GeoMagnetic Stomp (Earth Spirit Support/Solo Offlane Guide)

Introduction

Earth Spirit is a strength support/solo offlane initiator who has a wide variety of skills. If used correctly, Earth Spirit can be one of the powerful heroes in the early game and possible the late game(with your whole team silence). This is the ultimate guide to Earth Spirit including the different roles you can take, combos with Earth Spirit, special tactics you can use, and my suggested build.

Build : Support Earth Spirit

DotA2 Hero: Earth Spirit

Build : Solo Offlane Earth Spirit

DotA2 Hero: Earth Spirit

About Myself

Hello everyone. My dotafire username is dumpkin and I am a support player. The reason I made this guide was to show everyone the wonders of Earth Spirit which is a hero who has a lot of potential. You may be thinking, "hey, earth spirit has a 33% win rate in pub matches, he is a bad hero." Well that is where I come in to prove you wrong. As a support player, all I want to do is save that important carry from dying and Earth Spirit is the bomb at saving allies. The problem is that people don't know how to play him properly. I have a 57% win rate with him, not the best, but it isn't 33%! So read along and you will become the master at Kaolin! (Hopefully)

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Very strong early game
• Can deny creeps with Geomagnetic Grip
• Very tanky early game
• Excells through mid and early game
• Very strong teamfighter

Cons

• Semi-reliable escape(against smart opponents)
  Drops off hard during late game
  Takes skill to properly play
  Focused because you are usually the first initiator

Skills

Stone Remnant

This skill synergizes with all of your skills so i will go over it first.
This skill drops a Stone Remnant at a target location. Stone remnants don't provide vision and don't have collision and they are only used with your other skills. There are 6 charges max at a time with a 30 second recharge rate. Be careful with your stones as you may find yourself in a situation you could have gotten out of.

Boulder Smash

Using this skill pushes a unit or stone proportional to where your position is next to it and deals 125 magical damage to all enemy units hit. If used on an ally or enemy unit it will push them 800 units. If used with a stone it travels 2000 units and stuns targets for 2.25 seconds at max level. This skill can be used to push enemies back into your team or tower if positioned correctly. Max this second as the stun duration is very useful.

Rolling Boulder

Activating Rolling Boulder will turn you into a, well, rolling boulder that travels to the target location. If the boulder hits an enemy unit, it will deal 135 magical damage. If used with a stone, you will travel 2x the distance and slow enemy heroes you collide with by 80% (movespeed and attackspeed). This skill is risky though as it will travel the full range, so if you miss an enemy you may be in trouble. And for escaping, a skilled opponent will know to go in front of you to block your escape. I prefer to max this last as only the cooldown changes but you may need that extra cooldown reduction as it goes down to 4 seconds.

Geomagnetic Grip

Geomagnetic Grip is a very powerful skill that pulls a stone OR an ally unit in front of you. This skill has decent range at 1100, and if used with a stone at max level, will damage enemies for 250 magic damage, and silence for 5 seconds! Another very important aspect of this skill that people forgot is that this can pull ally units. You can save allies every day with this skill and the abilities to pull allied creeps will be useful as I will explain later down the guide. Max this first because it is your main damage dealer in the early stages and the great silence.

Magnetize

Using your ultimate will release a wave of charged minerals around you in a 300 radius. If an enemy unit is within the 300 radius they will take 100 damage per second for 6 seconds at max level. Now here is where this becomes game-changing. If an enemy comes into contact with a stone remnant the debuff duration is reset back to 6 seconds meaning that the enemy takes 100 damage per second for a long time as long as you have stones. Another cool mechanic is that every magnetized unit will share your Geomagnetic Grip silence and you Rolling Boulder slow. So, if you magnetize a whole team than you can silence all of them and slow them AND have them take damage per second. This skill is great for teamfights and solo kills with a cooldown of 80 seconds. Take this at 6, 11, and 16.


Quick Note on skill build:
For the support, it's better to even out your disables than to max out Geomagnetic Grip by 7, however if your laning partner has a reliable root/stun/disable then it is o.k. to max out your Geomagnetic Grip by 7.

Items

The items in both builds are similar but vary depending on what role you take.
If you take the support role, buy the courier or wards and start off with Tangoes, a Healing Salve, and some clarities along with a couple of Iron Branches. For the solo offlane role, grab some Tangoes, a Healing Salve, Iron Branches, and more clarities will be useful as you will learn later down the guide.

Early game items don't vary much with an Urn of Shadows, Boots of Speed, and a Magic Wand.

For core items, Arcane Boots and a Force Staff are great for the mana (which you desperately need), and the Force Staff for the even extra mobility on top of your Rolling Boulder.
Where it differs is the Veil of Discord which boosts your magic damage output by a considerable amount.

Extension items are very flexible depending on what situation you are in. A mekanism, Blink Dagger, and Rod of Atos are all excellent extensions. Blade Mail is a situational item that helps if you are being focused when you initiate. And a Shadow Blade is very situational as you can go invis and pop your ultimate. And a Scythe of Vyse will solve most of your long-term mana issues, as well as provide great disable for the enemy team's carries.

A different item for more skilled Earth Spirit players include the Eul's Scepter of Divinity which provides mana regen, an intelligence boost, movespeed boost, and the disable. If you are quick enough, you can time your Boulder Smash just as they land.

A lot of Earth Spirit builds have heart of terrasque as a core item, but your veil, and Force Staff are better when it comes to teamfight and escape.

Roles

Earth Spirit can take many different roles in the game.

If you are going to be a support, your main objective is lane dominance and harass. You should use your Geomagnetic Grip plus your stones to harass, but be careful not to push the lane.

If you are going mid, keep tight till level 3, or level 6. You should be able to get a solo kill or an ally kill with your skills. This guide isn't focused on the middle lane role so I won't be talking further about it.

If you are going solo offlane. Use your Geomagnetic Grip to harass and last hit creeps at the same time. Your Rolling Boulder offers a semi-reliable escape so still be careful. And since you will most likely be reaching your level 6 faster, you have the opportunity to initiate on their heroes and shutdown the lane.

Denying Creeps

So I have mentioned it a couple of times earlier in the guide so I will tell you now.
Earth spirits Geomagnetic Grip can pull allied creeps in between trees so that the opponent has a level disadvantage. Below will be the locations of pulling for every lane, Radiant and Dire. Most builds have you take Boulder Smash at level 1, but this is very bad as you can't deny the lane creeps, and it limits your ability to save an ally from a level 1 gank. Please always get Geomagnetic Grip first unless you are forced to get another skill because of difficulties.

This section has a lot of pictures of the exact positions I use so take note of where I pull from.

Also an important note: Creeps that are pulled in the trees usually (not always) won't continue the path if they are released from the trees. You have to use boulder smash or force staff for the creep to resume its normal path.

Radiant Bottom Lane

Pull to here

Wait for creeps to be just behind tower then pull.

Radiant Middle Lane

Pull to here

Pull when creeps just get into range.

Radiant Top Lane

Pull to here

Pull when creeps just pass the tower.

Dire Bottom Lane

Pull to here

Dire Middle Lane

Pull to here

Dire Top Lane

Pull to here


With a lot of practice this can be very important for having a level advantage!

Combos

Earth Spirit has a wide variety of combos because of his skill set so I will go over the ones I know.

1. Stone Remnant + Geomagnetic Grip + Rolling Boulder + Boulder Smash

This combo was that bread and butter of the 6.79 patch. Due to the rework of Earth Spirit it is now more difficult to land as the opponent may move to the side. But if executed correctly this is a very deadly combo.

2. Stone Remnant + Boulder Smash + Geomagnetic Grip + Rolling Boulder + Optional Magnetize

This combo however is the bread and butter of the 6.80+ patch. This combo stuns, silences and slows, and allows you to get close to your target. The only downside is if you can land your Boulder Smash when you hit a Stone Remnant.

3. Stone Remnant + Boulder Smash + Geomagnetic Grip

Basically the same combo as #2 but without the Rolling Boulder. Great for catching long range enemies. For example: You are just about to kill the weaver on the enemy team when he Shikuchi's away. You punch the boulder where you think he is then pull it back, and voila you have first blood. (This happened to me and I was quite happy).

4. Rolling Boulder + Stone Remnant + Geomagnetic Grip + Optional Boulder Smash

Same combo as #1 but this is in quick succession giving the opponent less reaction time. You start the Rolling Boulder and as you are charging up pull a stone behind the enemy. The combo well take less than a second to pull off making it very hard to dodge.

5. Initiator Combo: Rolling Boulder + Stone Remnant + Magnetize + Stone Remnant + Boulder Smash + Geomagnetic Grip, or if you have a Blink Dagger, Blink Dagger + Magnetize + Stone Remnant + Boulder Smash + Geomagnetic Grip + Rolling Boulder

This is the main combo you will be using in large teamfights. You will roll in with a stone remnant and then activate Magnetize. Pop down a Stone Remnant to spread the magnetize to most of their heroes, then punch the Stone Remnant with Boulder Smash and then use Geomagnetic Grip on it. This will effectively silence their whole team (if together), and have them take massive DPS. Very powerful combo.

Tips and Tricks

1. Many of your skills require perfect positioning and aiming such as Magnetize, Rolling Boulder, and Boulder Smash. Many people start to give up on Earth Spirit due to his Stone Remnant + Boulder Smash. A handy trick for aiming is shift queuing so that you are at the exact angle you want, however this does take some practice to be really quick (Jerax is really good at this).

2. Don't play Earth Spirit like everyone did in 6.79. Using your combo #1 too close to enemy towers can zoom you right past them and give them an easy kill. Either use combo #2 or have a hero with a reliable root/stun spell.

3. Be very cautious of your Stone Remnant charges. If you are just going back to base or traveling around, there is no need for using a Stone Remnant with your Rolling Boulder. You may need them later!

4. With many activation skills, people may have a hard time using your skills quick enough. This can be solved with using the ''Quick Cast'' option in the options menu. I personally do not use this but some players benefit from the incredible speed you can get out of quick cast.

5. As I said in the previous chapter, you should preferably lane with heroes with good roots/stuns so that you can perform your combo #1 which pushes them back into your allies/tower. Slows/roots/stuns are all great options for setting it up.

6. (Mostly) Always take Geomagnetic Grip at level 1. This is for the sole purpose of denying creeps in the lane so that you have a level advantage. In some lanes, you can hold 1-2 creeps, and in other you can hold at least 8! This is very powerful as you have the potential to deny lots of the creep wave. And if you have a Lich than even better! Deny 1/2 of the lane experience.

Heroes to lane with

There are many heroes that are good at laning with Earth Spirit, mainly those with disables or root spells. This is for the purpose of using combo #1 where you can push the enemy back into your tower or allies.

1. Bane is a good laning partner with Earth Spirit because of Nightmare. Although Bane isn't a carry or the best laning partner. Netting some level 3 kills can help with some gold.

2. Phantom Lancer is great because of his Spirit Lance which slows enough to land a #1 combo.

3. Lone Druid is another decent lane partner. If leveled, if the opponent is entangled then you basically have a kill on your platter, but this laning combo is still debatable.

4. Meepo is a solid choice because of his Earth Bind and Geostrike.

5. Ember Spirit is great because of his Searing Chains.

6. Storm Spirit is very good because of his Static Remnant which is easy to land because of your #1 combo. His Electric Vortex to disable enemies to, again, set up your combo. And Overload for the general slow.

7. Naga Siren is an obvious chose because of her Ensnare.

8. Lifestealer for his Rolling Boulder + Infest Naix bomb.

9. And a special mention to Bloodseeker + as your Boulder Smash acts as a free force staff, and synergizes with Rupture.

Summary

Earth Spirit is a flexible hero that has a wide variety of skills.

You can perform deadly combos
You can deny creeps for every lane
You can be an important initiator
You have the ability to shutdown carries early game
You can be the support (or solo offlaner) of anyone's dream.

So now that you know all there is about Earth Spirit, I hope to see you in the matchmaking!

  by dumpkin - DotaFire.com