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

 * Leshrac can be played as a core or a support.
 * Played as a support, Leshrac has powerful disables that can greatly aid his team in fights, and can deal tremendous damage to enemy towers as well. His nuking spells also allow him to obtain gold fairly reliably for buying more support items.
 * Played as a core, Leshrac has tremendous pushing and nuking power that can allow him to deal large amounts of damage in teamfights, or push lanes and take towers by himself. Once he has enough mana, he can use his nuking spells to farm very effectively as well.
 * One of Leshrac's greatest weaknesses is his long cast animations. In order to counteract this, good positioning and prediction are key, as Leshrac must stand still for an extended period of time before the spell takes its effect.
 * While Leshrac has tremendous nuking power, much of it is damage over time, requiring him to survive long enough to cast multiple iterations. As such, not only is a large mana pool required in order to sustain such casting, but also enough HP to avoid dying to the enemy while casting.
 * will stun any targets it hits for 2 seconds, no matter how many levels were put into the spell. Therefore, it should be leveled up if you need the wider radius to make hitting the spell easier, or the increased damage.
 * Remember that the stun's effect occurs 0.35 seconds after the cast animation, so it will stun and damage roughly one second after Leshrac is commanded to cast the spell. If an enemy is watching your cast animations to predict when the stun will land, they can dodge its effects with certain spells (such as or ). Therefore, if landing the stun without a leading disable, it can be useful to cancel the animation mid-way to fake out tricky opponents.
 * When using Split Earth as a support, it is best to only put one point into it early on and have a teammate lead with a reliable targeted stun first. If an enemy has been immobilized by a stun, they cannot move to avoid Split Earth and the long cast animation and small effect radius do not matter. This way, you can chain-stun an opponent and spend your skill points on your other nuking spells.
 * deals tremendous amounts of damage if all the explosions land on a single target. It is best used after other enemy targets in the area, especially creeps, have been cleared away by your other spells, in order to make the most of its effects.
 * Diabolic Edict is what allows Leshrac to destroy towers so quickly by himself if he is left alone by the enemy team. A single cast of level 4 Diabolic Edict can deal 940 damage to a tier 1 tower, after reductions, which alone is enough to bring it below 30% HP (not including any creeps and siege units also attacking the tower). For this reason, however, it should be reserved when attacking a tower, as the enemy may immediately use their Glyph of Fortification when they see you cast Edict. Try to force the enemy to fortify their towers, and then cast Edict afterward to deal the most damage possible.
 * The explosions follow Leshrac, and are focused on a radius around him, so even if there are enemy creeps near a tower it is possible to re-position Leshrac so that the tower is within the spell's radius but the enemy creeps are not. This also allows Leshrac to chase enemy heroes with the spell after casting it, as they will automatically hit any enemies that he is walking next to.
 * Keep in mind that the explosions will still home in on invisible units if they are within the radius of the spell, and as such can be used as a weak form of detection. This means that Edict can be used as a counter against abilities such as, , , and so on if Leshrac is close enough to them when they went invisible.
 * is a very spammable nuking spell that can be used as a slow as well as a nuke. Its long cast range allows Leshrac to cast it from a safe distance and allow it to bounce to its intended target.
 * Lightning Storm is the perfect complement to Diabolic Edict, as the spell's nuking power and low cooldown can make short work of lane creeps, allowing Diabolic Edict to be focused on the enemy's tower alone. As well, it can be used as a leading slow on an enemy prior to casting Split Earth.
 * deals tremendous amounts of damage to all nearby enemies, and is a toggled spell that does not require a cast animation. It is a powerful spell to use when chasing or fleeing, especially alongside Diabolic Edict, as it can remain active while moving, allowing Leshrac to run down foes or discourage them from chasing him.
 * Keep in mind, Pulse Nova requires Leshrac to stand very close to the targets he wishes to damage. If you intend on using Pulse Nova in team fights, survivability items that boost Leshrac's HP are highly recommended.
 * Note that since Pulse Nova can be toggled, it can also be used as a farming spell by turning it on while farming creep waves or jungle camps, adding to your nuking power.
 * Since the first damage instance is dealt immediately upon toggling the spell on, the damage per second of Pulse Nova can be increased by constantly toggling it off then on after every two damage instances. However, the cost of this tactic is a significantly higher mana cost due to incurring the toggle cost multiple times, so ensure that Leshrac's mana pool is sufficient to support it.
 * Depending on the role that is being played, Leshrac benefits from building various different items.
 * are useful for building if mana is more important than mobility. As a support it allows Leshrac to sustain his mana pool and replenish allies' mana as well, while as a core it can shore up his mana pool for more extensive spell casting and lead to an easier buildup to Bloodstone.
 * is a good stat item to build, as it gives Leshrac more HP as well as mana. The extra movement speed allows Leshrac to position for his spells more easily, and the active allows for chases using Pulse Nova no matter what role Leshrac is played in.
 * is useful for building on Leshrac as a support, as the item's utility makes it powerful either for displacing enemies or saving teammates. As well, it can be used to chase with Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova more effectively.
 * is a good utility item no matter what role Leshrac is played in. The cyclone can be used to disable an enemy and land an easy Split Earth, while the increased mana pool and mana regen allow for more sustained spell casting. The additional movement speed also helps in chasing with Edict and Pulse Nova.
 * allow Leshrac to globally re-position, and frees up an inventory slot due to not needing a Town Portal Scroll anymore. As well, the enhanced movement speed allows Leshrac to chase down almost any enemy he fixes his sights on.

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.