Keeper of the Light - Master Pusher

Introduction

Hey there, people of DOTAFire. I'm drakon136, and this is my first guide here. I don't really consider myself to be a bad player by any means, but I'm definitely not a really good player, but I hope you find this guide helpful. I'd appreciate it if you took the time to read the guide and try out the build before voting on it. Please don't downvote it just because you have your own guide for this hero, it'd make me sad.

Pros / Cons

Why exactly would you choose Keeper of the Light in the first place? What makes him stand out from the rest of the heroes in Dota 2? Here's a list of the pros and cons to Ezalor.

Pros:
- Functions well in every lane
- Incredibly powerful nuke; Illuminate can deal an incredible 200 damage at level 1
- Has little trouble earning gold with Illuminate
- No mana problems whatsoever from level 3 onward
- His ultimate, Spirit Form, has a relatively low cooldown
- Blinding Light and Recall are helpful tools for saving teammates from death and saving yourself from a gank

Cons:
- Illuminate is channeled, and using it leaves you open to be attacked
- Illuminate steals farm from your teammates, which they need more than you
- Mana Leak isn't very reliable CC
- A badly timed Recall or Blinding Light can **** your team over

In my opinion, the pros greatly outweigh the cons.

Skills & Skill Justification

Illuminate
Channels a ball of light energy, building power the longer it's channeled. Once released, the ball deals damage and gives vision in a line. The longer it is channeled, the more damage dealt.

Illuminate is a very powerful skill. The enemies in your lane will last hit in fear, knowing that a massive nuke could come out of the shadows at any moment. It works wonders on creep waves too, easily turning the creeps into dust with a cast or two. However, until you get Chakra Magic leveled up a bit, the 150 mana cost is quite high, so use it wisely.

Illuminate is taken at levels 1, 4, 5, and 7 to maximize its damage output as early as possible. Taking Illuminate at level 3 instead of level 4 is an option, but I prefer getting the second point in Chakra Magic as soon as possible to offset Illuminate's mana cost early game.


Mana Leak
Weakens an enemy's magical essence, causing them to lose mana as they move. If the enemy loses all of its mana, it will be stunned.

Mana Leak is KotL's only form of CC, and honestly, it isn't the most reliable. It works like Bloodseeker's Rupture, sapping away the target's mana the more they run. While it doesn't deal a set amount of extra damage like Rupture, Mana Leak has the added benefit of stunning the target if they run out of mana. It also instantly stuns creeps that have no mana whatsoever, including Roshan.

Mana Leak is taken once at level 6, then maximized last. Unless you're laning against heroes like Chaos Knight with low mana pools, Mana Leak is not very reliable.


Chakra Magic
Restores mana to the target unit.

A simple spell with a simple purpose. Chakra Magic uses mana to restore mana; either yours, or an ally's. It isn't very effective at level 1, but it provides a good amount of mana from level 2 onward.

Chakra Magic is taken at levels 2 and 3 to quickly raise the amount it restores so you can fire off more Illuminates. It is taken again at levels 8 and 9 to maximize mana restored.


Spirit Form
Ezalor turns his body luminescent temporarily, gaining various abilities. Illuminate is now channeled by a separate spirit, and gains the Blinding Light and Recall abilities.

Spirit Form is a very unique ultimate. What it lacks in raw power, it makes up for in utility. It brings a couple benefits to the table while activated:

- While active, Ezalor gains two new skills: Recall and Blinding Light
- While active, casting Illuminate summons a spirit to channel the spell for you, allowing you to move around and attack like normal

Spirit Form is taken at levels 10, 11, and 16. It is not taken earlier because, although Spirit Form has plenty of utility, it simply isn't that good until it reaches level two. Of course, your opinion may be different, in which case you can feel free to take Spirit Form earlier.


Recall
After a short delay, teleports the targeted friendly hero to your location. If the targeted friendly hero takes player based damage during this time, the ability is interrupted.

This skill has a great deal of utility. It can be used to bring an ally back to the fountain when they need health and mana. It can save an ally from pursuing foes. It can even bring an ally to you to save you from a gank. At the right time, Recall is a perfect spell. But at the wrong time, such as when a teammate is attempting a gank, Recall can easily backfire. It's a great skill, but use it wisely.

Note: Recall is interrupted when the hero you are Recalling is hurt by an enemy hero. If a teammate is beyond saving, don't waste your mana.


Blinding Light
A blinding light flashes over the targeted area, knocking back and blinding the units in the area, causing them to miss attacks.
At the right moment, Blinding Light can turn the tide of a teamfight. Say you are in a teamfight, and you're and your team are getting wrecked by the opponent's carries, such as Skeleton King and Ursa. You just throw a Blinding Light on top of them, and it knocks the enemies back, while giving them an 80% chance to miss their attacks, allowing you to turn the tables and win the teamfight. Its effect of knocking enemies back also works quite well when a teammate is being chased.

Note: As with Recall, Blinding Light can easily backfire. Consider this: Blinding Light pushes enemies back from the center of the radius. Bad aim can actually knock your enemies closer to the hero they're chasing, allowing them to get the kill. Be careful when using this.

Items & Item Justification

Core

- Magic Wand
- Mekansm or Urn of Shadows
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity
- Pipe of Insight
- Boots of Travel or Tranquil Boots
- Observer Ward

Core Justification

- Magic Wand is a good item all the way from early game to the moment before an Ancient falls. That extra 15 health and mana per charge may not seem very significant, but it can give you that little bit of health to survive an incoming attack, or a bit more mana to Illuminate your enemies if Chakra Magic is on cooldown.

- Mekansm is an excellent item on Ezalor. The active healing ability can save the lives of you and your teammates, and the passive HP regen aura is just icing on the cake. However, if you die too much to get enough gold for Mekansm, pick up an Urn of Shadows. Provided you can get near enough enemy heroes when they die (which you should be if you are hitting them with Illuminate), you can use the Urn to provide a much greater heal to your team, albeit to a single ally at a time.

- Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a powerful tool. The additional movement speed, extra intelligence, and mana regen are all very good on KotL, and the active is simply wonderful. One potential use for it (that I haven't really tested yet, so take this with a grain of salt) is to Recall an ally to you and target yourself with the Cyclone if you get ganked. By the time the Cyclone wears off, your ally will be ready to save you and possibly pick up a kill. Of course, you could always just Cyclone the ganker and run away, but that's boring.

- Pipe of Insight is wonderful on KotL. The HP regen and magic resistance greatly offset his frailness, while the active shield ability, which gives a barrier that blocks 400 magic damage for 10 seconds to all allies nearby, is nothing to scoff at.

- Boots of Travel are generally good on every hero. The movement speed is just huge, and the active is a free Teleport Scroll, only better. What's not to like? Build these last, and don't be afraid to disassemble your Tranquil Boots and sell the rings you get from it. But, if you'd like, you can keep your Tranquil Boots and save up for buyback money.

Starting

- Animal Courier or Observer Ward
- Magic Stick
- 3 Iron Branches
- Tango

Starting Justification

- As the support, it is your responsibility to purchase the Animal Courier, and preferably the Flying Courier later on. However, someone else may have purchased the courier already. If that is the case, pick up an Observer Ward.

- Magic Stick and the Iron Branches are necessary components for the Magic Wand you will be building soon.

- Tangos are good for a quick heal if you get harassed early on.

Early Game

- Magic Wand
- Flying Courier
- Tranquil Boots

Early Game Justification

- Magic Wand is a good item all the way from early game to the moment before an Ancient falls. That extra 15 health and mana per charge may not seem very significant, but it can give you that little bit of health to survive an incoming attack, or a bit more mana to Illuminate your enemies if Chakra Magic is on cooldown.

- The Flying Courier is essential for delivering items to you and your team much faster. It also has increased health and armor, meaning it won't die in one hit from a level 1 character. It's essential that you get this right after the Magic Wand.

- Tranquil Boots are a great item early on. With these, you'll never need to buy another Tango again. It also gives the second highest movement speed bonus of all boots, and a bit of armor and HP regen to boot. However, it reverts to Boots of Speed if enemy heroes or Roshan beat on you too much in a short time. Don't worry, it reverts back if you don't get hit in a short time.

Mid Game

- Mekansm or Urn of Shadows
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity

Mid Game Justification

- Mekansm is an excellent item on Ezalor. The active healing ability can save the lives of you and your teammates, and the passive HP regen aura is just icing on the cake. However, if you die too much to get enough gold for Mekansm, pick up an Urn of Shadows. Provided you can get near enough enemy heroes when they die (which you should be if you are hitting them with Illuminate), you can use the Urn to provide a much greater heal to your team, albeit to a single ally at a time.

- Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a powerful tool. The additional movement speed, extra intelligence, and mana regen are all very good on KotL, and the active is simply wonderful. One potential use for it (that I haven't really tested yet, so take this with a grain of salt) is to Recall an ally to you and target yourself with the Cyclone if you get ganked. By the time the Cyclone wears off, your ally will be ready to save you and possibly pick up a kill. Of course, you could always just Cyclone the ganker and run away, but that's boring.

Late Game

- Pipe of Insight
- Boots of Travel, or keep Tranquil Boots

Late Game Justification

- Pipe of Insight is wonderful on KotL. The HP regen and magic resistance greatly offset his frailness, while the active shield ability, which gives a barrier that blocks 400 magic damage for 10 seconds to all allies nearby, is nothing to scoff at.

- Boots of Travel are generally good on every hero. The movement speed is just huge, and the active is a free Teleport Scroll, only better. What's not to like? Build these last, and don't be afraid to disassemble your Tranquil Boots and sell the rings you get from it if you just need a little more gold for the Boots of Travel. But, if you'd like, you can keep your Tranquil Boots and save up for buyback money.

Luxury

- Rod of Atos
- Scythe of Vyse
- Orchid Malevolence

Luxury Justification

- Rod of Atos is a good item. The extra health and intelligence is very helpful, and the active slow is ridiculously powerful. A four second 60% slow with 1200 range is nothing to laugh at.

- Scythe of Vyse, like Rod of Atos, is very powerful in the right hands. It raises all of your stats by a high amount, while crippling a target for 3.5 seconds. The only downside to this item is that its components are very expensive, with only one sitting below 2000 gold.

- Orchid Malevolence is, once again, a very powerful item. It gives a good bit of attack speed, and an effective 55 damage for Intelligence-based heroes, such as KotL. The active is what makes the item really shine, though. It sticks a 5 second silence on the target, while increasing the amount of damage they take by 25%. Although the item itself is expensive, none of its components cost more than 900 gold.

Situational

- Force Staff
- Drum of Endurance
- Blade Mail
- Bottle

Situational Justification

- Force Staff is probably the best of these situational items to have. It sends the target a good distance ahead where they're facing, including through trees, which can help you avoid a gank. Be careful, it's entirely possible to get stuck with this.

- Drum of Endurance is nice to have. It's relatively cheap, and quite handy for helping allies chase down crippled foes, or for escaping pursuers.

- Blade Mail is a good option if you find yourself constantly focused. Its active will punish enemy heroes who try to take you out.

- Bottle is good if you are in the mid lane, as rune control is very important. If you aren't in the mid lane, don't bother getting this.

Conclusion

Well, that's it for the guide. If you liked the guide, then please upvote it. If you didn't like the guide or think I could improve it, please point out what I could change in the comments section.