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 purgable 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.

Equipment

 * Oracle currently has no equipment.

Tips

 * All of Oracle's spells have great direct synergy with each other.
 * The initial damage from is fully blocked by the 100% magic resistance from, turning it into a strong heal for allies. Do not forget, however, that it disarms your target, so it can backfire if timed poorly.
 * is purgeable, so can remove the healing effect of it, turning it into a strong instant nuke with no heal for enemies.
 * doubles all healing received during it, including the healing of, making it heal a total of 198/216/324/432 health if the spell's damage is taken into account.
 * , and  together on one ally effectively makes it heal for 198/396/594/792 health once False Promise expires, since the damage from Purifying Flames is blocked by the 100% magic resistance from Fate's Edict, and the heal doubled by False Promise.
 * Considering most heroes' base magic resistance of 25% and no other sources of it, it takes 6.14 seconds for the heal of to cancel the damage, which is 67.5/135/202.5/270 health. After that, it effectively heals 31.5/63/94.5/126 health. Since the spell heals in intervals, the healing outpaces the damage starting from the 7th second.
 * A powerful healing combination is to cast Oracle's and  with Winter Wyvern's  on a target ally or oneself. The result will give full physical and magical damage immunity, as well as healing for 64 + 6% of the target's maximum health per second at maximum level for 4 seconds from Cold Embrace and 44 health per second for 5 seconds thereafter from Purifying Flames. The total heal is, therefore, 476 + 24% of the target's maximum health. Using this combination on an ally effected by  will result in a heal of 952 + 48% of the target's maximum health.
 * in combination with, or  can grant 100% magic resistance and 100% resistance against physical damage to a hero, so only pure damage is able to harm them.
 * can purge the healing from, and since the cyclone lasts for 2.5s, you can effectively cast it twice on the enemy, purging it again with.
 * has a slow projectile, while ' effect is instant. This means you can cast first, and before the projectile hits, use . This will prevent the target from healing at all from.
 * Before a fight is about to happen, especially when pushing or defending your base, keep casting on your carry. Since it has a short cooldown, you can ensure they will start the fight with at least 2 instances of healing (the healing is stackable).
 * removes most negative buffs from the target, like does. Try to save it for when your target gets stunned.

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 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.

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.