Earth Spirit

Kaolin the Earth Spirit is a highly adaptable strength hero with great utility, able to effectively fill the role of a support, ganker, or offlaner, while still having a large game presence due to his strong initiation. Unlike most heroes, his abilities revolve around an innate ability, Stone Remnant. Because of Stone Remnant's synergy with his other abilities, Earth Spirit has an incredibly high skill cap, and can be challenging to master. He can be surprisingly mobile, owing to his Rolling Boulder, and can use this in combination with his other abilities to position himself to disable multiple enemies, save allies from certain death and generally become a commanding presence in a teamfight, even without a great deal of farm. With good timing he can initiate fights from a distance, and given the right circumstances can deal a surprising amount of damage to both single and multiple targets, all the while disrupting enemy positioning allowing for easy kills. A useful ally and a dangerous enemy, the Earth Spirit's versatility and flexibility make him an ideal hero in almost any lineup or lane.

Gameplay
Due to how flexible Earth Spirit is during the game the first ability would be situational. In level 1 engagements it is almost always advisable to skill Boulder Smash as it is Earth Spirit's highest damaging spell at level 1 and also offers the utility of providing an area stun or a repositioning tool to save allies or put enemies on a cliff, forcing them to buy a Town Portal Scroll if they don't have a way to get off already. However Rolling Boulder may also be required to be able to escape a level 1 gank from the enemy team. From here it is almost always advisable to get a point in all 3 of Earth Spirit's basic spells by level 3. Next, maxing Geomagnetic Grip by level 7 is usually the best approach to skill Earth Spirit as he gains a surpising amout of burst damage with his combos. At this point Earth spirit reaches his first peak. He has massive amounts of magical damage at this stage of the game and a long lasting area silence from Geomagnetic Grip combined with a slow from Rolling Boulder is usually enough to take down any hero or turn the tides of any mid game skirmishes and team fights. Next Earth Spirit should max out Boulder Smash to increase the stun duration, as opposed to putting any more points in Rolling Boulder as it only reduces cooldown, nothing more. At level 11, with 2 points in Magnetize, Earth Spirit's full combo is absolutely lethal to anyone it hits. Finally once Earth Spirit maxes out Rolling Boulder be sure to use it whenever it is off its very short cooldown in a team fight while the enemy are affected by Magnetize as it will slow everyone's movement speed by a crippling amount, if they don't have spell immunity.

Tips

 * Earth Spirit is a relatively farm-independent hero, and can contribute greatly to ganks and teamfights with few to no items. As such, he should not be played as a farming carry, but as a utility initiator that can be useful without items but increases greatly in effectiveness with farm.
 * Earth Spirit has relatively little single-target physical damage, and his spells require the use of Stone Remnants in order to be effective. As such, it is difficult to farm with him, so he should get his gold by being active and getting kills and assists in teamfights and ganks.
 * Positioning is key with Earth Spirit; this hero is adept at initiating, counter-initiating and running down fleeing foes. As a support player you may want to have yourself positioned behind your core heroes so you can pull them to safety in case they get initiated on. You can Boulder Smash away an enemy hero chasing you or your ally, or if you're too far use a Stone Remnant to stun them from a massive distance.
 * s are key to enhancing the effectiveness of all of Earth Spirit's spells. As such, they should be treated as a resource more valuable than your mana, as while abilities and items exist to replenish mana, none exist to increase the number of Stone Remnant charges you have besides waiting for them to naturally replenish.
 * When casting your spells to farm or disable enemies in fights, remember that you can use the same Stone Remnant more than once. The Stone Remnant that you pulled to you with Geomagnetic Grip to silence an enemy can then be used to stun a distant target with Boulder Smash, or quickly reposition yourself with Rolling Boulder.
 * Stone Remnants persist on the field for up to 2 minutes, and ignore pathing and collision. If you are short on Stone Remnants but have plenty of mana, you can recycle them by moving old Stone Remnants to more advantageous positions using your spells. As well, Stone Remnants left over from previous teamfights can be improvised if another fight occurs in the same area.
 * A successfully targeted with a Stone Remnant is one of the longest range and fastest moving stuns in the game. You can use it for a variety of effects despite its mediocre damage, such as canceling an enemy's teleport from a safe distance (e.g. a  who has cast, a  with  or a  hidden inside ) or enemy channeling spells without endangering yourself (e.g. 's ).
 * Keep in mind, Boulder Smash can be cast on allies as well as enemies, not just Stone Remnants. It can be used to help an ally initiate, or to forcibly displace an enemy in a direction favorable to your team. However, keep in mind that a Boulder Smash cast on a unit has a relatively short travel distance and will not stun any enemies in its path. It also will not interrupt the targeted unit, so it won't cancel channeling spells this way.
 * When ganking or solo-killing a target, it is often beneficial to keep Boulder Smash in reserve in case the target attempts to teleport out. Earth Spirit has limited physical damage output and his spells lack immediate nuking power, so holding on to your stun can allow you to prevent the target from easily escaping after being initiated on.
 * is a very powerful mobility spell, as its cooldown reduces to 4 seconds at level 4. However, utilizing the speed boost and target slow requires the use of a Stone Remnant, so it is best to only take one early level and max it out after Boulder Smash and Geomagnetic Grip.
 * Remember that Rolling Boulder allows Earth Spirit to move up and down cliffs, as well as through trees, so you can use it to path over normally impassable terrain. However, keep in mind that getting disabled during the spell's 0.6 second delay will interrupt it, so be very careful about using it when fleeing enemies with stuns.
 * When using Rolling Boulder to initiate on a target, good aim is absolutely mandatory. The boulder only stops when it connects with an enemy hero, so if you miss and overshoot, you may wind up in an extremely disadvantageous position.
 * Remember that while you are rooted for the duration of Rolling Boulder, you may still use items (excluding Blink Dagger). For instance, Town Portal scrolls can be used without being interrupted, so they can be activated during the delay or roll, allowing Earth Spirit to start channeling an escape early and displace himself during the channelling.
 * has great utility in saving allies who are caught out of position, as it can pull them to safety over terrain and regardless of the direction they are facing or intervening enemy units. As well, it will silence any nearby enemies, preventing them from easily pursuing.
 * Geomagnetic Grip deals no damage unless a Stone Remnant is pulled. Therefore, if the aim is to deal damage, a remnant must be used.
 * When using Stone Remnants to utilize Geomagnetic Grip's silence, remember that Stone Remnants have no collision boxes. Therefore if your aim is surprise, you can place the Stone Remnant in the enemy's fog of war (inside of trees, or on a cliff) and then pull it to you to avoid alerting them when they see the remnant being placed.
 * is a very powerful teamfight spell. While its initial radius is limited, the debuff can be transferred to other nearby enemies via the use of Stone Remnants. Besides the damage it deals, the ability allows you to extend the effects of Geomagnetic Grip's silence and Rolling Boulder's slow to encompass the entire enemy team, greatly impeding them all while dealing heavy damage over time.
 * Remember that you can refresh the duration of Magnetize by placing Stone Remnants near the affected targets. Try to time your stone placements to maximize the damage, however also remember that your spells lose the majority of their effectiveness without Stone Remnants, so be sure to always have some in reserve.
 * requires purchasing an, which can be hard to farm on a hero like Earth Spirit, but can be well worth the investment. Casting the ability on an ally renders them temporarily invulnerable, allowing you to save them quickly if they are being focused down, or it can be used to help them initiate by casting Boulder Smash on them to stun the enemy while simultaneously placing your teammate in the middle of their formation. Casting the ability on an enemy disables them completely, allowing you to use them to fuel your spells in a teamfight or place them in an extremely disadvantageous location with Geomagnetic Grip.
 * Enchant Remnant is perhaps one of the best ways to easily remove an enemy hero from a teamfight by enchanting them and then using Boulder Smash to send them away from the fight, perhaps into impassible terrain or over into the jungle to force them to take a long way back into the fight. This can prove especially useful against heroes that need to be close by to properly utilize their skills (such as 's, melee right click heroes and the like).
 * Keep in mind that Enchant Remnant can also be used as a regular disable. So if you have cast Boulder Smash recently to stun a target, and they are trying to teleport away, you can use Enchant Remnant to stop them in their tracks long enough for your team to catch up.
 * One of Earth Spirit's most basic combos is Boulder Smash followed by Geomagnetic Grip using a Stone Remnant. Knocking the remnant in a target's direction will stun them for a short duration, after which pulling it back before it leaves the spell's 1100 range will silence the target for up to 4 seconds and deal additional damage, rendering them helpless.
 * When initiating for a major teamfight, it is best to use two Stone Remnants for the initial combo: place two Stone Remnants in your immediate vicinity, then cast Boulder Smash followed by Rolling Boulder. The knocked Stone Remnant will pass through and stun multiple enemies and come to a stop 2000 range away, while you quickly roll in and collide with the nearest enemy. Cast Magnetize at this point and then Geomagnetic Grip on the first Stone Remnant, bringing it close enough to spread the Magnetize debuff and silence all affected enemies. You then have up to 8 seconds to cast Rolling Boulder again using that Stone Remnant to apply a slow, and your remaining 4 Stone Remnants to refresh Magnetize's duration.
 * Earth Spirit can benefit from purchasing other items not listed under Situational:
 * can be useful to build in situations where farming a more expensive item is prohibitive. It improves Earth Spirit's mana pool and regeneration, ensuring that he will always have the mana to cast his spells, and the extra movement speed allows him to move into position for his spells more easily without resorting to using a Blink Dagger or Force Staff. As well, the active cyclone can be used to make yourself temporarily invulnerable if you need time during a failed initiation, or instantly disable an enemy to set up your other spells.
 * is a useful utility item to pick up on Earth Spirit if the enemy has lots of physical damage output. As a melee hero the damage block is very effective, while the increased health pool makes him much more durable while initiating. The active will also allow you to give a large amount of physical damage protection to your allies, as even ranged heroes will get 50 damage block for the duration of the buff.

Trivia

 * , like, and , was a Pandaren in DotA. However, he was re-skinned to avoid copyright issues with Blizzard Entertainment, since Pandaren are a race of creatures in the Warcraft Universe.
 * His innate ability,, is called Stone Caller in DotA, and it summons an actual Rock rather than a Remnant. Its function and mechanics are just the same. It's still named Stone Caller in the npc files of Dota2.
 * Earth Spirit's name, Kaolin, is a reference to a type of fine white clay of the same name.
 * Earth Spirit's lore draws inspiration from the Terracotta Army, a collection of statues depicting Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang Di's armies.
 * Earth Spirit's quote "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" may be a reference from Matthew 26:41 in the Bible (KJV). It is also possibly a reference to Futurama's quote "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised" (Futurama S03E05).