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

 * Illuminate's notorious creep-killing power makes Ezalor 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 wards, and should ward extensively; as vision of the enemy allows for powerful Illuminate strikes.
 * 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 clears 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; charging it and releasing it immediately will not be good for gaining sight.
 * One point in Mana Leak can be powerful in the early game as it has a low mana cost and cooldown, allowing it to be cast repeatedly. 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. Maxing it out early 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.
 * Using Mana Leak and then Illuminate on a foe will force them either to take damage or lose mana; depending on whether or not they choose to move.
 * 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.
 * Chakra Magic 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 disables but small mana pools such as Wraith King, Sven, Earthshaker, Vengeful Spirit and Chaos Knight can benefit from constantly having the ability to cast their disables, allowing your lane to be more aggressive.
 * 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 could 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.
 * Remember that Recall 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 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.

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 pun on one of Gandalf's most famous quote "You shall not pass!".
 * Also, when Visage kills Ezalor, the former responds with, "You shall not pass!". It is a direct reference to the famous quote.
 * 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", from Hinduism. Kundalini is described as a dormant inner strength, or "sleeping serpent waiting to be awakened".
 * Will O' and Phase Shift (former abilities from Keeper of the Light) have been transferred to and  respectively.
 * ,, 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 rivaly line " Keep_rival_02.mp3 And chaos fled!" might be refer to a official bug when fighting The Final Fantasy Final Boss Chaos, as you can end the fight with your victory without damaging him (he simply just fled).
 * In this rare line: Keep_rare_01.mp3 Ezalor quotes the first two lines of a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll about a very odd old man.