Ezalor Keeper of the Light: Guide

Ezalor (The Keeper of the Light) Guide DoTA

A guide to Ezalor (The Keeper of the Light) skill and item guide for Defence of The Ancients (DoTA v6.71b)

Illuminate

Channels a ball of positive energy, letting it build up 100 damage per second. When released,
it damages all enemies in a line. The distance also improves with channeling time.

Level 1 - Can be channeled for 2 seconds, maximum range is 500.
Level 2 - Can be channeled for 3 seconds, maximum range is 600.
Level 3 - Can be channeled for 4 seconds, maximum range is 700.
Level 4 - Can be channeled for 5 seconds, maximum range is 800.

Cooldown: 10 seconds
Mana Cost: 150

This means at level 4 at a 5 second channel of Illuminate will result in a 500 damage blast in an 800 unit long line straight from the channelled globe in front of Ezalor. This is extremely useful for killing creeps and will also damage/kill the siege vehicles as well, many of them in 1 shot at level 4 (Melee creeps have 550hp so will survive from full health).

This powerful ability is also good for harassing heroes, a well timed blast from in the forest or behind a ramp can cripple low HP opponents early game and sometimes lead to an easy first blood, particularly if your lane mate has a stun. It also gives vision of the area.

This can be used as a combo with your mana leak spell. You should mana leak your opponent and try force him to move as you start channeling your illuminate spell towards him, preferably while using Spirit Form so you can continue to attack him and chase him.

Mana Leak

Weakens the bond between the physical and magical essences of an enemy. The magical and physical essences will be divided if the target moves, causing the enemy to lose some of their mana. If the enemy loses all of its mana, it will be paralyzed while the bond is repaired.

Level 1- Lasts 5 seconds, 3.5% of their manapool per 100 units. If the mana pool of the target is depleted, slows by 60% for 2 seconds
Level 2- Lasts 6 seconds, 4% of their manapool per 100 units. If the mana pool of the target is depleted, slows by 60% for 2 seconds
Level 3- Lasts 7 seconds, 4.5% of their manapool per 100 units. If the mana pool of the target is depleted, slows by 60% for 2 seconds
Level 4- Lasts 8 seconds, 5% of their manapool per 100 units. If the mana pool of the target is depleted, slows by 60% for 2 seconds

Cooldown: 20 seconds
Mana Cost: 75

This skill basically works like 'Rupture' but for mana. It should be used to harass enemy heroes and it is also great for chasing heroes and preventing heroes chasing you. It is best used when you know an enemy is going to be forced to move (such as when under attack from a tower or a hero).

It is very effective against heroes with blink or blink strike as although it will not affect them when they blink, it may force them to stop or run out of mana for another blink.

Chakra Magic

Channels chakras through a friendly unit, creating a surge of mana.

Level 1- Restores 75 mana.
Level 2- Restores 150 mana.
Level 3- Restores 225 mana.
Level 4- Restores 300 mana

Cooldown: 19/18/17/16 seconds
Mana Cost: 45/55/70/85

Needless to say this is a great skill, it allows Ezalor to cast illuminate often and indefinitely.

A good idea is to use Chakra magic once then Illuminate once where possible (even easier when in spirit form as Illuminate is not channeling) due to the 85 mana cost. This means it is not possible to cast Illuminate twice without high mana regen on a single cast of ChakraMagic and still have enough mana to Chakra Magic again.

Spirit Form

Ezalor turns his body luminescent temporarily. His mastery of light becomes so powerful that he can freely cast Illuminate without channeling,cast a brilliant light that blinds foes, and teleport allies from anywhere to his side at light speed.

Level 1 - Morph into Spirit Form, gain automatically charging Illuminate, Recall, and Blinding Light abilities
Level 2 - Morph into Spirit Form, gain automatically charging Illuminate, Recall, and Blinding Light abilities
Level 3 - Morph into Spirit Form, gain automatically charging Illuminate, Recall, and Blinding Light abilities

Duration: 40 seconds
Cooldown: 80/70/60 seconds

This is an under-rated level 6 skill at only level 6 it allows Ezalor to spend 50% of his time in Spirit Form, which will enable him to farm easier, and kill easier.

The Blinding Light skill is very useful against damage dealers.

The skills obtainable through spirit form are:

Recall(during Spirit Form)

Target an allied hero. Teleports that hero to your location. If the target takes player based damage during this period, this ability is interrupted.

Level 1- Teleportation with 5 second delay
Level 2- Teleportation with 4 second delay
Level 3- Teleportation with 3 second delay

Cooldown: 40 seconds
Mana Cost: 100

This is a powerful and under used skill, it can be used to teleport heroes back to defend, away from a potential gank, to the enemy towers for a quick push, or basically wherever Ezalor needs them!

-disablehelp will prevent your teammates from casting this on you. This can be undone with -enablehelp

Blinding Light(during Spirit Form)

Blind nearby units, causing them to miss 80% of the time.

Level 1 - Causes enemies to have a 80% chance to miss in their attacks for 3 seconds and knocks them back
Level 2 - Causes enemies to have a 80% chance to miss in their attacks for 4 seconds and knocks them back
Level 3 - Causes enemies to have a 80% chance to miss in their attacks for 5 seconds and knocks them back

Cooldown: 20 seconds
Mana Cost: 50

This covers a large area and will knock your enemies back to the edge of the AoE. Ezalor needs to be very close to cast this spell.

This can used in conjunction with Mana Leak to both cause your opponents to lose mana in the knock back, and against if they try to chase/run away.

Ezalors Skill and Item Build

Early game you will want to max out Chakra Magic as early as possible. If you need to push then level up Illuminate with Chakra Magic, but if you are facing heroes who need mana or wish to use your slow to gank with another hero, then level up 1 or more levels of Mana leak, although I wouldn't normally bother maxing this out early game. It is not really important when you level up your level 6 skill.

As I mention below, Ezalor's build is very flexible but I have included a sample item build as a guide:

Start Game Items (Cost):

Ring of Regen (350)

Gauntlet of Strength (150)
Ancient Tangos (90)

Early Game Items

Boots of Speed (500)
Bracer (513)
Ring of Regen (350)

Mid game items

Bracer (513) (You may wish to buy another bracer if you are taking a lot of damage)

Boots of Travel (2700) (Enables him to farm easily with teleport and chase/run with +90 ms)

Hood of Defiance (2150) (This gives 8hp regen, and 30% spell immunity, optional)

Lothars Edge (3300) (This gives Ezalor Wind Walk, 10% attack speed and 38 damage, optional)

Also optional items

Euls Scepter of Divinity (2800)

Radiance (5150)(Some people may rush this item to get extra farming and damage, and team support instead of buying some of the other items above. In combination with your Illuminate, any creeps in range of the 35 damage per second aura will usually die one shot.)

Late game items

Boots of Travel (2700)
Hood of Defiance (2150)
Lothars Edge (3300)

Linken's Sphere (5175) (This blocks most targeted spells every 20 seconds. This is essential against heroes such as Vengeful Spirit and Doom who will see you as an easy target.)

Eye of Skadi (6150) (+25 All attributes, 200 HP, 150 Mana, and an Orb cold attack which slows movespeed by 30% and attack speed by 20%. optional)

Other optional Items

Assault Cuirass (5500)

Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse (5675) (Gives Ezalor a much needed 3.5 second disable)

Bloodstone (5050) (Gives increased survivability and mana)

Sange and Yasha (4400) (Makes Ezalor run really fast(see below)! This will not increase his damage by as much as Strength or Agility heroes though)

Radiance (5150) (Even at late game, this item is very effective)

Points to note about items for Ezalor:

Ezalor's item build is very flexible. He can be built as a spell caster mage with various active items such as Dagon, Hex and Orchid or as a battle mage with items such as Assault Cuirass, Desolator and Monkey King Bar. Its really whatever helps your team the most.
Ezalor has a high base move speed and with the easy farming available I would usually recommend buying Boots of Travel. With Sange and Yasha and Boots of Travel Ezalor has a move speed of 459 and A Eul's Scepter of Divinity will increase his move speed to 435 with BoT.
Using Force Staff will cause the opponent to lose mana if Mana Leaked.
Ezalor is VERY fragile and often easily killed. It will be helpful to get 1 or more items such as Lothars Edge, Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere to escape danger easier. Some people may also like to get a Heart of Tarrasque, Hood of Defiance or Bloodstone to increase HP, or rely on a Hex to increase survivability. This should just depend on what heroes you are facing and how you will use it with your team.
Mekanism is a good item for Ezalor as Chakra Magic will allow him to cast this freely and stay on a lane indefinitely if unchallenged.

Pros:

Ezalor has great lane control. He can deny opponents farm early game with his powerful Illuminate and Chakra Magic,whilst also farming himself. He usually be able to kill the creeps fast enough to result in an early tower kill if illuminate is levelled up early.
Ezalors weaknesses can be overcome as he has the ability to farm easily and can buy items to help in survive fast e.g. Lothars Edge, Heart of Tarrasque, Blood Stone, Assault Cuirass, Hex. All of these are situation-valid items for Ezalor depending on his role.
High base movespeed (315)

Cons:

Low Strength gain which gives him low HP without items.
Low Agility gain which gives him low attack speed.
Early to mid game Ezalor needs to be extremely careful no to die too many times and feed the opponents XP and gold as he will not yet have his luxury items, and he has very low HP and no stun, and in my experience mana leak will not usually save you early game.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ezalor-DOTA-tips has some extra tips for Ezalor, some of which I may have already covered.