Dota 2 Ember Spirit is one of the scariest Mid heroes in the game. His mobility is phenomenal and he scales well as the game progresses. If you don’t get completely destroyed in the first 5 minutes and know how to play the hero properly, you will have a huge impact in every match.
If you’re interested in becoming an Ember Spirit expert, our Dota 2 Ember Spirit guide will give you a better understanding of what this hero can do and how he is supposed to be played.
Ember Spirit’s Pros and Cons
These are the pros and cons of playing Ember Spirit in Dota 2.
Pros:
- He has excellent initiation and escape mechanisms
- He can keep multiple enemies in place for several seconds
- He can deal a lot of AoE damage from afar
- He is perfectly suited to fight against heroes that rely on their magical damage
- He can farm relatively quickly after the first 10 levels
- He can maintain a global presence thanks to his ultimate
- His stats increase by a total of 8 per level, which is great
- He has one of the best attack animations in the game
Cons:
- He’s weak against silences and long-duration stuns
- He tends to struggle against many Mid heroes in the first 5-10 minutes
- He needs a lot of farm to become strong
Lore
Xin, the Ember Spirit, comes from the Wailing Mountains and more specifically, the Fortress of Flares. He is a warrior-poet who ended up getting killed by his rivals. However, his followers preserved his teachings and eventually brought him back to life. Now, he is ready to spread his wisdom again.
Attributes and Stats
These are Ember Spirit’s general stats:
| Win Rate | 46.9% |
| Level | 1 – 30 |
| Health | 596 (at level 1) |
| Health regeneration | 1.25 |
| Mana | 315 (at level 1) |
| Mana regeneration | 0 |
| DMG | 55 – 59 |
| Armor | 3.4 |
| DMG Block | none |
| Magic Resistance | 25% |
| Status Resistance | 0% |
| Attack Rate | 1.7 |
| Movement Speed | 300 |
| Attack Speed | 100 |
| Attack Animation | 0.4 + 0.3 |
| Projectile Speed | instant |
| Attack Range | 150 |
| Turn Rate | 0.8 |
| Collision Size | 24 |
| Vision Range | 1800 / 800 |
| Gib Type | – |
Ability Upgrades:
Ember Spirit’s abilities are upgraded by his 8 talents.
- Level 10 talents: +200 Flame Guard absorption / +15 damage
- Level 15 talents: +1s Searing Chains / +50 Flame Guard DPS
- Level 20 talents: +55 Sleight of Fist hero damage / +1 Searing Chains targets
- Level 25 talents: -12s Fire Remnant charge restore time / 2 Sleight of Fist charges
These talents turn Ember Spirit into a formidable Mid hero that remains relevant throughout the entire game. He is particularly strong when defending his base, thanks to his abilities. If the enemy team is not careful, Ember will completely destroy them with his Searing Chains and Sleight of Fist.
Roles Ember Spirit Can Take On
Ember Spirit is a natural Mid hero. His goal is to use his superior mobility to get to the optimal location in any team fight. Usually, that location is near the backline. If you can kill a support or even both early on, the enemy team has no chance of winning the fight.
Ember Spirit Item Builds
These are the most critical items that you should consider buying when picking Ember Spirit. The build will vary based on the situation, but many of the items tend to remain the same.
Early Game
For the early game, consider buying these items:
- Magic Wand
- Mangoes
- Power Treads / Phase Boots / Boots of Travel
- Bottle
- Orb of Corrosion
- Drums of Endurance
Mid Game
During the mid game, you will usually purchase several of these items:
- Maelstrom
- Aghanim’s Scepter
- Aghanim’s Shard
- Black King Bar
Late Game
In the late game, this Dota 2 hero thrives if you have one of these items:
- Gleipnir
- Daedalus
- Kaya and Sange
- Radiance
- Shiva’s Guard
- Linken’s Sphere
Abilities
Ember Spirit has 4 abilities that can be significantly enhanced if you buy an Aghanim’s Scepter and an Aghanim’s Shard. These abilities are described below:
Searing Chains
Once you start fighting with the best dota 2 enemy heroes, this ability will help you a lot. It deals 50 – 110 damage but more importantly, it can be cast during your Sleight of Fist and will select up to 2 targets (3 with the level 20 talent!).
These targets will be immobilized for 1.5s – 3s. That’s an enormous amount of time for a root and will allow your team to get easy kills.
Mana cost: 80 – 110
Cooldown: 13s – 10s
Sleight of Fist
This is one of Ember’s most important abilities because it allows him to damage numerous targets in a 250 – 550 radius. Against every enemy hero, Ember deals 45 – 150 bonus damage. The ability can be cast from 650 units away, which basically gives you a ranged attack that’s separate from your basic attacks.
This means that you can attack with your right-click and then immediately after, use Sleight of Fist. You can also use the ability to disjoint various spells.
Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 15s – 6s
Flame Guard
This ability greatly increases Ember Spirit’s resistance against magical damage. You can block up to 400 damage while it is active and the amount can be increased by 50% using the level 10 talent. Not all the magical damage is absorbed by the shield (only 70% of it), which is actually great because it will last longer.
The natural duration of the shield is 11s – 20s. The damage block is 85 – 400. And the damage per second is 25 – 55. Because of the way it scales, this ability is definitely worth maximizing early. But keep in mind that it’s dispellable. This means that if you’re playing against an Invoker, you shouldn’t rely on it too much.
Mana cost: 65 – 100
Cooldown: 35s
Fire Remnant / Activate Fire Remnant
This is Ember Spirit’s ultimate and it allows you to be present all over the map. You can farm multiple lanes thanks to it, as well as the jungle. And you can go back to the base to recharge with greater ease. If you buy Boots of Travel, every 40s you get a free refill, which is quite useful when playing this hero.
Another reason why buying BoTs is a good idea has to do with your ability to teleport wherever you want on the map and join an important fight. Or, if you’re in a fight, you could potentially leave a Fire Remnant, push a lane, and then come back.
This ability deals 100 – 300 damage, as well as 45 DPS if you have the Aghanim’s Shard. Buying an Aghanim’s Scepter will increase the cast range from 1400 to 3000 and will give you 5 charges instead of 3.
The duration of each remnant is 45s. However, if you activate it, it disappears immediately after.
When you use Activate Remnant, you always end up at the remnant that’s closest to the target location.
Mana cost: 100 – 150
Charge replenish time: 38
Ability Build Guide
When you play Ember Spirit in Dota 2, you should try to follow this ability build order:
- Searing Chains: levels 2, 4, 8, 9
- Sleight of Fist: levels 1, 3, 5, 7
- Flame Guard: levels 11, 13, 14, 16
- Fire Remnant: levels 6, 12, 18
This is the recommended skill-build, but the truth is that you will change it quite frequently. For example, in many matchups you will end up maximizing Flame Guard first and completely ignore Searing Chains until much later. It’s probably a good idea to put one point in Searing Chains and then just focus on Flame Guard instead.
https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/apps/dota2/videos/dota_react/abilities/ember_spirit/ember_spirit_flame_guard.jpg
Combo
When playing Ember Spirit, your basic combo is to use Sleight of Fist from afar for as long as possible, especially when playing defensively. But if there’s no real risk of dying, then your first move should be to use a Fire Remnant and get as close to your target as possible, while having your Flame Guard on.
Against certain heroes, such as Invoker, it’s best to keep your Flame Guard until Tornado has been used, to avoid an early dispel.
Always keep in mind that Searing Chains will pick random targets, so you should avoid using it when a lot of creeps are around. It might select the creeps instead of the enemy hero.
Game Plan
This is what good Ember Spirit players do in terms of tactics and strategy.
Early Game
In the early game, your goal is to farm as much as possible. If you can put pressure on the enemy Mid, definitely do it. And if he’s low on HP, ask for a gank to get a kill. How you level up your abilities should take into account the specific details of the matchup.
Against a Templar Assassin for instance, you will need Flame Guard at level 1. But against a Queen of Pain you might need your Sleight of Fist to avoid her Q.
The objective in the early game is to buy a pair of BoTs as early as possible, as well as your other early game items. If you’re tanky enough, deal good damage, and can support your spell usage, you are ready to start farming faster and get involved in some of the fights that break out around the map.
Always keep an eye on excellent opportunities to get kills. If the enemy team dives under your tower, definitely teleport there and make use of your Fire Remnants.
Mid Game
During the mid game, you will be instrumental in keeping the lanes pushed. But make sure that you do not take unnecessary risks because you can be caught and killed quite easily. Especially if you play against a Faceless Void, a Magnus, or an Enigma.
Late Game
In the late game, Ember Spirit becomes a heavy damage dealer that’s extremely hard to kill thanks to his mobility. Having a BKB or a Linken’s at this point will be important in most cases, but you could also opt to build armor and stats. It all depends on the matchup.
Counters
Ember Spirit is naturally countered by heroes that have excellent crowd-control abilities or silences. Examples include Silencer, Puck, and Faceless Void.
Advantageous Matchups
Ember Spirit is good against heroes that can’t run away from him and can’t dispel his Flame Guard. For example, Templar Assassin.
Most Used Skins
There are numerous Dota 2 skins that you can utilize when playing Ember Spirit. Three of them are presented below:
Rapiers of the Burning God
This is the perfect Ember set for those who love to play the hero in a risky but deadly way. The artist emphasized the power of the Divine Rapier here and the hero looks terrifying while using this cosmetic item.
Flames of Prosperity Set
If you love Dota 2 sets that give your hero a bit of visual armor, this one is for you.
Governor’s Salakot
This is a fancy Ember Spirit cosmetic item that will turn you into an eccentric warrior.
