Keeper of the Light

Ezalor the Keeper of the Light is a ranged Intelligence Hero famous for his reputation as a one-man support team. Supporting his allies in need, and pushing unguarded lanes with ease, Ezalor is a very valuable ally for any team. Having a variety of useful abilities, he can channel a powerful globe of intense light that can heavily damage an army of enemy creeps in the lane, allowing for an easy push; and manipulate the mana around him, restoring mana for himself and his allies or draining the mana of his enemy. His Ultimate allows him to gain his full power, giving Ezalor access to 2 sub-abilities and an improved existing ability, giving him six different abilities in total. Keeper of the Light requires patience, confidence and selfless behavior to play him well, as he is played as a support instead of a killer caster like most Intelligence gankers. His wide set of abilities also require good timing, reflexes, and knowledge to use well.

Tips

 * While Keeper of the Light has very counter pushing and support spells, he is also extremely fragile, with a mere 14 base Strength, the lowest in the game (tied with ). As such, positioning is very important, as you need to be close enough to cast your spells yet also far enough away to be able to escape gank attempts.
 * Ezalor is highly adept at pushing, as he can replenish teammates' and his own mana, allowing profligate use of spells, and Illuminate can severely damage if not outright kill entire creep waves. Along with his ability to reposition allies globally with Recall, Keeper of the Light can be a force to be reckoned with at all points in the game.
 * 's strong creep-killing power makes Keeper of the Light a remarkably good farmer and counter-pusher considering his supportive role, as he can use it to either knock down large creep waves approaching a friendly tower or blast up to two neutral camps at once. As such, he will always have money for purchasing support items, especially wards; as vision of the enemy allows for powerful Illuminate strikes.
 * Keep in mind that Illuminate has an extremely long cast range, but is also highly visible and requires channeling. If using it to harass or nuke an enemy player, cast it from the enemy's fog of war to give them as little warning as possible.
 * Although Illuminate is extremely powerful for early-game pushing and harassment, it will disrupt the farm of your laning partner if it is targeted on the entire creep wave, as it can potentially kill creeps (and thus deny the last-hit to your ally) and will push the wave closer to the enemy's tower where it is more dangerous to last-hit. If used, it should be aimed only to damage the enemy heroes by targeting the wave either at an oblique angle or behind the creep wave. Owing to his ability to replenish his mana, Illuminate can be used constantly; but mana replenishment is generally better used on your laning partner.
 * Remember that you are a support. While maxing Illuminate early seems a good choice for the damage and the pushing potential, it will also make you an easy prey to ganks, and will increase its mana consumption during laning. Additionally, remember that you will only deal more damage if you have channeled for a longer duration, which is not always possible if the enemy is trying to avoid your blast. Unless you wish to push hard really early, consider maxing Chakra Magic first, which is very useful in the early stages of the game. If you are soloing a lane, Illuminate can be maxed first and used to scare the enemy heroes into losing their lane.
 * Illuminate reveals fog of war while channeling and as such should be used liberally when in dangerous territory to prevent a sneak attack by the enemy. Remember that charging it to fulmination increases its sight range; releasing it immediately will not be good for gaining sight.
 * If Aghanim's Scepter is purchased, Illuminate will heal all allies hit by the spell if it is cast during the daytime. Use this to your advantage to keep all teammates' health and mana up, which can make pushes far more extended or allow an ally to continue farming for longer without returning to base.
 * One point in can be powerful in the early game as it has a low mana cost and cooldown, allowing it to be spammed. It is best combined with Illuminate, as you can cast it on an enemy hero and then force them to move by threatening them with nuke damage.
 * Reducing the enemy's mana in-lane can make the lane safer for you by preventing them from going aggressive or harassing you with their spells, and can set up kills as well by reducing their ability to cast escape spells and potentially stun them once they've lost all their mana. If you successfully destroy enough of their mana, you may force them to leave the lane.
 * Remember that leveling up Mana Leak also improves its casting range, as well as the leak and stun duration. Taking early points can give you more teamfight and chasing potential as you can cast it on enemies from farther away, allowing you to safely use it from behind teammates in a fight or when pursuing an escaping hero.
 * Pushing a unit affected by Mana Leak with Blinding Light causes it to lose 20% of its mana. Force Staff causes it to lose even more, 30% of its mana. This combos can be used to force trigger the stun from Mana Leak on enemy units with already low mana.
 * is extremely useful in lane as it can allow lane partners with small mana pools to cast nukes and disables much more frequently. Heroes with powerful stuns but small mana pools such as, , , and  can benefit from constantly having the ability to cast their disables, allowing your lane to be more aggressive.
 * gives Keeper of the Light access to several very powerful abilities. Besides Recall and Blinding Light, Illuminate may be cast remotely without standing still to channel it. As such, it should be activated if you suspect that a teamfight is imminent.
 * When being chased, don't be afraid to use Spirit Form to aid in your escape. While Mana Leak can discourage enemies from chasing you, you can also use Blinding Light to knock back and blind chasing enemies, or cast Illuminate in the direction you are headed, either forcing the enemy to walk in front of the channeling spirit and take damage, or stop chasing and allowing you to escape.
 * will be dispelled if the target hero takes player-based damage, and thus it cannot be used effectively as an escape spell. However, it can be useful for bringing a teammate to a gank or teamfight if they are on another part of the map farming, or helping someone who has just respawned get back to the front lines faster.
 * One useful way to use Recall is right after a buyback if the player does not have Boots of Travel. If a teammate has died in a teamfight and buys back, casting Recall on them can turn a fight into a 6v5 situation.
 * is a very powerful teamfight spell, as it will forcibly displace enemies as well as render a very high miss chance on them. This can be enough to greatly disrupt the enemy carries' attempts to focus down your teammates with physical attacks.
 * Keep in mind that Blinding Light's displacement can move enemies over terrain, so aimed properly it can displace a foe up or down a cliff wall. This can all but shut down an enemy carry if they are melee and do not have any repositioning abilities to reverse the terrain displacement.
 * Due to his utility, Keeper of the Light can build many useful items that will benefit his team:
 * As a support, be sure to also upgrade the Animal Courier to a if the opportunity presents itself. As well, constant purchasing of s will allow you to de-ward the enemy, a crucial duty for supports.
 * can be built in place of a Bracer if players intend to roam more often. It provides the same amount of Strength as a Bracer, and the extra mana regen can reduce your reliance on casting Chakra Magic on yourself, giving you more time to cast it on allies instead. The active ability can add more damage to a gank, or be used as a source of healing for teammates throughout the game.
 * is a powerful utility item that gives Keeper of the Light more armor and some mana regen. As a ranged support, you have the ability to reduce an enemy's armor for your team to capitalize on, or give an ally more armor to extend their survivability. As well, it greatly helps when your team wants to kill Roshan.
 * is a good cheap item for giving Keeper of the Light survivability if he is constantly being jumped on by the enemy's carries. Immunity against physical damage will allow Ezalor time to cast more of his spells as needed.
 * is a useful survivability and utility item. It increases the size of Keeper of the Light's health pool and grants him evasion against physical attacks, however its active ability can also be cast from behind teammates to disarm the enemy's carry for a short time, useful if they have a that ignores Blinding Light's miss chance.

Trivia

 * Ezalor's design in Dota 2 makes several references to Gandalf, an iconic character from The Lord of the Rings book series.
 * His clothing is almost purely white, similar to Gandalf's attire.
 * Illuminate's wave animation are a group of stampeding white horses. This is similar to the spell Elrond cast on the torrent of water, at the ford of Bruinen, in the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. Additionally, it has similarities to his reinforcements at Helm's Deep during the second book, The Two Towers. This is also depicted in the splash art, with Ezalor taking Gandalf's place at the head of the charge.
 * The Mana Leak cast line Keep manaleak 05.mp3 "You shall not cast!" is a reference to one of Gandalf's most famous quotes: "You shall not pass!"
 * The respawn lines Keep respawn 12.mp3 "Ezalor... I think that's my name" is likely a reference to Gandalf "respawning" as The White: "Gandalf? ... Yes ... That was my name ... Gandalf the Grey."
 * One of Ezalor's cosmetic items, the Wise Cap of the First Light makes him look even more like Gandalf.
 * The lines Keep chakramagic 02.mp3 "Kundalini!" and Keep chakramagic 05.mp3 "The serpent of illumination stirs!" come, as well as the term "Chakra" are derived from Hinduism. Kundalini is described as a dormant inner strength, or "sleeping serpent waiting to be awakened".
 * ,, and  together represent the four fundamental forces of the universe with Ezalor representing the weak nuclear force. This is reflected in several of Enigma's responses to these heroes.
 * The rivalry line Keep rival 02.mp3 "And chaos fled!" may be a reference to an official bug that can occur when fighting the final boss of Final Fantasy, Chaos, as you can win the fight without damaging him (he simply just fled).
 * His rare line Keep rare 01.mp3 "I'll tell thee everything I can, there's little to relate." and Keep rare 02.mp3 "Very gladly will I drink your honor's noble health." are quotes of the poem by "Haddock's Eyes" by Lewis Carroll, a poem about a very odd old man.
 * His rare line keep rare 03.mp3 "I'll forego green girdles and questing beasts, for all such knightly trifles pale before the light." is a reference to the book The Sword in the Stone.