Oracle

Nerif the Oracle is a ranged intelligence hero who alters the fate of allies and enemies with his combination of multipurpose nukes and buffs. He possesses the ability to change his foes' fortunes with Fortune's End, which deals nuke damage and pins down any enemies in its radius, while removing any purgeable buffs from them. His Fate's Edict can be cast on allies and enemies alike, disarming them but also granting them complete resistance against magical damage; used with skill, he can render his foes' weapons useless or shield his allies from unfriendly spells. Purifying Flames, like Fate's Edict, can be cast on friend or foe, dealing magical damage but also applying a healing buff to them. His signature ability and ultimate, False Promise, puts an ally's fate on hold, preventing them from being disabled or harmed by the enemy for a short time, and then fully returning them to reality at the end of the spell's duration. Knowledge of Oracle's skills is key to use him at his full potential; while he can defy destiny and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, one mistake can potentially seal the fate of his allies.

Recommended items
Starting items:
 * s and allow Oracle to sustain his HP in-lane, preventing him from being harassed away by enemy attacks.
 * give Oracle more HP, making him much less squishy. It can be used to build a Bracer.
 * is cheap and gives Oracle extra attributes. It can be used to build Magic Wand, or Mekansm.
 * should be purchased by the hard support at the start of a match.

Early game:
 * allows Oracle to instantly replenish his HP and mana, useful in a tight situation or in the middle of a teamfight. Surviving just long enough to cast one or two more of his high-impact spells to change the tide of an engagement.
 * helps boost Oracle's respectable base movement speed. In the early game, it allows him to quickly get within range to cast on an enemy during a gank.
 * improves Oracle's all-around attributes, particularly strength for more HP.

Core items:
 * gives Oracle extra attributes, crucial to have on a hard support with no farm priority. The extra charge storage can give Oracle enough mana to cast his ultimate, or another round of his basic spells.
 * greatly improves Oracle's survivability and mobility. The movement speed allows him to more easily position himself for his spells, while the armor helps him to survive in the face of enemy attacks. The passive HP regen allows him to keep his HP at full, reducing the need to return to base.
 * is a powerful support item, allowing Oracle to replenish the health of his teammates. In particular, it can be used in tandem with to heal an ally for 500 HP rather than 250.
 * s are important support items that provide crucial vision for Oracle's team. Knowing where the enemy are allows him to be present at fights to change the fate of allies and enemies alike.
 * is crucial to have at all times on powerful impact supports like Oracle. His ability to defy fate with his spells makes him a powerful ally to have in any fight.

Situational items:
 * gives Oracle greatly improved mobility and positioning. Getting within range to cast his spells allows Oracle to change the tide of engagements, and it can also help to increase his mobility around the map, reaching hot-spots more easily and allowing him to escape ganks as needed, especially as False Promise can be used to prevent it from going on cooldown due to player damage.
 * allows Oracle to move around the map at will, appearing to save allies from enemy ganks or showing up to add his nukes and disables to a fight. The increased movement speed greatly improves his mobility, allowing him to more easily get in position to cast spells.
 * is a powerful item to build on any intelligence support hero. It improves Oracle's attributes, and greatly increases the size of his mana pool and gives him powerful mana regen. The active allows him to instantly hard-disable an enemy from long range, drastically improving his impact in teamfights.
 * greatly improves Oracle's burst damage potential, on top of Fortune's End and . Used in combination with his spells, Oracle can potentially blow up squishy enemy supports almost instantly.
 * is crucial to purchase as early as possible, in order to facilitate ferrying important items to Oracle's team.
 * greatly improves Oracle's support potential, allowing him to replenish both HP and mana for his allies. Just as importantly, using the active allows Oracle to remove debuffs from himself, chief among them silences that may be preventing him from casting spells.
 * s should be regularly purchased along with Observer Wards, in order to de-ward enemy vision where possible.
 * is cheap and gives Oracle a way to sustain his casting. The HP and mana regen allow him to remain in the field without having to return to base as often, while the burst mana regen allows Oracle to quickly get the mana he needs to cast his low-cost low-cooldown spells. As well, it can be used for free healing by combining Fate's Edict and Purifying Flames, the sum of which costs less mana than the amount given by Soul Ring's active.
 * is a useful support item that gives Oracle some better benefits than a Bracer. It provides the same amount of strength while also giving some mana regen. The charges can be used as yet another source of healing or damage alongside Purifying Flames.
 * is a useful utility support item that gives Oracle many benefits. It increases Oracle's armor, giving him more survivability, and some mana regen for sustaining his mana pool. While Oracle does not specialize in dealing physical damage, the active can be cast on allies to give them more survivability, particularly during False Promise to increase the odds of surviving. Upgrading to a further increases the benefits it provides.
 * is more expensive than Tranquil Boots, but greatly improves Oracle's team contribution. Increasing the size of his mana pool allows Oracle to get more out of his spells, and the active can replenish mana for himself and his allies.
 * is a powerful utility item that synergizes with Oracle's ability to protect teammates. Cast on an ally, it can help with initiation for casting short-ranged disables in lieu of a Blink Dagger. As well, it can be cast in place of Fate's Edict to give an ally invisibility as well as increased magic resistance when fleeing. While not as strong as Fate's Edict at mitigating damage from Purifying Flames, it does not disarm the target, allowing them to act if needed.
 * is an easy-to-build item that gives Oracle many good benefits and synergizes with his abilities. The increased intelligence gives him more mana, while the HP regen keeps his health topped up. The active allows Oracle to quickly re-position himself for casting his spells, and in a pinch can be used as an escape ability. It can be cast during False Promise to help a fleeing ally clear the area faster and put them in a safer place from where Oracle can quickly heal them back up.
 * is a useful utility item that increases Oracle's teamfight contribution. Increasing his intelligence and strength gives Oracle more survivability and allows him to more easily utilize his spells, and the summons can add damage output during a teamfight. Upgrading to level 3 allows Oracle to provide True Sight as needed.
 * greatly improves Oracle's casting ability while giving him a powerful active. The increased intelligence and mana regen fuel Oracle's spell casting, ensuring that he can use his spell combos more easily, and the bonus movement speed grant him more mobility for positioning himself for casting his spells. The active can be cast on himself to purge debuffs (such as silences) while providing temporary invulnerability, or can be targeted on an enemy as a hard-disable that purges buffs, doubling up on his ability to do so with Fortune's End.
 * is a strong teamfight item that helps Oracle to further protect his teammates. The magic resistance and HP regen help to make Oracle more survivable, while the aura gives his team improved resistance to magic nukes, including from Purifying Flames. Using the active in a teamfight will allow him to shield allies from enemy magic nukes, without having to resort to Fate's Edict.
 * is an expensive but powerful utility item that allows Oracle to take False Promise to its limit. The item gives Oracle more armor, increasing his survivability, and HP and mana regen for self-sustain. Echo Shell, when cast on a False Promise target, can dissuade enemies from targeting them with burst damage nukes, increasing the target's survivability.
 * gives Oracle an assortment of useful bonuses and a strong active. The increased intelligence and mana regen help fuel Oracle's casting, while the damage and attack speed bonus allow him to be a threat with his auto-attacks. The active can be used to prevent enemy spell casters from using their abilities, or can be combined with Fate's Edict to completely prevent an enemy from attacking or casting spells.
 * greatly improves Oracle's survivability and gives him more casting power. The intelligence greatly increases the size of his mana pool, while the armor helps him to resist physical damage. The Freezing Aura can reduce enemy attack speed, allowing Oracle to reduce the effectiveness of enemy auto-attacks, particularly against a False Promise target, while Arctic Blast can be used to add more nuke damage and slow enemies from fleeing or pursuing.

Tips

 * Oracle is a strong nuking and healing support whose abilities allow him to save allies in near-impossible situations, greatly hinder enemies' attempts to fight, and burst down foes with magic damage. As he only requires levels in order to be effective, Oracle can be a very strong hard support.
 * Oracle's strength lies not in his individual spells, but in how he utilizes his spells in combination with each other, as well as those of his teammates. This means that playing Oracle effectively requires communication and coordination with allied players, as well as good reflexes and knowledge of what each ability does.
 * Like most other intelligence supports, Oracle suffers from poor strength and agility, making him extremely vulnerable to any types of damage. Because of his array of abilities, Oracle should build items that provide mobility rather than survivability, since he can use mobility items both to position himself for casting his spells and to escape enemy attempts to kill him. As well, his heavy reliance on spell casting means that he should invest in increasing the size of his mana pool and acquiring a reliable source of mana replenishment.
 * Be mindful that while Oracle has strong healing and nuking abilities, he possesses no hard disables, meaning that he is unable to interrupt channeling items/abilities, nor is he able to prevent enemies from casting spells or using items. In order to counter enemy spell and item usage, Oracle must himself purchase items to allow him to hard-disable the enemy, or rely on his allies to do so.
 * Oracle's spells all have very high cast ranges, and his good base movement speed allows him to get into position to use his spells relatively easily. However, his extremely low turn rate means that he cannot maneuver as easily as other heroes, so his ability to turn around to cast spells in surprise situations may allow the enemy to catch him off-guard. This means that prior knowledge of the enemy's positions and movements can allow him to orient himself to face the threat axis and be ready to use his spells immediately, making ward vision very important.
 * With his long attack range, respectable cast animation, and extremely low base attack time, Oracle is a very powerful harasser in the laning stage, able to inflict harass damage on enemy heroes safely and frequently, as well as deny effectively with his respectable base damage. Combined with his array of impact-heavy abilities and high base movement speed, this allows Oracle to be a very strong lane support who can very easily protect his safe lane carry.
 * is a channeled nuke that damages enemies in an area around the target, while purging them and immobilizing them based on the channel duration.
 * Because its damage and cooldown scale as it is leveled up, Fortune's End is a good spell to max out early in the game. Leveling up the ability increases Oracle's ability to nuke and disable enemies, and the dispel has strong utility depending on the types of buffs that the enemy is depending on.
 * Fortune's End is a very flexible nuke that can be used in a number of ways. Chief among its utility is to deal nuke damage to an enemy while removing buffs, or to stop an enemy for the channeled duration as a follow-up disable from an allied initiation.
 * Be mindful that no matter how long Fortune's End is channeled, it will deal the same amount of damage regardless. Channeling Fortune's End for a longer duration only increases the amount of time that affected enemies are immobilized, so if the aim of casting the spell is to simply deal damage and/or purge rather than disable, the spell can be immediately released in order to give the enemy less time to react.
 * With regards to the immobilization, keep in mind that it is not a root, and therefore will not prevent the enemy from casting escape/survivability spells. However, it will forcibly reduce the target's movement speed to 0, which allows it to affect enemies in different ways (similar to ). This makes it a strong chasing and immobilizing spell as it takes priority over haste abilities such as and.
 * Never discount the area purging and immobilizing that Fortune's End can provide. If the spell can land on a clumped up group of enemies, the amount of damage it deals increases severalfold, along with purging many more buffs from the enemy and pinning them down for follow-up area disables by teammates.
 * Be careful about using Fortune's End as an initiating disable. Because the enemy can see the spell effects even if Oracle himself is not visible, they will immediately know that they are being targeted by the spell, and can immediately retreat to avoid being caught in a disadvantageous position, or easily disjoint the projectile.
 * Unlike most other purging-type spells, Fortune's End can still target invulnerable units (it is still blocked by spell immunity, however). This makes it a very powerful ability since it can forcibly remove certain instances of invulnerability, particularly a self-casted Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
 * inflicts its target with a disarm while increasing their magic resistance to 100%. It can be cast on allies and enemies alike.
 * Because its duration only scales by 0,5 second for each level, Fate's Edict is best left at level 1 until both Fortune's End and Purifying Flames are maxed out. However, its strong utility means that an early value point can be very strong as it greatly synergizes with Oracle's other spells.
 * Generally, Fate's Edict has two primary purposes: protecting allies from magic nukes, or disarming enemies to prevent them from attacking.
 * Casting Fate's Edict on fleeing allies can save them from incoming magic nukes, particularly long-ranged single-shot ones like and, and can be used to mitigate the effects damage-over-time debuffs such as  and . Properly used, Fate's Edict can allow Oracle to defy his allies' fates by preventing their deaths due to magical damage.
 * Casting Fate's Edict on enemies during a fight can render them unable to attack, important for stopping their right-click carries from attacking. If the enemy does not have any dispel abilities or items, a good Fate's Edict can render their carry unable to attack for a period of time, greatly increasing the odds of winning a teamfight.
 * Be very careful about when you cast Fate's Edict on an ally or enemy. Using the ability on an ally in the middle of a fight can prevent them from attacking, hindering their ability to kill enemies, while using it on an enemy can shield them from incoming allied magic nukes. Use your best judgment as to when Fate's Edict can be most profitably used, as casting it on the wrong target at the wrong time can reduce your team's chances at emerging victorious in an engagement.
 * It is possible to manually remove Fate's Edict from an enemy via the use of Fortune's End. If an enemy affected by Fate's Edict is fleeing and needs to be finished off with magic nukes, casting Fortune's End on them will remove it from them, while dealing nuke damage and immobilizing them to allow allies to follow up.
 * Fate's Edict can also be used as a simple magic resistance buff on allies that do not rely on auto-attacks to be effective. For instance, casting Fate's Edict can allow a teammate to walk into an active to cast an interrupting disable, or ignore most of 's damage output while directly engaging him with spells.
 * The magic resistance of Fate's Edict can synergize greatly with many other effects in the game.
 * An ally affected by is immune to physical damage but can still be bursted down by Magical and Pure. Casting Fate's Edict on the target can shield them from magic nukes for the duration of the disable, and the disarm can be neglected due to the target being unable to act anyways.
 * Any form of ethereal will leave its target unable to attack or be affected by physical damage, but decreases their magic resistance at the same time. Casting Fate's Edict in such a situation would render them invulnerable to magical damage as well, and the target will have already been disarmed by the ethereal form.
 * is an extremely low cooldown magic nuke that applies a healing buff to its target. It can be cast on allies and enemies.
 * As a multipurpose heal and nuke, Purifying Flames is a very powerful spell to max out first. Its damage scales much higher than Fortune's End, and the heal can be very powerful at all points in the game.
 * Oracle's greatest strength is his ability to combine Purifying Flames with his other abilities, using them to completely change how it benefits his team and debilitates the enemy.
 * The 100% magic resistance element of Fate's Edict can be used to great effect when combined with Purifying Flames. Casting Fate's Edict on an ally first, followed by Purifying Flames, will cause allies to take no damage from the nuke portion, and benefit only from the healing portion. As Purifying Flames can be stacked, higher levels of Fate's Edict allows Oracle to heal allies for larger amounts of HP per cast.
 * Fortune's End can purge positive buffs from enemies, Purifying Flames included. Casting Purifying Flames on an enemy first, then hitting them with Fortune's End, will cause them to be healed for the minimal amount of HP while taking the full brunt of the nuke damage from both spells.
 * Be wary that the damage portion of Purifying Flames will always take magic resistance into account, whether it is cast on an ally or enemy. This means that unless the target is inflicted with powerful magic resistance debuffs, they will always be healed for more HP than the damage taken. This means that abilities such as and  can greatly mitigate the nuke portion of Purifying Flames, which can be a boon or a hindrance depending on which team possesses either hero.
 * The short cooldown and small mana cost on Purifying Flames allows it to be used as a basic nuke. This can be used either to finish off low-health enemies, or score easy last-hits. Beware, however, that unless the target is killed quickly, they can eventually heal up a large amount of HP, which may necessitate the use of Fortune's End.
 * When using Purifying Flames in combination with Fortune's End to nuke enemies, keep in mind that Fortune's End has a travel time, while Purifying Flames will instantly apply its effects at the end of its cast animation. Provided that an enemy is within range of Purifying Flames but is more than 400 range away, Fortune's End can be channeled first and then interrupted with Purifying Flames; the enemy will take the damage from Purifying Flames during the travel time of Fortune's End, and then immediately have the healing buff removed and be nuked by Fortune's End.
 * Purifying Flames, by itself, will never be lethal to allies. This allows Oracle to save time by directly casting Purifying Flames on a low-health ally rather than consuming time and mana with Fate's Edict first. However, be sure to check for damage over time debuffs first, and never do this if an enemy is nearby, as it can put teammates low enough for the enemy to easily finish off.
 * As with Fate's Edict, Purifying Flames can be used to great effect depending on what heroes are present on Oracle's team.
 * In the case of an ally being shielded by and Fate's Edict, Purifying Flames can be added on top to further magnify the healing effect of Cold Embrace, significantly boosting the amount of HP healed inside of a few seconds.
 * If the enemy has been affected by, repeatedly nuking them with Purifying Flames can prevent them from benefiting from the heal for the duration of the debuff, especially if the allied Ancient Apparition has an Aghanim's Scepter.
 * Beware that Purifying Flames is still registered as player damage, even when targeted on an ally, and can trigger on-damage effects. This means that it can remove layers of, and  if not shielded by Fate's Edict first, and can cancel ,  and  even if Fate's Edict was cast first; it can even put an allied  on cooldown at an inopportune moment if not shielded by Fate's Edict first. Be careful about when you use Purifying Flames to heal allies, as using it even in situations with no present threats can be a detriment to your team.
 * temporarily delays all damage and healing done to an ally, while constantly applying a strong dispel on them, dealing its damage and double the heal at the end of the duration.
 * The delayed damage at the end of the spell can be lethal, meaning that the target for False Promise is not guaranteed to live. However, all healing done during the spell is doubled, which means that enough healing items and abilities can allow Oracle to save an ally from the brink of death and restore them to full health at the end of the spell.
 * Constant use of Purifying Flames during False Promise, along with any other healing spells and items, are key to allowing a teammate to survive at the end of the spell, as the doubled healing portion will allow the target to recover far more health than the damage they take from the nuke portion. Depending on the situation, casting Fate's Edict first may or may not be a good idea, as the disarm can prevent the target from attacking during the spell despite the strong dispel.
 * Because the heal is doubled at the end of the spell, False Promise greatly benefits from healing sources that are not Oracle himself. Abilities like, , and so on can go a long way towards ensuring the survival of the target at the end of the spell.
 * Beware that it is still possible for a False Promise target to be disabled during the spell, as area disables like, , and  do not place a dispellable debuff on the affected units. As well, spells like  and  place debuffs that cannot be dispelled. Take the enemy's spell composition into account when using False Promise, as casting it on the wrong target or at the wrong time can still waste the spell.

Trivia

 * Oracle made his first official Dota 2 appearance in the comic The Contract, revealed on the 14th of November 2014 on the official Dota 2 blog. On day 2, his spells and model were revealed.
 * Mike Shapiro (Oracle's voice actor) is also well-known for voicing Barney Calhoun and G-Man, two prominent characters in the Half-Life series
 * His lines Orac randomprophecies 10.mp3 "Prepare for unforeseen consequences.", and Orac respawn 10.mp3 "Is it really that time again?" are referring to lines spoken by G-man in Half-Life 2: Episode 2, and Half-Life 2 respectively.
 * The line Orac move 11.mp3 Orac move 19.mp3  Orac death 15.mp3 "So it goes." is a reference to the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. In the novel, it is a phrase used by the aliens, known as Tralfamadorians, who perceive all time simultaneously.
 * The line Orac firstblood 01.mp3 "First blood! Out of fifty possibilities, that was my preferred." is because there actually are 50 possible first bloods (each of 10 heroes can be killed by any of the 5 opposing heroes).
 * Oracle's spell and his phrase Orac purifyingflames 02.mp3 "I must harm to heal." are a direct play on the medical principle "Primum non nocere", which is latin and translates into "First, do no harm".
 * The hero kill line Orac kill 08.mp3 "Ask again later." is a reference to an answer of the Magic 8-ball, a toy used for fortune-telling.
 * The respawn line Orac respawn 08.mp3 "Like the past, I'm never dead. I'm not even past." is a reference to the novel Requiem for a Nun from the auther William Faulkner. The original quote goes The past is never dead. It's not even past.

Prophecies

 * The prophecy line for Orac prophecies 051.mp3 "Fear neither witch, nor wardrobe. Tis a demon beast that fingers your demise." is a reference to the second book in The Chronicles of Narnia book series by C.S. Lewis, titled The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
 * The prophecy line for Orac prophecies 035.mp3 "You ought to read Chronosphere of a Death Foretold. It's a prophetic book." is a reference to the book called Chronicle of a Death Foretold, written by Gabriel García Márquez.
 * The prophecy line for Orac prophecies 104.mp3 "V is not for visions of victory, but for a victim of a vicious viper." is a reference to the quote of V for Vendetta.
 * The prophecy line for Orac prophecies 017.mp3 "Beware the knight who commandingly demands: do you even rift?" is a reference to the internet meme "Do you even lift?"
 * The prophecy line for Orac prophecies 036.mp3 "I foresee four flames." may be a reference, both in content and length, to the fact that most of Ember Spirit's spoken lines are four words long, or to the four of "him" – the real one and three remnants.
 * The prophecy line for Orac prophecies 059.mp3 "No empathy test can save you from the watery replicant." is a reference to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, where human-like androids called replicants can only be distinguished from human beings through an empathy test called the Voight-Kampff test.
 * The second sentence of the prophecy line for Orac prophecies 057.mp3 "Four friends await divided from earth. But they are no friends of mine." may be reference to the sentence in the song Safety Dance from Men Without Hats.