Earthshaker/Guide

Initiator/Support
Earthshaker is mostly played as an initiator. In early game, he can set up gank with allies and initiate with. With the help of, his role is to jump into enemy clusters and chain stun opponents with >  >. A fully executed sequence will deal very significant damage, even if no allies are around to follow up. New players may find it hard to farm a quick, and should thus play conservatively to avoid early game deaths (and therefore gold loss). Once a Blink Dagger has been obtained, Earthshaker is no longer heavily item-dependent, and can transition into buying support items if needed.

Brawler
Earthshaker can sometimes be played as a brawler, building items like to make the tripled damage from  more effective. Players who go this route require significant farm, and therefore often start in the Mid Lane. A is also recommended for this build. Keep in mind that a brawler Earthshaker must rely on abilities to deal damage in bursts, and should avoid damage in between cooldowns. He will not be able to stand toe-to-toe against a real carry. Players should discuss with their team prior to choosing this build, as most teams expect Earthshaker to be played as an initiator/support.

General

 * Due to his costly abilities, Earthshaker needs good timing and game sense to be effective.
 * In the early game, Earthshaker is very easy to harass in lane. Players should play conservatively except when setting up a gank with his allies.


 * Fissure can stun enemy up to 1500 range away so that his teammates could cast other disable skills right away, making him one of the best early game initiators.
 * Use Fissure to block off enemy retreat or reinforcements.
 * Earthshaker is exceptional at ganking the mid lane, because at a good angle, can completely block the enemy midlaner from running back to their tower.
 * Keep your finger on the Stop hotkey (S by default) to immediately cancel the cast animation if it looks like you're going to miss.
 * Fissure creates an impassable ridge and splits two adjacent heroes between the ridge.
 * Fissure is useful for separating a fleeing ally from a pursuing enemy. This requires practice, as it is quite common to misclick and wall off both heroes on the same side.
 * The impassable terrain effect is effective to separate the battlefield in teamfight. However improper use of Fissure can prevent your carry, especially those melee ones, from inflicting damage on or chasing the enemy.
 * Fissure's long range can be used to snipe off retreating enemies.
 * Fissure has a long cast animation and may be interrupted in a hectic fight.


 * Enchant Totem has a very long cast animation and can be interrupted,
 * One of Enchant Totem's main roles is to stun enemy with . It can be used as a mini-initiation ability with  or its  upgrade.
 * Beware of its long cast animation: Enemy may simply walk out of the radius.
 * Enchant Totem has a very low cooldown, allowing Earthshaker to repeatedly return to the fight during long engagements.
 * The Enchant Totem buff lasts 14 seconds, so it is possible to double the damage by pre-cast the ability before initiation.
 * Enchant Totem is useful for last hitting buildings. However, if the team's carry is around, Earthshaker should yield the last hit (and therefore extra gold) to him or her.


 * For maximum damage, use Echo Slam around as many enemy units as possible.
 * Use the stun duration from Echo Slam to follow up with other abilities.
 * It is not always best to use Echo Slam to initiate. Experienced players often stay back during fights, waiting until enemies are grouped up before jumping in.
 * That said, some team compositions are very dependent on Earthshaker to initiate. Use sensible judgment.
 * A well placed Echo Slam is one of the few abilities that can turn around a badly losing game.
 * There are certain positions that enemies will natually group up. This includes Roshan pit, the high ground around Tier 3 Towers, narrow paths such as river, places without vision such as uphills, or even at times when they are ganging up on a teammate.

Items
Starting items:
 * provides health regeneration in lane.
 * gives basic stats and can be built into, also allows more regeneration from Tango.
 * potions allow him to cast Fissure's more than once, since its mana cost is relatively high and Earthshaker's mana pool is small.
 * should be purchased if there are no other supports on the team. However, he may need to sacrifice a few items, such as Gauntlets of Strength, or two Clarities, reducing his lane presence by a big deal.
 * provides excellent protection against magical harassment, against which Earthshaker normally has no defense.
 * provides extra health regen, also an extra mana source in a pinch for an extra Fissure.

Early-game items:
 * can be a good source of health and mana restoration if the enemies use their abilities often, and can even be used in a pinch to get enough mana for his Fissure.
 * are important to compensate for Earthshaker's low mana.
 * is another good choice for combat-oriented Earthshaker.
 * is an alternative source of mana in the early game, allows for liberal use of Fissure.
 * effectively regenerates the HP loss from.
 * gives a good source of health, attack damage, and mana. It can also be used to chase fleeing enemies to take them down with his Enchant Totem.

Core items:
 * is an indispensable item for Earthshaker to initiate with . It can also be used to chase fleeing enemies to take them down with his Enchant Totem.

Situational items:
 * act as a supplement to Earthshaker's mobility, as you can initiate from even further. It can also be used to escape rough situations, especially.
 * increases mana pool and mana regeneration. The active adds an additional disable on enemy, also purges silence for a spellcaster as Earthshaker.
 * can kite enemies and buy yourself time if being constantly focused by physical attackers.
 * increases Earthshaker's magical resistance. The active can help himself or ally to escape when enemy has no detection.
 * allows Earthshaker to jump into fights with Enchant Totem, giving him even greater mobility. It also provides a good boost to his stats.
 * can give more damage to his own abilities, and any of the allies' abilities that are affected by magic resistance.
 * allows Earthshaker to use his skill one more time in teamfight, providing a theoretical 9 second chain stun in late game than can even bring down the entire team. Note that the first usually clear up the creep wave and summons so the second one won't be as effective if used immediately.
 * gives you additional armor and regen. The active can purge debuff (especially silence) from you or your ally, also reflect all targeted spells.
 * offers a hard disable which is useful in late game.
 * increases damage output from with raw damage and critical chance. It is an unorthodox build and favored by more combat-oriented Earthshaker builds.
 * is sometimes picked up during the late game.