Only the Wise Survive

Lore

Once a great general among his people, and a valiant defender of the god-king Damathryx, Dark Seer’s army was wiped out by a much larger force in the final days of the Great Boundaries War. Facing certain defeat, he made one last desperate act: he led the enemy forces into the maze between the walls. At the last moment, just before capture, he crossed over—then sealed the walls forever in an explosive release of dark energy. When the dust settled, he saw that he had saved his people but found himself blinking at the sun of a different world, with no way to return. Now he is committed to proving his worth as a military strategist, and vows to show that he’s the greatest tactician this strange new world has ever seen.

Introduction

Hello everyone, My name is Cpfran6 and this is my guide to Dark Seer. Dark Seer is a intelligence hero with a strong teamfight presence through the mid and late game. He is best played in the offlane, as his ability to last hit and harass from afar with Ion Shell and his ability to escape with Surge. Due to his odd playstyle, however, many people don't play him outside the pro/competitive scene. I am writing this guide to hopefully change this, and help teach the average player how to exploit Dark Seer's potential as a 1-man team fight.

Pros/Cons

Pros
+1 man teamfight
+Armies of illusions
+Can solo Offlane fairly easily
+Can get fairly Tanky
+Is a racecar
+Is purple

Cons
-Mana reliant
-No real nuke
-Cannot solo-kill (unless the enemy is VERY stupid, or you are Zai)

When You Should Pick Dark Seer

Dark Seer is considered a very Flexible hero, but sometimes picking Dark seer is a great idea, as he adds many things to a team.

• If you need a Solo offlaner with teamfight
• If you need antipush against say Chen or Enchantress
• If they have a lot of slows, Venomancer comes to mind
• If they have a lot of physical DPS, which you turn against them, that Slark with 30 stacks of Essence Shift is pretty cute when you can turn his strength into the other team's nightmare.
• If a teammate has a big teamfight ult with a small-ish AOE, or one they can escape, Black Hole and Call Down

When you want to Feed as Dark Seer

Dark seer sometimes is not such a great pick, or there is a better hero in the pool to use.

• The enemy team has lots of magical burst
• The enemy team has lots of abilities that can let them avoid wall, like Blink and Ball Lightning, on their core heroes.
• They have enemies that can destroy Ion Shell when you use it, like Engima or Doom
• They have heroes that can chase you down easily and kill you, like Anti-Mage
• Your team needs an initiater more (he can be played as one but it doesn't work too well)

Skills

Dark Seer has a very unique skill set, which allows him to manipulate and force enemies to rethink their strategy in fights. You must become familiar with these skills, as they are all very necessary in almost every fight.


Vacuum

Dark Seer creates a Vaccum over the Target area that sucks in enemy units, disrupting them and doing damage.
Range: 500
Radius: 250/350/450/550
Damage: 40/80/120/160
Mana Cost: 100/130/160/190
Cooldown: 28 seconds

Notes:

• Use it to bring enemies through Wall of Replica in teamfights
• You can also use it to cliff people, which is why I sometimes take it at lvl 1 if I see fit.
• This and Black Hole, best combo in the game.

Ion Shell

Surrounds the target unit with a bristling shield that damages enemy units in an area around it.
Range: 600
Radius: 250
Duration: 25
Damage Per Second: 30/50/70/90
Mana Cost: 70/90/110/130
Cooldown Time: 9

Notes:

• Dark Seer's bread and butter skill, which makes such an annoying enemy in lane.
• Can be used to jungle, just place it on the weakest creep in a stacked camp.
• Use this to harass and last hit, as well as keep equilibrium in lane
• Maxed Ion Shell] and [[Surge Is a deadly combo in the early game, great for chasing down or turning a Gank by their Queen of Pain into a 2 for 1 trade.
• Deals 3/9/11/13 Damage in .1 second increments
• Total Damage: 600/1000/1400/1800

Surge

Charges a target friendly unit with power, giving it a brief burst of maximum movement speed.
Range: 600
Duration: 3/4.5/6/7.5
Mana Cost: 20/30/40/50
Cooldown Time: 12/11/10//9

Notes:

• Great for dealing with slows like Venomous Gale
• Allows him to escape most ganks and run down injured enemies
• Not really worth leveling past 2, as it doesn't scale too well

Wall of Replica

Raises a wall of warping light that damages and creates replicas of any enemy hero who crosses it. Enemy replicas serve at the Dark Seer's will.
Range: 500/900/1300
Wall Length: 1000
Damage: 150
Duration: 45
Illusion Damage Dealt: 60%/75%/90%(100%/120%/140% with aghs)
Illusion Damage Received: 300%
Mana Cost: 125/250/375
Cooldown: 100

Notes

• A carry's worst nightmare, the stonger they are, the more damage the illusions do
• With aghs, you can do massive amounts of damage in teamfights, especially with a large disable so your illusions can bash away.
• Great for placing at choke points, like entrance to rosh pit and highground when defending.
• Damage is bocked by BKB, but the illusions will still spawn.

Skill Build

Dark Seer has a fairly standard skill build in the offlane, maxing Ion Shell first, then Vacuum. Wall of Replica can be delayed until levels 11 and 12, as early illusions and the wall do next to no damage. Surge is maxed last as it is the most useful skill at low level.

The Item Build

Dark Seer is not a super item reliant hero, but items do make his job a lot easier.

Early Game
The Early game is quite simple, you should focus on the lane rather than your item progression. Starting off with Stout Shield, Tango, a Ring of Protection and Ward. Stout Shield and Ring of Protection Should keep you from taking harass in wave, and once you can afford it, you can buy Sage's Mask in the sideshop to complete your Ring of Basilius, which allows you to control whether or not you want to push the wave. Get your boots next, you can delay these if needed since you have Surge. Soul Ring is another early mana Item that is great on dark seer, and has an easy build-up. Ideally you should buy as many Items in the side-shop as possible, keeping the courier open for your carry and mid (especially around 2-4 min, when mid should have their bottle). You should be getting your Blink Dagger around 10-11 min.

Mid-Game]
The mid-game is also fairly simple, you will be getting Mekanism, and now with 6.84, you will upgrade that into Greaves. This is where the item build gets a bit complicated, as this is when Dark Seer's first situational items come in. I will dicuss this later in the Situational items section.

Late Game
The Late game is very situational, the only item I recommend getting almost every game is Scythe of Vise, because it is the best item in the game.

Mid Game Situational Items

In this section I will go over your situational item choices for the mid game.

Mid Game Extensions


Great for teams stacked with right click damage, built into Crimson Guard later.


If your team is ganking with you, or if early teamfights are breaking out frequently. *Note, do not buy if you have a common Urn Carrier on your team ( Night Stalker, Spirit Breaker).


Great item, helps you get your carry out of dodge quick, also an amazing counter to Necrophos right now.


With Ion Shell you are a split pushing god, 2 shells on the wave and they will get to any tower. Extremely situational.

Late game Situational Items

In This section I will go over situational item choices for the late game.

Against DPS carries


Amplifies your wall illusions damage to 140% at lvl 3. That tiny doing 350 damage? Now whacking himself with a tree for 450 damage.


Two walls are better than one. Wall of Replica> Vacuum>Refresh>Wall>Vac.
I have had around 20 illusions in chaotic fights, then when you win said fight, you have 20 illusions killing towers and racks all over their base. Pretty great, am I right?


The best item in the game


Disarm is great, and it boosts your EHP with the evasion. Not great but still very viable if you are Tanking a lot of Damage in fights.

Against Magic Burst
These heroes reduce Dark Seer's effectiveness, so against lineups with mostly magical damage, Dark Seer isn't the optimal choice, but if you have to, here is some help.


Pipe is a great teamfight item, helps your team a lot. Great at a 5th item, but Scythe of Vise is usually better. A fantastic 6th Slot though.


If they have a lot of single target burst, this is great as well. Nothing more satisfying that watching a Lina blow herself up.


Good for if they have lots of AOE and you are getting great farm. Not a great first extension, but still a good option.

Laning with Dark Seer

Dark Seer is a horrible person to lane against, but one of the most fun if you are sick like me and like seeing their carry cry.

In lane, Dark Seer's job is to:

1. Get money
2. Harass the enemy safelane carry and supports
3. Set up ganks on the enemy carry and supports.
4. Don't get ganked

Here are some other advanced(?) mechanics you need to know.

Maintaining equilibruim

Dark Seer is one of the best heroes at managing the equilibruim of his lane. You can aggressively deny to let them push, pull (radiant side), and block well, if you miss, use Surge. he can also use Ion Shell and toggle Ring of Basilius to push the lane.

Escaping ganks

Dark Seer is also a slippery little guy, and is very hard to gank in early stages. If the enemy supports attempt to gank you, there are several ways to screw them up.

Possibility 1: Aggressive
You think you can punish these fools for coming into your lane.

• Cast Ion Shell on one of them, and attempt to bring them into the trees on the side of the lane
• Cast Ion Shell on yourself, then Juke and Juke and Juke and Juke
• Watch as they die slowly.

Even if you die, one or two of them should be brought with you.


Possibility 2: Run away

• Cast Surge
  [*}Run away

EZ


Most of the rest of Dark Seer's mechanics are based on experience. I.E. gauging how much damage you can do to their carry and get out okay, Ion Shell mechanics, ETC.

Friends And Foes

In this section I will talk about Heroes that you loves, and those you hate.
Friends

Enimga and Disruptor are two heroes that benefit from Vacuum, it sets up their ults perfectly.


Invisibility and Ion Shell is just palin cruel, especially at the start of the game.


These heroes are highly mobile, Night Stalker is great with Ion Shell and Surge, making his ganks during the night much more efficient. Slark also benefits from Surge, which allows him to exit quickly and reenter fights with full health.

Dark Seer works well with a lot of lineups, these are jsut a few that I have found are amazing.

Foes

These guys are a*******. They screw you up in lane, as they can instantly destroy your creep with Ion Shell with Demonic Conversion, Sacrifice, and Devour. conveniently though, many are played as junglers in pubs.


Silences and natural orchid carriers hard counter you, as your entire goal is to get off your spells in teamfights then GTFO. Heroes like Storm Spirit can just orchid you and pick you off on their own, and you are helpless.


These guys have long diables, be it Shackles, Dismember, or Magic Missile

Dark Seer can lane against most heroes, these are just a few he will have difficulties with.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading this guide on Dark Seer. As usual, this guide is still WIP, if you see anything that sounds stupid, needs to be added, or you have any ideas at all, please feel free to leave them in the comments below, and I'll try to respond and edit the guide as soon as possible. I hope that this guide has made you want to play this poor little Purple friend in your next game, or if you are reading this in game, I hope you do well and it helps. Next up in my little Offlane series is going to be my favorite, Undying!