Settin' Stones: Offlane Guide to Winning With Earth Spirit (6.81 update!)

Introduction

Earth Spirit is a unique and very powerful hero. I would rank Earth Spirit among the most versatile Heroes in the game in that he can be put into any role (maybe with the exception of a 1 position carry) and be extremely powerful. This guide focus's on his ability to safely farm the offlane solo. I'll be going into detail on item selections, ability mechanics, and general game strategies you should follow.

I don't intend this to be a quick little alt-tab guide. I intend this to be a comprehensive read-through to fully prepare players for playing Earth Spirit to his full potential. To have my builds in Dota 2 for easy scrub pwning you can follow these links to have the build + short descriptions to help in your decision making available to you in-game!

Bottle
Urn

Pros & Cons

Pros Very tanky with high Strength Clean attack animation Extremely versatile Long range, long duration AOE disables Massive amounts of magic damage

Cons Early mana problems Requires practice and excellent execution Mostly useless without stones Long silences can negate your ult's effectiveness .

Friends, Foes and Counters

Ursa

Legion Commander

Lifestealer

Lifestealer

Rolling Boulder

Batrider

Geomagnetic Grip

Boulder Smash

Rupture

Vengeful Spirit

Nether Swap

Rupture

Clockwerk

Pudge

Dismember

Bane

Force Staff

Geomagnetic Grip

Boulder Smash

Item Build

As I've said, Earth Spirit can be relatively item independent. His only primary needs are coverage to help his early game mana issues and getting his Force Staff. I have two item builds I generally follow to get me there and beyond through the game.

The first build is the Bottle Build. This build buys a Bottle and relies on that for early game regeneration and after getting your core focuses on personal utility and DPS. This is a very aggressive build and you should capitalize on the power it provides during the mid game especially. If you swap out the starting items for a Tango and 3 Iron Branch then you'll have the build I take when I go mid!

The other build is the Urn Build. I generally follow this when my team lacks support and/or the mid hero is someone like Storm Spirit who needs every rune they can get and the Bottle alone wouldn't suffice. This build is much less greedy and helps support your team, so I urge you to take this build under the right circumstances. Remember that going greedy isn't always better.

Bottle Build

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Before The Horn

Start with this. This should be enough regen to get you through the laning phase until you can get your Bottle up. Make sure you burn through these Clarity potions and take advantage of your spells for harassment and CS purposes to secure your Bottle nice and early.

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Mandatory Core

These items should be picked up every game that you follow this build, and I recommend buying them in this order. The Bottle is your regen, the Power Treads are for a slight boost to your DPS and some extra stats, and Force Staff should always be core considering the massive synergy it provides to Earth Spirit.

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Post Core

These are your typical options after you've completed your core. I recommend you build one or possibly two of these before moving onto larger luxury items.

When to Buy Your team has a lot of magic damage Extra stats and especially armor are needed Enemies are tanky

When Not to Buy Enemies heroes are already squishy enough to die easily Other items provide better utility

When to Buy Extra DPS is appreciated Heroes are roaming and easily pick-offable Surprise positioning for ulti initiations

When Not to Buy Enemy team is playing 5-man-Dota There's already a lot of invis on your team

When to Buy You're being focused down in fights You're a primary initiator

When Not to Buy ONLY buy if you're the primary target of damage in fights. Otherwise a waste of gold.

When to Buy The enemy team has a lot of stuns/silences You're the primary target of those disables Getting off all of your abilities is vital to your team's ability to win a fight

When Not to Buy The enemy team lacks stuns/silences You're not a primary target for disables

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Late Game Luxury

These are your typical options for late game. Often your choice depends on what your post core choices were.

When to Buy Game is going extremely late Priority target has a BKB Your attack speed is sufficient to likely proc stun

When Not to Buy You lack tankiness You need a big item sooner and might not complete this in time

When to Buy You need more tankiness You have DPS allies that won't be building one You need help in pushing down towers/rax

When Not to Buy Someone else will be building one You have good armor but low HP

When to Buy Evasion would provide a great increase in effective HP Enemy team is running a single core carry you can disarm

When Not to Buy Enemy team has multiple rick-click carries Evasion won't provide an appreciable increase in effective HP

When to Buy You went DPS items and lack HP Enemy team has a lot of burst damage and less rick-click

When Not to Buy You have high HP but low armor You need more damage or utility

Urn Build

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Before The Horn

Start with this. This should be enough regen to get you through the laning phase until you can get your core up. In this build it can take a little longer to get up your Arcane Boots than the Bottle of the other build, so I recommend you grab the Sage's Mask early to help alleviate that.

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Mandatory Core

These items should be picked up every game that you follow this build. Arcane Boots should be finished as early as possible. Urn of Shadows is very cheap and should hopefully be finished by the time you begin ganking. Force Staff should always be core considering the massive synergy it provides to Earth Spirit.

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Post Core

These are your typical options after you've completed your core. I recommend you build one or possibly two of these before moving onto larger luxury items.

When to Buy Your team has a lot of magic damage Extra stats and especially armor are needed Enemies are tanky

When Not to Buy Enemies heroes are already squishy enough to die easily Other items provide better utility

When to Buy Your team comp. is heavily melee Synergizes well with heroes like Lifestealer for Boulder Bombs

When Not to Buy Other items would provide better utility Other Basillius based items are on the team

When to Buy You're being focused down in fights You're a primary initiator

When Not to Buy ONLY buy if you're the primary target of damage in fights. Otherwise a waste of gold.

When to Buy The enemy team has a lot of stuns/silences You're the primary target of those disables Getting off all of your abilities is vital to your team's ability to win a fight

When Not to Buy The enemy team lacks stuns or silences You're not a primary target for disables

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Late Game Luxury

These are your typical options for late game. Often your choice depends on what your post core choices were.

When to Buy You need more tankiness You have DPS allies that won't be building one You need help in pushing down towers/rax

When Not to Buy Someone else will be building one You have good armor but low HP

When to Buy Evasion would provide a great increase in effective HP Enemy team is running a single core carry you can disarm

When Not to Buy Enemy team has multiple rick-click carries Evasion won't provide an appreciable increase in effective HP

When to Buy You went DPS items and lack HP Enemy team has a lot of burst damage and less rick-click

When Not to Buy You have high HP but low armor You need more damage or utility

When to Buy You have high hp but low armor Large team fights are happening frequently

When Not to Buy Many enemy heroes have magic immunity Another one is being built

Why Force Staff?

Force Staff offers you so much utility, control, and synergy that there's no situation where this item should be skipped.

Pairing this item with Geomagnetic Grip allows you rush your way over to vulnerable allies to save them. Considering the nerf to this spell's range it's become even more important to have your Force Staff to compensate.

Pairing this item with Rolling Boulder should also allow you escape nearly any gank attempt. This also allows you to perform some long distance travel

I'm not the only one who knows the power of a Force Staff. DotaBuff lists the most used items by Earth Spirit, and as of the time I'm writing this Force Staff is the only item on that list to even have a win rate above 50%

Stone Remnant

Stone Remnant

Call a Stone Remnant at the target location. Stones Remnants have no vision and are invulnerable, and can be used with Earth Spirit's abilities. Calling a Stone Remnant consumes a charge, which recharge over time. Earth Spirit can have 6 Stone Remnants active at one time.

Max Charges: 6
Charge Restore Time: 30 seconds
Duration: 120 seconds
Range: 1400 units


Stone Remnant is a unique ability in that it's innate to Earth Spirit. It's available at level 1 without needing a skill point to be placed in it, and it's also impossible to level up further. Placing stones does not have a cooldown so all stones can in rapid succession if you wanted to (which you don't). It's also worth mentioning that you continue to recover stone charges even while you're dead. There is also no casting animation which is very handy for emergency escapes and quick plays.

Though you may think managing your stones is difficult as Earth Spirit, it's actually not. Stones should only be set when you intend to use them for an ability and should not be placed randomly around the map. You just need to be observant of how many charges you have remaining before you begin an engagement so you can avoid looking like a total scrub. Although it says in the Wiki page on Earth Spirit that there is a limit to the number of Remnants you can have on the map, this is not the case. The in-game description includes neither that text nor the limitation. It's unknown if this is a bug, but my guess is that it's an intended change.

Stone Remnants provide no vision, they have no collision, they aren't counted as summoned units and will not do things such as block creep camps from spawning. Casting stone remnant is not considered a spell and will not provide any Magic Wand charges. An easy way to think about it is that with the exception of how they interact with your abilities Stone Remnants essentially don't exist on the map.

Boulder Smash

Boulder Smash

Earth Spirit smashes the target enemy, ally, or Stone Remnant, knocking it back in the direction he is facing. The knocked back target deals damage to all units it hits. If the target was a Stone Remnant, damaged targets are also stunned, and the travel distance is improved.

Range for impact: 150 units from target
Radius: 200 units
Slam Distance: 500/600/700/800 units (2000 when using a Stone Remnant)
Slam Speed: 1200 units/s
Damage: 125
Stun Duration: 0.75/1.25/1.75/2.25 seconds (Only when using a Stone Remnant)
Cooldown: 22/18/14/10 seconds
Mana Cost: 100


Earth Spirit's first spell is both functionally versatile and effective, yet can be practically very difficult to execute. Boulder Smash has seen a lot of changes since he was first introduced. This move was typically maxed first anyways because of the damage scale and travel distance, but since his rebalance it's not unreasonable to max E first.

An important note to mention are that this spell can push both allies and enemies who are magic immune. Damage or stun cannot be done to a magic immune target, but hitting a magic immune target will still damage other units they collide with. This spell is considered displacement, much like a Force Staff, so it will not interrupt channeling abilities. Punching a TPing ally to a safe location is an excellent idea! This does, however, mean the same for enemies. Punching a Dismembering Pudge will NOT save poor little Crystal Maiden.

This ability can be extremely difficult to aim properly, so you can check out the tab below for some helpful tips on working on your aim!

Aiming Your Shots

Aiming your shots with stone remnants can be incredibly difficult to master. Being a few degrees off with such an impressive 2000 range can cause your stones to completely miss the intended target. This is something that will purely have to come with practice and lots of error, but I have a few helpful tips to help your skill shots hit their mark.

Typically, most of your abilities fall in a very linear path. However, your Q offers an opportunity to break that mold by letting you push boulders at angles relative to your positioning, rather than always directly ahead.


In this example, this was a Stone Remnant that was pulled directly in front of me with the Geomagnetic Grip along the green line. Rather than returning it along that line you can adjust the location you "cast" the spell on. For instance, "casting" it on the red dot will send the Stone Remnant along the purple line and into the jungle camp.

This effect can be rather extreme, and as seen below a stone remnant can be sent 90 degrees by casting the spell on the red dot shown. It's even possible to send one directly behind you by making the casting point just barely behind Earth Spirit with a Stone Remnant in front of you. This can be difficult and finicky to do in a real game situation, however.

If you have time to set-up a shot and want to help guarantee it's successful slide, you can remember that Stone Remnants have no actual hitbox, and you can stand directly inside one. Standing in the middle of a Stone Remnant allows you to easily push it anywhere in a 360 degree range by simply "casting" in a small radius around Earth Spirit

Rolling Boulder

Rolling Boulder

After a 0.6s delay, Earth Spirit becomes a boulder, rolling in the direction he is facing and damaging enemy units, stopping if he collides with an enemy hero or is stunned. If the boulder rolls over a Stone Remnant, the Stone Remnant is consumed and travel distance and speed are improved, and impacted enemies have their movement and attack speed slowed.

Range: 800 units (1600 when using a Stone Remnant)
Damage Radius: 150 units
Damage: 90 (135 when using a Stone Remnant)
Movement and Attack Speed Slow: 80% for 2 seconds (Only when using a Stone Remnant)
Cooldown: 16/12/8/4 seconds
Mana Cost: 50


Rolling Boulder will serve primarily as an escape mechanism and as an initiation tool. It's worth noting that the only thing that scales on this move is the cooldown, so it's usually maxed last. Once you begin rolling, there is typically no canceling it early. The only way to cancel a Rolling Boulder is to Force Staff during the duration.

A very important mechanic of Rolling Boulder is that you will appear behind the enemy Hero you eventually crash into. This allows you to either body block their escape (made even easier with the 80% slow) or to push the fleeing Hero into your team with Boulder Smash.

On the topic of boulder travel distance, I'm pleased to say that the 1600 units you travel after consuming a Stone Remnant will happen no matter how far you've already traveled as a boulder. If you travel 800 units and hit a Stone Remnant at the very end, you will then move another 1600 units, effectively moving 2400 units.

An interesting note about travel distance is that with a Force Staff it is possible to cross ridiculous distances. The combo looks like this:

• Place a Stone Remnant (even works at max distance)
• Begin Rolling Boulder in the direction of the placed Remnant
• Quickly Force Staff during the .6 second delay.

A Force Staff provides exactly enough movement to allow your roll to pick up a stone at max range. This combo moves you unrestricted over 3000 units of terrain in a very short period of time. Please know that a Force Staff being used while already rolling as a boulder will break the boulder and push you the 600 units. Since the nerf to Force Staff's travel time, you'd have to activate it within .2 seconds of casting boulder to reach a stone placed at the absolute maximum distance. It's difficult at first, but possible!

The reason this works is because Earth Spirit is considered to be under the effects of entanglement while using Rolling Boulder. This means you can do anything you would normally be able to do while netted, such as Force Staff, casting either Boulder Smash or Geomagnetic Grip, and teleporting with a Town Portal Scroll or Boots of Travel. An excellent way to help ensure an escape is to roll into the forest and activate a TP scroll. Activating Black King Bar during the roll does not break the "entanglement" like it typically would for nets.

Although the Dota 2 wiki states that Rolling Boulder provides flying vision, that is not really the case. Earth Spirit maintains normal vision and gets 75/75 flying vision. This is a change from Dota 1 where Earth received full flying vision and is likely a bug since when Rubick steals Rolling Boulder he receives full flying vision while using it.

Geomagnetic Grip

Geomagnetic Grip

Earth Spirit pulls the target allied unit or Stone Remnant to his location. Enemies struck by the flying target will be silenced, and take damage if the flying target is a Stone Remnant.

Range: 1100 units
Radius: 180 units
Pull Speed: 1000 units/s
Silence Duration: 2/3/4/5
Stone Remnant Damage: 100/150/200/250
Cooldown: 13
Mana Cost: 75


Geomagnetic Grip is Earth's pseudo Pudge Hook. While it unfortunately won't pull enemy units to your location, it does provide a lot of utility.

This ability is also extremely useful for rescuing at-risk allies as you can safely pull them to your position; even over unpassable terrain. Like your push, this ability will also not break channeling abilities, making pulling a TPing ally to your location a smart idea should they be in danger. However, unlike your push, this spell is not able to pull a magic immune ally.

This spell is also especially effective with Batrider, as you can pull Batrider and his lassoed victim to your location without breaking the lasso. While it's typically less useful, it's also worth mentioning that you can push with the same effect using Boulder Smash. You're also able to pull allies out of many other abilities, such as out of Clockwerk's Power Cogs.

You'll be using this ability to CS during the laning phase. Even though the range is reduced you can safely secure last hits from safe distances, and the cast range is within the EXP range so you should feel safe kiting yourself on the edge of that range. Because of the 0 second casting time of Stone Remnant you should practice with dropping stones and immediately pulling them to secure CS and hopefully harassing in the process.

Magnetize

Magnetize

Magnetizes enemy units in a small nearby area, causing them to take damage over time for a short duration. Any magnetized units cause nearby Stone Remnants to become energized and explode, applying/refreshing the magnetize debuff on all enemy units near the Stone Remnant. This process can repeat multiple times. Stone Remnants are destroyed in this process. If an enemy hero is affected by silence or slows as a result of Geomagnetic Grip or Rolling Boulder, all magnetized heroes share the effects.

Cast Radius: 300 units
Search Radius: 300 units
Explosion Radius: 600 units
Duration: 6 seconds
Damage per Second: 50/75/100
Cooldown: 80 seconds
Mana Cost: 100


Magnetize is an extremely powerful ulti that can output massive amounts of magical damage and disables to the entire enemy team.

Important mechanics to take out of the wall of text that describes this ability are:

When an affected enemy is within 300 AOE of a Stone Remnant, the debuff is refreshed/applied to ALL heroes in a 600 AOE of the stone (Example). Each enemy Hero can only be refreshed by a Stone Remnant one time, but exposing a Hero to multiple Stone Remnants continues to refresh the debuff.

Once a Stone Remnant refreshes the debuff on an enemy Hero it will disappear after 5 seconds. This stone can still continue to refresh the debuff on other Heroes it has not refreshed yet and can still be used by your other 3 abilities until it disappears.

Affecting one hero with the silence from Geomagnetic Grip or the 2 second slow from Rolling Boulder will apply that debuff to any other hero on the map currently affected by Magnetize.

If this ability is cast on a magic immune enemy, they will receive the debuff but not the damage. This does mean, however, that you can refresh the debuff while the enemy is magic immune and when immunity ends they will be under the effects of Magnetize and receive the damage. As of 6.81 this spell also effects invisible enemies.

Gameplay Advice

Capstone

Thanks for reading through all this. Hopefully you're more confident your capabilities with Earth Spirit. Take this information into your games, work on your execution and become the ultimate pub stomper!

Please also check out my support guide to Earth Spirit if you want to further increase your versatility with the Hero! One of the many powerful traits of Earth Spirit is his ability to flourish no matter what role he takes, and the difficulty in countering him makes picking up Earth Spirit almost always a good choice! Feel safe in picking Earth Spirit and practice him in many roles.

Good luck and have fun!