IMO
The OLD Raijin Thunderkeg was totally an attack-speed based hero. As his skills kinda contribute much to attack speed. Example, his old overload skill back then. After every few hits, charges of lightning will appear on his hands. Enabling that attack to deal slow and extra minor damage. Obviously, to quicken the occurrence of that skill, players would get attack speed based items on him.
Another skill that concerned attack speed was his first skill. I forgot what the skill name was. The skill works by adding 20%/40%/60%/80% attack speed to Raijin while depleting mana for each second he activates it. Kinda cool huh? Totally attack speed based Storm Spirit then.
Players would usually get items such as:
Orchid
Power treads
MKB
Maelstrom or Mjollnir
Helm of the Dominator
Buriza
These items pretty much work better if your hero has fast attack speed. So, that concludes it. The old SS needs attack speed, attack speed and attack speed. Okay, I sound like a nag already. It's cool having an INT hero which attacks fast. You don't see that too often do you?
Alas,
Behold the remake of Storm Spirit! People were then criticizing Icefrog over this remake. People were going nuts, like this guy -->
But i tell you what.
I fully support the remake of Storm Spirit. Hated the old attack speed based SS. C'mon people, the new SS is much more fun to play with, better to gank with and what's more? Damn interesting skills! I mean, I think Icefrog spent a lot of time remaking this hero. Delete the old SS from your mind and behold, the new era of Raijin Thunderkeg!
Okay, first up, first skill. Static Remnant.
Basically when Raijin casts this skill, a stationary remnant/image/clone/whatever will be created. When an enemy unit comes near it, the remnant will release damage to all nearby units. After maxing out this skill, it will release 260 damage. Damage is same to all units near it, doesn't take count of distance from the image. The damage may seem mediocre, but guess what? This skill has a constant cooldown of 4 seconds every level. You didn't read it wrong, 4 seconds! Manacost is only 100. That's a way-cool spammable skill my lost-in-sheer-awesomeness dota friends! The only downside of this skill is, you can't target where you wanna put it. The remnant/image/clone/whatever will be created where your hero is. But we all know that's just a minor technicality problem.
This skill helps a lot in farming and sometimes in ganking. But it is used more frequently for farming. 4 seconds is all you need to cast the skill twice and the whole wave of creeps is virtually yours (:
Now, the second skill. Electric Vortex.
When Raijin casts this on its target, the victim will be pulled towards Raijin. I'm not that sure if it's channeling or not, but you can attack during the spell. You'll have to get near to your target, about 200 AoE, if I ain't wrong, to cast this spell unto your target. But pulling your victim towards you for 2.5 seconds is not a joke! It's almost better than a stun. This skill should only be used in ganks or 1v1 situations, if you're really positive you can finish your enemy off. In ganks, this would be the initiating spell or a spell that keeps your enemies from escaping. This is skill has quite a long cooldown of 20 seconds. Be sure to use it smart. One wrong cast, and you could be saying 'Bon Voyage' to your enemies. Unless you're bent on rushing to their towers, getting killed due to some red-hp idiot and get mocked at for being a noob.
Third skill. Remade Overload.
Phew, this new overload skill is much better than the previous one. Now, you don't have to worry about hitting 5-6 times to get those charges on your fat hands. As long you cast a skill, the buffs will be yours already. Although the slow is just for less than a second, there is a bonus damage of 75. Furthermore, this skill synergizes very well with SS's ultimate, which will be explained later on. The main point is just to skill, hit, skill, hit, skill, hit, etc. This way, your enemies will crumble faster than you can say "Michael Jackson is a black". The AoE of this skill is around 250-300, if I'm not wrong again. This skill is something like a mini-purge, and it totally annoys your opponents. This is a skill that can be used to it's full potential later in the game since you need to spam skills to obtain this buff. And to spam skills, you need infinite mana. (:
Ultimate. Ball of Lightning.
Now this is the SIGNATURE skill of the new Storm Spirit! Totally imbalancedness. Basically, this skill goes like this. You click on a target location, and SS will travel to it very quickly. The further you move, the more mana it will consume. SS will continue traversing until his mana has fully depleted. SS will deal damage to nearby units based on how far SS has moved. Damage, area and speed improves per level. Most awe-inspiringly, the skill has NO cooldown. Whattheheckthisskillistotallyimba. This is why I said earlier that this skill synergizes best with overload. You just have to ulti to your enemy, hit, ulti again, hit, ulti, hit, ulti, hit, etc. Between those you can include first and second skill. This skill can be used for multi-purposes. Initiating ganks, escaping, killing, chasing, etc. You can also use this ultimate if you're too lazy to walk to a location. But bear in mind that, the manacost isn't something you can laugh about. It actually consumes quite a lot of your mana. Never spam this unless needed to or you have too much mana to spam. One of the best and most interesting ultimate I've seen in a while.
So, conclusion.
Storm Spirit can be useful early, mid and late game. You just have to use him wisely and he could own your enemies easily. Remember that this new SS isn't a DPS hero anymore. It is more of a spammer and a ganker. SS is most useful late game. Mana pool and regen mean a lot to your effectiveness and survivability in the game. One thing that SS has a problem is with his HP. SS has really mediocre HP pool and regen due to his low STR gain. Get items that add to both your HP and mana to gain full effectiveness of SS. This is also not a click-and-kill hero. NOT recommended for new playersand noobs. To use SS to his maximum potential, you will need fast fingers and quick reaction. Minor mistakes and wrong moves could mean the end-of-storm-spirit-ownage. SS owns low-hp heroes best but you'll have to be careful of mass disablers like Lion and Rhasta. Tankers could also mean problems since they have very high HP and you aren't a DPS hero. Just buy the right items, play the right way and you'll have no whatsoever problems with owning.
The items I usually get for SS are as follows:
Phase Boots/BoT
Phase Boots helps a darn lot in ganking/killing heroes. For 5 seconds you get extra movement speed and a no-collision buff. FYI, no-collision means you can move through units without colliding with them. Not including trees and barriers. Great chasing choice of shoes.
Boots of travel provides more flexibility. Giving you the chance to teleport around the whole map every 60 seconds. A constant +90 ms is also great for running around. Both shoes are good. It depends on your playing style.
Power treads is totally ruled out though. Duh, SS's no longer a DPS hero. Do I have to repeat this?
Bloodstone
This is the first item I'll usually get first. This item provides everything SS's really needs. HP pool/regen and mana pool/regen. All that a decent SS player wants.
Guinsoo
This is a great item for SS. Good mana regen and INT surplus. Best of all, the active skill of hex. Turn your irritating foes to helpless sheep and make them cry for mercy.
Shiva's Guard
Another good item on SS. He needs all the mana pool/regen he can get. Arctic Blast is also a active surplus skill that can make your enemies whine like wounded stray dogs on the streets. Additional armor helps too.
Heart of Tarrasque
Since you have low HP. Get this to add bulk to yourself. Great survivability item.
Eye of Skadi
Usually you won't have the luxury to buy this item. Get this if you are owning like crazy and have too much gold to spend.
Phew. That's all folks. Lazy to write on anymore. Hope I helped a little in making you guys a little less dumb in DotA. Since I'm also a dumb DotA player. That's freaking long for a first post. Now I realize. (:
Anyways, add me up on Garena if you want a game. Seldom play now but will play if people invite me to. I'm a feeder so invite me if you think your team is really owning that bad and you need a noob that helps to make the opponents feel less embarassed.
~Daniel
The OLD Raijin Thunderkeg was totally an attack-speed based hero. As his skills kinda contribute much to attack speed. Example, his old overload skill back then. After every few hits, charges of lightning will appear on his hands. Enabling that attack to deal slow and extra minor damage. Obviously, to quicken the occurrence of that skill, players would get attack speed based items on him.
Another skill that concerned attack speed was his first skill. I forgot what the skill name was. The skill works by adding 20%/40%/60%/80% attack speed to Raijin while depleting mana for each second he activates it. Kinda cool huh? Totally attack speed based Storm Spirit then.
Players would usually get items such as:
Orchid
Power treads
MKB
Maelstrom or Mjollnir
Helm of the Dominator
Buriza
These items pretty much work better if your hero has fast attack speed. So, that concludes it. The old SS needs attack speed, attack speed and attack speed. Okay, I sound like a nag already. It's cool having an INT hero which attacks fast. You don't see that too often do you?
Alas,
Behold the remake of Storm Spirit! People were then criticizing Icefrog over this remake. People were going nuts, like this guy -->
But i tell you what.
I fully support the remake of Storm Spirit. Hated the old attack speed based SS. C'mon people, the new SS is much more fun to play with, better to gank with and what's more? Damn interesting skills! I mean, I think Icefrog spent a lot of time remaking this hero. Delete the old SS from your mind and behold, the new era of Raijin Thunderkeg!
Okay, first up, first skill. Static Remnant.
Basically when Raijin casts this skill, a stationary remnant/image/clone/whatever will be created. When an enemy unit comes near it, the remnant will release damage to all nearby units. After maxing out this skill, it will release 260 damage. Damage is same to all units near it, doesn't take count of distance from the image. The damage may seem mediocre, but guess what? This skill has a constant cooldown of 4 seconds every level. You didn't read it wrong, 4 seconds! Manacost is only 100. That's a way-cool spammable skill my lost-in-sheer-awesomeness dota friends! The only downside of this skill is, you can't target where you wanna put it. The remnant/image/clone/whatever will be created where your hero is. But we all know that's just a minor technicality problem.
This skill helps a lot in farming and sometimes in ganking. But it is used more frequently for farming. 4 seconds is all you need to cast the skill twice and the whole wave of creeps is virtually yours (:Now, the second skill. Electric Vortex.
When Raijin casts this on its target, the victim will be pulled towards Raijin. I'm not that sure if it's channeling or not, but you can attack during the spell. You'll have to get near to your target, about 200 AoE, if I ain't wrong, to cast this spell unto your target. But pulling your victim towards you for 2.5 seconds is not a joke! It's almost better than a stun. This skill should only be used in ganks or 1v1 situations, if you're really positive you can finish your enemy off. In ganks, this would be the initiating spell or a spell that keeps your enemies from escaping. This is skill has quite a long cooldown of 20 seconds. Be sure to use it smart. One wrong cast, and you could be saying 'Bon Voyage' to your enemies. Unless you're bent on rushing to their towers, getting killed due to some red-hp idiot and get mocked at for being a noob.
Third skill. Remade Overload.
Phew, this new overload skill is much better than the previous one. Now, you don't have to worry about hitting 5-6 times to get those charges on your fat hands. As long you cast a skill, the buffs will be yours already. Although the slow is just for less than a second, there is a bonus damage of 75. Furthermore, this skill synergizes very well with SS's ultimate, which will be explained later on. The main point is just to skill, hit, skill, hit, skill, hit, etc. This way, your enemies will crumble faster than you can say "Michael Jackson is a black". The AoE of this skill is around 250-300, if I'm not wrong again. This skill is something like a mini-purge, and it totally annoys your opponents. This is a skill that can be used to it's full potential later in the game since you need to spam skills to obtain this buff. And to spam skills, you need infinite mana. (:
Ultimate. Ball of Lightning.
Now this is the SIGNATURE skill of the new Storm Spirit! Totally imbalancedness. Basically, this skill goes like this. You click on a target location, and SS will travel to it very quickly. The further you move, the more mana it will consume. SS will continue traversing until his mana has fully depleted. SS will deal damage to nearby units based on how far SS has moved. Damage, area and speed improves per level. Most awe-inspiringly, the skill has NO cooldown. Whattheheckthisskillistotallyimba. This is why I said earlier that this skill synergizes best with overload. You just have to ulti to your enemy, hit, ulti again, hit, ulti, hit, ulti, hit, etc. Between those you can include first and second skill. This skill can be used for multi-purposes. Initiating ganks, escaping, killing, chasing, etc. You can also use this ultimate if you're too lazy to walk to a location. But bear in mind that, the manacost isn't something you can laugh about. It actually consumes quite a lot of your mana. Never spam this unless needed to or you have too much mana to spam. One of the best and most interesting ultimate I've seen in a while.
So, conclusion.
Storm Spirit can be useful early, mid and late game. You just have to use him wisely and he could own your enemies easily. Remember that this new SS isn't a DPS hero anymore. It is more of a spammer and a ganker. SS is most useful late game. Mana pool and regen mean a lot to your effectiveness and survivability in the game. One thing that SS has a problem is with his HP. SS has really mediocre HP pool and regen due to his low STR gain. Get items that add to both your HP and mana to gain full effectiveness of SS. This is also not a click-and-kill hero. NOT recommended for new players
The items I usually get for SS are as follows:
Phase Boots/BoT
Phase Boots helps a darn lot in ganking/killing heroes. For 5 seconds you get extra movement speed and a no-collision buff. FYI, no-collision means you can move through units without colliding with them. Not including trees and barriers. Great chasing choice of shoes.
Boots of travel provides more flexibility. Giving you the chance to teleport around the whole map every 60 seconds. A constant +90 ms is also great for running around. Both shoes are good. It depends on your playing style.
Power treads is totally ruled out though. Duh, SS's no longer a DPS hero. Do I have to repeat this?
Bloodstone
This is the first item I'll usually get first. This item provides everything SS's really needs. HP pool/regen and mana pool/regen. All that a decent SS player wants.
Guinsoo
This is a great item for SS. Good mana regen and INT surplus. Best of all, the active skill of hex. Turn your irritating foes to helpless sheep and make them cry for mercy.
Shiva's Guard
Another good item on SS. He needs all the mana pool/regen he can get. Arctic Blast is also a active surplus skill that can make your enemies whine like wounded stray dogs on the streets. Additional armor helps too.
Heart of Tarrasque
Since you have low HP. Get this to add bulk to yourself. Great survivability item.
Eye of Skadi
Usually you won't have the luxury to buy this item. Get this if you are owning like crazy and have too much gold to spend.
Phew. That's all folks. Lazy to write on anymore. Hope I helped a little in making you guys a little less dumb in DotA. Since I'm also a dumb DotA player. That's freaking long for a first post. Now I realize. (:
Anyways, add me up on Garena if you want a game. Seldom play now but will play if people invite me to. I'm a feeder so invite me if you think your team is really owning that bad and you need a noob that helps to make the opponents feel less embarassed.
~Daniel
