Leshrac

Leshrac the Tormented Soul is an intelligence hero who is known for his destructive spells which can easily destroy Creeps, Heroes and Towers at the expense of Mana. His strong damaging power is balanced by his lack of an escape mechanism, while his only disable, Split Earth, takes time to cast and needs good planning to land successfully.

Without expert positioning and powerful items, Leshrac is an easy target for physical attackers late-game, but he can easily hamper those same enemies by destroying towers and dealing damage in the midgame. If Leshrac is encountered outside the lanes early on, there are very few opponents who can stand against the power of Diabolic Edict and live.

Gameplay
Leshrac's pushing power is notable. Four levels of Diabolic Edict will nearly destroy a tower with one cast of the spell and is the main source of Leshrac's early-mid game power - every time the enemy team is weakened, he can destroy or cripple a tower to win his team map control and gold.

Ability builds for Leshrac vary greatly depending on the situation. Generally, maxing Lightning Storm is smart if the enemy has many short range burst damage abilities since Lightning Storm has relatively long range. With proper timing, Leshrac can hit multiple creeps while damaging enemy heroes; it is a great ability for lane control. Diabolic Edict is maxed for pushing, roaming, and/or ganking. Aside from taking towers, it is also a great ability for killing isolated heroes. With solo lane experience, Leshrac can take on and kill almost any enemy hero that tries to fight him one on one early in the game with Diabolic Edict. Even as a support, Leshrac's Edict can deal significant damage to an isolated enemy. Pulse Nova has a high mana cost but is sustainable if Arcane boots are purchased as Leshrac reaches level 6. Pulse Nova is extremely powerful but requires Leshrac to stay in close proximity to deal damage; it is wise to consider maxing Leshrac's other abilities first if the enemy has many heroes that can quickly punish Leshrac for positioning himself too closely to them.

Item choices for Leshrac should help toughen him up, as well as expand his Mana Pool to fuel Pulse Nova; Blood Stone and Shiva's Guard both fulfill this role nicely. As with any Intelligence hero, Scythe of Vyse is an excellent item for Leshrac and will allow you to land your spells with impunity. An item to help you escape from danger is also recommended, such as Force Staff, Ghost Scepter, or Eul's Scepter of Divinity. Black King Bar allows Leshrac to wreak havoc on supporting enemy heroes since he is immune to magical burst damage and most stuns/disables when Black King Bar is activated. It is recommended to upgrade his Boots of Speed into Arcane Boots or Boots of Travel if the game is going well in Leshrac's favour.

Tips

 * Diabolic Edict does colossal damage to singular targets; this includes enemy buildings. One-on-one early-mid game, Leshrac is almost impossible to defeat.
 * Leshrac is a wise pick when you have heroes on your team with a direct stun (e.g. Vengeful Spirit), as they help you land your tricky Split Earth.
 * In encounters, Leshrac should be very cautious; despite his gigantic damage output he is very easily focused down. Building tanky items or escape items will help with this.
 * It is important to gain a level and gold advantage early with Leshrac because of his frailty and dependence on mana items.
 * If you fail to gain a level and gold advantage early-game, Pulse Nova is extremely useful for farming.
 * Leshrac is countered by high-burst-damage heroes such as Lina and Ursa, as while Leshrac's damage output is staggering, he requires time to inflict it.
 * You can increase the overall DPS of Pulse Nova by waiting for the second pulse of damage and then reactivating the ability, because it deals damage as soon as it is activated, you can bypass the 1 second wait and do damage again by reactivating the ability, but keep in mind the high mana cost for reactivating and the cooldown the ability has when using that.
 * Leshrac deals high amounts of AOE damage especially with Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova. He will be most likely be targeted first in team-fights. After building your mana regen items such as Bloodstone, it is best to build tank items such as Heart of Tarrasque or Shiva's Guard and in special cases a Blademail if an enemy hitter decides to focus on you.

Trivia

 * The name Leshrac comes from a Planeswalker from the Magic: the Gathering multiverse.
 * Diabolic Edict is the name of an iconic black card in that game; much like the Dota 2 spell, the Magic card was more effective when there were fewer targets, as your opponent got to choose which target got hit.