathkidkun for the support of abilities. I think this guys seriously needed a guide after the nerf/buff in 6.80 patch..

Please fell free to suggest or comment guys... Hoped you guys liked it.. P.s. this is my third guide..