Guide to Raigor Stonehoof v3.1
Table of Contents
A. Writer's Foreword
B. Hero Stat's and Overview
B.i Some misconceptions about Earthshaker
B.ii Skills
C. Skill Build
D. Item Build
D.i Core Items
D.ii Advanced Items
D.iii Why certain items are bad on Earthshaker
D.iv The items you see on optional Builds
E. Strategy
E.i Teampush
E.ii What to do if case you are backstabbed 1 on 1
F. Miscellaneous Tips
Skill combos
F.i Worst enemies
F.ii Best Allies
G. Conclusion and Credits
A.Writer's Foreword
Raigor is a fun hero to play, although he is support based but you can still get kills real easy with him, I decided to write a guide on him to make more people realise his full potential and what he is actually capable of doing.
B.Hero's Stats and Overview
Raigor joined the Sentinel to defend the World Tree, the source of all things natural in the world. An Earth adept, Raigor specializes in casting short-ranged spells that hit hard in an area. He also hits pretty hard with his totem.
Raigor Stonehoof - The Earthshaker
Range: 128 | | Move Speed: 290 | Primary: STR
Str: 22 + 2.5 | Agi: 12 + 1.4 | Int: 16 + 1.8
Damage: 46 - 56 | HP: 568 | Mana: 208
HP Regen: 0.9 | Mana Regen: 0.65
Attack Speed: 1.5 (+ 12% IAS) | Armor: 2.7
View Complete Stat
Pros
1. Able to dish out huge damage in a short period of time
2. One of the best support and disabler hero beside Rhasta and Lion
3. Gets stronger as the game progresses
Cons
1. Slow base attack speed
2. Low mana pool (a trouble for pulling off his combo)
3. Low strength gain per level compared to other str heroes
4. Takes practice, timing and coordination to fully utilize his skills
B.i Some misconceptions about Earthshaker
He is a permastunner, so you should get bashers to improve his perma stunner abilities.
I have read some comments about Earthshaker on the other posts, and they claim that Raigor is a perma stunner, so he should get bashers. Now this is so wrong! Raigor permastuns with his SKILLS, not with normal hits and seeing whether you are lucky whether bash triggers. Bashers are not safe, and with such slow base attack speed by the time a bash triggers the enemy would be far away.
He is a good anti pusher, so you just be patient and wait for them to push and use echo slam to kill them all.
Now this is such a waste of time. Waiting in base for them to come? You would only allow them more time to farm and get stronger while you remain at the same level and weak. Even if there are only 5 enemy heroes around without any creep, echo slam still does a decent amount of damage, and at the same time stunning them for your allies to kill.
B.ii Skills
Fissure (F)
Slams the ground with the Raigor's mighty totem, causing the ground of around 1600 range to crack in half in front of him, damaging opponents and leaving an impassible trail for 8 seconds.
Level 1 - 125 damage, 1 second stun.
Level 2 - 175 damage, 1.25 second stun.
Level 3 - 225 damage, 1,5 second stun.
Level 4 - 275 damage, 1.75 second stun.
Mana Cost: 125/ 140/ 155/ 170
Cooldown: 15
One of the most useful stuns in the game. Besides being a good farming tool and harrasing tool, leaving an impassible trail for 8 seconds is not a laughing matter, it helps to stall time for your allies to help or stop enemies pushes for a while. Once you have got the hang of using this, you will love it! The oh-so-many ways that you can actually cast fissure. And fissure hits invisible heroes.
Your tower is dying and you want to prevent your enemy/creeps from killing the tower and getting the gold? Block them off with fissure while you hit at the tower slowly for that 8seconds and laugh as they do nothing and see their money flying away.
Enchant Totem (E)
Empowers the totem resting on Raigor's back, causing it to deal extra damage on the next attack.
Level 1 - 50% increased damage.
Level 2 - 100% increased damage.
Level 3 - 150% increased damage.
Level 4 - 200% increased damage.
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 8
Note: As of 6.35b, I believe that the formula for damage increase for enchant totem works the same way as empower, which is your % X (Average of base damage[white numbers] + green strength numbers)
Aftershock (A)
The power of Raigor casting a spell causes the earth to shake below him, dealing additional damage and stunning.
Level 1 - 25 damage, .3 second stun.
Level 2 - 45 damage, .7 second stun.
Level 3 - 75 damage, 1.2 second stun.
Level 4 - 115 damage, 1.5 second stun.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
The skill that makes Raigor a perma stunner and to chain all of all his skills together. Free 1.5second stun just for using your skills! Note: Item spells such as Blink dagger, Manta Style, etc does NOT trigger aftershock effect.
Echo Slam ©
Raigor sends shockwaves within 500 AoE shooting through the ground, dealing damage ricocheting to targets within 500 AoE for additional damage.
Level 1 - 200 initial damage, 27 echo damage.
Level 2 - 275 initial damage, 37 echo damage.
Level 3 - 350 initial damage, 57 echo damage.
Note 1: Enemy corpses can reflect echo damage, i.e. if Echo Slam is used in an area which 3 units and 2 corpses are present, each unit will receive the initial damage + 5 echo damage.
Note 2: Level 5 or above neutral creeps will reflect 2 echo damage. <--This is not confirmed yet.
Mana Cost: 145/ 205/ 265
Cooldown: 150/ 130/ 110
This is what that makes Raigor so feared. The more creeps they have, the more damage they take, even with only 5 enemy heroes it still deals a decent amount of damage. It is also one of the best anti-pushing skills in the game.
Note: The 200 inital initial damage is for ONE unit, which means in actual fact the first echo wave only deals 173 damage, and the first echo that unit produces is 27 damage, which adds up to 200 damage.
Getting kills with fissure
Reduced: 51% of original size [ 1000 x 760 ] - Click to view full image
You don't usually have to trap the enemy hero completely, just preventing them from running away directly away would be good enough. The above screenie would demonstrate what I mean.
Reduced: 51% of original size [ 1000 x 1000 ] - Click to view full image
Another way to get kills, smile.gif always try to cast fissure diagonally because it helps a lot and can trap easier.
Reduced: 80% of original size [ 639 x 728 ] - Click to view full image
Using fissure to save allies
Reduced: 66% of original size [ 767 x 448 ] - Click to view full image
Look at my hp, who said you can't save allies from afar?
C.Skill Build
Level1 - Fissure
Level2 - Aftershock
Level3 - Fissure
Level4 - Aftershock
Level5 - Fissure
Level6 - Echo Slam
Level7 - Fissure
Level8 - Aftershock
Level9 - Enchant Totem
Level10 - Aftershock
Level11 - Echo Slam
Level12 - Stats
Level13 - Stats
Level14 - Stats
Level15 - Stats
Level16 - Echo Slam
Level17 - Stats
Level18 - Stats
Level19 - Stats
Level20 - Stats
Level21 - Stats
Level22 - Stats
Level23 - Enchant Totem
Level24 - Enchant Totem
Level25 - Enchant Totem
Skill build Q&A
Why do I max out Fissure first?
Fissure is what makes Earthshaker Earthshaker. This skill has a lot of uses, from sniping to blocking creeps to saving allies to setting ganks to ... With its long range and high damage, it is certainly a skill to be maxed as soon as possible.
Why no enchant Totem early game? It helps you harass melee enemies!
If you are getting Echo Slam at level 6, enchant totem will be useless. Why? First of all, enchant totem needs aftershock to be really be of some use, thus that means 1 of the 2 points would have to go to enchant totem, and the other Aftershock. Unless you want to skip fissure of course, which I highly doubt so. Now, level 1 of aftershock is near to useless, 25damage after magic reduction is not even enough to reduce 1mm of the enemy's life bar. Same for Enchant Totem, + 50% damage gives you only like extra 30 damage early game for 50 mana.
So why not stats over aftershock?
This is like an investment, aftershock needs to be at level 4 to be useful, thus if you get stats first you would only delay the time taken to get aftershock. Only level 4 aftershock will be of some use to enchant totem.
Why is enchant totem better than stats?
Your role in the team is to initiate the battle and disable as many enemies as you can straight away. Of course then you would most of the time be drawing a lot of fire, and the extra stats give some boost to your HP and mana which raigor desperately needs. As for the damage, it's only for one hit which might mean a lot for tower kills, but after much thought, its better for your carry hero to get the tower kills rather than ragior, a support hero.[/b]
Why get Level 1 Enchant Totem before maxing out Aftershock?
Enchant totem goes hand in hand with Aftershock, without aftershock Enchant Totem is nothing but merely a damage adding tool. Since level 1 and 2 aftershock is near to useless, the stun time is not even 1second, I suggest only getting level 1 enchant totem after level 3 aftershock, because only then will the stun time(1.2sec) be enough for you to do something. Getting it before maxing Aftershock gives you an extra stun which is always welcome on any hero.
D.Item builds
Item build : Maximizing support
D.i Core Items
Explanation on Core Items
1.Ring Of Regeneration
This item is much more cost effective than RoH in my opinion as long as you plan your steps carefully, and you don't need to wait in fear if your lane enemy is a heavy nuker early game while waiting for gold to get your RoH.
2.Lesser Clarity Potions
Get two of this early game to weaken the enemy first with fissure at level 6/7 before trying for a kill.
3.Boots Of Speed
Every hero's needs, especially for a slow cow with base movespeed of 290. Do not think about catching up with your enemy low on life while waiting for your fissure to cooldown without this item.
4.Kelen's Dagger Of Escape
An essential item for almost all combo heroes. Not to mention it can also be used as an escape tool. With this item, it opens up a lot of new possiblities.Take note though that it is only a 700 range blink ability with 25 sec cooldown.
1.Having trouble with many enemy heroes? Just blink over to the nearest cliff and block off the only entrance with fissure and watch them retreat.
2) Enemy hero running away with red health; the creeps refuse to budge, intent on doing their best to get in your way; he is disappearing from your sight; you grow increasingly desperate… Just blink up and use Fissure for a deserved kill.
3)A team battle has occured, your allies are all dying and you were late for some reason. As your enemies hunt down your dying teammates, you surprise them by blinking in and blocking their way with Fissure, or reducing their life so they are forced to retreat.
5.Scroll Of Town Portal
I decided to add this item in, after realising that it has many uses. In team battles, a town portal back to your fountain to heal and a boots of travel back can be extremely useful, and can sometimes make or break a win. It is also very helpful in escaping.
6.Arcane Ring
1.wtf?? that's all you need?
Yes of course. Earthshaker mainly requires 2 things, the element of suprise and mana pool. Both arcane ring and dagger of escape solves this very well. Since earthshaker is more of a nuker damager(dealing damage from his spells, it wouldnt really matter a lot what else you get after that.
2.Why don't get Ring Of Health first?
If you are facing problems surviving with a single RoR, get 2 RoR instead of a RoH since they are also much more cheaper. Although RoH does help later in forming refresher orb, it's already quite late in the game and there might not be a chance for you to form it, and you probably should not have a lot of problem for farming for 400+gold at that time(after selling the 2XRoRs),
D.ii Advanced Items
1.Refresher Orb
Refresher Orb is the item next in line, considering that corpses do give off Echo damage. With this, you would be able to stun opponents for a long period of time, with 4 aftershocks from enchant totem and echo slam and 2 fissures. Not to mention, it refreshes guinsoo also.
2.Boots Of Travel
Ok, so now you just blinked in and your food managed to get away. With BoT, you will have a greater chance to catch up with him and cast your last fissure for a deserved kill. The teleport ability is also a plus to make quick trips back to the fountains after a battle or quick trips to help your allies.
3.Heart Of Tarrasque
Earthshaker often draws fire the hard way, since you would be right in the middle of the enemies after casting your combo. With Heart you might have a better chance of surviving.
4.Guinsoo's Scythe Of Vyse
When to get this? Whenever your team desperately needs another disable for the enemy team.
5.Soul Booster
Quite a good item for earthshaker, because it solves the problems of Earthshaker at one go: the lack of mana pool and survivability. You could also upgrade it into bloodstone later when you have extra cash so that you would be able to rejoin your team back in battles faster.
D.iv Why certain items are bad on Earthshaker
1.Cranium Basher
Bashers? With Raigor's low attack speed you are sure you would need items that boost your attack speed to fully take advantage of this item. This is much better on heroes like Naix and AntiMage, but definitely not Raigor. You are better off maximizing the power of his skills.
2.Battle Fury
So what if there is a cool animation. Perserverance should be made into Refresher Orb whenever it is possible, 2 perserverances is an overkill, with fissure and enchant totem and aftershock you should have no problem farming, what for do you need another farming tool? The damage is helpless too due to Raigor's low attack speed.
3.Eye Of Skadi
This item takes way too long to build, and Earthshaker does not benefit from the slow much as he has a wide arsenal of stuns. If you want to increase your hp and mana pool, I would recommend Linken's Sphere instead of Skadi.
4.Dagon
This item is only good on certain heroes, e.g Pugna. A 400 damage nuke is nothing during late game, and it is kind of dumb to spend 1350 gold to upgrade it just to get 100 damage more. And you can only damage one hero at a time with Dagon, but Raigor is a mass AOE damage dealer!!! and support hero!!
5.Sange & Yasha
Extra movespeed? Get Boots of Travel instead. A chance to maim? You have a wide arsenal of stuns, what for you need to slow somebody. Increased attack speed? It would not really make a lot of difference. With this item, you are focusing all on the wrong sides of Raigor, you should be focusing on his int instead of agi and str.
6.Satanic
Too expensive for a non - dps hero. If you need Hp or damage, there is always heart or other damage items, but then you wouldnt be putting raigor's ability to full use.
7.Lothar's Edge
Blink dagger > Lothar's Edge on Earthshaker. Earthshaker does not benefit much from the stats lothar's give, the only thing he needs is the element of surprise, and blink dagger does this way better. Blink dagger is foolproof, low mana cost, and cheaper.
8.Ring Of Basilius
Since we will be going caster Raigor build, and Basilius gives fixed mana regen, it is way inferior compared to something that gives mana regen depending on your int such as void stone. Basilius cannot be upgraded to anything either later in the game too, making it a lousy investment.
9.Mekasm
The mana strain on Raigor is already too much purely with his combo, leave this item to the int heroes instead. What is better, healing 250hp to the whole team or dealing more than 250damage to the other team?
10.Vanguard
The argument that Vanguard is needed on Raigor is due to the fact that he needs to blink into a huge wave of units to unleash his combo. But think about it, after echo slam ALL of the creeps will be dead, and the enemies stunned for a short period of time, and the next thing they would do would be to use their spells on you. So how does the damage block even help at all in the first place?
D.iii The items you see on optional builds
1.Soul Booster
A cheap version of heart, and it helps to add some mana too. Although some people prefer this to Eul's, below is my reason why I think Eul's should be of priority before Soul booster.
2.Early game Boosters
Try not to get them at all, because you have to rush an arcane ring or dagger ASAP to be able to take control over your lane. Spending 1k gold on a couple of nulls or bracers would be useless as you don't really need that extra mana pool yet.
4.Radiance
+70 damage is always welcome on any hero, and since Raigor is an AOE damage dealer the 40 damage immolation does boost his firepower by a lot. The reason why it is not preferred to other items is due to its high cost.
5.Black King Bar
10 seconds of spell immunity after unleashing your combo helps to prevent you from dying straight away after casting your combo since you will be drawing a lot of fire. But this item is not really needed if you have good co-ordination with your allies, and your spells are not chaneling types either.
6.Manta Style
Manta Style? Right after you blink into the middle of the enemies, use this to create even more confusion! Watch as they try to finish off your images while you sneak away or hit them without them noticing. The problem with this item is you would probably need to get some other items to boost your images hp/damage, and you have no skills that enchance your images firepower other than stunlocks.
7.Necromicon and Recipes
Good item considering that Raigor can stun for a long period of time. The reason why it is not preferred is because of the extra micro-ing that you need with this item, and as Necromicon also has to be gotten as soon as possible to make full use of it, Blink Dagger is much more preferred for killing rather than Necromicon.
8.Typical DPS items
Now you tell me, does Raigor have a decent base attack speed? No. Does Raigor have a decent strength gain compared to heroes such as Sven/Skeleton King? No. Does Raigor has any spells that boost his DPS per second? Yes, enchant totem but it's based off your base damage so items that increases attack directly don't help. Is he able to farm well enough? Yes, but only if he gets mana regen items to spam aftershock/fissure, or mana capacity items to help him kill with his combo early-mid game. So in what way does he make a good DPS hero?
E.Strategy
Support Build
Early game 1-7
Choose Raigor and get your RoR and 2 clarities.g. Lane buddy is best for Earthshaker since it opens up a lot of options with your wallblocking fissure. Solo-ing is not recommended because you would still have a difficult time getting in place to cast echo slam at level 6 due to your low movespeed.
Head on to the "longest lane"(top for scourge and bot for sentinel), as you can easily trap the enemy heroes withnin your tower range if they are not careful enough.
If there are mana burners such as NA and AM in your lane, hugging tower would help a lot because whenever they try to burn your mana you can try and stun them and get them in the range of your tower. If you are up against silencer who keeps using curse of the silent on you then it is best for you to switch lanes with someone who can afford to nuke, or someone whose mana regen is very fast.
Once you reach level 6 or 7, you can try to find some power ups in the river. Invisibility and haste helps a lot for Raigor at this stage. If you manage to find a invisibility rune, find some heroes whose hp is preferably around 400-500, wait for them to stand together with the new creep wave, then cast echo slam, land 1 hit, fissure and land 1 or 2 more hits if needed. This should be enough to kill most heroes with only 400-500 hp.
Or you can weaken the enemy with one fissure, hide in the trees using clarities to heal, because most of the times they might have thought you went back to heal mana, then poof out from the fog of war and unleash echo slam+ fissure at them.
Early game Items:
Ring Of Regen (375)
Clarity Potions X 2 (100)
Energy Booster ( 1000)
Total cost : 1575
Mid game 8-15
Mid game is where you shine. Your aim is to Arcane Ring/Blink dagger as fast as possible. Once you get Arcane Ring, you should have no problem with your enemy lane heroes especially if your teammate is another heavy nuker.
If team battles occur, you should enter in the mid of the confusion and just echo slam, then follow up with enchant totem and fissure if you have the mana to spare.
Look for a low hp agi/int hero farming happily alone or if his allies are all busy in the other lanes after you have got Eul's. Wait for him to come together with a new creep wave, blink straight over once he's with his creeps Fissure + Enchant Totem + Echo Slam. But only use echo slam if you are sure you can get the kill. If echo slam is cooling down, then you probably would have to need another teammate's help.
Try to not to use fissure and enchant totem + aftershock if you can to farm, because you never know when any battle might occur nearby you in the forest and you might not have enough mana to help your teammates out then. For more information why you should not use your spells to farm check out bengal_tigger's thread here:
http://www.dotaportal.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46266Mid Game Items:
Ring Of protection(275)
Arcane Ring (575)
Kelen's Dagger Of Escape (2150)
Boots of speed(500)
Total cost : 3500
Late game 16-25
This is where you shine even more, especially if you are defending due to the fact that there are MORE creeps now, and heroes always stick together. Multiple pushing heroes such as Furion and Phantom Lancer are no match for your echo slam, and they would be wise enough not to push together with such a huge wave of creeps.
Always try to enter the battle in the middle and surprise your enemies by stopping their movements for a few seconds for your allies to get their revenge.The only time when you should blink in to surprise the enmy first is when there are enemies such as Omniknight and Naix on the other team so that you can follow up with cyclone/hex right away.
Stop their paths with fissure, or guinsoo for those pesky windwalkers, stalling time for your allies to catch up with them. You are one of the best counter pusher in the game, so if you know your team cannot break the last tower, do not fret. Just to try to defend as long as you can. Normally, nobody can push with Earthshaker on the other team, as most of the times they will be forced to retreat.
Late Game Items:
The items you get here really depends. Like what I have mentioned before, adapt to the situation. If your team is having no problems with the other team, chances are you would like to get a refresher orb as fast as possible to cripple the other team even more. If you are having problems with handling your mana pool and surviving, then you should get a soul booster, and possibly upgrade it into a bloodstone. If your team desperately needs another disable, then you should Eul's or Guinsoo. If you have no problems with your mana pool but have problems surviving, then get a heart.
E.i Teampush
Pushing and Defending
If there are only 5 heroes there and no creeps around, do not worry, just echo slam right away, followed by enchant totem and fissure.
Blink in andd cast echo slam right beside the enemy you are nearest to Follow up by Enchant totem and Fissure and land a hit on the nearest hero Next you should cyclone the one who can disable/damage the most or the tank if you have your Eul's.
Some good examples to cyclone are Rhasta, Lion, Sandking (why sandking because you have used up your stuns and do not have anything to stop epicenter)
So if you had timed your skills correctly, you should be able to stun them for 1.5 sec (Aftershock from Echo Slam) + 1.5sec (Aftershock from Enchant Totem) + 1.75(Fissure stun[aftershock stun does not kick in as it triggers at the same time with fissure so it gets overidden]). Of course, this is an ideal case, most probably most of the time you would only be able to stun 2 or 3 heroes in your range.
If you have obtained your Eul's or Guinsoo, After you get in and cast all spells, surprising enemies such as Naix and Omniknight before they can use their magic immune spells, the next thing you should do is to disable them. If there are no Naix and Omniknight around, you should save your hex/cyclone for disables and damage dealers. Because most of the time after you have casted all skills, support heroes would normally be reduced to low hp and be forced to retreat.
Earthshaker's Roles in Team Battles
-You are a SUPPORT hero. You must remember this, helping your teammates is more important than you surviving.
-You are supposed to disable as many heroes as you can for the longest amount of time once you blink in for your allies to follow up.
Things to Remember during Team Battles
1. Try to enter the battlescene first with another tank from your team, because you are not a tank without the proper items.
2. You should try to eliminate the most pesky disabler/AOE/DPS heroes first.(situation as you deem fit)
3. You should in any case, try not to use your blink dagger if you can. (E.g if they are all together and pushing, you can come in from the back and just echo slam)
4. You should never blink in and try to kill them all by yourselves if you know your allies are not anywhere near you, because your death can make a whole lot difference to the game.
E.ii What to do in case of Specific situations
Things you should remember during 1v1s:
1)You should never ever panic
2)If it is heroes like AM and NA, you should try to use up all your mana for your kill instead of letting them burn away your mana as you probably won't be able to escape
3)If they are heroes with high hp and you know you would not be able to kill them: e.g Sven, Skeleton King, the best alternative is to Eul's them and run. If you are feeling ambitious though you can try to kill them with Eul + Enchant Totem combo.
Things you should remember during 1v2s:
If you are the 1 getting ganked, there still can be a chance that you will win.
Against 1 normal hero and 1 disabler hero
If you have your Eul's, and both of the enemies hp are under 1k when you are level 10-11, just start off with echo slam first, enchant totem, fissure, land a hit on the normal hero, proceed to cyclone the disabler hero, continue hitting the normal hero till you find that he is almost going to drop them then cast enchant totem again to stun the 2 of them. If the normal hero is still not dead yet then cyclone the disabler hero again. Proceed with this until your fissure has finished cooling down or you have killed the normal hero first, or if you realise you don't have mana for another enchant totem anymore.
Against 2disabler heroes
This is tough to win, so the best alternative is to escape. Just bait one of them to stun you first since your fissure stun only lasts 1.75seconds, then cyclone the other hero and use fissure to stun the person who just used his stun. Then quickly use town portal to escape.
Strategy Q&A
No questions atm
F.Miscellaneous Tips
Skill combos
Eul's + Enchant Totem
This is mainly use when echo slam is cooling down, or when chasing an enemy hero. First of all, you cyclone the enemy up. The time taken for Eul's cooldown is 4 seconds, so when the Eul's cooldown reachs 3/4 you should hit enchant totem right away, and it should be a hit, unless he is some akasha or Am furiously pressing Blink.
Fissure + Enchant Totem + Echo Slam
This one is in order, it is quite a bit hard to pull off, but sometimes it can be relatively easy at earlier levels. What you do is trap the opponent with fissure in one corner, land a few hits as he try to run, cast enchant totem when you think the impassible trail is going to be gone, then finish off with echo slam. In this case, you use echo slam as a finishing move even when there is only one unit around, if he is at red life and you are sure you can get the kill.
Blink + Enchant Totem/Blink + Fissure + Eul's + enchant totem
This is mainly use for chasing, try to estimate the distance the retreating hero would be after you blink, blink there and cast enchant totem. So when do you use fissure? Fissure is used when there are fast moving heroes such as Razor or spiritbreaker. What you do is blink right away when they enter the fog of war and immediately cast fissure on them. Next, do not walk up to them yet, your range should be enough for you to cyclone them up. Why not walk up to them then enchant totem? If you manage to stun them with fissure and cyclone him, you would be able to disable him for 5.75 seconds, and when they come down you should already be near him and enchant totem, thus disabling him for another 1.5 second. The time length should be enough for your ally to catch up and finish him off. If you walk up to them and enchant totem first, chances are they will already be gone due to their fast moving speed.
The Art of Aftershock
This is the hardest to pull off, but it can achieve quite a devasting effect. Done properly, you can cast 2 aftershocks in a single battle. First of all, you blink into the correct position near the higest priority target. Cast Enchant Totem first(1.5secs), Fissure (1.75secs), Echo Slam (1.5secs) and hex/cyclone the hero, and then cast aftershock again. If done properly, you can easily put one hero out of play without him even hurting your team.
Killing with Raigor's combo
Reduced: 94% of original size [ 539 x 748 ] - Click to view full image
Why start the battle with echo slam and not enchant totem or fissure
If you are sure you can get the kill, then start with echo slam, if you are not sure it is best to start with fissure and Enchant Totem, and use the Eul's + enchant totem to kill if possible. If you are not sure you can get the kill, then do not use echo slam because it is just a waste of your ulti. It does not matter if units were killed when you used fissure or enchant totem, because corpses still give off echo damage.
Disadvantages of using fissure first:
1)You might use fissure in a panic and end up blocking your own way
2)Fast moving heroes such as Razor or spiritbreaker ends up running with almost no life left.
Disadvantages of using Enchant Totem first:
1)Aftershock stun is only 1.5 second at level, thus after you cast enchant totem and hit him once, he has a chance to ww right away. Thus it is better to use fissure first before using enchant totem, ensuring that you can hit him without him running away.
Disadvantages of using Echo Slam first:
Enemies may escape, in this case I was sure I could kill bone because his hp was not even near 800hp.
Conclusion:
-Use echo slam as a starting move only when you are sure you can get the kill
-Use fissure or enchant totem as a finishing move to block your enemy's escape
-Use Eul's + Enchant totem combo whenever you can.
Blink with synergy with Raigor's skills
Reduced: 64% of original size [ 790 x 768 ] - Click to view full image
F.i Worst Enemies
Heroes With Silence
For a hero that is very dependent on his spells, 6seconds of silence can make him completely useless in team battles.
How to counter: Best way is to ambush them by blinking in, or if you are the one being ambushed instead, well, there's nothing you can do, just try to blink away to safety.
Lucifer, The Doom Bringer
You cannot stop him with fissure, you cannot do anything to him while you are being doomed.
How to counter: Try to kill him only when you are extremely sure that his doom is cooling down, otherwise it is best to avoid him at all costs.
Pugna and his Nether Ward
Many people seem to belittle this spelll, but this ward is a bane to all combo heroes, including Raigor. Normally this would be hidden so you cannot detect it easily, and once you blink out, before you know it, you are dead.
How to counter: Always check your status icon for any signs of the ward. If so, it is best to stay back for a while, or try and find the ward and destroy it first.
Nortrom, The Silencer
This is even worse than heroes with active silence spell, his last will will stop you from permastunning him.
How to counter: Best if you go with an ally to kill him
Magic Immune Spells
Well, need I say more?
How to counter: basically there is nothing to counter them except to wait for the immunity to wear off.....or ask your teammates to get a diffusal to purge repel.
F.ii Best Allies
Roofrellen, the Treant Protector
Why is he a good ally: Nature guise is just what you need at early levels, the element of surprise before you get your blink dagger.
Heroes with long period of disables
Why are they good allies: The long period of disables enable to get into position easily without fear of anyone for your combo.
Heroes with great AOE ultimates
Why are they good allies: Your skills does as good a job as heroes such as Enigma/Magnataur due to the long period of stun if you had positioned yourself properly with your blink dagger.
Purist Thunderwraith, The Omniknight
Why is he a good ally: Repel prevents you from being the main target of nukes right after you unleash your combo, allowing you to retreat safely after your job is done.
Leshrac, The Malicious/Yunero, The Juggernaut
Why is he a good ally: Your fissure would prevent enemies from running away, taking the full damage of diabolic edict and pulse nova/Blade Fury early game. Especially at level 1, a well placed fissure can mean a first blood easily.
Heroes with ultimates that work well when no creeps are around
Why are they good allies: Your echo slam + enchant totem + fissure would wipe out the creeps, at the same time reducing their health. They would be really easy prey for these allies after you have done your job.
Ezalor, Keeper of the Light
Why is he a good ally: This is ridiculously obvious, any heroes with spammable skills would benefit well from chakra magic, but for Earthshaker it is even more. With Earthshaker and Kotl in the same lane, you can be sure that the tower they are defending will be impenetrable. Block the creep waves with fissure while Kotl clears creeps. Block the enemy heroes with fissure and watch as they retreat while Kotl charges up Illuminate.
Pudge, The Butcher
Why is he a good ally: This has to be the one for Earthshaker. He is much better than Vengeful Spirit, as he can still remain on your side without being swapped over. How? With meat hook. With pudge and Earthshaker, it is real easy to kill off the enemy hero one by one if they come too close.
Raijin, the storm spirit
Why is he a good ally: Barrier helps you to tank some of the damage early game when you blink in and initiate, and lightning grapple helps greatly in bring all the enemies close to one another.
Dark seer
Why is he a good ally: Vaccum helps to bring enemy units close together for easier stun from aftershock, surge helps you position yourself quickly even without a blink dagger. Ion shell deals lots of damage if casted on an ally while you proceed to stun lock the other heroes..
G.Conclusion
This is my first time writing a guide, so please go easy on me. Greatly appreciate it if you give me some comments and point out any errors in the guide. I will try to add in more screenshots and replays when I have the time.
Replays:
Earthshaker___9_2__godlike.w3g by FattyAnt:
Version 6.38, 1.20e
A decent replay, shows good use of enchant totem+fissure for farming fast and good uses of cyclone
earthshaker.w3g by myself
First time using back earthshaker after 3 months, not exactly a very exciting replay but it should roughly give you an idea how to use earthshaker.
