The 4000+ Commend Oracle Guide [7.19d]

Introduction

I wrote a guide once for Io. I spent a lot of time researching and developing my thoughts and ideas behind the hero. It ended up winning awards and became the #2 in-game Wisp guide in Dota 2.

Then they nerfed Io. Hard. And he just wasn't that fun to play anymore.

So I started playing another complex hero. With explosive damage and healing capabilities. Who saves his teammates from death. And the average player doesn't really know how powerful he can be...

Sound familiar?

Lane Support Items

OPENING ITEMS
Tango
Eat them.

Enchanted Mango
Early HP regen is always appreciated, and consuming Mango and give you mana to cast Purifying Flames and finish off a kill.

Clarity
Oracle runs on mana. He heals from mana, he kills from mana, he saves from mana. He needs mana.

Animal Courier
Someone's gotta do it.

CORE ITEMS
(1) Boots of Speed
You need basic speed increases to maintain your harass on the enemy and survive in the early game.

(2) Urn of Shadows
This is, without a doubt, the MOST IMPORTANT item for Oracle in the entire game. Urn of Shadows compliments your False Promise ability incredibly well, as the way False Promise works prevents any incoming attacks or damage from removing the Urn of Shadows buff until False Promise ends. This means you get max healing, every time, as long as you cast Urn immediately after your False Promise cast.

Urn also helps to function in a DPS context by increasing.

(3) Magic Wand
Use to maintain HP and MP. Activate during False Promise for an extra healing boost.

ADVANCED ITEMS
(4) Arcane Boots
Mana for yourself, mana for your teammates. Increases your mana pool as well as regen.

(5) Aether Lens
Disassemble your Arcane Boots to complete Aether Lens. This item gives you an increase to your mana pool, your MP regen, as well as your range. Aether Lens increases your range by 100 more units than your Lv15 Talent.

Range is especially important on Oracle because every one of his spells benefits from increased range. You can save allies or block damage from farther away, kill from farther away, pin others from farther away, etc etc. It provides the distance to allow for multiple Purifying Flames' casts before using Fortune's End. Overall, the range aspect of this item cannot be underestimated.

Having the range from Aether Lens allows you to spec +120 GPM Talent at Lv15. You could potentially get an immense +400 range by speccing the +150 Range as well as Aether Lens, but I feel the GPM talent is stronger for building important items that maximize Oracle's power.

(6) Spirit Vessel
Spirit Vessel provides all the same benefits as Urn of Shadows - amazing False Promise save synergy, great for damaging enemies, great casual heal buff - but it also provides an even-MORE-important functionality.

The downside of using Purifying Flames as your main damage dealer is that if you do not follow up with Fortune's End, you effectively heal the enemy player. Spirit Vessel reduces all healing on the target by 70%, meaning the massive downside of Purifying Flames is suddenly negated!! You can chain 2 or 3 Purifying Flames on a single Spirit Vessel'd target before removing the healing with Fortune's End, because the enemy will be hardly healing at all relative to the immense damage burst that comes from Flames.

No other item in the game can give your main damage dealer this sort of advantage.

(7) Boots of Travel
Boots of Travel provide the ability to maintain Oracle's positioning by having TP access to anywhere on the map. This means important teamfights can be entered into quickly and the correct player False Promise'd to safety. It also opens up another item slot in Oracle's inventory (as he does not have to carry TP scrolls anymore) to make way for endgame or support items.

When combined with the Lv20 +65 Movespeed talent and +20 from Spirit Vessel, Oracle moves at approx. 510 movespeed, where the in-game maximum is 550 movespeed. This means Oracle can outrun basically ANYTHING - teamfights, ganks, set ups, invs players, anyone and anything can be avoided by having such a fast hero. ESPECIALLY if you have the ability to self-purge slows, roots, or other debuffs that would allow the enemy to catch up to you ( Fortune's End). This speed boost is not to be underestimated.

Combo List

Finisher/Killing Blow
Purifying Flames

Offensive Combo (Simple)
Purifying Flames + Fortune's End

Offensive Combo (Advanced)
Purifying Flames + Spirit Vessel + Purifying Flames + Fortune's End

Offensive Eul's Scepter Combo (Super Advanced)
Purifying Flames + Fortune's End + Purifying Flames + Eul's Scepter of Divinity + Purifying Flames + Fortune's End + Purifying Flames + Spirit Vessel + Purifying Flames

Healing Combo
Fate's Edict + Purifying Flames (if Fate's Edict is Lv2 or above, you can cast 2x Purifying Flames)

Save Combo (Simple)
False Promise + Urn of Shadows

Save Combo (No Urn Of Shadows)
False Promise + Fate's Edict + Purifying Flames (if Fate's Edict is Lv2 or above, you can cast 2x Purifying Flames)

Save Combo (Advanced)
False Promise + Spirit Vessel + Fate's Edict + Purifying Flames + Purifying Flames

How to Use Fortune's End

BASICS
(1) Root
Fortune's End has a root function that lasts for as long as you channeled the cast - up to 2.5 seconds. It effects a 300 unit AOE around the location where the Fortune's End orb hits your target. Your line of sight does not need to be maintained for the channel to continue, meaning you can pin enemies who you cannot even see. The root provides vision on the opponent for the duration of the pin. Friendly units cannot be rooted.

This can be used to control agile heroes such as Anti-Mage, Weaver, Windrunner, etc. As of 7.17, Fortune's End CANNOT BE DISJOINTED by Blinking or Invisibility or Smoke of Deceit or any other disconnection technique, meaning you can pin down ANYONE.

INTERMEDIATE
(2) Damage Combo
Fortune's End plays a role in Oracle's main damage combo. The concept is to use Purifying Flames to burst damage an enemy and then quickly follow up with Fortune's End to remove the Flames' healing buff.

You should be trying to cast Fortune's End as quickly as possible in this scenario in order to prevent as much healing as possible - so maintaining a long channeled cast in order to pin the enemy is NOT what you want to be doing.

A simple technique to practice this is starting channeling a Fortune's End cast on an enemy, and cancel that cast by casting Purifying Flames. The Purifying Flames will connect with the target instantly, while the Fortune's End cast must travel from Oracle to the target and will inevitably cancel the healing buff from Purifying Flames. Make sure not to channel for too long, or else the enemy will escape from your vision/cast range and you will not be able to cast Flames.

It is possible to chain 2 Purifying Flames together on a single target before casting Fortune's End - the damage caused still outweighs healing provided. However, in a real-game scenario, your target is often running away from you, and if you are unable to remove the 2 Purifying Flames healing buffs before the enemy escapes your vision, then you have just helped the enemy and wasted your mana.

ADVANCED
(3) Dispelling (self)
Fortune's End applies a basic dispel upon interaction with friendly heroes. When applied to yourself or allies, it will remove almost all significant debuffs applied by enemies. It will not remove the healing from Purifying Flames - only negative debuffs will be effected.

This makes Fortune's End essentially the most powerful debuff counterspell in the game. You can cast it on yourself or any opponent, it has a 6 second CD at Lv4, and it affects an AOE around the target, meaning even if you target an ally, the enemies in close proximity to him will take damage and be debuffed themselves.

Just some ideas of what Fortune's End can dispel - Diffusal Blade, Dust of Appearance, Track, Corrosive Haze, Urn of Shadows, Shadow Strike, Mana Leak, Flux, ANY Silencer debuff, ANY Crystal Maiden debuff, ANY Treant Protector debuff, etc.

Fortune's End also dispel's Fate's Edict on both enemy AND friendly targets.

(4) Dispelling (enemy)
Fortune's End also applies a dispel on enemy units, targeting their buff abilities. This means certain heroes' main abilities are completely shut down by having Fortune's End available.

Just some ideas of what Fortune's End can dispel - ANY RUNE BUFF (DD, Haste, etc), Flame Guard, Jingu Mastery, Empower, Bloodlust, Urn of Shadows healing, Ice Armor, Warcry, etc.

How to Use Fate's Edict

BASICS
(1) Magic Block
Fate's Edict provides 100% magic resistance (essentially blocking all magic damage) to the target for 4.5 seconds at Lv4. This allows Oracle to prevent block incoming magic damage on himself and allied heroes (and also enemies, by accident). Burst damage magic heroes such as Lina, Leshrac, and Tinker can all be weakened through blocking their damage. The classic X Marks the Spot Kunkka combo can be completely negated damage-wise. Damage-over-time spells (that you cannot dispel with Fortune's End) can be blocked as well.

(2) Disarm
Fate's Edict disarms the target, meaning it cannot right-click attack. This can be used to heavily control right-click heavy heroes such as Ursa, Enchantress, Clinkz, Templar Assassin, Sven, Phantom Assassin, and many others.

INTERMEDIATE
(3) Healing Combo
Because Fate's Edict can block magic damage, it plays a role in your main HEALING combo. The concept is to use Fate's Edict on yourself or an ally to negate all incoming magic damage, and then cast Purifying Flames to the same target. This will block the burst damage of Flame but still provide the healing buff!

Once Fate's Edict is Lv2 (3.5 seconds duration), this provides you enough time to successfully cast 2 Purifying Flames on a target while still blocking all magic damage from both spells. Use this to your advantage to aggressively heal a target.

ADVANCED
(4) Disarming to Deny Last Hits
Fate's Edict disarm can also be used in the laning stage to deny the enemy heroes last hits. By disarming the enemy just before one of his creeps loses enough health to become last-hittable, you can deny that creep with ease, frustrating your opponent and swinging the gold and XP contest in your favor.

Your opponent may even become frustrated enough to cast damage spells in order to secure last hits - this is an advantage to you, as he is spending his mana and will have less to defend/repel an attack or gank.

(5) Roshan Disarm
Roshan can also be disarmed using Fate's Edict. This can be crucial for defeating Roshan quickly while sustaining minimal damage to your team. Make sure to use Fortune's End first to remove the Linken's Sphere-like buff from Roshan before casting Fate's Edict.

How to Use Purifying Flames

BASICS
(1) Damage Combo
Purifying Flames plays a role in Oracle's main damage combo. The concept is to use Purifying Flames to burst damage an enemy and then quickly follow up with Fortune's End to remove the Flames' healing buff.

You should be trying to cast Fortune's End as quickly as possible in this scenario in order to prevent as much healing as possible - so maintaining a long channeled cast in order to pin the enemy is NOT what you want to be doing.

A simple technique to practice this is starting channeling a Fortune's End cast on an enemy, and cancel that cast by casting Purifying Flames. The Purifying Flames will connect with the target instantly, while the Fortune's End cast must travel from Oracle to the target and will inevitably cancel the healing buff from Purifying Flames. Make sure not to channel for too long, or else the enemy will escape from your vision/cast range and you will not be able to cast Flames.

It is possible to chain 2 Purifying Flames together on a single target before casting Fortune's End - the damage caused still outweighs healing provided. However, in a real-game scenario, your target is often running away from you, and if you are unable to remove the 2 Purifying Flames healing buffs before the enemy escapes your vision, then you have just helped the enemy and wasted your mana.

(2) Healing Combo
Because Purifying Flames has a heal buff, it plays a role in your main HEALING combo. The concept is to use Fate's Edict on yourself or an ally to negate all incoming magic damage, and then cast Purifying Flames to the same target. This will block the burst damage of Flames but still provide the healing buff!

Once Fate's Edict is Lv2 (3.5 seconds duration), this provides you enough time to successfully cast 2 Purifying Flames on a target while still blocking all magic damage from both spells. Use this to your advantage to aggressively heal a target.

(3) Farming
Purifying Flames can also be cast on creeps, and this means the spell can be used in a farming context. Oracle can kill creeps with very high HP (because the burst damage of the spell is so high) that he could not last hit, providing another way for Oracle to maintain his gold and XP income even against enemies who have higher right-click damage than you. This is especially helpful in the mid-game, when Oracle has enough MP regen to sustain continued use of a Lv4 Purifying Flames.

INTERMEDIATE
(4) Interaction with Spirit Vessel <-- this is f*cking important
The downside of Purifying Flames is that if you do not follow up with Fortune's End, you effectively heal the enemy player. Spirit Vessel reduces all healing on the target by 70%, meaning the massive downside of Purifying Flames is suddenly negated. You can chain 2 or 3 Purifying Flames on a single Spirit Vessel'd target before removing the healing with Fortune's End, because the enemy will be hardly healing at all relative to the immense damage burst that comes from Flames.

The range of Urn/Spirit Vessel is LONGER than that of Purifying Flames. My advice is to cast Purifying Flames FIRST, and this will all but guarantee you the range to connect Spirit Vessel afterwards. Casting in reverse would guarantee a Spirit Vessel cast but not necessarily Flames.

No other item in the game can give your main damage dealer this sort of advantage.

ADVANCED
(5) Ranged Creep Denial
At Lv3, Purifying Flames becomes strong enough that it can remove 99% percent of Ranged Creep XP. This allows you to quickly and consistently deny the ranged creep (if you wait too long, the healing buff will kick in and the creep will regen HP).

This is DESTRUCTIVE to your enemy for several reasons. First, ranged creeps provide the most XP and gold, so you are pulling away a large portion of the potential XP/gold gain from each wave. Second, you're gaining XP for yourself and your lane partner that can swing the lane advantage to you guys. Third, you are consistently pulling the wave back toward your tower by removing your main pushing agent in the creep wave. The lane will always pull back towards your tower, providing easy last hits and lane control.

This can be used to your advantage, but when spammed on every single wave, can remove your ability to push and take towers/objectives. Be careful not to over-use this technique.

(6) Eul's Scepter Extended Damage Combo
Fortune's End is used to remove the healing buff after Purifying Flames is cast. Eul's Scepter of Divinity does the same thing. This allows you to extend your damage combo by applying multiple enemy purges in a string of attacks:

Without Euls:
Purifying Flames + Fortune's End
OR
Purifying Flames + Spirit Vessel + Purifying Flames + Fortune's End

WITH Eul's:
Purifying Flames + Fortune's End + Purifying Flames + Eul's Scepter of Divinity + Purifying Flames + Fortune's End

How to Use False Promise

False Promise prevents the target from taking any damage for 8/9/10 seconds, after which the target takes all the damage at once. Any healing the target receives during False Promise is doubled.

BASICS
(1) Saves/Save Combo
False Promise can be used to save yourself or allies from dying. It buys Oracle time to heal the target with Purifying Flames or Urn of Shadows/ Spirit Vessel.

Urn of Shadows + False Promise is your main Save Combo.

INTERMEDIATE
(2) Interaction With Spirit Vessel <-- this is f*cking important
It is INCREDIBLY important to understand that "the target takes no damage during False Promise". This means that the healing cast of Urn/Vessel CANNOT be removed from the target, and if cast early enough, should heal the target for the entire 8 second charge, doubled by the strength of False Promise.

Urn of Shadows during False Promise
(30 HP * 8 seconds) * 2 = 480 HP PLUS Str Bonus

Spirit Vessel during False Promise
[(30 HP * 8 seconds * 120%) + (1% total HP * 8 seconds * 120%)] * 2 = 576 + 19.2% total HP PLUS Str Bonus

A single Urn of Shadows cast during False Promise can easily be over 550 HP, and Spirit Vessel can easily be 1000 healing or more.

ADVANCED
(3) Winning Fights
False Promise can be cast on yourself in a fight in order to kill an enemy before he kills you. This gives you the gold and, more importantly, XP advantage that your enemy does not receive.

You may even be able to heal yourself with Urn or Flames to survive the fight. This is especially useful in 1v1 fights where the enemy hero feels he has you beat. False Promise provides an additional 8 seconds to burst-kill the enemy while healing yourself in the process.

(4) Purifying Flames and False Promise - A Math Proof
During the time False Promise is active, the burst damage from Purifying Flames will still add to the final damage that the target receives once the spell is complete. It is still advantageous to cast Fate's Edict on a False Promise'd target before healing them with Purifying Flames, because you're trying to maximize healing during False Promise while minimizing all sources of damage.

However, we can mathematically show non-Fate's Edict-blocked Purifying Flames are still advantageous to a False Promise'd target's survival.

Purifying Flames deals 360 magic damage, and heals 44 HP/sec for 9 seconds starting 1 second after the damage is dealt. On a normal Purifying Flames cast, it deals 360 damage and heals 396 HP. If we factor in the universal 25% magic damage resistance all heroes have, as well as the benefit to healing that all heroes have from the Str talent, Purifying Flames deals more like 270 HP worth of damage and heals 400+ HP. This is a pretty major discrepancy, and it's why it's so important to stop PF healing on enemies with Fortune's End.

In the context of False Promise, the 44 HP/sec return of Purifying Flames doubles. The spell now does 270 HP worth of damage and heals 800+ HP. This is only the case, however, if the ENTIRE 9 seconds of Purifying Flames healing effects the target during False Promise. There is an attrition rate, therefore, of the number of times you can cast Purifying Flames on a target before the healing returns do not outweigh the damage dealt.

If you are going to cast Purifying Flames on a target under the effect of False Promise WITHOUT casting Fate's Edict:

(1) Cast Purifying Flames as soon as possible on the False Promise'd target. The quicker you cast the spells, the longer you allow the healing buffs to scrub away the damage you caused. If you cast a 10 second False Promise, and do not hit the target with a Purifying Flames until second 4 or 5, you ****ed up.

(2) Do not cast more than TWO Purifying Flames on a False Promise'd target in order to heal them. 3 Purifying Flames will actually heal the same as just applying 2 Purifying Flames, because there is not enough time remaining for False Promise to maximize the healing vs. damage ratio of the 3rd cast. If you are slow, casting a 3rd time can actually damage your ally moreso than help them.

Talent Choices

LV10
+20% XP is what you want. You are a support, so you lack XP anyway, but not only that - you have a +120 GPM Talent at Lv15. The sooner you can hit 15, the richer you will be in the mid and endgame.

+1 Second Fortune's End Talent doesn't really make much sense. What it allows you to do is extend your channeling time of Fortune's End from 2.5 seconds to 3.5 seconds, which in turn means the opponent can be rooted for up to 3.5 seconds. The reality of this is that when you cast Fortune's End on someone, they run away from you. Channeling for 1 additional second will mean the enemy is rooted for an additional second, but they also receive an additional second to run away, which is more distance you must cover to catch up to and kill the enemy. Of the several Fortune's End functions, this talent only affects one of them.

LV15
Normally, I would argue that +150 Cast Range is very powerful on Oracle. It provides more distance for all 4 of Oracle's spells (not to mention Urn of Shadows) and means Oracle can do more while moving less. However, this build compensates for this relatively weak +150 Range talent by building Aether Lens, which provides +250 Cast Range for Oracle.

Because Oracle already has a major cast range boost, I opt to pick up the +120 GPM talent at Lv15. This allows a gold-weak support hero like Oracle to main his gold gain throughout the mid and endgame. It essentially guarantees you will have enough gold for Spirit Vessel which is arguably the best item for Oracle in the game. It can also provide for heavy endgame items like Scythe of Vyse or Octarine Core.

LV20
The Lv20 +65 Movespeed talent pairs incredibly well with both Spirit Vessel and Boots of Travel movespeed bonuses. Between BoTs and Lv20 (which Oracle tends to get within minutes of one another) Oracle gains +115 movement speed which is INSANE. Movement speed is a highly underestimated stat in Dota 2 that not many players build around. This talent provides Oracle with almost 510 movespeed, in a game where Hasted players move at 550 movespeed. Between your ability to purge debuffs on yourself and your incredibly fast movespeed, you can outrun and out-juke any gank or enemy fight. Join a fight, get a kill, run away to heal, and run back to the fight before it's over. I cannot recommend this talent enough.

The other option, False Promise Invs talent, is far less interesting. It provides Invisibility for targets of your False Promise, which allows them to escape with ease as they heal. However, this talent is easily counterable by standard counter-invs strategies such as Wards or Dust. If you already have an Invs hero on your team or a hero with Shadow Blade, the enemy is already buying counter-invs items, so this talent doesn't help as much as you would want. Secondarily, the invs works in such a way that it is not active while you are attacking, casting, or any other standard Invs-breaking technique. It does not help when Oracle is trying to 1v1 an enemy and False Promise's himself - he does not stay Invs like a Slark would during his ultimate. Much like the Lv10 +1 Fortune's End talent, this talent only supplements one of the spell's many functions.

LV25
Normally I would pick the +2 False Promise Duration talent in most scenarios. This increases the spell's length to 12 seconds, when the cooldown is only 30 seconds, meaning the spell has a "cooldown" of only 18 seconds. The duration increase allows Oracle to increase the healing on the target by casting more Purifying Flames than usual, as well as providing more "double healing" time than normal.

In the endgame at Lv25, having your main carry get ganked by the enemy team can mean game over. Having a long, reliable save spell that is constantly available for use can keep your team fighting and winning interactions in the endgame.

That being said, there is situational room to allow for -5 Fate's Edict CD to make sense. This heavily amplifies the Disarm functionality of the spell, meaning the normally 7 second CD is now 2 seconds long, with a duration of 4.5 seconds. Theoretically, you could keep 2 separate enemy carries completely disarmed, indefinitely. You can very easily keep 1 carry locked down through a teamfight and unable to attack at all. If the enemy team has 1 major player who is carrying their whole team, picking this talent could help shut them down and ultimately swing the tables in your team's favor.